MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives on Tuesday, December 17, passed a bill seeking to reschedule the first regular parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to May 2026, in the wake of the legal complications posed by Sulu’s exclusion from the region.
A total of 198 lawmakers voted in favor of House Bill No. 11444, while four opposed it.
Under the measure, the first BARMM parliamentary polls will be held on the second Monday of May 2026, and every three years thereafter. Once the measure takes effect, the term of the present members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority is deemed expired, and the President has the power to appoint 80 new members of the BTA.
If the Senate approves a similar proposal and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signs the measure, it will be the second time that the BARMM parliamentary polls will be postponed.
Republic Act No. 11054, better known as the Bangsamoro Organic Law, stipulated that the first regular parliamentary election shall be held in 2022, simultaneous with the presidential polls.
In 2021, Duterte signed a measure postponing the 2022 BARMM elections, as various groups insisted that the Bangsamoro Transition Authority needed more time to enforce the BOL following the COVID pandemic-driven delays in government programs.
Lawmakers now calling for another postponement, including Speaker Martin Romualdez himself, said the Supreme Court decision removing Sulu from BARMM “has created a legal vacuum in both the BARMM parliament’s composition and its members’ scheduled elections.”
The High Court removed Sulu from the region since the province voted against the ratification of the BOL during a plebiscite in 2019.
“The bill seeks additional time to allow the resolution of various emerging legal issues, promoting broader participation from political parties and enhancing the electorate’s understanding of new electoral processes,” read the original House bill filed by Romualdez and other key House leaders.
Some civil society organizations, however, have thumbed down the proposed postponement, saying it deprives the Bangsamoro electorate of their right of suffrage.
“The voters are ready to vote, and there are also people ready to be elected. By delaying the conduct of the first-ever parliamentary elections in the BARMM, the right of the Moro people to choose their leadership is being denied,” House Assistant Minority Leader Arlene Brosas, among the four lawmakers who voted against the House measure, said in her manifestation on Tuesday. – Rappler.com