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Against the Tide of Extension: MILF CC Voices ‘Earnest Appeal’ for Holding of May 2025 First Bangsamoro Parliamentary Polls

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MILF COMBATANTS. This is a file image by Photo-journalist Mark Navales showing Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants against a backdrop of dark clouds. For illustration only.

Sheikh Salamat Hashim, founding chairman of the MILF in a file photograph taken by Edd K. Usman in Buliok Complex, the MILF camp after the group abandoned Camp Abubakar As-Assidique in Matanog, Maguindanao (del Norte now). This photograph was taken on the morning of September 11, 2001, believed to be his last picture by a journalist before he died in July 2003. The occasion was the visit of Libyan Ambassador Salem Adam with Muslimin Sema, who headed an MNLF faction, and Ustadhz Ahmad Noor Darping, a missionary working for Libya. Buliok Complex was attacked and bombed by the military on the orders of then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as Muslims across the world were celebrating Eid’l Adha on February 11, 2003. The bombs fell as the MILF founder was leading the Eid’l Fitr early morning prayers. It was believed he was hurt in the attack.

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COTABATO CITY (SDN) — It may surprise many, but that’s what it is!

The Central Committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chaired by Ahod Balawag “Al-Hajj Murad” Ebrahim is going against the tide of appeals for the extension of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA). Since January 2019 the BTA has been governing the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

“NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the MILF Central Committee (CC) hereby earnestly appeal(s) for the 2025 parliamentary elections in the BARMM to proceed as scheduled, consistent with the call of His Excellency President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. in numerous speeches referring to elections in the region,” the MILF CC says in its Resolution No. oo2, Series of 2024, dated 09 November. (Underscoring supplied)

Apparently, the MILF as gleaned from the resolution is not totally averse to resetting the regional polls, but the “consequences of such resetting must honor the objectives and spirit of the CAB and BOL — one of which is that the MILF shall lead the (BTA), without prejudice to the participation of the MNLF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front).”

Of course, CAB is the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro while the BOL is the 2018 Bangsamoro Organic Law, which established the BARMM to implement the CAB.

Ebrahim has been the interim chief minister of the Bangsamoro region appointed by the then President Rodrigo R. Duterte, along with 79 Members of the Parliament (MPs) — 41 belonging to the MILF, 39 government endorsed — making the MILF the majority.

As the majority in the unique Bangsamoro Parliament under a Republic Government, the MILF governs the BARMM through its United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP).

Elections for the inaugural parliamentary polls in the region was to be held in May 2022, but the BTA’s life span was extended for another three years by Duterte.

Read: UBJP President Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim Says MILF Participation in Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections ‘Historical, Transformative’, Leads Filing of Intent to Participate

When President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. won in 2022, he re-appointed Ebrahim as chief minister, along with the MILF’s nominees and those the government recommended. Again, the MILF forming the majority.

On November 8, UBJP President Ebrahim with UBJP Executive Vice President Mohagher M. Iqbal, other party officials and some of the nominees of the MILF’s political wing, trooped to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office inside the Bangsamoro Government Center (BGC) Complex here in the city.

It was the day the UBJP, one of the 10 regional parties the Comelec accredited, filed its Manifestation of Intent to Participate in the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE), as well as the submission of its nominees with party and sectoral representative bets for MPs.

Recall that the Parliament already issued a resolution asking the two chambers of Congress to extend the transition period of the BARMM, citing the confusion caused by the Supreme Court decision authored by Senior Associate Justice Marvic V.F. Leonen cutting Sulu from the umbilical cord of the Bangsamoro family.

The High Tribunal said the decision was immediately executory, thus the island province is no longer part of BARMM since September this year.

In response to the Parliament’s appeal for extension (therefore, resetting of the parliamentary polls), House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez and Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero filed House Bill (HB) 11034 and Senate Bill (SB) 2862, respectively, that seek the resetting of the BPE to May 11, 2026, a one-year period of extension.

Much earlier, Marcos, Jr., according to Ebrahim, had assured support for the MILF in the parliamentary polls through the machinery of the administration Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP).

The BARMM chief minister had also, in the spirit of the President’s pronouncement for a stronger mandate through the electoral process, agreed that being elected would give a strong mandate (if the MILF retains leadership of the Bangsamoro government.

Ebrahim has described the first-ever participation of the MILF as “historical and transformative”.

“Today marks a very historical event for the (MILF), as the (UBJP) officially files its manifestation to participate in the first regular election for the Bangsamoro Parliament this coming May (12), 2025,” the UBJP head says in a statement shared with reporters and bloggers,” he points out.

“The filing of candidacies of UBJP’s (25) candidates for parliamentary districts and the (40) nominees for the party representation seats marks a transformative change in the Bangsamoro from bullets to ballots and from armed struggle to electoral struggle.”

In a related development, the Parliament seats for MPs are now down to 73 after the removal of Sulu’s seven district representatives.

In the parliamentary polls, the party that gets the majority will be able to choose and elect the chief minister as well as appoint heads of the BARMM’s 15 primary ministries.

Signed by MILF CC Secretary Muhammad Ameen and “Attested” by Ebrahim (but absent his signature), the MILF issued the resolution at Camp Darapanan, Crossing Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte.

The Bangsamoro region, established in 2018 by the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), is made up of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the Special Geographic Area’s (SGA) 63 barangays or villages that voted “Yes” in a plebiscite in February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction. With the recent plebiscite at SGA, the BARMM now has eight new municipalities as residents voted “Yes”.

According to the Philippine Atlas BARMM has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities (plus eight newly established under the SGA: Basilan, 11 municipalities; Lanao del Sur, 39; undivided Maguindanao, 36; Sulu, 19; and Tawi-Tawi, 11. Its component cities are Cotabato (the regional center and capital) in Maguindanao; Lamitan in Basilan; and Marawi in Lanao del Sur.  (✓)

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Note: The MILC CC Resolution No, 002, Series of 2024:

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