President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. confirmed on Friday that he will sign the bill postponing the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections to fully focus on the first-ever Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections.

During the Kapihan with the Media in Bengaluru to cap his five-day State Visit to India, President Marcos stressed the significance of the BARMM polls, scheduled for October, for the region and for the peace process.

The President explained that preparing for both the BARMM elections and the Barangay and SK polls scheduled in December would overstretch the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and divert attention and resources from ensuring the success of the landmark BARMM vote.

“Ang COMELEC actually ang nagsasabi, ‘Hindi namin kaya.’ Dahil kailangan nating tutukan yung BARMM,” President Marcos said.

“You have to remember, the BARMM election that is upcoming in October is the first time we have ever had this kind of election at all. At all. Sa buong kasaysayan ng Pilipinas, hindi pa nagkaroon ng BARMM Parliament na hinalal ng tao. So, that is why it is so important,” the President continued.

President Marcos underscored that a failure of the BARMM elections would be a major setback for the peace process in Mindanao.

“If that election fails, malaking bagay, malaking failure ‘yan dun sa peace process. Kaya’t kailangan na kailangan maging matagumpay ang pagganap ng halalan ng BARMM. And that’s why we really, really are focusing on that,” President Marcos stressed.

The Chief Executive said that the Supreme Court ruling on the Barangay and SK elections was factored into the decision.

“With a view on the Supreme Court decision that we cannot shorten the term of the barangay officials, we are actually lengthening the term of the barangay officials. So that’s not in conflict. So I think the most sensible and the most common sense solution is to postpone” the Barangay and SK elections,” said President Marcos. | PND