SENATE Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III and Senate electoral reforms committee chairperson Imee Marcos on Tuesday opposed suggestions to postpone the first ever elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
“The BARMM electrons must push through,” Pimentel said in a text message to reporters.
Marcos said it is time for the BARMM residents to elect the leaders that they want.
“I am really against it (postponement) because the voices of the people need to be heard. Our Muslim brothers’ voices should be heard and we should allow them to vote for the candidates they truly desire,” Marcos said in an ambush interview.
“We are always being intimidated with chaos and bombings. I don’t like being threatened. I believe and I’m convinced that our Muslim brothers and sisters have already renounced violence. They don’t want to live that way anymore,” the senator said in Filipino.
Marcos surmised that those opposed to the BARMM polls were after the substantial amount of public funds estimated at P490 billion so far being poured into the autonomous region.
“’Yung sa block grant pa lamang… P70 billion a year tapos plus, plus, plus, kaya pinag-iinteresan ng marami at ‘yung iba siguro gusto na manatili na forever ang kadatungan na ‘yan (That’s only the block grant…P70 billion a year, then plus, plus, plus. That’s why many are interested,” Marcos noted.
Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri also warned of a backlash if the BARMM polls would be postponed for the second time.
“We promised then during the extension that we would do it only once so as not to subdue the people’s will that can only be determined through an electoral process. Therefore, we need to know what their justification is for the extension and if it merits an extension,” said Zubiri, principal author and sponsor of the Bangsamoro Organic Law.
“I also know that an extension is not popular with the locally elected leaders and could cause a backlash and therefore, we should study that proposal very carefully. I will await the proponents’ explanation in the coming weeks, but due to the tight legislative schedule left because to the budget and the elections, postponing it through a bill would be a very difficult task to do,” he added.
