“The United Bangsamoro Justice Party is committed to protecting the Bangsamoro people and safeguard the gains of the Bangsamoro Peace Process.”
By EDD K. USMAN | @edd1819 | @bluestar0910 | SDN — Science and Digital News
Short link: https://wp.me/paaccn-iqR
COTABATO CITY (SDN) — After endorsing its bet for President in the May 9, 2022 national and local elections (NLE), the political party of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) endorsed a set of 12 candidates for senators.
It can be recalled the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) of the MILF anointed Vice President Leni Robredo on April 23 as its choice to succeed President Rodrigo R. Duterte in Malacañang.
The UBJP has entered the endorsement bandwagon in the coming political exercise, choosing whom to endorse after much deliberations by the party leadership.
They make their choice according to what they believe would protect and preserve the gains of the Bangsamoro peace process.
MILF Chairman Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim is president of the UBJP, officially signalling the former revolutionary group’s participation in the country’s political process, with the idea started as early as 2013. It became a reality officially in 2015.
That came after the Philippine government and the MILF signed the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) on March 27, 2014. It marked the conclusion of the 17 years peace negotiations between the two formerly warring parties, a conflict that pitted Filipinos versus Filipinos.
Hordes of Filipinos are expected to troop to the polling places for the NLE and vote for a President, Vice President, senator, governor, congressman, party list representatives, city and municipal mayors, and councilors. Information the Commission on Elections (Comelec) had released showed this year’s NLE has 65.7 million registered voters.
“The United Bangsamoro Justice Party is committed to protecting the Bangsamoro people and safeguard the gains of the Bangsamoro Peace Process. After careful assessment of the track record, conviction, and contribution to the Bangsamoro of candidates for Senators in the 2022 National Elections, the UBJP has decided to officially endorse the following hand-picked candidates for Senators,” the MILF party explained.
They are:
- #64 JUAN MIGUEL “MIGZ” ZUBIRI
- #49 ROBIN PADILLA
- #30 SHERWIN “WIN” GATCHALIAN
- #34 RISA HONTIVEROS
- #61 JOEL “TESDAMAN” VILLANUEVA
- #31 RICHARD “WOW DICK” GORDON
- #40 LOREN LEGARDA
- #62 MARK VILLAR
- #32 SAMIRA GUTOC
- #20 CHEL DIOKNO
- #8 HERBERT “BISTEK” BAUTISTA
- #22 JV “THE GOOD ONE” EJERCITO
The UBJP made its choice known in a press statement sent today, May 2, to SDN — Science and Digital News.
“As a genuinely-principled political party, the UBJP respects the electoral exercise and urges the voting public to exercise their constitutional right of suffrage on May 9, 2022. We join everyone in praying for a safe, clean, peaceful and honest elections,” the party said in the statement.
Much earlier, the UBJP also endorsed local candidates running for various positions in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.
Comprising the Bangsamoro autonomous region are the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi as well as 63 villages designated as Special Geographic Area (SGA) in North Cotabato province (which itself is not part of BARMM). (✓)