Marcos declares Sept. 14 a non-working day in BARMM for first parliamentary polls

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared September 14 a special non-working day across the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the voting day for the region's first regular parliamentary elections.

The declaration was made through Proclamation No. 1395, signed on August 18 by Acting Executive Secretary Ralph Recto.

Giving Bangsamoro residents the chance "to actively and fully participate in the election and exercise their right to vote" made it "fitting and proper" to set aside the Monday as a special non-working day, the proclamation read.

The vote will fill the seats of the Bangsamoro Parliament, the region's first to be chosen by voters rather than appointed.

The September vote comes after several postponements. First, the Bangsamoro Organic Law had set the original date for the parliamentary elections for May 2022. Congress moved that to May 2025, citing the pandemic, then to October 13, 2025, after the Supreme Court removed Sulu from BARMM in 2024 and scrambled the region's district map.

The third delay came after the SC struck down the region's two districting laws and ordered the Commission on Elections to hold the polls by March 31, 2026. That deadline also slipped as the Bangsamoro Transition Authority passed a valid districting law only in mid-January, too late for Comelec, which deferred the March vote until Congress set a new date.