House okays BARMM polls postponement

The House of Representatives has approved on final reading a proposed bill postponing the first elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) from May 2025 to May 2026.

On Tuesday, House Bill 11144 hurdled the House with 198 affirmative votes, with four voting against.

The bill seeks the postponement of the 12 May 2025 BARMM polls to 11 May 2026 to provide more time for the BARMM to resolve various legal issues, including the recent ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) that excluded Sulu from the BARMM.

Proponents said resetting the first parliamentary polls would allow the autonomous region to have a broad understanding of the new electoral process.

The measure seeks to amend Section 13, Article XVI of Republic Act 11054, or the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, mandating the resetting of the election to the second Monday of May 2026 and every three years thereafter.

The bill cited the potential implications of the SC’s decision on the composition of the BARMM Parliament and in the preparations for the 2025 elections, considering the pending petitions to include Sulu again in the Bangsamoro Region.

Originally, the BARMM polls would have coincided with the nationwide midterm polls in May next year.

Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman, former governor of the defunct ARMM, said desynchronizing the “historic” BARMM elections from the national polls was not only a blatant violation of the Bangsamoro Organic Law but, more importantly, undermined the decade-long pursuit of the region to strengthen its institutions and become a more mature democracy.

“It went through decades of strikes, sacrifices, and negotiations. It is stated in the Bangsamoro Organic Law, which also went through a long debate, discussion, and political fight here in our hall, and above all it went through the plebiscite,” Hataman said in his speech at the plenary.

“If the [BARMM] election is postponed, what does it say about us? We fought for so long, then when the election [and] the very symbol of our self-determination is [almost] here, we will say we are not ready?” he said.

Under the House bill, the President shall appoint 80 new interim members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), who shall serve until their successors are elected and qualified.

The term of the members of the BTA shall be deemed expired once the law takes effect.

The BTA had appealed to Congress to move the BARMM polls to 2028 — to coincide with the national elections — citing legal and administrative challenges presently confronting the region, including the SC’s verdict on Sulu.

Last month, the SC ruled its verdict was final and immediately executory, closing the door to further pleadings.

The exclusion of Sulu would leave seven seats vacant of the 80 district seats in the BARMM.

Commission on Elections Chairperson George Garcia earlier raised concerns about how the seats would be filled but said they would abide by Congress’ decision.

The Institute for Autonomy and Governance and the Climate and Conflict Action have urged Congress to reconsider the postponement of the BARMM elections, warning of potentially serious consequences that could impact the peace process and the security in the region.

Senate President Franciz Escudero filed a counterpart bill in the upper chamber that would allow the BARMM to reconfigure its jurisdictions and reallocate the 80 parliament seats following the SC’s ruling.

The government is expected to shell out approximately P1 billion should the BARMM polls be postponed.