The Senate committee on local government endorsed on Thursday, May 20, the approval of the bill that would postpone the first elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to 2025.

Senator Francis Tolentino, committee chairman, sponsored during their plenary session Senate Bill No. 2214, which consolidates two bills on the proposed deferment of the BARMM polls from 2022 to 2025.

Under the current Bangsamoro Organic Law, the first parliamentary election in the region was set next year, along with the May 9, 2022 national and local elections.

In his sponsorship speech, Tolentino said the proposed suspension of the election received an "overwhelming support" not only from the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) and local government units in the BARMM, but also from non-government organizations and civic groups.

"Indeed, the committee sees the need to extend the BARMM transition period in order to implement the political and normalization efforts embodied in the CAB (Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro). However, it is also mindful of its impact to the Bangsamoro people's right to assert their democracy in the said region and exercise their right to suffrage," he said.

"Although the BTA has considerably delivered some of its mandates, there is so much work to be done," he added.

Tolentino clarified, however, that the extension of the transition period, if enacted, "does not, in any way, condone even the littlest inefficiency in public service."

Under the Senate bill, the President must appoint 80 new interim members of the BTA. During the extended transition period, the BTA would be mandated to prioritize its mandates under the Bangsamoro Organic Law.