ISTANBUL

Lawmakers have moved a bill in the Philippine Congress proposing to reschedule first elections in the southern Bangsamoro Autonomous Region to 2026.

The first elections since a referendum on autonomy was held in 2019 are set for May next year.

But House Speaker Martin Romualdez and other representatives filed a bill seeking to reset the first regular polls to May 11, 2026.

The bill was moved in Congress on Tuesday and released to the public on Wednesday.

Earlier, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero introduced a similar bill in the upper house of Parliament.

If both houses of parliament adopt the bill, it will then go to the president for his assent.

It would be second time if the bill is adopted as law that polls in the southern region have been delayed.

Earlier, polls were scheduled in 2022, which were postponed to 2025 by the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

After nearly six decades of armed conflict between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Philippine army in Mindanao, a cease-fire agreement was signed in 2012.

In January 2019, a referendum approved the "Bangsamoro Organic Law," officially establishing the "Bangsamoro Transition Authority" in the region.

Haji Murad Ebrahim was appointed and sworn-in by then Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as the interim chief minister of the newly formed Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in February 2019.​​​​​​​

Bangsamoro is home to approximately 5 million people, with the majority being Muslims.