COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 24 January) – Bangsamoro Education Minister Mohagher Iqbal on Friday said the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is prepared to accept whatever will be the result of the first parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
“We’re prepared for the elections, to win or lose. Anong gagawin namin kung talo kami? Eh di talo kami (What will we do if we lose? Then we lose),” he said during a forum with mostly Luzon-based journalists in a hotel here.
Alluding to their political rivals, Iqbal, also the chairperson of the MILF Peace Implementing Panel (MILF – PIP), said: “If they win, no problem with us, but if we win, it will be a problem for them.”
The MILF has formed the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), which is fielding candidates for the local and regional parliamentary elections scheduled on May 12 this year. The UBJP had also fielded candidates during the May 2022 local elections.
The BARMM, formed by virtue of Republic Act 11054 or the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) that was ratified in 2019, is currently governed by the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) whose term was supposed to end in 2022 but was extended until June 30 this year.
Majority or 41 members of the 80-member BTA belong to the MILF as mandated by the BOL. MILF chairperson Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim serves as the Interim Chief Minister of the Bangsamoro government.
There are bills in Congress resetting the first regional election instead of synchronizing it with the midterm national and local polls on May 12.
The recent Senate Bill No. 2942 proposes moving the election to August 11, 2025. It provides that the BTA members shall serve until the election of their successors. Another measure sponsored by Senate President Francis Escudero last year seeks to postpone the Bangsamoro regional elections to May 11, 2026.
At the House of Representatives, the approved House Bill No. 11144 sets the exercise on May 11, 2026. Under the bill, the term of office of the present BTA members is deemed expired upon the effectivity of the postponement law.
Iqbal said that in case of a postponement, he is in favor of allowing the BTA members to serve in holdover capacity to ensure the continuity of programs and projects.
Iqbal, as MILF-PIP chairperson, said they are still willing to engage in talks leading to an exit agreement regardless of the outcome of the parliamentary election.
But he explained that the fate of the exit agreement depends upon the progress in the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), the final peace pact of the government and the MILF that provided for the creation of an autonomous Muslim region.
He acknowledged that it is impossible to implement all the components of the Bangsamoro peace and other agreements before the holding of the first regional election, should it be held as scheduled on May 12.
Iqbal said they are okay with “a substantial implementation of the CAB as the basis for an exit agreement.” (H. Marcos C. Mordeno / MindaNews)
