Key MILF figures fail to make BARMM’s first parliament
COTABATO CITY—Several personalities with long-standing ties to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were not among those who will serve in the first regular Bangsamoro Parliament following Monday’s balloting.
Most of them are incumbent members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), or the interim Bangsamoro Parliament, but did not make it to the regular parliament, whose mandate will begin on Oct. 30 this year and end on June 30, 2031.
The United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), the MILF’s regional political party, won 15 of the 40 seats allotted to the party list system in the 80-member parliament. Thirty-two seats are for single parliamentary districts, while eight seats are for sectoral representatives.
Abdullah Macapaar, alias “Commander Bravo,” was the No. 22 nominee of the UBJP. He has served as a member of Parliament (MP) since March 29, 2019, as an MILF nominee to the BTA, the interim body tasked with governing the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) during the transition period.
Akmad “Commander Jack” Abas, another longtime field commander of the MILF, also did not make it to the regular parliament, having been the UBJP’s No. 17 nominee.
Narrow loss
Also defeated was professor Hashim Manticayan, the UBJP candidate for the Third Parliamentary District of Cotabato City. He narrowly lost to fellow MILF member Tomanda Antok, who ran under the Bangsamoro Federalist Party (BFP).
Incumbent BTA member Lanang Ali Jr. also failed to secure a seat in the incoming parliament as the UBJP’s No. 19 nominee.
MP Abdullah Hashim, son of MILF founding chair Salamat Hashim, also failed to secure a seat in the regular parliament. He was the UBJP’s No. 21 nominee.
Like Macapaar and Abas, Hashim served in the BTA from 2019 to the present.
MP Bailing Mantawil and former MP Eddie Alih also failed to secure seats, as they were the UBJP’s Nos. 23 and 32 nominees, respectively.
Mantawil concurrently serves as the Bangsamoro minister of science and technology.
MILF Chair Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim is the first nominee of the UBJP. He and the 14 other UBJP nominees who will serve in the incoming regular parliament were proclaimed Tuesday night.
Ebrahim stressed that the electoral outcome marked another significant milestone in the Bangsamoro struggle.
“It demonstrated the transformation of decades of sacrifice, perseverance, and steadfast pursuit of self-determination into a democratic mandate for the MILF leadership,” he said.
“The electoral process represents not an end to the struggle, but a new chapter in advancing the aspirations of the Bangsamoro through peaceful, democratic, and principled political engagement,” Ebrahim added.
The BFP, a major party that also includes several MILF members, won 16 of the 40 seats allotted to the party list system.
