Murad clueless on claim about Mangudadatu ally’s appointment

From Rappler (May 5, 2023): Murad clueless on claim about Mangudadatu ally’s appointment (By ROMMEL REBOLLIDO)

BARMM interim Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim says only he can appoint a regional minister, and a vacant seat in the BTA is reserved for an MILF member

GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines – Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) interim Chief Minister Ahod Balawag “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim on Thursday, May 4, expressed surprise over Maguindanao del Sur Governor Mariam Mangudadatu’s announcement that one of her political allies would be the next environment and energy minister of the special region, saying he was clueless about that supposed plan.

The post was held from 2019 to 2022 by former BARMM senior minister Abdulraof Macacua, who was recently appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as officer-in-charge slash governor of Maguindanao del Norte.

After his stint as head of the environment ministry, Macacua’s deputy minister, Akmad Brahim, took over as head of the BARMM’s Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy {MENRE).

Mangudadatu spoke about the supposed plan during a news conference in Buluan town on Wednesday, May 3, when she announced her change of heart about the appointment of Macacua and other OICs, and that she wanted to mend her strained relations with the Ebrahim-led regional government so that they could collaborate.

Mangudadatu also said Sharifudin Tocao Mastura will soon assume office as the region’s environment and energy minister and as a member of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), which was supposedly an agreement reached when she and other appointees in the two new Maguindanao provinces took their oath in Malacanang on April 28.

Mastura is a member of a political family that is part of a Mangudadatu-led coalition of political clans in the Maguindanao provinces.

The 26-year-old Mastura, a certified public accountant, topped the 2022 race for provincial board seats of the now-defunct Maguindanao province under the Nacionalista Party (NP).

He was also elected regional president of the BARMM Board Members’ League and was among those who had planned to serve in the Maguindanao del Norte legislature. But instead of him, another Mastura, former Sultan Mastura town mayor Armando Mastura, was appointed as a member of the new provincial board.

According to Mangudadatu, Mastura was already preparing his documents ahead of his appointment to the BTA and the region’s environment ministry.

Ebrahim, however, said he was not privy to the supposed agreement about Mastura’s appointment.

“Hindi pa namin napaguusapan ni Presidente (The President and I have yet to discuss that matter),” he told reporters.

Ebrahim also pointed out that the BARMM chief minister, and not the President, is the appointing power when it comes to positions in the regional cabinet.

“Normally, the rule is that it is the chief minister who appoints a minister, not anymore the President,” he said.

He also said a vacant position in the BTA, based on the rule, is one of the 41 seats reserved for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the former rebel group that struck a peace agreement with the government. Ebrahim is the MILF chairman, and Mastura is a non-member of the former rebel group.

https://www.rappler.com/nation/mindanao/murad-clueless-claim-about-mariam-mangudadatu-ally-appointment/