Government Asymmetry: a Strength in Democracy

The Philippines is a strongly unified country, unified through culture and national identity. However, through political means, BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) held its first parliamentary elections for the region as a historical milestone for the Philippines and for the future of political parties. However, since the system the Philippines uses today has many drawbacks, will the new parliament be superior to presidentialism?

Presidentialism revolves around a fixed term, strict separation of powers, and being directly elected by the people; on the other hand, parliament has people vote on parties, the parties vote on the Chief Minister, fused powers, and can easily remove a figure with votes.

On September 14, 2026, the region of BARMM held its first parliamentary election for its inaugural members, with 80 seats—40 seats for Party Representatives, 32 seats for District Representatives, and 8 for Sectoral Representatives- and over 2,393,202 voters across the region, setting the first term for October 30, 2026–June 30, 2031. This unique government system came from a rebellion and armed conflict by Moro liberation groups against the government. After decades of conflict, Former President Rodrigo Duterte signed the BOL (Bangsamoro Organic Law), or Republic Act 11054, which was the first steppingstone to the constitution or legal framework of the region.

However, critics argue that the people in the region have little knowledge on the new system according to the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and divide the country since it runs on two systems, however, with proper education to voters of the new system, we can reduce the number of voters who can't understand it, and two systems can't be seen as weaknesses, it is seen as strengths, as other nations also have a diverse system of governance like the United Kingdom which has England, Scotland, Wales, and other regions.

The BARMM parliamentary election truly is a remarkable and unique event in the history of the Philippines, being run by a different government instead of a presidential system, we shall wait for the time for the voted figures to run, for we can see if the parliamentary system is really superior to presidentialism.