The office of Special Assistant to the President Antonio Lagdameo Jr. expressed support for a proposal by Congress to move the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) 2025 polls to 2026, citing the need to review issues surrounding the elections.
The Office of Special Assistant to the President (OSAP) said it is fully behind Senate Bill 2862 and House Bill 11034, which seek to postpone the BARMM elections.
The OSAP cited the formation of eight new municipalities in BARMM as one of the main areas of concern for the deferment of the polls originally set for next year.
The formation of the new municipalities “warranted Congress to create a new law in support of the region's Parliament Resolution No. 499 last September for the creation of a new province called 'Kutawato.'”
Several lawmakers expressed concern that voters in the newly formed municipalities wouldn’t be able to vote for representatives and their governor if Congress fails to pass a law creating the province of Kutawato in time.
It said this “would create unequal representation among Bangsamoro districts.”
A position paper by the OSAP also said that the postponement of the BARMM elections would address the recent Supreme Court (SC) decision that excluded Sulu province from the BARMM.
“Taking into account the now new Bangsamoro
territorial jurisdiction by virtue of the said decision, there is a need for a new enabling autonomy act for redistricting to reflect Sulu’s exclusion from the BARMM and ensure the required proportional representation among the remaining districts,” the paper read.
Although SC on Sept. 9 ruled as constitutional the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), it declared as unconstitutional Sulu’s inclusion in it because the province rejected the ratification of the BOL in a 2019 plebiscite.
BOL is the legal framework establishing BARMM’s governance and political structure.
But the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which included Sulu and voted as one geographical unit, agreed to the BOL and retained Sulu’s inclusion.
The High Court referred to Section 18, Article X of the 1987 Constitution, which states that “only provinces, cities, and geographic areas voting favorably in such plebiscites shall be included in the autonomous region.”
In the position paper, OSAP said it “finds the general text of the measure in order and concurs that there is a need to study all the legal implications arising from the Supreme Court decision on the Province of Sulu and revisit the current legal infrastructure to ensure proportional and equitable representation within the BARMM and prevent the disenfranchisement of its voters.”
“The foregoing questions and legal gaps necessitate the resetting of the conduct of the BARMM parliamentary elections,” it added.
Several other prominent figures and groups—Senate President Chiz Escudero, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU), Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Adiong, the Moro National Liberation Front Sema Faction, and the Bangsamoro Party—are also in favor of postponing the elections.