BTA Parliament to tackle Bangsamoro redistricting on Jan. 12

The Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Parliament will hold a special session on Monday, January 12, to discuss the redistricting of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

BTA Parliament Floor Leader and Spokesperson John Anthony Lim explained that the special session was originally scheduled to take place late last year but was postponed due to the holiday season.

“Noong huling mga linggo ng 2025 nagpatawag ang chief minister, nag-request sa speaker na magkaroon ng special session. Subalit dahil po ay nagkaroon ang Malacañang ng advisory na may holidays na po, yung mga organic natin wala na rin po sa mga offices nila, yung mga MPs natin nasa official travel din po," he said.

(During the final weeks of 2025, the chief minister called for and requested the speaker to hold a special session. However, because Malacañang issued an advisory regarding the holidays, our organic personnel were no longer in their offices, and our Members of Parliament were also on official travel.)

"Ang ginawa po ng speaker natin, nag-set ng special session ngayong January 12, bukas po, para i-tackle itong redistricting bill po ng parliament,” Lim said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB on Sunday.

(What the speaker did was set a special session for January 12 to tackle the parliament’s redistricting bill.)

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) earlier suspended the filing of certificates of candidacy (COCs) for the March 30 Bangsamoro parliamentary elections due to the absence of a new redistricting law.

In a memorandum dated December 22, Comelec postponed the filing period for COCs for the inaugural parliamentary polls, which was initially scheduled from January 5 to January 9, 2026.

In October, the Supreme Court ordered the postponement of the Bangsamoro elections originally set for October 13 after declaring the Bangsamoro Autonomy Acts (BAAs) 58 and 77 unconstitutional.

The High Court also instructed the BTA to enact a redistricting law and directed Comelec to proceed with preparations to ensure that the Bangsamoro parliamentary elections are held by March 31.

“Sa Bangsamoro Organic Law nakasaad na 32 districts po lahat. Previously, bago yung desisyon na maalis yung Sulu sa BARMM, seven po ang naka-allot sa kanila.

(Under the Bangsamoro Organic Law, there are a total of 32 districts. Previously, before the decision to remove Sulu from BARMM, seven districts were allotted to it.)

So ang gagawin po ngayon ay yung seven na ‘yun ay idi-distribute sa remaining constituent LGUs ng BARMM,” Lim said.

(These seven will now be redistributed among the remaining constituent local government units of BARMM.)

While Comelec initially indicated it could wait until November 30 for the passage of the legislation, the deadline lapsed without a new law.

In response, the BTA said it aimed to pass the redistricting measure by the end of 2025.—MCG, GMA Integrated News