Carlito Galvez asks Congress: Set BARMM polls’ date
MANILA, Philippines — Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. had asked the Congress to fix a date for the regional parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) following the failure to conduct the political exercise it earlier set on Oct. 13 this year.
Galvez revealed this initiative during his closing remarks before some 200 participants to the international conference on “After the Peace Agreements: The Bangsamoro and Beyond” held on Nov. 19 at Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati City, which was organized by the Cotabato City-based think tank Institute for Autonomy and Governance.
Galvez disclosed that the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity is talking with Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, principal author of Republic Act No. 11054, or the Bangsamoro Organic Law, to enact a law setting a new date for the BARMM Parliament polls.
READ: Group bucks putting off BARMM elections
He added that he had appealed to legislators to give priority to such a measure in order for the first-ever regional parliamentary elections to finally push through, after being reset three times.
‘Ashamed’
The historic Bangsamoro Parliamentary election was originally set on May 9, 2022, but was reset to May 12, 2025. It was again rescheduled to Oct. 13, 2025, which was postponed after the Supreme Court invalidated Bangsamoro Autonomy Act Nos. 58 and 77, leaving no basis for electing 32 parliament members who are to be district representatives.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the erstwhile rebel group whose peace accord with the government led to the creation of BARMM, also wanted the Bangsamoro Parliament election to proceed next year, as they are “ashamed of asking for another extension” of the transition period, according to MP Mohagher Iqbal, who heads the MILF peace implementing panel and also the education minister of BARMM.
“For the MILF, we are not only prepared to win, but we are also prepared to lose (in the elections),” Iqbal pointed out.
Galvez called on the Congress and the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), the interim government in BARMM, to convene through the Intergovernmental Relations Body, to thresh out the matter, like agreeing on the proposed districting law and a possible date of the election.
In a Sept. 30 ruling, the SC, after finding the impossibility of holding the regional elections on Oct. 13, set a time frame of “not later than March 31, 2026” for its conduct, subject to the enactment of a law creating 32 parliamentary districts throughout the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur; Cotabato City; and the BARMM’s Special Geographic Area composed of eight towns.
Galvez said Zubiri gave assurances “it would be easy to set the date of the election” once the BTA approves a districting law that complies with the Constitution.
Earlier, Member of the Parliament (MP) Ishak Mastura argued that the only body with legitimate power to set the date of the BARMM polls is Congress.
Mastura noted the SC’s Sept. 30 ruling even asked Congress to “promptly enact a law that would reschedule the BARMM Parliamentary Elections … as much as practicable, not later than March 31, 2026.”
The SC also tasked the BARMM parliament to enact the districting law not later than Oct. 31 this year, a deadline already missed. Now, the BARMM Parliament is targeting passage of the measure by Nov. 30, upon the urging of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which was concerned about having enough preparation time to assemble logistics and the requisite processes so an election can be held within the time frame set by SC.
Pressed for time
Galves told reporters at the sidelines of the international conference that BARMM interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua had committed to having a districting law by the second week of December, confident that it will still allow the Comelec enough legroom for poll preparations.
Iqbal also doubted if the Bangsamoro Parliament could pass the districting law on or before Nov. 30 .
Five districting bills are currently under consideration and the Parliament’s committee on local government, chaired by MP Naguib Sinarimbo, is pressed for time to come up with a harmonized version side by side with ongoing deliberations on the BARMM’s 2026 budget, which has to be the main focus of legislators.
