Footnotes to last week’s column

Cotabato City—Yesterday, May 18, as early as 7 a.m., thousands of rallyists marched through various streets in this city toward the Bangsamoro Government Center (BGC), the seat of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Organized by a group of various peace activists in the city and nearby areas, the peace rally participants filled to the brim the entire Gov. Gutierrez Avenue, the main road leading toward the BGC. Estimates from local media put the number of rallyists at more than 30,000, matching the number the organizers had earlier claimed would participate in this rally.

The rally was an expression of many ordinary Bangsamoro people who have seen how the peace process between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Government of the Philippines has been subjected to various insidious moves to drive a deep wedge in the hierarchy of the MILF and eventually scuttle the gains of the peace process so far.

These moves have created untoward repercussions in the smooth implementation of the peace process commitments as provided for in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) that led to the crafting of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL). The BOL is the foundational legal framework for the creation of the BARMM.

The cracks in the peace process architecture have been visible since the last few months of 2024, when a group of local interlocutors, together with their national counterparts, sought an audience with President Marcos in Malacañang. While nobody would divulge what exactly happened in the group’s conversation with Mr. Marcos, several unpleasant moves took place a few months after. All these moves were perceived to be the outcomes or “directives” coming from Mr. Marcos himself, probably as advised by his Mindanao-based “consultants.”

First was the untimely removal of then Interim Minister Ebrahim through an order from Malacañang, stipulating that he would be replaced with another interim minister—Abdulraof Macacua. This was in March 2025, seven months before the projected first parliamentary elections in the region. The first date for this historic event was set on Oct. 13, 2025.

But this very first regional parliamentary elections never took place. The Supreme Court ruled that the law creating the interim parliament of the BARMM, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) was unconstitutional. The Commission on Elections then declared that no elections could take place on that day.

The postponement of regional elections has been repeated four times. The latest date now set is on Sept. 13, 2026.

Second, after the May 2025 local elections, several members of the BTA were replaced. The MILF noted that among those removed were people closely associated with its top leadership. Then, Mr. Marcos appointed only 36 nominees of the MILF’s list of 41 recommended new members of the BTA to replace those who were not given new appointments to stay on. This was to assert the agreement that the MILF will take the lead in running the transition government in compliance with both the CAB and the BOL.

Following these “questionable” appointments that started to weaken the MILF’s claim of majority BTA membership, several key members of Parliament, closely aligned with the former interim Chief Minister Ebrahim, were slowly removed from their positions. Among them is lawyer Sha Elijah Dumama-Alba, erstwhile Majority Floor Leader of the BTA and head of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG). She was unceremoniously removed from her post merely on the basis of a motion during a BTA plenary session. It was a motion that was out of order, since it was not in the order of business (agenda) of the BTA then. Dumama-Alba also disclosed that the new chief minister also asked her to resign from her MILG post.

Perhaps no other tactic has created the impression that the new leadership of the region that assumed office only a year ago has been staging calculated steps toward an eventual obliteration of the MILF leadership in the region.

See Also

When rescue looks like delay

The latest one is what happened last week, spawning the huge rally yesterday.

Last week, interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua sent a letter to Mohagher Iqbal, vice chair of the MILF Central Committee and head of the MILF Peace Implementing Panel, asking the latter to resign as Minister of the Basic, Higher, and Technical Education Ministry. On top of these roles, Iqbal is also the vice chair of the Intergovernmental Government Regulatory Board (IGRB). The IGRB is the mechanism designed to settle issues between the Philippine government and the MILF in carrying out the peace process and ensuring a smooth transition to a regular parliamentary government in the BARMM after the first parliamentary elections in the region.

(To be concluded next week.)

—————-

Comments to [email protected]