At least 300,000 join MILF’s grand consultative assembly

COTABATO CITY — Thousands of members and supporters participated in the general assembly and consultative dialogue of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao del Norte on Monday, September 23.

The MILF’s figurehead, Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, who is chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and BARMM’s education minister, Muhaquer Mohammad Iqbal, also a senior official of the front, together led the activities in the day-long event, held at Darapanan area in Sultan Kudarat.

BARMM’s health minister, the physician-ophthalmologist Kadil Monera Sinolinding Jr., told reporters on Tuesday that he and members of the emergency response contingent that he deployed in Darapanan last Monday were surprised seeing at least 300,000  participants to the event, something that they did not expect.

“All went well in that event. Participants were briefed by top MILF officials on the goings-on in the Bangsamoro government, particularly on its activities aimed at fostering lasting peace and sustainable development in the autonomous region,” Sinolinding, who had also served as regional health secretary of the now defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said.

Ebrahim, who is at the helm of the 80-seat interim parliament of BARMM, said among their objectives now in regional governance is to maximize programs related to the peace and socio-economic agenda of the MILF’s peace overture with Malacañang.

Ebrahim and other MILF and BARMM officials separately told reporters on Monday that they are now transforming the MILF, from its being a revolutionary front, into a social movement for peace and progress in all four corners of the autonomous region.

The creation of BARMM via a plebiscite in 2019 is premised on two compacts between the MILF and the national government, the 2012 Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro and, subsequently, the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro that are products of 22 years of peace negotiations by both sides.

Ebrahim, president of the MILF’s United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) told reporters who covered Monday’s assembly in Sultan Kudarat town that they are prepared for next year’s first ever parliamentary elections in the autonomous region.

He said they would no longer ask for an extension of the tenure of the 80-member regional parliament, whose members, including him, are appointees of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.  

Ebrahim is the UBJP’s bet for chief minister of BARMM if the 2025 regional parliamentary polls shall push through as programmed.

Aspirants for seats in the assembly shall file certificates of candidacy as representative for parliamentary districts in BARMM’s five provinces and three cities.

The selection of a chief minister in BARMM shall be an election involving only elected members of the parliament.

Iqbal, also a member of the MILF’s central leadership core, said Ebrahim shall be UBJP’s candidate for chief minister in next year’s first ever regional parliamentary electoral exercise.