The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to decide on Wednesday whether it will postpone the first Bangsamoro parliamentary polls following the suspension of preparations for the elections.
During the Kapihan sa Manila Bay on Wednesday, Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia shared this development, noting that the seven-person Comelec en banc will hold its session to decide on this matter.
‘Maybe later in the afternoon, the Commission on Elections will have a decision whether to postpone [the elections] or not,’ Garcia said.
The Comelec suspended the preparations for the elections, starting September 17, in compliance with the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court to the poll body and the Bangsamoro Transition Authority from implementing Bangsamoro Autonomy Act (BAA) No. 77, the law that redistributes the seven seats originally allocated to Sulu province.
Garcia earlier said the poll body was eyeing the postponement of the Bangsamoro elections on the recommendation of its Project Management Office and law department, in the absence of a clear law guiding the distribution of parliamentary districts in the region.
Garcia also shared that the poll body received position papers from all stakeholders, with many of them recommending the postponement of the elections.
Garcia noted that the pendency of the case of the BAA No. 77 before the Supreme Court and the TRO will be the basis of their decision on the postponement.
However, Garcia said the poll body is not blaming the Supreme Court for the status of the cases in relation to the elections filed before the high court.
He added that the Comelec could invoke the poll body’s powers to postpone the elections under Section 5 of the Omnibus Election Code.
The provision states that the Comelec shall postpone the elections ‘for any serious cause such as violence, terrorism, loss or destruction of election paraphernalia or records, force majeure, and other analogous causes of such a nature that the holding of a free, orderly and honest election should become impossible in any political subdivision.’ /cb