The Commission on Elections (Comelec) appealed to the candidates in the Bangasomoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to ''maintain a certificate of candidacy filing that is orderly, clean and peaceful.''

Comelec chairman George Garcia made the appeal on Sunday, a day before the filing not only of the certificates of candidacy but certificates of acceptance of nomination for the BARMM parliamentary elections

The filing will run until Saturday. A total of 73 BARMM parliamentary seats will be contested in the first parliamentary election on May 12, 2025

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. met with the BARMM governors last week to discuss developments after the Supreme Court decided to exclude Sulu from the region.

The Presidential Communications Office said the meeting was a ''productive and frank exchange of ideas on how to move forward the government's development agenda for the Bangsamoro people given the recent Supreme Court decision excluding the province of Sulu from the territorial jurisdiction of the BARMM.'

Last month, the BARMM filed an appeal before the High Tribunal on its decision regarding Sulu. The Bangsamoro Parliament adopted a resolution requesting the Senate and the House of Representatives to postpone the region’s first regular parliamentary elections.

Monday's filing coincides with the resumption of Congress sessions which will also tackle request for postponement. Senate President Francis Escudero said they will discuss the BARMM request.

In an interview with dzBB, Garcia said the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have deployed additional forces to ensure security.

This came after a shooting in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur that happened during the last day of the filing of the certificates for the 2025 elections where one died and five others were hurt.

“ We are simply ensuring that we have enough forces on standby, just in case they’re needed. But to be fair, even during the filing of candidacies from October 1 to 8, everything went smoothly. There was only one area that encountered an issue,” Garcia said. DMS-Jaspearl Tan