ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Bicam panel sets BARMM polls on Oct. 13

Bicam panel sets BARMM polls on Oct. 13

Published Feb 4, 2025 07:29 am

Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero said on Tuesday, Feb. 4 that the bicameral conference committee has approved setting the first-ever Bangsamoro Autonomous Region In Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) polls on Oct. 13.

"Ang inadopt five months, October 13 ang halalan, pumayag ang kamara. May mga pagbabago ring pinanukala ang kamara na inadopt din ng Senado (Five months was adopted. The election will be on October 13, and the House agreed. The House also proposed changes that the Senate adopted)," he said in a chance interview.

"Ang pangunahing rason kung bakit nireset ito ay security reasons. Manipis ang allocation ng ating security forces dahil kasabay ng halalan (The main reason it was postponed is due to security concerns. Our security forces have limited resources because of the coinciding elections)," Escudero explained.

According to Escudero, the time requested by security and election officials was to reposition them to ensure that the first election in the BARMM will truly be clean, credible, and peaceful.

Under the approved bicam report, once it's enacted, Comelec will be tasked to issuing rules and regulations in case the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) will reallocate Sulu's seven seats.

"Pwedeng buksan muli ang filing ng Certificate of Candidacy para makapagfile yung mga kandidato sa pitong seats na bubuksan kung saka-sakali ng BTA (Filing for the Certificate of Candidacy may be reopened to allow candidates to apply for the seven seats that may be made available by the BTA)," he added.

He said that the bicam report is set to be ratified by both chambers within the day.

Escudero said that they did not discuss Sulu's possible reinclusion to BARMM as it will become another reason to postpone the elections.

It was Senator Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri who filed a bill seeking to include the Province of Sulu in BARMM.

Senate Bill No. 2915 sets a plebiscite for this purpose and allows its constituents to once again vote on Sulu's inclusion, "now guided by the positive experiences that they have enjoyed over the past six years under the Bangsamoro Government."

Pimentel votes against resetting BARMM polls

Senate Minority Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III voted against the postponement of the BARMM polls. He pointed out that the first regular elections is of "doubtful constitutionality" specifically in violation of Section 8 of Article X of the Constitution.

Next, he stated that postponing the first regular elections desynchronizes it with the national elections. He also added that postponing the elections is not the solution to the disenfranchisement of the eight municipalities in the Special Geographic Area awaiting the creation of Kutawato Province. He mentioned while this is an important issue, this deserves a separate solution.

"Using this as a reason to further delay elections only worsens the problem. It should be noted that the constituents in the said eight municipalities can vote in the upcoming BARMM elections even during the original schedule," Pimentel explained.

He also pointed out that resetting the elections is costly.

"A whopping estimated cost of P1 billion to P3 billion will be needed for the postponement of the elections, according to the Commission on Elections. These funds could be better allocated for other essential public services," he said.

Lastly, the Supreme Court ruled that the inclusion of the Province of Sulu in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region is declared void for being unconstitutional. This decision resulted in the need to reapportion the seven district seats originally designated for Sulu. Yet he mentioned that postponing the elections is not the answer to address this dilemma.

Related Tags

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III barmm polls Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero Commission on Elections (Comelec)
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.