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Senate prevails on reset of BARMM elections
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Senate prevails on reset of BARMM elections

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The Senate had its way on the question of resetting the parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) as its version prevailed during the bicameral conference committee meeting on Tuesday.

This means that the first regular election for members of the Bangsamoro parliament will be on Oct. 13 this year, five months after the conduct of the national and local elections, as contained in Senate Bill No. 2942.

Under House Bill No. 11144, which was firmed up in December last year, the schedule was set for May 11, 2026, or a year after the 2025 midterm elections.

The bicameral conference committee report was adopted during the Senate’s session on Tuesday afternoon.

In presenting to the Senate plenary the results of the bicameral conference committee meeting, Sen. JV Ejercito, chair of its committee on local government and head of the contingent of senators, said they were also able to harmonize on three other disagreeing provisions.

One is to keep the current 80 members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority on holdover capacity until Oct. 30 this year, when those elected in the Oct. 13 polls assume office.

Another is to realign the succeeding parliamentary elections with the regular schedule of national and local elections, instead of having it permanently desynchronized.

Funds for Sulu

Still another is preventing new filings of certificates of candidacy (COCs) for parliamentary district contests and nominations for party representatives, making those who filed their COCs from Nov. 4 to Nov. 9 last year as eligible candidates.

The filing of COCs can only be entertained for seven new parliamentary districts in the event the interim Bangsamoro parliament reallocates those seats originally intended for Sulu, which is no longer part of the BARMM per the ruling of the Supreme Court in September last year.

Ejercito told the Senate plenary that they acceded to a House stipulation on authorizing the use of the Bangsamoro block grant for Sulu in 2025, subject to the regulations of the Department of Budget and Management.

House Deputy Minority Leader and Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman, who opposed the resetting of the regional polls, welcomed the provision on the use of block grant for Sulu.

“While we do not agree with the postponement of elections, we thank the bicameral committee for agreeing to our proposal to allocate funds to Sulu in 2025 from the block grant and to ensure that the BARMM elections are automated,” Hataman said.

“This is important for our fellow citizens in Sulu to ensure the continuation of government services and programs for the people,” he added.

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“More than six years of transition is enough,” said Hataman, who participated in the bicameral conference discussions on Tuesday but refused to sign the committee report.

“We do not agree with the postponement of elections because it is an important process in our democracy,” said Hataman, who had advocated for the regional polls to proceed as scheduled on May 12 this year. “Elections are a way to hold those who will govern BARMM accountable to the people. We cannot normalize the continued postponement of elections.”

Passage of the measure to reset the BARMM regional polls had been certified as urgent by President Marcos. It was firmed up amid recent allegations of irregularities in the use of over P6 billion in regional government funds.

Security concerns

Emerging from the bicameral conference meeting, Senate President Francis Escudero told reporters that the postponement was due to security concerns earlier raised by the Commission on Elections and law enforcement agencies.

“The [deployment] of our security forces [in the BARMM] was too thin because of the [midterm] elections. Our security and elections officials were asking for enough time to reposition [their personnel],” he said.

“This will help ensure that the first-ever elections for the BARMM [parliament] will be truly clean, credible and peaceful,” Escudero added. —WITH A REPORT FROM MARLON RAMOS


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