By Ali G. Macabalang

COTABATO CITY – There will be “no extension” again in the lifespan of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) and the first parliament polls in the autonomous region will push through as set alongside the mid-term national and local elections in May next year.

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Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) interim Chief Minister Ahod “Hadji Murad” Ebrahim disclosed this recently, saying that President Bongbong Marcos has advised his administration to undergo election in 2025 to gain public mandate.

The Presidential advice came in the face of a renewed call by civil society organizations (CSOs) for another wave of extension in the BTA operations, Ebrahim said in his message before thousands of participants in the assembly here of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP)-Cotabato City chapter on Monday, June 17.

“(Sa) 2025, kailangan na tayong magkaroon ng eleksyon. Maraming (CSOs) ang…gusto magkaroon ng extension pero ang tingin… ng current administration, si Presidente, sinabi niya sa akin na kailangan na tayong mag-eleksyon kase sabi niya mas malakas ang ating mandato kung elected,” said Ebrahim, who heads the UBJP as president.

The BTA is the transitional ruling body in BARMM, comprising 80 members appointed for a three-year term. Former President Duterte named the first set of appointees in 2019, and President Marcos appointed the second set after the national government approved the CSOs’ call for BTA lifespan extension from 2022 to 2025.

The approved extension postponed the supposed first BARMM parliament election in 2022, even as Marcos upon his appointment of the second set of BTA members categorically announced that there would be “no more extension” and that the regional polls would push through in 2025.

The UBJP is the political party of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front registered with the Commission on Elections in 2014 after the MILF forged with the government the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB), which was the principal major basis of R.A. 11054 known as the BARMM Charter.

The MILF has since embarked on organizing members in the countryside. The strides have intensified after some ruling traditional politicians organized their regional parties and formed a coalition to contest the UBJP in the 2025 polls. The Presidential desire for “no extension” has also spurred the UBJP drive.

Campaign for continuity

In his message at Monday’s UBJP assembly here, Chief Minister Ebrahim urged party members and supporters to actively participate in next year’s regional polls and ensure the election of at least 41 of the 80 parliament members, who will choose among themselves the regular chief minister, speaker and other key BARMM officials.

Forty (40) of the members of parliaments (MPs) will be elected via the party-list system, 32 MPs by districts, and eight representatives from organized sectors including the youth, women, religious, traditional, indigenous people, and settlers’ groups. The eight sectoral representatives will be chosen by their respective sectors in 2025. They will be elected at large yet in the 2028 polls, it was learned.

The UBJP hierarchy has ostensibly groomed Ebrahim for election as regular chief minister in pursuit of its drive for continuity in whatever projects, programs and policies initiated by the BARMM’s “Government of the Day.”

In a separate speech, BARMM Education Minister and UBJP Vice President for Central Mindanao Mohagher Iqbal underscored the need for continuity of their administration’s public welfare thrusts, noting the vicious cases in the region of grand projects and programs being discontinued by succeeding administrations.

Iqbal, MILF vice chair and chairperson, respectively, hinted that such continuity in governance can happen only when the majority of UBJP will win in the election and Ebrahim will be elected in the parliament as regular chief minister.  

He said the MILF will be able to pursue smoothly with the national government the unimplemented provisions of the CAB and R.A. 11054 if its leadership will prevail in the 2025 election to continue wielding power. The non-completion of the MILF-government peace process was one of reasons that prompted CSOs to push for BTA extension in 2022.  

Iqbal, who heads the MILF peace accord implementing panel, expressed hope that the UBJP could have similar success enjoyed by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) in fostering dominance in decades in Malaysia and steer Kuala Lumpur’s progress via continuity of policies, plans, and programs.

Unprecedented gains

Ebrahim debunked opposition quarters’ claim that the MILF-led administration is reeling from a dismal performance despite its huge block grants and regular national subsidies. He said the five-year old BARMM administration has so far surpassed the combined accomplishments of the two past regional autonomous governments from 1978 to 2019.

In legislative functionary, the BTA has already passed 58 regional edicts, six of seven basic codes mandated under R.A. 11054, and 404 resolutions, and successfully enacted the transformation of the 63 barangays in the Special Geographical Area (SGA) in North Cotabato into eight municipalities, Ebrahim said.

In infrastructure development, he said, his administration has constructed local roads across BARMM covering some 2,500 kilometers, including a significant portion of concreted spans.

According to the Ministry of Interior and Local Government, the Ebrahim administration has built several municipal halls, barangay halls, municipal market buildings, police stations, fire stations, and the like – a trend intended by the BARMM administration to end flimsy practices of some mayors and barangay officials holding offices in their own

In the health sector, Ebrahim said, his administration assisted 10,540 medical and hospital indigent patients with free medicines via mercury drug, and served over 5,000 others on free hospitalization – a thrust spearheaded by the Office of the Chief Minister’s AMBAG program. Provincial and district hospitals have been upgraded with appropriate facilities, while dialysis centers and more rural health centers have been constructed, his office said.

The AMBAG program alone, he said, has procured for dispersal 120 ambulance units, dozens of cadaver transport vehicles, and six mobile clinics, and served some 120,000 patients within and outside BARMM in 2023 alone.

Ebrahim said his administration recognizes the displacement of numerous families in past armed conflicts, and thus constructed 1,987 free housing units and is still constructing over 1,000 more for homeless households.

The Ministry of Social Services and Development in 2023 alone has provided holistic services to 25,019 indigent families, and served over 218,000 more in their basic needs, assisting also 32,000 persons with disabilities and 17,988 out-of-school youths in resuming elementary, secondary and collegiate studies, he said.

Ebrahim said his administration exerts utmost efforts in the observance of its “moral governance” goal in public services, something that has been reeling off amid doubts by local critics and skeptics.

Amiable politics

In his separate message, UBJP Secretary General and Maguindanao Gov. Abdulraof “Sammy Gambar” Macacua said their political party is seeking a shift from traditional adversarial electoral practices to an amiable mode.

“We want a politics without oppression and malicious accusations, promoting principled political policies based on justice, truth and cordiality,” Macacua said in the vernacular.

‘Mato Tano’ mood

Macacua echoed their party’s option to fight in the coming elections amid reports of coalescing ruling local politicians to challenge the UBJP.

“Mato Tano” (Let us fight) was first advocated by the UBJP in fielding local candidates in the 2022 elections, notably in this city where the previous leadership had consistently opposed BARMM governance policies and programs to the extent of not recognizing regional autonomous authority.

City membership

Monday’s UBJP assembly was highlighted by the oath-taking as new UBJP members of 20 of 36 barangays chairs and their kagawads purportedly convinced by City Mayor Mohammad-Ali “Bruce” Matabalao, who benefited from the UBJP’s “Mato Tano” stance in the 2022 elections. 

Former Comelec Chairman Sheriff Abas joined the oath-taking ceremony also as a new UBJP member. Abas, Minister Iqbal’s nephew, will reportedly gun for election in the city, mostly likely for an MP district slot.

Mayor Matabalao refuted opposing political quarters that the UBJP has weakened clout in this city due to internal differences with members of their slate in the 2022 election, saying the option of majority ruling barangay chairpersons indicated the contrary.

Organizers of the UBJP city chapter assembly welcomed the participation of some mayors in Lanao del Sur brought in by MP Marjanie Macasalong Mimbantas. (AGM)