‘No consensus’ reached in Duterte meeting on fate of BARMM polls

MANILA, Philippines — No consensus was reached on the fate of the first regular elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) following a meeting between Congress leaders, regional officials, and President Rodrigo Duterte, who stood “largely neutral” on the matter.

“We had a meeting last night with the Officials of BARMM headed by Chief Minister [Al Hajj] Murad [Ebrahim] as well as all the Elected Governors of BARMM to discuss the bill on postponing the BARMM elections till 2025,” Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, who was among those who met with the President in Malacañang Wednesday night, told reporters in a message Thursday.

“President Duterte stood largely neutral on the issue and just pointed out the pros and cons of each side,” he added.

A bill seeking to postpone for three years BARMM elections scheduled in 2022 is awaiting Senate approval while the version of the measure remains pending at the committee level in the House of Representatives.

“Unfortunately there still was no consensus at the end of the meeting and the President directed them all to meet as a Council of Leaders meeting and resolve the issue amongst themselves before having them come back to Malacañang for the final meeting with him on the 24th. That’s how we ended our meeting last night. Hopefully a consensus can be reached by then,” Zubiri went on.

During the meeting, Zubiri said those supporting and opposing the postponement of the elections presented their respective position on the matter.

“[T]he BARMM officials presented a scenario that they have not really been able to govern and take off due to the late appointment of the Bangsamoro Transitional Authority (BTA) as well the [COVID-19 pandemic] which led to several shutdowns in the Region,” he added.

While the local governments of Lanao Sur, Basilan and Tawi-tawi backed the postponement, the local governments of Sulu as well and Cotabato City “kept insisting on the need to the right of suffrage in the Region which was acknowledged as well by the President,” said Zubiri.

Senator Francis Tolentino pointed out that conducting the polls as scheduled “may be difficult as there has been no passage of an electoral code for the region defining the positions and new districts at stake in the parliamentary set up provided for by the Organic Act which I authored,” the majority leader added.

As chairman of the Senate local government committee, Tolentino is sponsoring the BARMM election bill in the Senate.

“It is the BTA who should pass this Electoral Code. So according to Sen. Tolentino, that would take time to pass and 100 days till the filing of candidacies in October would be too short a time to do so hence the extension of the existing setup,” Zubiri explained.

Furthermore, he said that the absence of a BARMM election code would mean the Commission of Elections “would have no positions to elect for the region as the positions created by the ARMM have been abolished upon the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law.”

JE