Ex-BARMM local gov’t minister aspiring for seat in region’s parliament

COTABATO CITY — The former local government minister of the Bangsamoro region, who was legal adviser to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front during its peace talks with Malacañang, filed his candidacy as parliamentary representative for the second district of Cotabato City on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024

The lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo is seeking a seat in the 80-member Bangsamoro regional parliament as a candidate of the Serbisyong Inklusibo, Alyansang Progresibo (SIAP) Party.

Led by Lanao del Sur Vice Gov. Mohammad Khalid Adiong, the SIAP is the pioneer, or first-ever regional political party in the autonomous region, recently reported many times over by radio stations and Mindanao newspapers as having more than 600,000 documented supporters and members in the five provinces and three cities in BARMM.

Sinarimbo also served as executive secretary to the regional governor of the now-defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao from 2009 to 2012.

An official of the Moro National Liberation Front, incumbent regional parliament member Romeo Sema, is SIAP Party’s candidate for parliamentary representative of the first district of Cotabato City.

Cotabato City is the capital of BARMM, established via a plebiscite in 2019 as part of the government-MILF peace overture, replacing then the 27-year ARMM, which has lesser administrative and fiscal powers. BARMM's chief minister, Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, is chairman of the central committee of the MILF which also has its political bloc, the United Bangsamoro Justice Party.

Lawyer Ray Sumalipao, regional director for BARMM of the Commission on Elections, was quoted in radio reports in Central Mindanao on Friday as saying that they will continue preparing for next year’s first Bangsamoro parliamentary elections that, he emphasized, can only be postponed and reset to a later date via an act of Congress.

"We understand that there are members of the House of Representatives and Senators who are working out the postponement of the first ever Bangsamoro parliamentary polls next year. We need to wait for the outcome of their efforts. In the meantime, all our activities for the elections next year will proceed as programmed," Sumalipao said.