MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) Malacañang has given up on the possibility of postponing the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), with five days to go before the actual polls.

"We asked for [a] postponement but the final decision must come from them [Congress], so we submit to their sound judgment," Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said Wednesday.

The House of Representatives adjourned Monday evening without passing the bill seeking to reset the August 11 elections to May 2010 in Mindanao's autonomous region.

Amid efforts by Palace officials to woo senators, no one has filed a bill in the Upper Chamber to postpone the polls.

The postponement of the elections was among the demands of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is seeking a peace agreement with the government.

While acknowledging that pushing through with the ARMM election "upsets the timetable," Dureza said it would not complicate the peace process.

"It's not a condition to the peace process . . . sana kung hindi natuloy [if the ARMM polls were deferred], we will have a little flexibility. But every election is democracy in action, so we should take it as that," Dureza added.

Congressman Arthur Defensor, majority floor leader at the House of Representatives, echoed the Palace sentiment.

“In so far, as the postponement of the [ARMM] elections, we can no longer postpone…because the Senate is not moving,” Defensor said Wednesday.

The House has started floor deliberations on a measure, resetting the ARMM elections from August 11 this year to May 2010 but was unable to vote on the proposal Tuesday for lack of quorum.

But Defensor said the House would try to vote again this Wednesday but doubted whether it would pass even on second reading.

“We hope we can ask the plenary to come to a vote but we are not of course sure whether we would be able to pass this on second reading,” he said at a press conference.

“But we will do our best based on best efforts principle because we know, we understand the present situation that even if we pass this on third reading nothing will happen to this bill because nothing is moving in the Senate,” he said.

Defensor pointed out that no counterpart bill has been filed in the Upper Chamber and the senators haven’t expressed interest to postpone the elections.

Despite this, Defensor said the House would pursue the approval of the measure if only to express its “goodwill” and prove its “sincerity” to the Muslim people.

“We need to express or manifest our goodwill to our Muslim colleagues, to our Muslim brothers. We want to prove our sincerity even if what they ask or are asking from us may not be able to get the desired results,” he said.

“But just the same, we want to express very clearly that we share their desire for an attempt [to achieve] a final peace settlement in Mindanao,” he said.