The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Wednesday it is ready to hold the first Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Parliamentary Elections (BPE) this year.
Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said they are waiting for the Senate and House of Representatives to pass the law that officially sets the date for the BPE on Sept. 14, 2026.
“Yes. We are ready. When we participated in the hearings on the drafting of the law in the Senate and HOR, it became clear and we saw that Congress was unanimous in setting Sept 14, 2026 as the date of the BPE,” he said at a Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing.
The poll body will release a list of activities related to the holding of the BPE once the measure has been enacted into law, he added.
“Let’s expect the passage of that law, we will immediately move forward with the calendar of activities and implementing rules and regulations as well as prohibited acts during the parliamentary elections,” he added.
Laudiangco said there is enough time to prepare for the polls.
“We see that if this becomes law, there’s enough time. This is among the reasons why the March 30, 2026 BPE was postponed, in addition to the problem with districting, lack of time for the voters’ education campaign. Since there are still a few months, it can be done,” he said.
The BPE will be an automated polls, using the election system in last year’s midterm polls.
“In the development of technology, it is clear that the system that will be used is the proven system that we used in the May 2025 elections. It’s just customization and configuration of the program and ballots… in our opinion, everything will be done in enough time as long as the law is passed as soon as possible,” Laudiangco said.
The poll body used some 100,000 automated counting machines in the May 12, 2025 national and local polls from South Korean-based company, Miru Systems Inc. (PNA)