28 Lanao del Sur mayors favor reset of 2025 BARMM polls

COTABATO CITY — A large bloc of mayors in Lanao del Sur are supporting the effort of their governor and three other provincial chief executives to have next year’s supposed first-ever Bangsamoro parliamentary elections reset to 2026.

The 28 mayors, out of the 39 in Lanao del Sur, belong to the pioneer regional political party in the autonomous region, the Serbisyong Inklusibo, Alyansang Progresibo (SIAP) and are staunch political allies of the re-electionist Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr.

Adiong, along with three other governors, Abdulrauf Macacua of Maguindanao del Norte, Hadjiman Salliman of Basilan and Ysmael Sali of Tawi-Tawi, pointed out in a written statement released on Wednesday, bearing their signatures, that they want the first ever 2025 parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao held in 2026 instead.

Radio reports in Central Mindanao cities on Thursday, November 21, stated that all the 28 mayors in Lanao del Sur belonging to the SIAP party are behind Adiong in his bid to reset the BARMM parliamentary polls.

Mayors in Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte and Basilan had earlier signed manifestos expressing favor for Senate Bill 2864 and House Bill 11034, introduced by Senate President Francis Escudero and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, respectively, as enabling measures to legitimize the rescheduling of the 2025 BARMM elections to 2026.

Adiong, who is a senior SIAP official, said he is grateful to the party’s 28 mayors in Lanao del Sur for manifesting favor for the postponement of the regional elections that he, Macacua, Salliman and Sali, had asked for in the statement that they released to media outfits on Wednesday.

Regional newspapers and radio outfits in BARMM and nearby cities in Regions 10 and 12 have recently reported many times that SIAP now has more than 600,000 members and supporters across the Bangsamoro region. 

Adiong said there is a need for ample time to prepare for the BARMM parliamentary elections, which is something so new to voters in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte Basilan and Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato.