Bill postponing BARMM polls hurdles House panel

A HOUSE of Representatives committee on Wednesday approved a measure seeking to postpone the general elections of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) by a year to 2026.

Approved by the House suffrage and electoral reforms panel, the bill consolidated various measures seeking to defer BARMM’s first regular elections to May 11, 2026 from May 12, 2025, according to a copy obtained by ����ý.

Subsequent elections are scheduled to be held on the second Monday of May 2029, and every three years thereafter, the bill stated.

The proposed law was filed by congressmen to give the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) time to address governance and administrative issues arising from a Supreme Court (SC) decision excluding Sulu from the autonomous region. The high tribunal rejected a petition seeking a reversal of the decision on Tuesday.

Mt. Province Rep. Maximo Y. Dalog, Jr., who heads the House suffrage and electoral reforms committee, said the bill would be taken up by the plenary “either in the first or second week of December.”

The Philippine government enacted the Bangsamoro Organic Law in 2018 following a multi-year peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. It mandated the creation of the BTA to serve as an interim regional government, which was established after its ratification in 2019.

The BARMM government’s lawmaking power is vested in a parliament, with members hailing from the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Tawi-tawi, and Sulu. It was set to be composed of 80 members, of which 40 are political party representatives and eight are sectoral representatives.

The remaining 32 seats are allotted for BARMM’s congressional districts. Sulu province was slated to have seven districts up for grabs before the SC ruling.

“This resetting is crucial to ensure a just and credible electoral process for the first and historic Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections,” Member of Parliament Don Arbison Loong said in a statement provided to the House suffrage and electoral reforms panel.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. is vested with the authority to appoint new 80 interim members of the BTA while no successors have been elected, according to the bill. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio