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COTABATO CITY, October 23, 2025 (SDN) — Member of the Parliament (MP) Ustadhz Mohammad Yacob has ascended the speakership of the legislative branch of the Bangsamoro regional government in a special session on October 21.

It was a development that caught many by surprise for their were other names being rumored as potential replacement of the late Speaker Pangalian Ali M. Balindong of Marawi City, Lanao del Sur.

Be that as it may, Yacob, a member of the Central Committee (CC), the policy-making body of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), got the nod of his fellow MPs in a resounding manner.

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“I will serve — not to be served! I will lead — not to rule, but unite.”

— Speaker Mohammad S. Yacon

Not a few observers of the affairs and the political nuances of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) laid the credit to BARMM interim Chief Minister Abdulraof A. Macacua for the election of Yacob to the highest position in the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Parliament, a no mean feat considering the many factions in the legislative branch of the regional government.

Macacua presided over the special session leading to the unanimous vote for Yacob, who held before the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Agrarian Reform (MAFAR) and then as senior minister of the BARMM.

Upon his election, the new speaker pledged to lead the Parliament with honesty, neutrality and respect for the rule of law while at the same time upholding what he described as the sacred principles of moral governance as both a standard and a shield.

“I will serve — not to be served! I will lead — not to rule, but unite,” the Islamic religious leader said in a news report on Inquirer.net.

Voted by 67 MPs who were present, he also vowed to protect the parliament’s independence and honor and will also remember “that leadership is not a privilege — it is a responsibility.”

It was also mentioned on social media that the new regional speaker is a “protegé” of Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim, who chairs the MILF, and also the former chief minister of the BARMM from January 2019 to March 2025.

Being the protegé of Ebrahim, the president of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), then it follows that he could not have won the speakership if there was a division between Ebrahim and Macacua, the MILF chief of staff and UBJP secretary general.

In the same Inquirer report written by Edwin O. Fernandez, Macacua was quoted as describing the “speakership” as being “a sacred trust” serving as the vehicle through which the Parliament’s collective will is tempered with justice, humility, and wisdom.

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“This is not about power, nor personality. This is about the collective interest of our people.”

— MP Mohagher M. Iqbal

While the election of the speaker went without a hitch, it could not be said of the position of the floor leader held then by MP Sha Elijah Dumama-Alba, who was subsequently replaced by the MPs with MP John Anthony Lim from Tawi-Tawi.

Both MPs Mohagher M. Iqbal and Abdullah B. Hashim, son of the late MILF founder and chairman Ustadhz Salamat Hashim raised objections on the issue.

Saying it was not discussed during a prior caucus a day earlier, said that “Many will lie before Allah if they will say it has been discussed.”

He called for the “suspension” of the session, saying the new speaker has not even taken his oath yet, as reported on  BMP – Bangsamoro Media Productions.

Iqbal and Hashim raised the issue on the replacement of Dumama-Alba, contending that other positions other than the speaker’s should not have been included during the special session.

Iqbal, MILF Peace Implementing Panel (PIP) chairman and UBJP vice president, asserted as such: “The chief minister governs, but the speaker legislates. There must be a division of labor and respect for boundaries.”

Also the BARMM education minister, Iqbal added: ” This is not about power, nor personality. This is about the collective interest of our people.”

But as things went, the MPs proceeded to vote on the positions of deputy speakers, floor leader, and others.

Elected with Yacob are Lim, Jose Lorena and Dumama-Alba as deputy speakers, Lim, and MP Amer Rakim as deputy floor leader.

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. — EDD K. USMAN (✓)

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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, Manila Business Insights, Panorama Magazine, Agriculture Magazine, and others, 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. (©)