Members of the Coalition for Social Accountability and Transparency (CSAT) said violence and chaos in Mindanao would likely happen if the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) elections are postponed until 2026.
Local terrorist organizations may exploit the disenfranchisement of voters, the group warned..
“We don’t want these groups, there and everywhere, to capitalize on the postponement of the election [at sabihin] na ‘o, ‘di ba sabi sa inyo lolokohin lang kayo ng gobyerno,’” Khuzaimah Maranda, a CSAT member from Lanao del Sur, said in a news conference in Makati on Nov. 12.
Political parties have spent money for the upcoming elections, and those who aspire to run for a position have already filed their certificates of candidacy, the multisectoral group said.
“Malaki gastos, malaki conflict [at] maraming illegalities na mangyayari if i-popostpone mo,” Rashid Bangcolongan, a CSAT member from Lanao del Norte, said.
Edchamcy Abelardo, a representative of non-moro Indigenous peoples in Maguindanao, said “postponement of election will add more pain to the process whether conflict or legislation.”
The coalition said postponing the elections would further marginalize the communities within BARMM and result in more significant displacement among indigenous populations in the region.
Abelardo stressed that electing regional leaders is necessary to ensure accountability, particularly in local governance.
“Having a strong government is not necessarily giving power to those powerful but to address the injustices to the minorities,” he added.
The May 12, 2025 polls will be the first general elections in BARMM, the autonomous entity created under the 2018 Bangsamoro Organic Law.
In October, the BARMM interim government requested a postponement of the polls after a Supreme Court ruling that Sulu province is not part of BARMM. Sulu voted not to join the autonomous region in a 2019 plebiscite. Aaron Bartilad
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