Ex-rebs, clan members are party nominees in BARMM polls
ILIGAN CITY—Former revolutionaries, incumbent members of the interim parliament and members of local clans are among the nominees for party representative seats in the elective legislature of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in 2025.
This was revealed as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday released the certified list of 280 nominees submitted by seven regional political parties that signified their intent to participate in the 2025 regional elections. The Comelec en banc approved the publication of the list on Thursday, in accordance with the Bangsamoro Electoral Code (BEC).
Under the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the 80 seats of the regional legislature is for party representatives at 50 percent or 40, 40 percent or 32 for parliamentary district representatives and 10 percent or eight for sectoral representatives. With Sulu province severed from BARMM following a Supreme Court ruling last September, there will only be 25 seats available for district representatives.
The BEC mandates participating political parties to come up with a list of 40 nominees for party representatives, equivalent to the number of seats available. The number of nominees from the parties who will take seats in the parliament will be determined by the proportion of votes they obtained.
For next year’s elections, the seven participating parties are Bangsamoro Party (Bapa), Bangsamoro Peoples Democratic Party (Raayat), BARMM Grand Coalition (BGC), Mahardika Party, Moro Ako Party, Progresibong Bangsamoro Party (PRO Bangsamoro) and United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP).
Parliament, Cabinet members
Bapa and Mahardika are composed of members of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) factions. The UBJP is the political arm of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), while the BGC groups local political clans, mainly in the Maguindanao provinces and Lanao del Sur.
Prominent among the nominees are Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim, who heads the MILF and the UBJP, and is interim chief minister of BARMM. Other Moro revolutionaries on the list of nominees are Datucan Abas, more known as Mohagher Iqbal, who led the MILF in the peace negotiations with the government and is now the region’s education chief.
Other UBJP nominees are members of the Ebrahim cabinet, such as interior minister and attorney general Sha Elijah Dumama-Alba, public works minister Eduard Guerra and social services minister Raissa Jajurie.
Bangsamoro Transition Authority Parliament Speaker Pangalian Balindong and Deputy Speaker Lanang Ali Jr. are also running under UBJP.
Bapa has fielded as its first nominee Deputy Speaker Omar Yasser Sema, son of BARMM labor minister and former Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema.
BGC nominees include Mamintal Adiong III, son of Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr.; and Abdulrahman Mangudadatu, son of Maguindanao del Sur Gov. Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu; while Pro Bangsamoro, Mahardika, Moro Ako and Raayat nominees are led by incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) Don Mustapha Loong, MP Tarhata Maglangit, lawyer Najeeb Lucman Taib and Nadia Lorena, respectively.
Women representation
Under the BEC, regional political parties must ensure that at least 30 percent of nominees for party representatives are women. Among the seven parties participating in the 2025 regional polls, Moro Ako had the highest women nominees at 62 percent.
According to the Comelec, the six other parties are compliant with the BEC on the proportion of women nominees.
The first-ever Bangsamoro parliament elections will take place simultaneously with the national and local elections on May 12 next year, although this still hangs in the balance as the House of Representatives just firmed up a measure to postpone the political exercise to 2026.
