Featured image above shows Lanao del Norte businessman Sambitory Olama Dimaporo (2nd, right) as he assumes his post as new commissioner of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF). President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. appointed him on May 20, 2026. With him are former Lanao del Norte governor/congressman Abdullah Dimaporo, Lanao del Norte Congresswoman Imelda “Angging” Q. Dimaporo, former NCMF director Abdullah ‘Abel’ Macarimpas, former LTO regional director Yul Lamping, and NCMF Executive Director Tahir Lidasan, Jr.
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MANILA, May 29, 2026 (SDN) — President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has appointed another official of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF).
The President’s new appointment as a new commissioner of the NCMF is Lanao del Norte businessman Sambitory Olama Dimaporo, vice another Maranao appointee who was appointed as commissioner only over a month ago.
Dimaporo’s appointment expires on March 7, 2030.
SDN – SciTech & Digital News learned about this through a copy of a letter of Marcos’s Acting Executive Secretary Ralph G. Recto to NCMF Secretary Sabuddin N. Abdurahim.
Both Abdurahim and the replaced appointee are still in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, with over 5,000 Filipino pilgrims to perform the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that concludes on May 29.
A copy of the new appointment dated May 20, 2026, was also sent to SDN – SciTech & Digital News.
Recto transmitted Dimaporo’s appointment to the NCMF head with a cover letter dated May 20 (Wednesday) informing him of the new appointment to the Commission.
The Executive Secretary said the new appointment was signed by the President. He instructed Abdurahim to furnish a copy of the appointment paper to the new appointee inside seven days.
With the new appointment to the NCMF for one of the nine slots for commissioner that replaced another appointment lasting only a brief one month and 19 days — March 25, 2026 to May 19, 2026, the President needs to appointment four more commissioners to complete the collegial body.
Observers noted that being a collegial body, the NCMF must have a complete nine commissioner slots because of its function as a policy making government agency.
On the other hand, some Muslims in Metro Manila who learned of the new appointment were wondering why a newly appointed commissioner whose four-year term did not even exceed two months.
SDN – SciTech & Digital News learned that Commissioner Dimaporo took his oath of office on Thursday, May 28, as he assumed his position.He was accompanied by some members of the Dimaporo Clan, among them former Lanao del Sur governor/congressman Abdullah Dimaporo, Congresswoman Imelda “Angging” Q. Dimaporo.
Former NCMF director Abdullah “Abel” Macarimpas and Yul Lamping, former regional director at the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Zamboanga City.
NCMF Executive Director Tahir S. Lidasan, Jr., the Commission’s officer-in-charge in the absence of Abdurahim, met with Commissioner Dimaporo as he helped in his assumption of office.
“Pursuant to the provisions of existing laws, you are hereby appointed COMMISSIONER, NATIONAL COMMISSION ON MUSLIM FILIPINOS, for a term expiring on 07 March 2030, vice Masideng M. Salic,” the President said in Commissioner Dimaporo’s appointment paper. (Emphasis in the appointment paper.)
The President had earlier appointed two male NCMF commissioners from Region 9 and a woman commissioner from Lanao del Sur.
— EDD K. USMAN (✓)