CAGAYAN DE ORO—Come Sept. 14, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will hold its first-ever election to finally choose the members of the Bangsamoro parliament. The election may be historic not only for BARMM but for the entire country as well—both in significance and also for the promise of true democracy and reforms in our electoral process.
The election has been postponed several times for various reasons, including the key issue of BARMM’s territorial jurisdiction, with Sulu opting out of the grouping. In the meantime, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) which administers the region has been assailed by challenges that threaten to derail the peace process that birthed it. Among these is the suspension of the decommissioning of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), the military wing of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that negotiated the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro with the Philippine government and which was signed 12 years ago, in 2014. The suspension was ordered by the MILF because, it said, the national government had not delivered on its promised socioeconomic packages.
There is also internal dissension and deep-seated rivalries, as illustrated by the replacement of the first Interim Chief Minister Al Haj Murad Ebrahim with the present Malacañang-appointed transition authority head, Abdulraof Macacua, in March 2025.
Last Aug. 15, Macacua’s convoy was ambushed after he was sworn in as head of the Bangsamoro Federalist Party, the main rival of the official MILF party, the United Bangsamoro Justice Party. (Questions were raised as to whether it was a real ambush or an “ambush me” scenario, with the Philippine National Police initially hesitating to call it an “election-related incident.” Subsequently, Commission on Elections Chair George Garcia pronounced it as such.)
On Sept. 3, the MILF central committee announced the removal of Macacua as head of the BIAF. More than 40 field commanders were also stripped of their positions.
Thus, while everything seems to be in place for the establishment of a stable political system with the parliamentary election, these internecine conflicts and the stalled normalization track which mainly involves the BIAF’s decommissioning and the transformation of conflict-ridden areas into zones of development threaten whatever has been gained by the political process.
At a media orientation in Cagayan de Oro on Aug. 19, officials from BARMM, the Comelec, and the military updated reporters on the status of preparations for the historic parliamentary election. Among the speakers were Mohd Asnin K. Pendatun, the Cabinet secretary and spokesperson for BARMM, and John Rex Laudiangco, spokesperson for the Comelec.
Dramatic reduction in poverty
In his talk on “Key Developments and Government Accomplishments,” Pendatun noted that BARMM is no longer the poorest region in the country, now ranking 17th out of the 18 administrative regions. Reduction in poverty incidence has been dramatic, from 52.9% in 2018 to 23.5% in 2023. It is expected to drop further to 21.5% in 2025. Pendatun said, however, that this is still far more than the national average, which is already in the single digits—9.7% in 2025, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. He reported further that the BARMM economy grew by 5% in 2025—the sixth highest regional growth rate in the country.
During the open forum, MindaNews’ Froilan Gallardo, the outgoing president of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club, asked Pendatun how the rebel groups such as the MILF were transitioning from armed struggle to electoral politics and how the traditional political clans were adjusting to the participation of these groups in the mainstream.
Pendatun said measures to enable the shift have been carried out even before the establishment of BARMM as part of the peace process. But “this is a new ballgame and the rules of engagement are different,” he said, speaking in a mix of English and Filipino. “They (rebel groups) are aware this is a different struggle and requires a different kind of expertise. Whether these [preparatory activities] have been successful or not, we will know in the results of the parliamentary election.”
To the second question, Pendatun replied that there are no clear delineations between the established political families and the rebel groups, as there are those who were involved in both traditional electoral politics and the Bangsamoro struggle. Whether from a traditional political family or a rebel group, any rival will be viewed as a threat, he said.
Comelec preparations
For his part, Laudiangco detailed the preparations and emphasized the Comelec’s full readiness to carry out the Sept. 14 election as scheduled.
He highlighted the antidynasty provision of the Bangsamoro Electoral Code, which states that no nominees for the political party and sectoral representative positions and the candidates for district representative shall “be related to each other within the second degree of consanguinity or affinity.” This means that relations must be more distant than grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, and first cousins or in-laws to that degree.
The BARMM Regional Parliamentary Political Party system also holds the promise of moving away from the personality-oriented nature of Philippine politics, as out of an 80-member parliament, 40 or half will be political-party representatives and only 32 will be district representatives. The remaining 8 will be representatives coming from the non-Moro Indigenous peoples (NMIP), settler communities, women, youth, traditional leaders, and the ulama or experts on Islamic doctrine and law. (The 2 NMIP representatives will not be elected through popular vote but chosen by consensus among the various tribes.)
Laudiangco emphasized further that the Comelec is determined to safeguard the integrity and credibility of the forthcoming election. He said the Comelec will go after any purveyor of misinformation and disinformation, especially on social media.
To help ensure security, the Comelec spokesperson said, the Bangsamoro region is blanketed with more than 18,700 checkpoints. The importance of these checkpoints came to the fore recently when a force of about 200 armed MILF fighters was intercepted and turned back by military and police forces at a checkpoint in Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte. After this, however, the local MILF commander declared MILF areas in Lanao off-limits to the military and police.
Nonetheless, all stakeholders in the peace process are “impatient” to hold the election so that authority and legitimacy may be cemented and the BARMM government shall be able to fully pursue its goals of finally achieving peace and development in the region.
Retired brigadier general Buenaventura Pascual, who gave updates on the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) peace process, said the MNLF is apprehensive “na baka magkagulo (that there may be trouble).”
He continued in a mix of English and Filipino: “But they firmly believe that we need to hold this election. The transition has been overextended. Some in the BTA have become too comfortable in their positions even if they weren’t elected. Even the issue that Macacua was appointed by the President seems to have disappeared, as though he were legitimately elected by the people.”
And that is the essence of it. Come Sept. 14, the Bangsamoro, fully supported by the national government and all its instrumentalities, shall embark on their historic journey of peaceful and democratic governance. CS
