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• EDD K. USMAN | X (Twitter): @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 |Facebook: SDN – SciTech & Digital News

COTABATO CITY, May 14, 2025 (SDN) — Agree or not, the 2025 National and Local Elections (NLE) turned out as the coming out party of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the political arena.

In fact, the triumvirate of MILF officials, Chair Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim, Chief of Staff Sammy Gambar, and Chief Negotiator Mohagher M. Iqbal appears to have made the right call leading to this year’s midterm polls that, as before, continued to grip the nation.

No surprise there.

Political exercises in the Philippines are a convergence of well-meaning and selfish agenda, of peace and violence, of blood and money, of vote buyers and vote sellers, of a fiesta-like atmosphere, of a fountain of joys and lamentations, of laughter and tears.

Can’t be wrong about that, huh?

Of course, it is safe to say the other members of the Central Committee of the Front also had their say, as it is the policy-making body of the erstwhile separatist revolutionary organization. Throw in the tens of thousands of members, supporters, and sympathizers who had shown and will continue to open their hearts for the Front.

Ultimately, it seems, it’s the trio, Ebrahim, United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) president, Gambar (Bangsamoro Chief Minister Abdulraof A. Macacua, replaced Ebrahim in March), UBJP secretary general, and Iqbal, UBJP vice president for Central Mindanao and executive vice president, the three rocks of resilience that matter most in strategic and crucial decision-making. One good thing, consultation” is a hallmark of the MILF.

Every gear of the engine of the MILF political machine’s unwavering support has been shown time and again every time the MILF calls for a General Assembly, mostly in Camp Darapanan, Crossing Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte, one of the five provinces of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

One example: When the MILF leadership called for a Consultative Meeting and General Assembly on September 23-24, 2024, with around 300,000 attendees. The second day was the MILF Central Committee Expanded Special Meeting.

As explained then to Travelin’ Light by Ustadhz Nhorul-am Abdullah, a senior political adviser in the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), attendees in the Day 2 Central Committee members, Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (MILF-BIAF) General Staff, Front commanders, Base commanders, Provincial Political Committee chairmen, their deputies, and all line agencies of the group, and the Women Sector of the MILF.

More recently, the MILF and its political wing, the UBJP, convened on May 9, three days before the midterm polls, a General Assembly of the MILF and grand “Miting de Avance” of the UBJP, with over 150,000 attendees, according to the meeting Secretariat.

It was there the MILF and UBJP announced its endorsement of the 12 senatorial candidates.

Before the event, come-backing senatorial hopeful Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan and wife Sharon Cuneta visited Camp Darapanan and met with Ebrahim, Iqbal, and Macacua, to ask for endorsement. Which he got.

Suffice it to say the MILF hit a jackpot in this year’s political exercise, including in the national level as nine (that’s nine) of the 12 senatorial candidates it endorsed are in the Top 12 presently and, barring any changes, are poised to land a coveted seat in the Senate.

The MILF’s 12 endorsees are Christopher “Bong” Go, Tito Sotto, Bam Aquino, Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, Francis “Kiko Pangilinan”, Rodante Marcoleta, Francis Tolentino, Erwin Tulfo, Pia Cayetano, Abby Binay, Imee Marcos, and Manny Pacquiao.

And who are presently in the current Top 12 candidates, as of May 14, 10:30 a.m., according to news reports a Comelec Partial and Unofficial Result cited by the Philippine Star.

• Go
• Aquino
• Dela Rosa
• Tulfo
• Pangilinan
• Marcoleta
• Ping Lacson
• Sotto
• Cayetano
• Camille Villar
• Lito Lapid
• Marcos

Only Lacson, Villar, and Lapid are not in the MILF endorsement. Three of the Front’s endorsees, Binay, Tolentino, and Pacquiao are outside of the Top 12.

In a statement, the MILF and UBJP (headed by Ebrahim as president) described the endorsement as being in “the best interest of the Bangsamoro peace process” and at the same time issuing a strong call to all “its members, supporters and sympathizers within the (BARMM) and all over the country to vote and campaign for the aforementioned candidates.”

The twin organizations also hit a jackpot in the political race, at least, in Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur, and Cotabato City, UBJP’S candidates winning in the said races.

Maguindanao del Norte

• Datu Tocao Mastura, governor-elect
• Datu Marshall Sinsuat, vice governor-elecr
• Bai Dimple Mastura, congresswoman-elect, House of Representatives

Maguindanao del Sur

• Datu Ali Midtimbang, governor-elect
• Ustadhz Hisham Nando, vice governor-elect
• Esmail “Datu Toto” Mangudadatu, congresswoman-elect, House of Representatives

Cotabato City

• Bruce Matabalao, mayor-elect
• Johair Madag, vice mayor-elect

Of course, not all the candidates the MILF/UBJP endorsed in the just-concluded polls triumphed, but the endorsement in the senatorial race hit the nail on its head with nine in the current Top 12. The “Magic 12” may change when the official, full tabulation of the polls’ Certificates of Canvass (CoCs) of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is completed. For now, the MILF can heave a sigh of relief that at least nine of its endorsees for the Senate are doing well, with the Top 5 of Go, Aquino, Dela Rosa, Tulfo, and Pangilinan continuing to lead.

This is not to say the Moro Front’s political act created a groundswell in the national level, maybe in the regional reckoning, because the endorsement came only a few days before the actual elections.

But one can certainly say that it took a lot of discernment, discussion, and decision-making in the elimination process the MILF leadership made in choosing its 12 senatorial bets. And a lot of luck the Moro Front chose correctly nine of the Top 12, as of presently.

What made this surprising feat more remarkable is that this is the first time ever the MILF participated in an electoral contest, with many of them first time voters as they spent many years of their lives in the jungles, thus, being out of mainstream society.

“Political savvy” is not a light word to ascribe to any individual, or group.

According to the Center for Creative Leadership leaders who are politically savvy or has the grasp of politics has six aspects, such as: 

• Social astuteness
• Interpersonal influence
• Networking ability
• Thinking before speaking
• Managing up
• Apparent sincerity

Travelin’ Light does not claim that Ebrahim, Macacua, and Iqbal possess all the six qualities of politically skilled leaders, surely at least some of the traits because they are certainly leaders and at the forefront of the Bangsamoro struggle, then and now, including the 17 years of protracted peace negotiations with the Philippine Government (GPH) — 1997 to 2014.

The Center for Creative Leadership defines “political savvy as the ability to maximize and leverage relationships in order to achieve organizational, team, and individual goals.”

Endorsements for candidates may not easily translate to “something for something”, the English of quid pro quo, but the hope among the MILF leaders and the Bangsamoro people is that it would be a vehicle for collaboration in the advocacies in the Legislative Branch of the Moro Front.

There are still major provisions of the 2014 CAB that are not yet implemented by the GPH, especially those needing a law to be passed by Congress.

One major example is the proposed establishment of the National Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission for the Bangsamoro (NTJRCB), which requires an enabling legislation.

Iqbal described the TJR as “the one closest to my heart”.

He said the provision on the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation (TJR) “is very personal to me because it deals squarely with the legitimate grievances of the Moro people. It underpins the legitimacy of the Bangsamoro struggle for self-determination.” The TJR is part of the CAB’s Annex on Normalization parallel with Decommissioning, Amnesty, Camp Transformation, Gradual Withdrawal of the Military and Disbandment of Armed Groups, and others.

Iqbal, who wears many hats in the Mindanao/Bangsamoro peace process, pointed to the lack of TJR programs as the reason that “rido” (clan feud) still persists in the BARMM.

He said it is important to have the NTJRCB established — and soon — for the “Filipino and Moro Nations to deal with the bloody and violent past.”

The MILF official, also the head of the BARMM’s Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE), the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission already made a report nine years ago,, which was mandated to “undertake a study and recommend to the (MILF and GPH) Panels the appropriate mechanisms to address the legitimate grievances of the Bangsamoro people, correct historical injustice and address human rights violations and marginalization through land dispossession, towards healing and reconciliation.”

To repeat, establishing a national mechanism on TJR through the NTJRCB requires congressional act to come up with the enabling law.

On a regional level, the BARMM Parliament already filed BTA Bill No. 353 seeking to establish a Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) sponsored by Iqbal. The bill had its second reading on April 21, 2025. It’s functions are limited to the region.

There are bills in the Senate and the House of Representatives on the NTJRCB but they are still pending and there’s no certainty if it would ever see the light of day and the signature of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.

And this is where the MILF/UBJP endorsement of the 12 senatorial bets come in. If the nine endorsees in the Top 12 make it to the Senate, hopefully, they would be able to push the legislation on the NTJRCB, and be carried into law, once for all!

Hope springs eternal, they say. (√)

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