THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) held a mock election last week in several areas in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to test out the voting system it will install for the Sept. 14 polls.
The simulation was not required by law, but Comelec chairman George Garcia said it was carried out anyway to make sure that the voting machines, which had been deployed in previous elections, would be glitch-free on election day.
The BARMM elections had already been postponed thrice. It was supposed to coincide with the 2022 national elections, but former president Rodrigo Duterte reset it for May 2025 because a regional electoral code had not been passed and the country had not fully recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Comelec moved the date to October of the same year, but the Supreme Court ruled that no election could be held until the question of reallocation of seats in the BARMM parliament following the withdrawal of Sulu from the regional grouping was resolved.
In October last year, the Supreme Court rejected the region’s redistricting laws as unconstitutional, and ordered the Comelec to hold elections on March 31 this year.
Delays in settling the redistricting issue made it legally and operational impossible for the Comelec to properly prepare for a March 31 ballot. Congress had to pass a bill setting Sept. 14 as the new date.
The Comelec was already in a now-or-never mode. It had spent half a billion pesos just for printing the 2.4 million ballots that were eventually discarded. Another half a billion had gone to early logistics distribution, personnel training and initial supply procurement. The poll body had to ask Congress for a half billion pesos more.
Sept. 14 could be the last window for pushing through with the BARMM elections. Next year the Comelec will be focusing on laying the groundwork for the 2028 presidential polls.
The postponements have raised concerns that BARMM is trapped in what Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri describes as a “cycle of disenfranchisement.”
“This is not the future of democratic peace and efficient governance that we envisioned for the region,” Zubiri had said.
An article posted by the PeaceBuilders Community Inc.’s (PBCI) Infocom Team said that “for communities which sacrificed for self-determination, this delay can feel like a betrayal. For those in the margins of the peace process — women, youth, Indigenous Peoples — it can reinforce the perception that decision-making remains in elite hands.”
The scheduling delays could also erode public trust in the national government’s commitment to the Mindanao peace process.
Without a duly elected governing body for the BARMM region, the decommissioning of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is at a standstill. Mohagher Iqbal, who heads the group’s peace-implementing panel, has said the decommissioning process would remain frozen until the national government delivers on its socioeconomic promises for the region.
The impasse could create a power vacuum that could draw in private armies and rogue militia groups.
Many economic and political analysts believe that Mindanao’s role in shaping the country’s economic future has grown immensely, despite the conflicts that continue to beset the island. Mindanao averaged a growth rate of 4.69 percent, outpacing the national GDP of 4.40 percent. Five of its six regional economies are among the top 10 fastest growing regions in the country. The Davao region alone has delivered P1.14 trillion in total economic output.
It is now the country’s biggest food basket, with Northern Mindanao being the second largest agricultural contributor.
It goes without saying that the government must see to it that Mindanao’s vast potential as an economic powerhouse is not wasted.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. recognizes this potential and has laid out strategies toward that end.
The president has directed the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to speed up the Road Network Development Project in Conflict Affected Areas in Mindanao, which includes 80.97 kilometers of road extensions within BARMM’s underserved communities.
Through the president’s initiative, BARMM has secured over P2.4 billion in new agri-industrial investments so far this year.
The only thing missing is the political impetus that a government structure like a parliament provides.
