Bangsamoro Parliament
The Bangsamoro Parliament is the legislature of Bangsamoro, an autonomous region of the Philippines. It is currently led by the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, an interim regional governing body. The inaugural session of the parliament took place on March 29, 2019, while its first regular session is projected to take place in 2025.
History
The first Bangsamoro Parliament is an interim legislature headed by the Bangsamoro Transition Authority. The first set of members of the BTA took their oath on February 22, 2019. The effective abolishment of the precursor autonomous region, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao took place following the official turnover of the ARMM to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region occurred on February 26, 2019.The first interim Bangsamoro Parliament had its inaugural session on March 29, 2019, and passed four resolutions, two of which involved the budget for the Bangsamoro region. The interim Bangsamoro Parliament's mandate was supposed to end on June 30, 2022, as per the Bangsamoro Organic Law, but this was extended to 2025 by law passed by President Rodrigo Duterte whose presidency ended on the same day the interim parliament is supposed to be dissolved.
The second interim parliament had its inaugural session on September 12, 2022. President Bongbong Marcos appointed a new set of members for the interim parliament. The MILF nominees include people associated with the MNLF — eight from the Sema-Jikiri faction and seven from the Nur Misuari's faction. Misuari's group became part of the parliament for the first time.
Composition
As per law, the legislature should be composed of at least 80 members, who in turn are led by the Speaker of the Parliament which was appointed from among the members of the legislature. Until June 30, 2019, 24 elective officials of the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao could have served as additional members.Pangalian Balindong was the Speaker of the Parliament before his death from an undisclosed illness in 2025. Sha Elijah Dumama-Alba is the Floor Leader. In the first interim parliament there was a Majority Leader and a Minority Leader but these position were scrapped in the second interim parliament.
40 percent of the parliament seats are allotted to representatives of Bangsamoro's parliamentary districts. Although the districts are yet to be constituted. The Bangsamoro parliamentary districts will exist independently from the legislative districts used to determine representation in the national House of Representatives.
There are also legal provisions to deter members of the parliament to switch political party allegiance. Changing political party affiliation within the term of a parliament member's term means forfeiture of seat. Changing of affiliation within six months prior to a parliamentary elections renders the person ineligible as a nominee of a political party seeking representation in the parliament.