THE House of Representatives is now considering postponing the first regular elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), a leader of the House of Representatives said on Monday.
House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, in an interview, said the bill postponing the BARMM election will be tackled immediately after the State of the Nation Address of the President or when session resumes on July 26.
“We are now considering the initiative to postpone the BARMM election. We heard both sides, we will now have the House joint committees led by House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms chaired by Negros Occidental Rep. Juliet Marie De Leon Ferrer come out with their committee report or their recommendations, moving forward, so that we know what to do with the postponement measure in place,” he added.
“There are some challenges also to actually holding the election for the lack of [an] Electoral Code. It might be quite challenging to conduct the election without a final Electoral Code of the BARMM. But I don’t want to preempt the committees in the issuance of the report, [but] that will be handled as soon we resume session on July 26,” he added.
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.
Earlier, Ferrer explained that the ongoing pandemic warrants postponing the elections, but said that, “we remain optimistic as vaccines are on the way.”
Also, Special Committee on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity Chairman Esmael Mangudadatu of Maguindanao has said that in previous hearings on the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, it was revealed that the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) “needs more time” due to the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
But Kusug Tausug Party-list Rep. Shernee Tan-Tambut had earlier said postponing the elections will only cover the BTA’s inadequate performance.
Duterte ‘neutral’
President Duterte will remain “neutral” over the proposal to extend the transition period for BARMM.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte made the decision after his two meetings with those who are for and against the extension. The first meeting was on June 16, 2021, while the latest was held just last Thursday.
“The decision of the President after the two meetings with both parties is to remain neutral and leave it to Congress to decide if they will pass a law to extend the transition period for the Bangsamoro Transition Authority,” Roque said.
Without the legislation, the three-year BARMM transition period will end next year with the election of its officials.
Stakeholder positions
Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan he is against the extension as it is against the existing law; he wants to ensure BARMM will finally be governed with elected leaders by next year. “What we want is for the [BARMM] officials to have a mandate, because as I told the President, it will be very awkward for BARMM officials to be governing without a mandate,” Tan said.
Bangsamoro Transition Authority Interim Chief Minister Ahod “Al-haj Murad” B. Ebrahim said he is backing the extension as he thinks a three-year transition period is not enough to restructure the Bangsamoro government, which will operate through a parliamentary system.
He said the delayed release of the BARMM budget, as well as the Covid-19 pandemic pushed back the completion of the transition phase.
Murad noted that out of the 11 BARMM local officials at the second meeting with the President, only Tan was against it.
Plebiscite requirement?
Roque said the issue of the BARMM extended transition period also split the Cabinet, with the Department of Justice (DOJ) saying it no longer has to go through the plebiscite.
However, Presidential chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo said otherwise: the process must still be approved through a plebiscite.
“So within the Cabinet itself there were two different opinions [which] were expressed and I think that was also one reason why the President became neutral [on the issue],” Roque said.