Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia speaks in an interview on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, at the Comelec office in Intramuros, Manila. 好色先生TV / Dianne Sampang
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� The filing for the certificate of candidacy (COC) for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections is rescheduled to November 4 to 9, 2024, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia announced on Wednesday.
According to Garcia, the Comelec en banc unanimously decided on the reschedule in BARMM because the poll body cannot postpone the election.
鈥淣agdesisyon ang Comelec en banc na ipagpaliban ang pagfile ng certificate of candidacy sa buong Bangsamoro kasama na rin po 鈥榶ong manifestation of intent to participate at 鈥榶ong mga nominees ng mga political party,鈥� Garcia said in an ambush interview.
(Comelec en banc decided to postpone the filing of certificates of candidacy in the whole Bangsamoro [region], including the manifestation of intent to participate and the nominees of the political parties.)
The poll chief said that it will now be moved to November 4-9, 2024 from its original schedule of October 1-8, 2024.
This is after the Supreme Court ruled that Sulu province is not part of the BARMM. The court granted Sulu鈥檚 petition for its non-inclusion in the region after rejecting the Bangsamoro Organic Law in their plebiscite.
READ: SC: Sulu not part of BARMM
Garcia said that the elections in Bangsamoro will push through despite the rescheduling of COC filing and the order from the Supreme Court.
鈥淭uloy-tuloy po ang halalan sa Bangsamoro鈥� Sapagkat 鈥榶an ay bilang pagpapatupad ng commitment sa peace process and at the same time, 鈥榶an po ang nakalagay sa organic law na sinabi ng Korte Suprema na ito ay constitutional,鈥� Garcia added.
(The elections in Bangsamoro will continue鈥� Because this is in accordance with our commitment to the peace process and at the same time, this is what is stated in the organic law that the Supreme Court declared as constitutional.)
Further, the poll body chief said that they need to act on the order because the court decision is executory.
鈥淲e will have to comply because the decision is immediately executory at dahil po dyan, kinakailangan namin agad gumawa ng aksyon para hindi magkaroon ng agam-agam ang ating mga kababayan sa Bangsamoro kung talaga bang itutuloy o ipopostpone ang eleksyon unless there is an act of Congress or unless something will come out from the Bangsamoro tungkol sa bagay na 鈥榶an,鈥� he noted.
(We will have to comply because the decision is immediately executory and because of that, we will have to immediately act so the citizens of Bangsamoro will not have any doubts if the elections will push through unless there is an act of Congress or unless something will come out from the Bangsamoro regarding that matter.)
The BARMM parliamentary elections were originally set to fill 80 seats in the parliament. However, only 73 members will be left due to the non-inclusion of Sulu province.
Garcia clarified that filing for local positions in the Bangsamoro region will still push through on October 1-8. This will also not pose an effect to the schedule of COC filing for the local candidates of Sulu province.
Garcia also said that the rescheduling of COC filing will not bring that 鈥渕uch鈥� delay to their preparations for the 2025 elections. He also explained that the ballots for the parliamentary elections will include the members of the parliament of the districts and the political party they want to elect.
鈥淗indi naman po iimprenta 鈥榶ong pangalan ng mga nominado sa balota kaya hindi po kami gano鈥檔 madedelay kaya pwede na namin pasimulan kaagad ang printing ng national and local elections ballots at ihuhuli na lang nang kaunti 鈥榶ong ballots for Bangsamoro,鈥� he added.
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(The names of the nominees will not be printed on the ballots, that鈥檚 why we will not have that much of a delay. We can proceed right away with the printing of ballots for the national and local elections, while we can print the ballots for Bangsamoro a little after.)
The poll body chief said that the commission is eyeing to clear nuisance candidates before November 30 so they can start printing ballots in the last week of December.