Marcos certifies as urgent bill postponing BARMM polls
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has certified as urgent legislation that would postpone the first regular elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Presidential Communications Office Secretary Cesar Chavez confirmed on Wednesday, January 29.
The certification would allow lawmakers to fast-track the bill's passage by bypassing the standard three-day waiting period between readings.
The move comes as both chambers of Congress work on different versions of the bill postponing the BARMM polls.
The Senate has approved on second reading a bill that would reschedule the BARMM parliamentary elections from May to October 2025. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives passed its version last December, proposing to move the elections to May 2026.
Calls were made to postpone the region's first parliamentary elections, originally scheduled for May 2025, following a Supreme Court decision to exclude Sulu province from BARMM.
The president had signaled this direction last November, stating that his administration was carefully examining the possibility of postponement in light of what he called the "unintended consequence" of the Supreme Court's decision to exclude Sulu from BARMM.
The BARMM, established in 2019, is an autonomous region in Mindanao created as part of a peace agreement between the Philippine government and Moro Islamic liberation groups. — Cristina Chi
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