Lawmakers fixing adverse effects of Sulu's separation from BARMM

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The Bangsamoro parliament had passed a solution urging an intergovernmental bloc to address the governance, fiscal, administrative and other serious issues brought about by the Supreme Court’s decision to take Sulu province out of the autonomous region.

The charter of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the Republic Act 11054, has a provision creating the Intergovernmental Relations Body, or IGRB, encompassing BARMM, as a regional government, and the national government, that shall iron out administrative, peace and security and socio-economic concerns besetting the region.

The High Tribunal declared Sulu no longer part of BARMM’s territory late last year, based on a petition by local executives in the island province.

Members of the 80-seat Bangsamoro parliament told reporters on Sunday, June 1, that they have conceded, after deliberations, to the approval last May 20 of Parliament Resolution 546, urging the IGRB to initiate measures to cushion the adverse effects of a sudden separation of Sulu from BARMM.

It was the lawyer Hadji Nabil Alfad Tan, deputy speaker in the BARMM parliament, who proposed the resolution, meant to address the setbacks in governance and the uncertainty among personnel of BARMM's provincial offices in Sulu as a result of the Supreme Court ruling.

Tan had talked about such issues during past sessions of the BARMM parliament, where he explained the need for a well-planned transition in the separation of Sulu from the coverage of the Bangsamoro government.

The Bangsamoro government bankrolls the operation of all of its agencies in the province that have thousands of employees.

Tan had earlier told reporters that he is worried of a “vacuum” in the delivery of government services to the communities in Sulu if it gets completely detached from BARMM without a proper transition process.

Members of the parliament had said that Tan had also recommended the inclusion in BARMM’s budget for 2026 the funding for the operation of all of its agencies in Sulu to ensure its smooth gradual takedown as a component-province of the autonomous region.

The BARMM parliament’s Resolution 546, signed by Speaker Pangalian Balindong, had urged the IGRB to initiate extensive technical studies and formulation of policies, involving residents of Sulu, for such a transition scheme.