Marcos urges voters to take part in the 2025 BARMM elections; leaders grateful

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Some political leaders were happy to hear President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urge the Bangsamoro people to vote in the region’s first elections scheduled next year, as it meant the elections would finally push through amid calls by some groups to have it extended again.

“I also take this opportunity to remind you to exercise your right to suffrage as you chart your political future in the forthcoming first BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) elections in May 2025,” the President said on Monday during his visit to Camp Abubakar in Barira town of Maguindanao del Norte, where he joined the 10th year commemoration of the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).

The peace deal signed between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) eventually pave way for the creation of the expanded autonomous region or BARMM.

READ: Marcos to ones who’ll disrupt BARMM polls: ‘Don’t even think about it’

Fulfillment

The President said that next year’s first elections in the BARMM would be the fulfillment of the people’s “democratic right to realize and achieve meaningful autonomy as enshrined in the CAB.”

“I urge you, safeguard those rights, empower yourselves, take part in the shared tasks of nation building. Hindi lamang ako umaasa na malinis at mapayapa ang halalang ito pero higit sa lahat, ang bawat kandidato ay tangan ang prinsipyo ng Bangsamoro; ang Bangsamoro muna, bago sarili. As your president, I reassure that you will have an honest, orderly and credible conduct of the electoral process,” the President said.

He also warned those who would threaten or derail the upcoming elections. “H’wag niyo nang isipin iyan dahil ang kakalabanin na ninyo ay ang pamahalaan. Instead, channel your energy to help build productive and thriving communities where citizens are offered and living spaces,” he added.

Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman, also the House deputy minority leader, said he was happy that the President recognized the right of people in the Bangsamoro region to choose their leaders.

READ: Barmm political parties forge alliance for peaceful parliamentary polls

Not only for the few

“The Bangsamoro is for the Bangsamoro people and not only for the few. It’s high time for the people to write their own history. There’s no real democracy unless the people have the power to choose their own leaders,” Hataman said.

Under the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) that created the BARMM, the first elections was originally scheduled in 2022, but an amendment in the BOL during the 18th Congress extended the term of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) for another three years and rescheduled the first BARMM elections in 2025.

Recently, however, several civil society groups who formed themselves into the League of Bangsamoro Organizations (LBO) , have been agitating for another three year extension of the BTA term.

Hataman lauded the President for his commitment to push through with the scheduled 2025 elections in the BARMM.

Elections next year

“Malinaw na malinaw ang sinabi ni Pangulong Marcos: tuloy na tuloy na ang BARMM elections sa susunod na taon (It was clear what President Marcos said: the BARMM elections will push through next year). His statement left no room for ambiguity. The people of the Bangsamoro will get an opportunity to exercise their democratic rights under the Constitution and under the Bangsamoro Organic Law,” Hataman said.

Hataman shared the President’s commitment to hold honest and orderly elections in BARMM next year, saying the time has come for the Bangsamoro people to choose their leaders.

The Basilan representative was among political leaders in the BARMM who recently joined hands to form a strong political alliance in preparation for the first elections in the MILF-dominated BARMM next year.

Hataman’s Bangsamoro People’s Party (BPP) have joined hands with the Al Ittihad-UKB Party of Suharto “Teng” Mangudadatu, a former Sultan Kudarat governor who currently serves as the director general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) and Lanao del Sur Governor Datu Mamintal “Bombit” Alonto Adiong Jr.’s Serbisyong Inklusibo Alyansang Progresibo (SIAP) political party and Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan.