(First of two parts)
COTABATO CITY, BARMM, Philippines — With just three weeks to go, around 2.4 million voters in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will elect the members of the 80-seat Bangsamoro Parliament on Sept. 14.
The stakes are high as the election will usher in a regional government whose officials are directly chosen by the electorate, ending the seven-year transition period during which presidential appointees composed the parliament.
Interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua said the election would mark a major step in the region’s transition to an elected government.
“As enshrined in the Bangsamoro Organic Law, this election marks the full exercise of the people’s sovereign will—the formal transition from an interim government to a democratically elected parliament,” Macacua said recently.
READ: Marcos declares Sept. 14 special non-working day for BARMM polls
The first Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE) will determine not only who will control the 80-seat legislature, but also which political forces will shape the region’s first elected government.
The battle is shaping up between the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), the political arm of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro Federalist Party (BFP), which is linked to the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas of the Marcos administration.
READ: ‘Rido’ grips Bangsamoro campaign trail, displaces thousands
MILF chairperson Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim is the UBJP’s stalwart, while Macacua has emerged as a key figure for the BFP.
Macacua filed his candidacy as an independent candidate for the third district of Maguindanao del Norte. On Aug. 15, however, he was installed as BFP chair and president.
Last year, President Marcos appointed Macacua as chief minister, replacing Ebrahim, who had held the post since the BARMM government was established in 2019. The move was resented by the MILF Central Committee.
The MILF subsequently stripped Macacua of his positions as chief of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces and UBJP secretary general.
Clan politics
Traditional political clans, long dominant in Mindanao politics, have also formed alliances and coalitions to challenge the MILF’s UBJP. Groups linked to the Moro National Liberation Front and some former MILF commanders are also joining the political contest.
Aside from the BFP, the BARMM Grand Coalition, which includes Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. and Basilan Gov. Mujiv Hataman, has been accredited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to participate in the historic polls.
Twelve regional political parties have been accredited by the Comelec, including the Alliance of Bangsamoro Tri-People Party, Bangsamoro Party, Bangsamoro Empowerment and Social Transformation Party, Indigenous Settlers, Sama and Minorities Alliance Party, Mahardika Party, People’s Consultative Mushawara Party, Partido Bangon Bangsamoro, Progresibong Bangsamoro Party and Bangsamoro People’s Democratic Party.
Macacua has campaigned on continuity and development, while critics have raised concerns about lingering clan influence and the slow pace of MILF combatant decommissioning and the disbandment of private armed groups.
New voting system
Voters will elect 80 members of the Bangsamoro Parliament through three categories.
Forty seats, or half of the parliament, will be filled through proportional representation. Accredited regional political parties will compete for these seats, with allocations based on their share of the vote. The threshold was lowered to 2.5 percent following amendments to the Bangsamoro Electoral Code.
Thirty-two seats, or 40 percent, will be filled through single-member parliamentary districts. Candidates may run with or without party affiliation.
The remaining eight seats, or 10 percent, are reserved for sectoral representatives: two each for non-Moro Indigenous Peoples and settler communities and one each for women, youth, traditional leaders and the Ulama.
The parliamentary system is different from the presidential system governing the rest of the country.
The chief minister will not be directly elected. Instead, the parliament will choose the chief minister from among its members, who will then appoint a Cabinet accountable to the legislature.
The campaign period began July 30 and will end on Sept. 12.
Other major campaign issues include basic services, economic development and job creation, the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, transitional justice, the inclusion of women, youth, and non-Moro Indigenous groups and security and the fight against extremism. —WITH A REPORT FROM BONG S. SARMIENTO
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