OPAPRU Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. hails PBBM’s statement about first Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections
MILF welcomes Marcos’s singular focus on success of October 13 political exercise
- EDD K. USMAN | X (Twitter): @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 |Facebook: SDN – SciTech & Digital News
MANILA, August 9, 2025 (SDN) — President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has equated a “failed” parliamentary polls on October 13 to “a big failure in the (Bangsamoro) peace process.”
The President made the remarks on Friday, August 8, as he was still fresh from his state visit to India where he secured several bilateral agreements and pledged of investments of more than US$400 million.
“If that election fails, that will be a big failure in the peace process, that’s why the BARMM elections need to be successful,” he emphasizes when interviewed after his latest foreign trip.
“BARMM” is the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao which the 2018 Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) established in January 2019 to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).
The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) heard the Chief Executive loud and clear.
His words were music to the ears of the OPAPRU headed by Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. and the MILF under Chairman Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim.
“The President’s statement is a powerful affirmation of our shared commitment to the Bangsamoro peace process,” Galvez says.
“It sends a clear message that the national government will not falter in ensuring that the Bangsamoro people can finally exercise their right to elect their own leaders and chart their own destiny.”
The MILF leadership welcomed and cited the presidential remarks.
“We express our deep gratitude to the President for underscoring the vital importance of this historic parliamentary election to the overall success of the Bangsamoro peace process,” says Ebrahim, president of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), the political wing of the MILF, which formally transformed into a social movement on September 23, 2024.
“Rest assured, Mr. President, that the MILF remains committed and duty-bound to implement and deliver what we have committed under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.”
Ebrahim was the first BARMM interim chief minister (ICM); he was replaced in 2024 by current ICM Abdulraof A. Macacua, chief of staff of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF).
The UBJP is one of the eight Bangsamoro regional political parties which have thrown their hats in the political arena as they vie for the 73 seats in the regular parliament after the six years transition period. A party that wins the majority gets the chance to choose the first regular Bangsamoro chief minister.
In his remarks, the President made clear his consistent stand on going through with the historic first-ever parliamentary polls not only in the BARMM but throughout the country, for the rest of the nation runs with the Republican system of government.
It is an arrangement borne out of the 17 years of intractable and hard-bargaining peace negotiations between the Philippine Government (GPH) and the MILF punctuated with arm-twisting compromises by both sides.
While the GPH in the peace talks with the MILF had many chief negotiators that culminated with Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, the MILF only had two, Ebrahim (then the vice chairman) and current chief negotiator Mohagher M. Iqbal.
Ferrer and Iqbal signed the CAB in Malacañang on March 27, 2014, attended and witnessed by an array of international dignitaries as well as partners of the GPH-MILF peace process.
The Bangsamoro peace process also covers the negotiations in 1994-1996 between the GPH and the Moro National Liberation (MNLF) that produced Final Peace Agreement (FPA).
Galvez hailed Marcos’s remarks that it is “not an option” to have a “failed Bangsamoro polls.”
Galvez, a former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) under the administration of the-then President Rodrigo R. Duterte, described the remarks of Marcos as his reaffirmation that the first-ever parliamentary polls in the (BARMM) must be conducted on October 13.
It’s the President’s commitment, the OPAPRU head pointed out, to underscore the national government’s unwavering resolve to fully implement the CAB and uphold the principles of peace and self-governance in the Bangsamoro region.
“The President’s statement is a powerful affirmation of our shared commitment to the Bangsamoro peace process,” Galvez says.
“It sends a clear message that the national government will not falter in ensuring that the Bangsamoro people can finally exercise their right to elect their own leaders and chart their own destiny.”
The President noted that it is critical to push the conduct of the BARMM polls through, the OPAPRU head said.
Signed by Ebrahim, who succeeded in 2013 the late MILF Founder and Chair Ustadhz Salamat Hashim, the former armed revolutionary group’s statement sent to SDN – SciTech & Digital News said now that it is the highest official of the land who made the statement, “the President’s clear and u equivocal statement should put to rest all speculations of another extension or postponement, and instead rally all stakeholders to work towards ensuring a free, fair, and credible election worthy of the aspirations of the Bangsamoro people.”
The MILF chair and UBJP president adds further: “From bullets to ballots, the MILF through the (UBJP), is poised to demonstrate its political maturity and readiness to submit to the will of the people in a clean, fIr, peaceful and credible elections.”
Ebrahim emphasized the MILF’s full trust and confidence in the National Government and the Commission on Elections (Comelec), as they know both are working tirelessly and with unwavering dedication to achieve a resounding success of the parliamentary polls.
The OPAPRU noted the forthcoming political exercise is mandated by Republic Act No. 12123 signed by Marcos into law in February 2025, the parliamentary elections second postponement.
For the Comelec to focus on the Bangsamoro polls, the President is expected to approve the postponement of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) supposed to be held in December 2025.
Galvez highlighted the significance of the upcoming Bangsamoro polls, emphasizing that the parliamentary elections are the culmination of the Political Track of the CAB.
“The first-ever parliamentary elections in the BARMM are a monumental achievement and a true milestone in our peace journey,” Galvez says.
“This historic event is the fulfillment of our promise to the Bangsamoro people to transition from an appointive government to a truly representative one. The Bangsamoro people will elect their own leaders and hold them accountable,” he adds.
The Bangsamoro region is comprised of provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, and Tawi-Tawi; the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi; and the Special Geographic Area (SGA) with eight new municipalities. (√)
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The author
EDD, a native of Sub-Saharan Africa Buluan/Datu Piang, Maguindanao del Sur, BARMM, college at UST, is a Manila-based journalist for over 40 years (33 years with Manila Bulletin), has five Media Awards (1 with University of the Philippines (UP) 2017 Science Journalism Award), covered and traveled over 40 times abroad), has contributed to Rappler, Business Mirror, former Manila-based Foreign Correspondent of Saudi Arabia newspapers Saudi Gazette and Riyadh Daily, and The Peninsula (Qatar newspaper), with 2008 East-West Center (EWC) Journalism Seminar in the United States, 2000 Executive IT Seminar in Seoul, South Korea, with three Silver Awards in Photography, writes Muslim and Current Affairs, Enterprise, Science, Tech, Products Launch, and virtually everything under Heaven. (@)