President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday certified the urgency of the proposed bill that seeks to postpone the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) elections.
Asked for confirmation by reporters about the President’s decision, Presidential Communications Office acting secretary Cesar Chavez replied, “This is confirmed.”
Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero did not clarify whether the Senate’s or the Congress’ bill was certified as urgent.
The Senate’s proposed bill to reschedule the elections from May 12, 2025, to October 13, 2025, was approved for its second reading.
Meanwhile, the House of Representative’s bill has been approved for its third and final reading. Their bill aims to delay it for another year.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia messaged the reporters via Viber and said that they have not started the ballot printing for the BARMM polls yet.
“Because of this recent development (s), we have not yet proceeded with printing the BARMM parliamentary ballots. Only the national and local elections ballots,” Garcia said.
“The reason is that we may end up opening the filing of candidacy anew for the region in the event of redistricting due to reapportionment of the slots originally assigned to Sulu,” he added.
Escudero assured that he had discussed the certification of the bill as urgent with Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and said that they are eyeing the bill’s third reading being passed by the following week.
