Comelec: 6 months needed to prepare for Bangsamoro plebiscite

(Updated 5:41 p.m.) If Congress would be able to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law in March, the plebiscite could be held six months after or in October, the Commission on Elections said Friday.

 

Elections Commissioner Christian Robert Lim said they would be needing six months to prepare for the plebiscite and three months of that would be taken up by conducting bidding activities.

“We see, at the earliest possible time, the holding of the plebiscite will be in October of 2015. We will need six months to prepare for the Bangsamoro elections,” Lim told the Senate committee on local government when asked by Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on the timeline for BBL.

 

He added that adjacent barangays should also be given time to file petition to join the plebiscite.

 

“There is also a provision in the bill that allows the adjacent barangays to join in so you have to give a time allowance for them to submit their petitions to be included in the Bangsamoro territory,” Lim said, adding that the Comelec needs to be given enough time also to resolve the petitions.

 

Once enacted, the BBL will be subjected to a plebiscite covering the existing geographical area of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM): the six municipalities of Baloi, Munai, Pantar, Nunungan, Tagaloan and Tangkal in Lanao del Norte; 39 villages in North Cotabato; and the cities of Cotabato and Isabela.

 

The deal also states that adjacent areas can choose to form part of Bangsamoro’s territory via a resolution from their local governments, or a petition of at least 10 percent of all qualified voters in the area submitted two months before the ratification of the law creating the new political entity.

 

Lim said they could start preparing for the plebiscite as soon as the bill is approved by the Senate and House of Representatives. 

 

“We will start preparing the allocation, to allocate how many of the supplies we are going to need,” he said. 

 

The poll official noted that the plebiscite can be held later than October but it should not go beyond January when the election period begins.

 

“We can hold elections up to the last day before the election period for 2016 begins, that should be before January 9,” Lim said. 

The BBL stemmed from the peace agreement signed between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in March last year. The agreement called for the establishment of the new Bangsamoro political entity to replace the ARMM.