Two bills¹ recently filed in the Bangsamoro Parliament seek to strip the Bangsamoro Electoral Code and the Bangsamoro Local Governance Code of their anti-dynasty provisions.

These bills must be rejected.

The 1987 Constitution, under Section 26, Article II, does not state that only Congress may define and regulate political dynasties. Rather, it declared a clear state policy:

“The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”

This is an explicit constitutional mandate to ensure equal access to public office and to prohibit political dynasties, with legislation intended to operationalize, not negate, that constitutional objective.

The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) is not just another local government unit. It has its own Parliament, its own ministerial form of government, and its own electoral system. The Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) empowers the Bangsamoro Government to pursue political development and to adopt an electoral system that allows democratic participation and accountability.

The existing anti-dynasty provision aim to break dynasty control over parties and elections, and to move the Bangsamoro away from patronage and personality-based politics.

Removing them does the opposite. Dismantling these safeguards weakens party development, narrows political participation, and re-opens the door for dynastic control that has dominated and hindered governance in the region.

The consequences extended far beyond elections. Concentrated political power often leads to concentrated control over public resources, appointments, and decision-making, which slows down economic development and weakens the institutions that ordinary people rely on for equal access to governance.

More critically, these proposed amendments carry implications beyond electoral design. Passing these laws is a return to a status quo that was deemed mutually unacceptable by both the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

This would risk causing another fracture in the peace process at a time when the first Bangsamoro parliamentary elections had already faced significant legal and political challenges, leading to multiple postponements of its first election. Rather than removing these safeguards, the focus should be on protecting the credibility of an already difficult transition.

LENTE calls on the Bangsamoro Parliament to reject these amendments.

The Bangsamoro should strengthen, not continue to dismantle, the safeguards and electoral reform that protect equal political participation and genuine party development towards a new political reality envisioned for the Bangsamoro people. ###

1. “BTA Bills Seek Removal of Political Dynasty Restrictions in BARMM Electoral and Local Governance Codes“, Bangsamoro Parliament, 21 May 2026 ↩︎