Parliament Bill No. 407
In committeeAn Act Providing for the Creation of Parliamentary Districts in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
Provides for the Creation of Parliamentary Districts in BARMM.
Filed
First Reading
Second Reading — CommitteeNow
Second Reading — Plenary
Third Reading
Approved
Enacted
Under committee study or floor debate. Amendments are still possible, and this is the stage where public input carries the most weight.
What this measure does
The Bangsamoro Parliamentary Districts Act of 2025 — one of 2 bills under that exact title.
It apportions the region into 32 single-member parliamentary districts on population and geographical area, each as far as practicable contiguous, compact and adjacent, and each with a population of at least 100,000.
Its schedule uses the 2024 census: Basilan 541,947, Lanao del Sur 1,368,137, Maguindanao del Norte 741,428, Maguindanao del Sur 813,243, Tawi-Tawi 482,645, Cotabato City 383,383 and the Special Geographic Area 214,703.
It was filed on 28 October 2025 by MP Mohammad S. Yacob with some 30 other members and co-authors. It remains in committee.
Why it was proposed
Section 2 declares the policy as equitable representation of the region's constituents in the apportionment of parliamentary districts.
The occasion is the one 3 other bills in this registry address: Sulu's exclusion from the region left seats apportioned to a province no longer in it, and the map had to be settled before the first parliamentary election.
Who it affects
- Every voter in the region.
- Candidates for the 32 district seats.
- COMELEC.
Who would implement it
- Commission on Elections
- Bangsamoro Parliament
Funding
No appropriation. The bill appropriates nothing.
What changes if it becomes law
- Nothing yet. The bill is in committee; the measure that became law on the same subject is Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 86.
Raised during deliberations
No published record of the debate on this measure. Parliament’s journals cover sittings up to March 2023 only, and no committee report on it has been published.
What to notice
This bill and Bill 415 carry the same short title, the same declaration of policy, the same criteria including the 100,000 floor, the same 32 districts, and the same 7 province populations — 541,947, 1,368,137, 741,428, 813,243, 482,645, 383,383 and 214,703, the 2024 census, summing to 4,545,486 in both.
They are not the same bill. This one was filed on 28 October 2025 by MP Mohammad S. Yacob, with around 30 members as authors and co-authors — among them MP Mohagher Iqbal and DFL Atty. Raissa Jajurie. Bill 415 was filed 13 days later, on 10 November, by MP Naguib G. Sinarimbo with 9 others. Bill 415 passed and became Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 86 on 12 January 2026. This one has not moved out of committee.
So the earlier bill, with 3 times the signatures, stopped; the later one with the same text became law. The registry records both and nothing in either document explains the relationship between them.
With Bills 347 and 351 that makes 4 measures redrawing the same 32 districts inside a single year, 2 counting the region at 3,944,692 and 2 at 4,545,486.
How to take part
Submit a position paper via the Parliament's Call for Position Papers page, or attend/watch the responsible committee's public hearings.
Sources