MANILA – Deputy Minority Leader and Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman on Monday said postponing the 2025 Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections to May 2026 would explicitly violate the constitutional mandate for synchronized elections.
Hataman said the Supreme Court (SC) laid out in the 2011 case of Kida vs. Senate of the Philippines that national and local elections should be synchronized, except the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (Youth Council) elections.
“Gustuhin man nating ipagpaliban ang halalan sa BARMM, it is my opinion na hindi natin ito magagawa dahil labag ito sa mandato ng Konstitusyon na dapat ang mga halalan ay synchronized (We may want to postpone the BARMM election, [but] it is my opinion that we can’t do it because it is against the mandate of the Constitution that polls must be synchronized),” Hataman, a former governor of the now-defunct ARMM, said.
Hataman said the SC ruling includes autonomous regions like the BARMM.
“Kung ipapagpaliban natin ang 2025 BARMM elections, at ayon sa panukalang pinag-uusapan natin sa Kongreso ngayon ay every three years na ang halalan, the succeeding elections would fall on May 2029. Hindi na synchronized sa national elections natin (If we postpone the 2025 BARMM elections, and based on the proposed measure we are now deliberating in Congress, that election is [done] in every three years, [then] the succeeding elections would fall on May 2029. Our national elections will no longer be synchronized),” he said.
Hataman maintained that the BARMM polls should be synchronized with the May 2025 midterm elections.
“My position remains: it is time for the people in the Bangsamoro region to choose their own leaders,” he said.
He said although the issue of Sulu’s exclusion from BARMM is “very serious”, both Commission on Elections chairperson George Garcia and Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity Secretary Carlito Galvez believed the ruling was not final.
Hataman noted that there is still a possibility that the Supreme Court may overturn its decision on the matter.
“It’s just proper to go on with the 2025 BARMM election,” he added. (PNA)