Moro Islamic Liberation Front calls for fair, clean Bangsamoro Parliament election during Maguindanao Norte assembly

From MindaNews (Jun 24, 2024): Moro Islamic Liberation Front calls for fair, clean Bangsamoro Parliament election during Maguindanao Norte assembly (By FERDINANDH B. CABRERA)

UBJP members and supporters gather at the MSU-Maguindanao campus in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte on Saturday, 22 June 2024. MIndaNews photo by FERDINANDH CABRERA

DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao del Norte (MindaNews / 24 June) — Thousands of members and supporters of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), the political party of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, attended their provincial general assembly here on Saturday, June 22, dubbed “Matu Tano,” which means “we will fight” in the Maguindanaoan and Maranao languages.

Traffic snarled the stretch of the national highway in the vicinity of the Mindanao State University – Maguindanao campus as hundreds of vehicles ferried UBJP supporters and members to the party’s “grand general assembly” at the university compound.

The event was highlighted by the provincial chapter’s report and the oath of loyalty to the party by the new UBJP members.

Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim, UBJP chairperson and the interim Chief Minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), appealed for a clean and fair elections during the occasion.

“This assembly is a testament and declaration that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, through the UBJP, is serious about its official participation to the first parliamentary election (in the Bangsamoro region). We are one in calling for clean and fair elections in 2025,” Ebrahim said.

The first Bangsamoro Parliament election will be simultaneously held with the midterm national and local elections in May 2025.

The MSU-Maguindanao gymnasium could not accommodate the thousands who attended, but organizers addressed this by mounting wide screen video and loudspeakers so they can see and hear the speakers.

Many attendees were seen gathered in the tents that were installed in the open ground, at the grandstand or under the shades of trees.

“Our homeland and Islam are what is at stake in the 2025 (parliamentary election). It is the interest of the Bangsamoro people and we are the forces of change,” Professor Abdullah Adam, one of the key UBJP leaders in Maguindanao del Norte,” said.

The UBJP is expected to square it off with the BARMM Grand Coalition (BGC), which is composed of the region’s well-entrenched political dynasties.

The BGC includes the Al-Ittihad-UKB Party of Sultan Kudarat former governor and now TESDA chief Suharto “Teng” Mangudadatu and his wife Governor Bai Mariam Mangudadatu of Maguindanao del Sur, the SIAP Party of Governor Mamintal Adiong Jr. of Lanao del Sur, the Bangsamoro People’s Party of former ARMM Governor and now Basilan Representative Mujiv Hataman, and Salam Party of Sulu Governor Sakur Tan.

The other organized political parties in the region associated with the Moro National Liberation Front and the indigenous peoples or settler groups have not yet declared if they are coalescing either with the UBJP or BGC.

Security concern

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairperson George Erwin Garcia admitted that security threats pose a major challenge in the holding of the regional elections in the BARMM.

Last May during the third Investigative Journalism Conference organized by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism in Quezon City, Garcia said the Comelec has started the security preparations for the Bangsamoro Parliament election in cooperation with the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.

During the round table discussion (RTD) involving the eight BARMM political parties, security concern also emerged as a major issue for the first Bangsamoro regional election.

The political parties agreed that “it is time to end the era of warlordism, the dismantling of private armed groups and the full implementation of the decommissioning process of former MILF rebels.”

“To say that we are ready in the upcoming election, we must disarm private armed groups, they are the source of dishonesty and coercions,” said lawyer Omar Sema, secretary general and spokesperson of Bangsamoro Party. Sema is also a member of the interim Bangsamoro Parliament.

“This is a golden opportunity for all the major players – the political clans or the former (Moro) armed movements – to really channel their energies into the electoral arena by strengthening their political parties,” said Dr. Julio Tehankee, of Participate Governance and the Ateneo School of Government. (Ferdinandh Cabrera / MindaNews)

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