Bicam sets new BARMM election date on October 13

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate and the House of Representatives have agreed to move the date of the first parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) from May 12 to Oct. 13.

The two chambers of Congress convened as a bicameral conference committee yesterday to reconcile their versions of the BARMM poll postponement bill, which was earlier certified as urgent by President Marcos.

The Senate ratified the bicameral report during a plenary session last night, making the postponement bill a step closer to the President’s signature.

Sen. JV Ejercito, who sponsored the Senate version, said the House agreed to adopt the senators’ proposal for a five-month postponement instead of one year or to May 11, 2026.

Subsequent BARMM polls will be synchronized with the national elections in 2028, and every three years thereafter.

The postponement intends to give the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) adequate time to reapportion seven parliamentary seats to be vacated by Sulu.

The Supreme Court removed Sulu from BARMM after residents rejected the inclusion of the province in the Bangsamoro region during a plebiscite in 2019.

Members of the BTA will serve in a holdover capacity until the new officials are elected, according to the reconciled bill of the Senate and the House.

Senate President Francis Escudero said there is a need for the BARMM elections to push through this year.

The BARMM elections was first postponed to 2025 from 2022 during the previous administration.

Escudero said the bill does not have any provision requiring the holding of a plebiscite in Sulu. He said the reconciled measure seeks immediate effectivity of the postponement upon publication in the Official Gazette.

Escudero said the postponement ensures that the BARMM’s first parliamentary elections will be clean, credible and peaceful.

Meanwhile, House Deputy Minority Leader and Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman rejected the decision of the bicameral conference committee to reset the BARMM elections.

Hataman said the postponement weakens the trust in the electoral process.

He said the continued delay in the BARMM elections would set a wrong precedent and could erode the people’s trust in the electoral system.

“If we really want peace, let the Bangsamoro people freely choose their own leaders through the elections in May 2025,” Hataman said. — Jose Rodel Clapano, Roel Pareño