The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday warned winning candidates in this year’s Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections that they cannot assume office if they fail to file their respective Statements of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE).
“All official candidates in the September 14, 2026 BARMM Parliamentary Elections are required to file their Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE),” the Comelec’s latest advisory read.
“No elected candidate shall assume office unless the submission of SOCE is complied within the period allowed by law,” it stressed.
The Comelec has been reminding winning BARMM candidates daily for the past 11 days that the deadline for filing their SOCEs is Wednesday, 14 October.
The first BARMM parliamentary elections were held on 14 September to elect representatives who will fill the region’s parliament.
Of the seats, 40 were allotted to representatives of political parties, 32 to representatives of parliamentary districts and eight to representatives of sectoral organizations.
The Comelec earlier said 2,018,478 people voted in the BARMM polls out of 2,393,000 registered voters.
The poll body said this represented an 84.34 percent voter turnout, the highest in the country’s electoral history.
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