Fifteen officials and politicians from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARRM) have asked the Supreme Court to nullify provisions of the Bangsamoro Electoral Code (BEC), saying they violate the constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law and equal access to opportunities for public service.
The petitioners said that BEC “infringes upon the powers and jurisdiction exclusively vested by the Constitution upon the Commission on Elections (Comelec) over the administration of election laws.”
They also said the electoral code “tampers with the sole authority of the SC to promulgate rules on pleading, practice, and procedure before regular trial courts in BARMM.”
“Worse, by providing restrictive qualifications for political parties, the BEC curtailed what should be free and equal opportunity for political parties to seek and obtain parliamentary seats, thereby contradicting the mandate of the Constitution and the Bangsamoro Organic Law,” they said.
At the same time, they also asserted that “the BEC would facilitate the use of public funds for political campaigns or partisan political activities in violation of the Omnibus Election Code. It further intruded on the power of Congress to define and penalize election offenses and prescribe procedures for their prosecution.”
The petitioners are lawyer Dimnatang L. Pansar, Abdul Rashid a. Balindong, Shariefuddin T. Lucman, Aleem Alibasher I. Abdullatif, Jamil Faisal B. Adiong, Rafsanjani Pendatun Ali, Mohajeran K. Balayman, Najia J. Pescadera, Sharif Jul Asiri J. Abirin, Abdul Muhaimin J. Abubakar, Mohammad Salmann M Sakili, Sarib Hataman, Harisul T. Samanul, Sukarno U. Asri, and Mohammad Yusof A. Tidal.
Named respondents were the Bangsamoro Transition Authority and Ahod Balawag Ebrahim as interim chief minister of the Bangsamoro government.
The petition was filed through lawyers Romulo Macalintal, Ace Bautista and Christopher Rodriguez. It sought the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO).
The BEC was signed into law on March 8, 2023. It became effective on May 17, 2023 after its publication in a local newspaper in Mindanao.
Under the BEC, the Bangsamoro parliament must be composed of 80 members — 50 percent of them party representatives, 40 percent district representatives and 10 percent sectoral representatives.
“It is well-settled that Comelec has broad powers to enforce and administer all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of elections and over all electoral contests relative to the election of regional, provincial, and city officials” under Section 2 of Article IX-C of the Constitution, the petitioners said.
“Articles VI and VII of the BEC are unconstitutional as they seek to govern activities related to local and national elections, in violation of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) and the Constitution, when the BEC is supposed to govern only the election of members of the Bangsamoro Parliament,” they said.
On the use of public funds, the petitioners said that Section 262 of the Omnibus Election Code “expressly prohibits the use of public funds for any election campaign or partisan political activity.”
They said that Sections 9 and 12 of Article IV of the BEC are “inconsistent with the principles of republicanism enshrined in the Constitution and insofar as said provisions impose a 4 percent threshold before a political party representative may qualify for a seat in Parliament.
They also said “such provisions also create a barrier that will not only limit the choice of the people but also hamper the development of a free and open party system, contrary to Sec 6, Article IX-C of the Constitution and Section 9, Art. VII of the BOL.”
Earlier, the governors in Bangsamoro provinces had challenged some provisions in the BEC, saying they violate the Constitution.
Among other issues, the governors questioned some provisions in the BEC that exceeded the powers of the Comelec under the Constitution.