Before the 19th Congress adjourned for their Christmas break in December last year, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading the bill seeking to postpone the first-ever regular elections for the members of Parliament in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) this coming May 12, 2025, scheduled to be held alongside the mid-term national and local elections. The elections are for the BARMM Parliament and its provinces, including Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Tawi-tawi. After a recent plebiscite, BARMM expanded its administrative scope to include Cotabato City and 63 barangays of North Cotabato.
With usual speed, the House plenary deliberations gave its go signal for House Bill (HB) 11144 that will pave the way for the deferment of the first BARMM parliamentary elections to May 2026 instead. HB 11144 had since then been transmitted to the Senate. If enacted into law, it will also end the term of the present 80-man Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA). To ensure continuity of the BARMM operations, the bill authorizes President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) to appoint new interim BTA members who will serve until their successors are elected, whenever this will be.
The speedy approval of this measure came on the heels of the Supreme Court (SC) decision on Sept. 9, 2024 in favor of the petition of Sulu local government to remove their province from the BARMM. Principally authored by Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, Muslim leaders cited the urgency to defer the BARMM Parliament polls. Another Muslim legislator, Rep. Khalid Dimaporo of Lanao del Norte, underscored the government has been investing heavily in BARMM. This obviously referred to the P70-billion annual block grant allocation automatically appropriated by the national government.
There is the plunder complaint filed at the Office of the Ombudsman against Cotabato City Mayor Mohammed Ali “Bruce” C. Matabalao and his co-respondents. The complaints were initiated by Cotabato City councilors and concerned citizens who accused their incumbent mayor of alleged P89.41 million in unaccounted public funds. They filed the graft case in August last year. It certainly does not speak well for the BARMM which has been getting the fullest funding support from the national government as well as financial aid and donations from the international community
Since resolution of the case remains pending at the anti-graft body, it did not stop Matabalao from running for reelection. As the seat of the BARMM regional government, Cotabato City plays a very important role to lead by example in good governance.
As the May 2025 elections approach, voters must be informed of the candidates’ integrity and trustworthiness.
No less than Senate President Francis Escudero filed a bill to defer the BARMM polls to help avert potential legal issues that may arise from the SC ruling. In excluding Sulu from the BARRM, the SC left open the seven legislative districts of Sulu in the 80 BARMM Parliament seats. According to Escudero, the Senate targets to approve his counterpart bill to defer the BARMM elections before the adjournment of congressional sessions on Feb. 5.
As of yesterday, Escudero noted there was a growing consensus among the senators to just delay the BARMM Parliament elections by three or five months at the most. The Upper Chamber estimates it will give enough time for the BTA to pass a local legislative measure reapportioning the seven seats originally intended for Sulu to the rest of the BARMM provinces. In this way, the Senate chief explained, the BARMM will not have to go back to Congress for amendments of the law.
Escudero cited PBBM also already certified as urgent the administration measure to postpone the BARMM polls. Thus, the Senate will be able to approve the bill on second and third reading on the same day, probably next week. But it will still go through the bicameral conference committee to reconcile the Senate with the House version, which called for one year deferment of the BARMM polls.
“We have seen unintended consequence of the decision ng Supreme Court… Kailangan lang natin tapusin ‘yung sa – ‘yun nga sa mga consequences ng Supreme Court decision,” PBBM pointed out.
Whatever will be finally approved by Congress may yet pose another complication for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on its pre-set schedule of activities preparatory to election day on May 12. Headed by veteran election lawyer George Erwin Garcia, the seven-man poll body has so far gingerly walked over challenge after challenge thrown their way in trying to ensure glitch-free polls using the latest technology on automated election system (AES).
Incidentally, the Comelec of the Philippines has been elected as vice chairman of the Association of World Electoral Bodies (A-Web) and as vice chairman also of the Association of Asian Electoral Authorities (AAEA) to serve in both capacities from 2025 to 2026. This means our country’s Comelec will automatically take over as chairman of both world organizations. This will truly be historic for the Comelec that got this recognition for its successful modernization of the Philippine electoral process.
With the SC ruling declared final and executory on the exclusion of Sulu, the Comelec proceeded with the printing of the ballots starting with the BARMM. The Comelec initially printed six million ballots for the national and local elections, including the BARMM Parliament polls. The Comelec was forced to suspend last week its printing of ballots after the SC issued 11 temporary restraining orders (TROs) one after the other in favor of certain national and local candidates that the Comelec had disqualified.
Also due to an SC ruling that paved the way for the holding of the October 2023 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BKSE), the Comelec is also set to proceed with its next scheduled election in December this year.
With the prospect of Congress approval of BARMM Parliament polls being delayed to either September or October, the Comelec will hold three elections one after the other this year.