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- EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN — SciTech & Digital News
COTABATO CITY, February 21, 2024 (SDN) — On February 17 and 18, the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) kicked off in grand style its preparations for the May 2025 first parliamentary election in the autonomous region.
The political exercise will mark the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF) initial and official participation in the country’s political exercise through the UBJP, its political arm created in 2013.
Though there’s a pending petition in the Supreme Court filed by some Bangsamoro leaders questioning the constitutionality, or at least parts, of the Bangsamoro Electoral Code (BEC), the mode of the UBJP is the regional polls will push through.
A UBJP insider relayed this to SDN — SciTech & Digital News, saying the mode of the leadership of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) is not to be sidetracked by the petition. But to have a mindset the election would push through.
According to BARMM Chief Minister Ahod B. “Al-Haj Murad” Ebrahim, MILF chair, the forthcoming political exercise is a challenge that should be overcome.
“The next challenge is how to win the election. We now have a government. We now have a political party,” said Ebrahim, president of UBJP, at the inauguration on February 18 of the party’s Headquarters in the city’s Barangay Tamontaka 1.
A day before the inauguration, the UBJP conducted its 1st Regional General Assembly at the Cotabato State University (CSU) Oval along Sinsuat Avenue. The UBJP Secretariat which organized and managed the hugely successful event placed the registered participants at 29,000 warm bodies.
Participants traveled from BARMM’s island provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi. Those from the mainland motored to the city from Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, and Maguindanao del Sur.
Ebrahim cited the statement of UBJP Executive Vice President Mohagher M. Iqbal, who said UBJP needs to win the election for the 80 Members of Parliament (MP) of the BARMM.
The UBJP president noted the national government has given the MILF mechanisms to show the former revolutionaries’ abilities as they transitioned from the battlefield to the political arena.
Ebrahim, former MILF chief negotiator but succeeded founding chair Ustadhz Salamat Hashim after his demise in July 2003, was apparently referring to the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), which is running the BARMM government under MILF leadership.
Since January 2019 the UBJP as Government of the Day has been governing the autonomous region which has 15 primary ministries, a unique setup provided for by the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and implemented by the 2018 Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), the BARMM Charter.
MILF top leaders, such as Ebrahim, Iqbal, Maguindanao del Norte appointive Gov. Abduraof Macacua, BARMM Senior Minister Abunawas Maslamama, Environment Minister Akmad “Toks” Brahim, Public Works Minister Eduard Guerra, and leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) like Labor Minister Muslimen G. Sema, among others, have until 2025 to showcase their political acumen and demonstrate their abilities in leading without their arms.
UBJP is BARMM Government of the Day
As the national and local elections draw near, Ebrahim hammered down the importance of unity among UBJP leaders and members, emphasizing that it’s vital the party unity is maintained and preserve.
“It’s not about personality, but the UBJP and beyond. That’s why have to help each other,” he continued his speech at the event, with the attendees applauding now and then in a sea of green, the party’s color.
Also at the event, Macacua, the MILF chief of staff of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (MILF-BIAF), stressed the importance of establishing the UBJP. “We have to strengthen the party.”
He cited the “umpungan” (organization, MILF) is still solid after more than 40 years.
It can be recalled that in 1977 Hashim, then vice chairman of a monolithic MNLF, split from the group headed by Nur P. Misuari, founding chairman, former the MILF because differences over signing of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement. The MILF waged its own armed struggle to establish an Islamic State in Southern Philippines.
Macacua said it’s important that UBJP carry and continue the struggle of the Bangsamoro people.
“Today,” he said, “the UBJP is the Government of the Day. Every move passes through the UBJP.”
The Maguindanao del Norte governor is UBJP secretary general.
“Let us thank PBBM (President Bongbong Marcos, Jr.) for his support. But let us not forget (former) President Rodrigo R. Duterte for the establishment of the BARMM,” Macacua said.
Iqbal, chair of the MILF Information Committee, noted revolutionary groups’ evolution from armed struggle to political participation. He said both struggles present challenges that require grit, hard work, and constancy of purpose. (✓)