Stakeholders in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao have urged the Senate to act on the measure postponing the region’s first-ever parliamentary elections in May.
The House of Representatives, voting 198-4, approved on third and final reading last November House Bill (HB) 11144 that proposed to move the elections to the second Monday of May 2026.
House Speaker Martin Romualdez, author of HB 11144, said the postponement "would allow for more time for the promotion of broader participation from political parties and the electorate, and enhance their understanding of new electoral processes."
Senate President Francis Joseph G. Escudero filed a counterpart bill – Senate Bill No. 2862 – seeking to defer the elections as a result of the Supreme Court ruling excluding Sulu from the regional group.
The SC upheld the validity of the Bangsamoro Organic Law but declared Sulu is not part of the BARMM after it rejected the law in a 2019 plebiscite.
But Senate records said that no hearing has been scheduled to tackle the bill following the counterpart measure, prompting groups and stakeholders to continue calling on senators to act on the bill.
Senators have resumed sessions that will end on Feb. 8 before taking a break for the campaign period. After the elections, senators will reconvene from June 2 until June 13 and afterwards adjourn sine die.
BARMM governors have cited the necessity to postpone the electoral exercise.
"This purposeful resetting is intended to ensure that the electoral process is conducted with integrity and safeguards the fundamental right of suffrage by creating the conditions indispensable for its meaningful exercise," Basilan Gov. Jim Hataman Salliman, Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Alonto Adiong Jr., Maguindanao del Norte Gov. Abdulraof Macacua, and Tawi-Tawi Gov. Yshmael Sali said.
They said that the cause of their call is not politics, as it is the responsibility of the legislature to consider the welfare of BARMM residents.
Ten Basilan mayors – Roderick Furigay of Lamitan City, Nasser Abubakar of Lantawan, Moner Manisan of Tabuan Lasa, Jomar Maturan of Ungkaya Pukan, Jaydeefar Lajid of Albarka, Alih Sali of Akbar, Arsina Kahing-Nanoh of Muhtamad, Jul-Adnan Hataman of Sumisip, Arcam Istarul of Tipo-Tipo, and Talib Pawaki of Hajji Muhammad Ajul backed the postponement.
Presidential Peace Adviser Secretary Carlito G. Galvez Jr. also backed the move that will enable the national government and BARMM to fulfill commitments.
“By resetting the elections to 2026, we shall be providing both the national and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governments more time to focus their efforts in fulfilling the commitments they have made under all signed Bangsamoro peace agreements,” Galvez said during a hearing by the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms last November.