NEWS




16September
Photo courtesy of rasmitmug.com

Supreme Court: Sulu not part of Bangsamoro Region

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Province of Sulu should not be part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), following the province's rejection of the Bangsamoro Organic Law. Despite this, the Court upheld the validity of Republic Act No. 11054, which established the BARMM, which the Supreme Court announced on September 9, 2024, in its website.
Enacted on July 27, 2018, the Bangsamoro Organic Law established BARMM as a new political entity with its governance structure. The formation of BARMM and territorial boundaries were to be decided through a plebiscite.

Plebiscites held on January 21, 2019, and February 6, 2019, allowed residents to vote on joining BARMM. Although most areas, including those previously part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), approved the law, Sulu did not. Despite this, Sulu was included in BARMM, prompting the province to challenge this decision.

The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, affirming that BARMM is not a separate state but operates within the framework of the Philippine Republic. The law does not grant BARMM the authority to engage in international relations or manage national defense, which remains under the central government’s jurisdiction.

It also supported the parliamentary system established by the Bangsamoro Organic Law, noting that an autonomous region can adopt a different government structure, provided it maintains democratic principles. The Bangsamoro government’s Parliament is elected by its citizens, and it selects a chief minister to handle executive functions.

The BOL emerged from extensive peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the MILF. These negotiations, which began in the early 2000s and culminated in the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) in 2014, aimed to address the MILF’s demands for greater autonomy and self-rule.