THE possibility of the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE) still failing to happen in March 2026 remains alive.
This, as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is looking at postponing the BPE to a later date in case their time to prepare is not adequate.
"Inaaral namin na kung sakali kulangin kami sa panahon, maaring ilipat ng Comelec ng saglit lang ang halalan (We are studying the possibility that if we run out of time, the Comelec may slightly move the election date), dependent sa Section 5 ng Omnibus Election Code," said Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco in a televised public briefing.
Section 5 of the Omnibus Election Code provides that the Comelec may, motu proprio or upon a verified petition, postpone the scheduled elections to a date, which should be reasonably close to the date of the election not held, when there are cases of violence, terrorism, loss or destruction of election paraphernalia or records, force majeure, and other analogous causes.
He said another contingency plan for the commission is to shift to a manual system of elections.
"Inaaral natin sa ngayon kung pwede ang manual election para gawin ito. Nakikita namin na maaring feasible ito (We are currently studying whether a manual election can be done for this. We see that it may be feasible)," he said.
"Nakikita namin na talagang matindi at kailangan may halalan sa March 31. Kaya gusto namin isulong talaga ang pag-aaral kung possible ang manual elections (We see that the situation is truly serious, and an election must be held on March 31. That s why we really want to push for studying the possibility of holding manual elections)," Laudiangco added.
Earlier, the Supreme Court ruled to declare as unconstitutional both the Bangsamoro Autonomy Act (BAA) 58 and 77.
In turn, the SC directed the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) to craft a new districting law by October 30, 2025.
The decision, thus, resulted in the BPE being moved by the Supreme Court to no later than March 31, 2026. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)