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President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday said the call to suspend the 2025 Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections is still being studied.
In an ambush interview in Pangasinan province, Marcos was asked for a comment on the issue.
READ: SC: Sulu not part of BARMM
“We’re still studying it. Some of the local officials are saying — because of the Supreme Court (SC) decision separating Sulu from BARMM — there are many implications in terms of changes that have to be made,” he said.
“There are seven districts in BARMM that used to be in Sulu. Now, they don’t have a congressman, they don’t have a province. There are also eight municipalities that have no district and no province, but won the plebiscite so they are part of the BARMM so we will create a new province,” he added.
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Marcos also explained that because of the separation of Sulu, the BARMM laws need to be changed, so the transition authority needs to work on the new system, the new administrative code, the new local government code, and the new electoral code.
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He noted that the SC’s ruling separating Sulu from BARMM has a lot of “unintended consequences.” For Marcos, it is better to settle the consequences first rather than conduct an election amid unresolved issues.
“It’s better to be right than to rush it and then just mess it up,” he added.
READ: In Senate, Escudero to file bill seeking to postpone BARMM polls
Last September, the SC upheld the constitutionality of the Bangsamoro Organic Law but ruled that Sulu province is not part of BARMM.
The region is set to conduct its first-ever parliamentary elections in May 2025, alongside the national and local elections.
Senate President Francis Escudero said he would file a bill seeking to postpone the BARMM parliamentary elections.
Bangsamoro officials have earlier sought congressional intervention to delay the parliamentary elections to prepare the region’s new jurisdiction.
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They also want to reallocate the region’s 80-member parliament seats since Sulu will no longer be entitled to seven seats.