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- EDD K. USMAN | X (Twitter): @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 |Facebook: SDN – SciTech & Digital News
MANILA (SDN) — Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) interim Chief Minister Abdulraof A. Macacua agrees with pushing through the already-scheduled pioneering first parliamentary election on October 13, 2025, in the Bangsamoro region.
Macacua is the chief of staff of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), his nom de guerre being “Sammy Gambar” named after his home village in Kabuntalan, Maguindanao del Norte, BARMM.
“In acknowledgment of the significant progress we have made towards peace and stability, I, Abdulraof A. Macacua, Chief Minister of the (BARMM), extend my full support and join the call of the National Government and Chairman Ahod ‘Al-Haj Murad’ Ebrahim of the (MILF) to conduct elections on October 13, 2025, in accordance with Republic Act. No.12123,” the chief minister declares.
The chief minister cited the importance of holding the polls as set to make sure “the voices of the Bangsamoro people are heard and that their choices for their leaderss shape the future of our region.”
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. appointed him in March 2025 replacing Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim, the chair of the MILF Central Committee. He serves until the regular 80 Members of the Parliament (MPs) shall have been elected in the forthcoming polls in the region. The regional party which gets the majority elected MPs, or those who are able to coalesce and form a majority, will then vote for the first elected chief minister.
The conduct as scheduled of the BARMM’s first regular regional political exercise also received another boost as Maguindanao del Norte Rep. Bai Dimple Mastura formally thumbed down a third postponement as indicated in her statement.
On June 5, in a joint press conference with re-elected Sen. Imee R. Marcos at the Senate, the MILF Peace Implementing Panel (PIP) Chair Mohagher M. Iqbal revealed clandestine attempts to get the coming parliamentary polls deferred again to May 2028.
2 Bangsamoro House representatives back holding of October 13 polls
Reading from a prepared statement, he expressed the MILF’s apprehension on the attempts to further delay the election for the third time, saying a group and some personalities are behind it.
Iqbal refused, though, to name the group and the personalities working behind the scenes.
Thus, it appears the support of Macacua, the secretary general of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), the MILF’s political wing, for holding the parliamentary polls on October 13 could prove crucial.
As this developed, Mastura has also voiced support in pushing the polls through this year.
“It’s time for the Bangsamoro to walk towards genuine democracy. The citizens of the Bangsamoro have the right to choose their leaders,” she points out.
The incoming congressman of Maguindanao del Sur, Rep. Esmael “Datu Toto” Mangudadatu, also issued a separate statement supporting the holding of the polls as set.
“As your representative in Congress, my support is full to conduct the election for the Bangsamoro Parliament on October 13, 2025. I believe that democracy is stronger if the mandate comes from the people. So. let us support the legitimate Bangsamoro Government to strengthen peace, and implement genuine autonomy in the region,” Mangudadatu emphasizes.
It can be recalled the President had approved the second postponement of the election, then scheduled to synchronize with the recent National and Local Elections (NLE), extending it for five months.
Its twice deferment also extended the three years terms of the appointed MPs of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTS), which governs the Bangsamoro region led by the MILF through the UBJP.
BARMM’s regular Parliament will replace the transition parliament.
The then-President Rodrigo R. Duterte OK’d its first postponement from May 2022 to May 2025. He is regarded by BARMM leaders as the “architect” of the 2018 Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) and “father” of the Bangsamoro region.
Amidst strong opposition, Duterte, counting on his allies in the Senate and the House of Representatives, steered the passage of the BOL, the gate that opened the floodgates for the establishment of the BARMM, abolishing and replacing the 20 years old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The ARMM harkened back to the late President Cory C. Aquino’s administration which took off after the 1986 First EDSA People Power Revolution.
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 — now eight new municipalities — that voted “Yes” in a plebiscite in February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction.
According to the Philippine Atlas BARMM has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities: 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. (✓)