Stressing the institutional uncertainty shrouding the first regular Bangsamoro parliamentary elections, stakeholders warned that repeated postponements, legal challenges, and administrative interventions are undermining the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s (BARMM) transition to democratic self-governance.

Raising alarm over the erosion of public trust and the fragility of the peace process, specialists from various fields decried that the prolonged transition has left BARMM citizens in a power vacuum, having been under the temporary governance of an interim body for seven years since 2019.

Mindanao Peoples Caucus Secretary-General Atty. Mary Ann Arnado pointed out that the constant national government interventions deprive the Bangsamoro people of the right to decide for themselves, compromising the initial purpose of the transitional government to be autonomous. 

“The current members of the BTA [Bangsamoro Transition Authority] are all presidential appointees… There is very little exercise of the right to self-determination because you are at the mercy, at the pleasure of the appointing authority.”

She framed the upcoming election as the culmination of a long-standing political transition to institutionalize the Bangsamoro’s self-determination, yet one strained by numerous postponements and legal disputes with no closure in sight. 

“All of these changes, postponements, and the legal battles in the Supreme Court are really testing the will of the people, the support of the people, and the trust of the people in the peace process…  I am as confused as anyone in the BARMM on whether or not the election will really push through.”

Department of Sociology and Development Studies Professor Dennis Coronel affirmed Arnado’s point, emphasizing that BARMM’s delayed processes prompt the residents to question the legitimacy of the interim government.

“If people themselves cannot choose their own leaders, and have always been given the hope that one day you can choose your own leaders, but this promise has been delayed for a very, very long time.”

Arnado raised that institutional shifts unfold alongside broader political tensions within the transition period, including legal battles, governance restructuring, and unresolved normalization commitments tied to the peace agreement.

“Unfortunately, real politics is overtaking the strategic interest of the peace process… in the rush for the election, we are already overtaking the interest of the peace process,” she warned.

In 2014, the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), ending several years of armed struggle and establishing a Bangsamoro autonomous political entity, which also included the ratification of the Bangsamoro Basic Law and its gradual normalization through a democratic process. 

Legal Network for Truthful Elections Executive Director Atty. Ona Caritos condemned the repeated changes to electoral rules during the transition period, which could weaken the governance stability and credibility of the Bangsamoro electoral framework.

Recent amendments to the Bangsamoro Electoral Code include lowering the membership requirement for regional political parties from 10,000 to 5,000, reducing the vote threshold for party representation from 4% to 2.5%, requiring political parties to undergo renewed accreditation, revoking and reissuing certifications for sectoral organizations, mandating new implementing rules within 30 days, and changing the selection of sectoral representatives—from assemblies to direct plurality voting across the electorate.

“What we have right now is an [electoral] code not yet implemented but already changed three times…and if what we’re seeing right now might be the future of the Bangsamoro electoral code…then we’ll have a Bangsamoro electoral code which will always be changed depending on the advantage it would bring to the parties or the coalition of parties which have the numbers in the parliamentary government.”

Islamic Studies Department Associate Professor Dr. Mansoor Limba scrutinized the numerous administrative delays and examined deeper socio-political and structural conditions shaping the decline in democratic participation in the region.

“According to one study done by the Institute of Autonomy and Government (IAG), at least 53% of the population in the BARMM are not aware of the parliamentary election. So this is something that is very alarming… Even [with] the usual elections in the Philippines that we have, so many of us are not so much aware of the meaning, the depth of our awareness of the electoral process.”

Coronel underscored the importance of the parliamentary elections for the Bangsamoro people, restoring their right to decide for themselves after decades of marginalization.

“For the Bangsamoro people, the right to vote is more than just a legal procedure. For them, it is a symbol of dignity, recognition, and ownership.” 

The forum titled “The Road to the First Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections” was held at the Bapa Benny Tudtud Auditorium, Ateneo de Davao University, on February 18, 2026.