Featured image above shows the Plenary 1 panelists. MILF PIP Chair Mohagher M. Iqbal (2nd, left); GPH PIP Chair and Undersecrwtsry UndersecretaryCesar Yano of OPAPRU; BARMM MP Randolph Parcasio, MNLF. The lone lady is journalist Jamela Alindogan, panel chair. (Photo: SDN) 

Short link: https://wp.me/paaccn-UtO

MANILA, Nov. 18, 2025 (SDN) — It’s been 11 years and eight months since the forging of the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsmoro (CAB), carrying with it the aspiration and hope of the Bangsamoro people.

Rivers of blood, sweat, and tears of thousands of Filipinos — rebels, soldiers, and civilians — watered the peace deal forged by the Philippine Government (GPH) and the MILF after 17 years of protracted negotiations characterized by major fighting and minor clashes in in between. Filipinos against Filipinos, brothers all, pitted against each other.

The decades of bloodbath, borne out of the Bangsamoro struggle for self-determination to be able to govern themselves, have an opportunity to strive on equal footing with their countrymen, and have a fighting chance to uplift themselves, took its toll on the Filipino nation.

Now, peace and security have come to Mindanao, the bloodbath between government security forces and the Moro rebels have ceased owing to ceasefire agreements as the GPH signed the Final Peace Agreement (FPA) on September 2, 1996, with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and then the CAB, now being implemented through the 2018 Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) which was ratified in 2019.

Having that bit of context on the Mindanao or Bangsamoro peace process, it’s not a stretch that both the FPA and the CAB have already given the Bangsamoro people, in particular, and the nation in general, something to cheer about — landmark achievements of both peace pacts.

In fact, Mohagher M. Iqbal, the chair of the Peace Implementing Panel (PIP) and chief negotiator of the MILF, among other positions cited the CAB’s achievements during the Plenary 1 of the International Conference that discussed the topic “After the Peace Agreements: The Bangsamoro and Beyond” on Tuesday, November 18.

Peace agreements not self-implementing

He was asked on what’s the most important achievement arising from the signing of the CAB.

His answer: The establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Today, the BARMM is just over six years old, it’s still on a transition period until the thrice postponed first Bangsamoro parliamentary polls shall have been conducted, in March 2026. In sha Allah (God willing), barring anymore hitch.

Iqbal, one of the panelists of Plenary 1, made clear that BARMM remains the most important success of the GPH-MILF peace process which the parties’ panels signed on March 27, 2014.

With the BARMM’s existence, Iqbal, the education minister of the regional government, emphasized that though all of the provisions of the CAB have not yet been achieved, the Bangsamoro had already achieved a meaningful step leading to genuine self-determination. He said the success of the CAB includes fiscal autonomy, and an autonomy on governance.

The Bangsamoro autonomy, he said, on the other hand, is yet to be described as an exact face of the CAB, moreso that Republic Act No. 11054, or the BOL, does not contain all the provisions of the CAB that have been agreed upon.

Concluding on Wednesday, November 19, the three-day event was organized by the Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG) with Executive Director Atty. Benedicto “Benny” Bacani in partnership with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) headed by Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr.

Bacani opened the event on Tuesday, November 18, describing it as “a gathering of kindred spirits united by our shared aspiration for a peaceful world and thriving communities.”

Over the course of the activities, he points out, the objective is deep dive into the understanding of the implementation of peace agreements.

“However, we must never lose sight of the truth: shared humanity and interpersonal relationships are the keys to unlocking true peace,” Bacani emphasizes.

Dignitaries delivered messages at the event’s formal opening attended by more than 200 participants, including BARMM Chief Minister Abdulraof A. Macacua. Less anyone forgets, he is the chief of staff of the armed wing of the MILF, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF).

Macacua also, among others, was Member of the Parliament (MP), minister of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MENRE), senior minister, and acting governor of Maguindanao del Norte, cited the difficulties involved in peace negotiations.

“We knew the road ahead would be long and demanding. We knew the implementation is always more complex than negotiations.

“For we knew that Peace Agreements do not execute themselves — they must be turned into laws, institutions, and norms that bind and serve well,” the chief minister acknowledges out.

Aside from engaging the GPH’s Executive Branch for the CAB, he added that they had also to talk with the Legislative Branch to pass the BOL. And the law’s ratification in the 2019 plebiscite they had to reach out to local chief executives and the Bangsamoro people.

After all the smoke of the post-conflict struggle, governance came, he said.

Path to constitutional amendments not easy to navigate

“As former combatants, we now had to pass enabling laws and implement programs that respond to the hopes of the Bangsamoro, balancing the ideas and interests of decision makers beyond the MILF, all through formal parliamentary procedures and technical, legal processes,” the Bangsamoro region’s chief executive says.

Macacua admitted that the shifts from rebels to becoming part of mainstream society, in political arena, particularly, “are never easy.”

He explains further:

“Building institutions is one challenge. But transforming mindsets, expectations, and habits shaped by decades of armed struggle is an even greater one.”

On the other hand, the chief minister cited some of the progress of the BARMM which in six years has lifted itself from away being the poorest region in the country.

“Shari’ah and Islamic finance are being strengthened nationwide, and Muslims are becoming more visible and respected members of Filipino society. Our progress has even inspired the Cordillera Region, which is now reconsidering its own push for autonomy.

Macacua noted, in the national scene, Congress’s discussion that follows BARMM’s example “by exploring a parliamentary system and considering a national anti- political dynasty law, similar to the one we enacted in the Parliament two years ago.”

Last but not the least, the Bangsamoro chief minister expressed thanks to the IAG and the Government of Australia for conducting the event.

As there are required congressional action to implement some of the CAB’s provisions, Iqbal said the second Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) which he led and the first BTC then headed by the late MILF vice chair Ghazali Jaafar had submitted five proposed amendments to the Constitution, with three of them “critical” to the realization of the CAB’s promise, such as the strengthening of genuine and a Bangsamoro policing; creation Shari’ah appellate system/courts; establishing its own constitutional bodies.

Iqbal acknowledged the path to constitutional amendments while at the same time it should be done through democratic means, no longer by the ways of the gun.

“We hope that someday, the Constitution will be amended to finally accommodate the remaining commitments under the Comprehensive Agreement that were not captured in the Bangsamoro Organic Law,” Iqbal says.

The IAG organized the conference in cooperation with OPAPRU, the Bangsamoro Government, and the Southeast Asian Women Peace Mediators (SEAWPM). — EDD K. USMAN (©)

_________

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. (®)