Proposals to delay BARMM polls also seek to change makeup of BTA interim gov’t before May 2025

The proposal has strong backers within the government but also faces many vocal critics. Bangsamoro stakeholders and observers told the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism the next two weeks will be crucial in shaping the future of BARMM.

By Carmela Fonbuena
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

It’s not a simple postponement proposal. The identical bills filed in the Senate and the House of Representatives do not just seek to delay again the schedule of the first regular elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

The bills also seek to change the composition of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) as soon as they are passed into law.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) asked Congress to decide whether or not it is postponing the BARMM polls before it is scheduled to print ballots in the middle of December.

Senate Bill 2862 and House Bill 11034 seek to move the BARMM elections from May 12, 2025 to May 11, 2026.

If passed into law, it would be the second postponement from the original schedule under the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), Republic Act No. 11054, which scheduled the elections after a three-year transition period or in May 2022.

If the bills are passed without amendments, the terms of the current BTA members will be “deemed expired” as soon as the proposal becomes a law. The BTA members are supposed to serve until June 30, 2025 or after the May 2025 elections, coinciding with the terms of elected national and local officials.

Section 2 of the bills state the following:

Section 2. Upon effectivity of this Act, the President shall appoint the 80 new interim members of the BTA who shall serve until their successors shall have been elected and qualified. The term of the current duly constituted Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) shall be deemed expired.

The BTA is the interim regional government composed of 80 Malacañang-appointed parliament members who serve as “caretakers” until the region holds its first regular elections. It has executive and legislative powers, with parliament members also serving as ministers of various BARMM offices.

Under the BOL, the transition period shall be led by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the former rebel group that negotiated the creation of the autonomous region in a peace process with the government.

It is currently led by Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim, who is also the MILF chairman.

The MILF is thus expected to continue to lead the BTA even if the elections are postponed again. However, the individual members of the interim government could change.

In the two occasions that parliament members were appointed — first in 2019 after the BARMM was created, and second in 2022 after the first postponement — at least 41 of the 80 Malacañang appointees were MILF nominees. The rest were Malacañang appointees coming from the Moro National Liberation Front and various sectors including women, indigenous peoples, and settler communities.

The 41-39 distribution secured MILF’s control of the BTA; however, criticisms have been raised regarding the former rebel group’s lack of inclusiveness in the parliament.

Section 2 was not discussed in Senate hearing

The Senate committee on local government began deliberations on the proposal on Thursday, November 7.

Section 2 was not discussed. The Senate hearing focused on the impacts of the Supreme Court decision excluding Sulu from BARMM.

The discussions ranged from the need to redistribute the seven parliament seats previously allocated to Sulu districts to the aspirations for the Supreme Court to favor motions for reconsideration and overturn its decision to return Sulu to the BARMM.

The need to create provinces and congressional districts for the newly created towns in the Special Geographic Area (SGA) was also discussed. The SGA consisted of 63 villages of Cotabato that voted during the plebiscite to join BARMM.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, who is opposed to the postponement of the BARMM elections, said Section 2 is “moot for us.”

“We don’t have that in mind. We don’t need to concern ourselves with Section 2. It is moot and academic for us. We want the elections to push through,” he told the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ).

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who attended the committee hearing, was concerned about the additional cost of separating the BARMM elections from the national and local elections.

Asked about Section 2, Gatchalian told PCIJ that “that legal aspect should be studied very carefully because postponing the elections will not only deprive our BARMM constituents their right to suffrage but additional expense will be incurred if we move it next year,” he said.

Logistical concerns

There are logistical concerns that can arise if the law is passed before the end of the year, which appears to be the timeline.

BARMM Cabinet Secretary and spokesperson Asnin Pendatun said they have reached out to the office of Senate President Francis Escudero, who filed the bill deferring the BARMM elections to May 2026.

“Section 2 is about new appointments as soon as it becomes a law,” said Pendatun. “We could still surmise that the new appointments, assuming that the bill will be passed into law as is, will still be MILF-led. From the Chief Minister to the majority of the composition of the members of the parliament,” he said.

But there could be a vacuum in the BARMM if appointments are not promptly made.

The appointment process had been characterized by jostling for parliament seats and heated lobbying on both sides to finalize MILF’s 41 nominees and the government’s 39 appointees. This has delayed the appointments in the past. 

Depending on the timeline, installing new appointees could affect the BARMM parliamentary government’s ongoing deliberations on the region’s 2025 budget.

“We just have to be clear about what will happen during the interregnum,” said Pendatun.

“Upon the bill passing into law, the period from that to the issuance of the appointment from Malacañang. Assuming that right on the day of the passage, appointments will shortly come after, then we will not have a problem,” he said.

Section 2 of the Senate bill also raised concerns among BARMM employees, who may lose their jobs if the BTA members employing them are not reappointed.

Political agenda?

The proposal has strong backers within the government but also faces many vocal critics. The Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) issued a long legal opinion dismissing justifications for the postponement of the BARMM polls.

“This proposal fails to meet the strict criteria set by the Supreme Court in Macalintal vs. Executive Secretary for election postponement. Regular, periodic elections are fundamental to democracy and should only be postponed under truly exceptional and compelling circumstances,” LENTE said in a statement.

Gus Miclat, director of the Initiatives for International Dialogue and long-time observer of the peace process, said there are “mixed reactions” on the ground about the postponement of the BARMM polls.

But he was concerned about Section 2. “If indeed there is going to be a postponement for only one year, there is no need to appoint a new set of officials in the BARMM, but to just have the current ones as holdovers,” he told PCIJ.

“Think of the learning curve for any new appointees. One year is not enough. Unless there is a political agenda behind this. Then, there’s the rub,” Miclat said.

Section 2 could be “tedious and polarizing,” said Benedicto Bacani, executive director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG).

He said the government will spend considerable time on the process to appoint new BTA members, with significant lobbying involved.

“How can we expect the BTA to address legal concerns out of the Sulu decision,” he said.

MILF leaders weigh in

The BARMM interim government has issued a statement saying it is leaving the matter of postponing the elections to the “wisdom of Congress.”

The MILF leaders are individually divided on the postponement proposal, however.

Mohagher Iqbal, a high-ranking MILF leader, told PCIJ it would be more advantageous for the former rebel group if elections push through next year.

He was confident the MILF’s political party, the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), would win a majority of seats in next year’s parliamentary elections and keep the BARMM leadership.

“When you are elected by the people, you have more legitimacy. But when we are appointed by the President, although he has that appointment power, Our authority is less,” he told PCIJ.

Maguindanao del Norte Gov. Abdulraof Macacua, who was present at the Senate hearing on Thursday, said he supported the postponement. He is the chief of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces.

Either way, Iqbal said that if the BARMM polls are postponed, they can focus on helping their local candidates in the provinces and municipalities. “If most of our candidates win the local elections in the provinces and municipalities, that would give us more chances to win in 2026.”

But Malacañang should take their nominees to the BTA “as is,” he said. “The Bangsamoro Organic law says that the transition is going to be MILF-led so we are going to submit names, including the Chief Minister. It follows that maybe the same people will be reappointed or maybe there are changes,” he said.

“The Chief Minister right now enjoys full support and backing from the rank and file of the MILF. I think there will be minor changes in the list of nominees. As to the final composition, it’s still early to tell,” he said.

If the bills are approved and elections are postponed, what can happen in a year? “Your guess is as bad as my guess,” said Iqbal.

Bangsamoro stakeholders and observers told PCIJ that the next two weeks will be crucial in shaping the future of BARMM. “We will debate,” said Pimentel. — PCIJ.org