Three committees of the House of Representatives approved substitute on Thursday a bill that would postpone to 2025 the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) elections, which was originally scheduled next year.
The approval was jointly done by the Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms chaired by Negros Occidental Rep. Juliet Marie Ferrer, Committee on Muslim Affairs chaired by Lanao del Sur Rep. Ansaruddin Adul Malik Adiong, and Special Committee on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity chaired by Maguindanao Rep. Esmael Mangudadatu last Thursday.
The bill will now be transmitted to the plenary for another round of deliberations.
Under the law, the BARMM elections are supposed to take place at the same time as national elections in May 2022, but several bills in the Senate and the House of Representatives have called for postponing the regional polls to 2025.
Mangudadatu, head of the technical working group that consolidated House Bills 8116, 8117, 8161, 8222 and 8277, said lawmakers discussed amendments to the substitute bill last August 4.
He earlier said that the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) āneeds more timeā due to the disruption brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Maguindanao Rep. Datu Roonie Sinsuat presented during the hearing the revised substitute bill and moved for its approval.
The bill provides that the BARMM elections, originally scheduled on the second Monday of May 2022, would be reset to the 2025 elections.
Mangudadatu clarified that the provision fixing the term of the BTA members until 2025 does not necessarily mean that whoever gets appointed would automatically enjoy their present term until the afternoon of June 30, 2025.
He explained that the next President would be the appointing authority and would have the discretion on the term of office of appointed BTA members.