TO allow people to cast their vote in the first ever Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Parliamentary polls, President Ferdinand Marcos declared a special non-working holiday in the region on September 14.
The chief executive issued Proclamation No. 1395 last Tuesday in preparation for the BARMM elections next month.
The new issuance said the declaration aims ‘to give people of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao the opportunity to actively and fully participate in the election and exercise their right to vote.’
Under Republic Act No. 12317, the BARMM Parliamentary Elections will be held on the second Monday of September 2026.
It was originally set to be held in May 2022, but was deferred multiple times because of the pandemic and a decision from the Supreme Court.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said there are over 2.39 million registered voters in BARMM. It hopes at least 70 percent of the said voters will participate in the region’s upcoming polls.
The poll body said it set up 5,212 clustered precincts in 1,186 voting centers in BARMM.
Security in the elections is expected to be enhanced after the ambush that targeted BARMM Interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua last week.
Authorities are still investigating who is behind said attack.