More mayors favor BARMM poll delay

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — More local executives in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao have joined the groups seeking to defer next year’s BARMM parliamentary elections to 2026.

Radio reports in Central Mindanao yesterday said 10 of the 12 mayors in Basilan province have signed a manifesto favoring the postponement, after Gov. Hadjiman Salliman released his separate petition that favors a 2026 poll.

Among those who signed the manifesto in Basilan is Mayor Roderick Furigay of the vote-rich Lamitan City, which covers 45 barangays.

Last Sunday, 11 of 12 mayors in Maguindanao del Norte, led by Northern Kabuntalan Mayor Ramil Dilangalen, also released an appeal to call for a postponement of the BARMM elections, scheduled to coincide with the May 2025 midterm polls, to give the government enough time to prepare for the exercise.

The sectors seeking to move the first BARMM elections to 2026 have argued that more time is needed to reconfigure the 80-seat regional parliament after the Supreme Court decided to remove Sulu province from the autonomous region’s core territory.

Senate Bill 2864 and House Bill 11034, filed by Senate President Francis Escudero and Speaker Martin Romualdez, seek to reset the polls.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which runs the BARMM, opposes the postponement.