WITH the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE) just three months away, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) admitted on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, to being "very worried" over the continued failure of the Bangsamoro Parliament to pass a new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm) districting law despite being given a deadline by the Supreme Court (SC).
In an interview, Comelec Chairman George Garcia noted how the SC previously directed the Bangsamoro Transition Authority to pass a new Barmm districting law by October 30, while the poll body said it may still wait for the new law until November 30.
"The Comelec is very worried as the SC deadline is October 30, while ours is November 30, when hopefully there will be a redistricting law," said Garcia.
"We admit that the Comelec is really in a quandary about what will happen to the Bangsamoro elections," he added.
Because of this, the poll chief bared that they are now considering asking Congress to pass a new law that will set a new definitive date for the BPE.
He said they are set to ask lawmakers if it is necessary and possible to pass a new law that will set a new BPE date with the March 31 deadline set by the SC just over three months away.
"Maybe we can now consider passing a law to fix the date of the Bangsamoro elections. The SC said the date is March 31. But there is already an existing law, which is Republic Act No. 12123. It postponed the Bangsamoro elections from May 12 to October 13," said Garcia.
"In the SC's decision, the October 13 polls didn't push through and will instead happen on March 31. What if it still can't push through on March 31? RA 12123 will be violated. It seems that the law needs to be amended to fix the date of the Bangsamoro elections," he added.
Still, Garcia assured that the Commission remains committed to following the orders of the SC.
"If there is still a way, we will see if we can still hold the election on March 30... Currently, the Bangsamoro elections are still on March 30," said Garcia.
To recall, the SC directed the Bangsamoro Transition Authority to pass a new Barmm districting law by October 30, 2025.
The High Tribunal also directed the Comelec to, subsequently, proceed with the preparations and conduct the BPE not later than March 31, 2026. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)