Petition claims Comelec weaponized TRO to disrupt Bangsamoro elections

A petition filed with the Supreme Court accuses the Commission on Elections (Comelec) of 'weaponizing' a temporary restraining order (TRO) to disrupt the upcoming Bangsamoro elections, thereby posing a serious threat to democratic processes.

Maulana L. Mamutuk, chairman of Ranao Charitable Initiatives, alleges that Comelec's suspension of election preparations on September 17 was a fabricated reason to delay the October 13 polls.

Mamutuk stated that Comelec 'weaponized a Supreme Court TRO into an excuse to derail democracy' by suspending preparations and then creating a legal justification.

Comelec had previously claimed that holding the elections was 'legally and factually impossible.'

However, the petitioner argued that election law mandates the presence of force majeure, violence, terrorism, or destruction of election materials for a postponement, none of which were evident.

Mamutuk contended that the impossibility of holding the elections was an outcome engineered by Comelec itself, describing it as an 'administrative failure disguised as an act of God.'

The petition was filed to question Bangsamoro Autonomous Act 77 (BAA 77), a regional law that reconfigured BARMM's parliamentary districts by redistributing seven seats originally reserved for Sulu to the region's provinces and cities.

In 2024, the Supreme Court ruled to exclude Sulu - and, in effect, its seven parliamentary district seats - from BARMM.