BARMM lawmakers work to bridge political divides after election

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Elected members of the Bangsamoro parliament on Tuesday, September 22, urged voters in the autonomous region, so fragmented by the September 14 polls, to reunite and support the joint peace and sustainable development programs of the regional government and state agencies in their provinces and cities.

The territory of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao encompasses five provinces, Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato, where BARMM’s regional government center is located.

The physician Lampi Pandi, elected as representative of one of the nine parliamentary districts in Lanao del Sur, told reporters on Tuesday that reconciliation of all sectors in BARMM divided by the September 14 regional polls will hasten the joint peace and development thrusts in the autonomous region of the Bangsamoro government and national line agencies.

“It is healing time now. The parliamentary electoral exercise is over. Let us now work together in sustaining the gains of the Mindanao peace process involving the national government and our communities,” Pandi, a former three-term mayor of Poona Bayabao town in Lanao del Sur, said.

Two newly-elected lawmakers who are both lawyers, Jet Lim of Tawi-Tawi and Naguib Sinarimbo, who both first served as members of the interim BARMM parliament based on appointments by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., separately told reporters that officials of their respective parties also want a full closure to the political animosities among sectors that supported different partisan blocs during the region’s September 14 regional polls.

Lim belongs to the United Bangsamoro Justice Party of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Sinarimbo is spokesperson and Cotabato City chapter chairperson of the Bangsamoro Federalist Party.

The president of the Bangsamoro Federalist Party is the region’s appointed interim chief minister, Abdulraof Macacua, who was elected on September 14 as representative of a parliamentary district covering parts of Cotabato City and several barangays in Maguindanao del Norte province.

“We don’t hold any hostility against those who supported candidates of other parties," Sinarimbo, a former BARMM local government minister, said.

Sinarimbo, a Maguindanaon, was also elected as representative of one of the three parliamentary districts in Cotabato City, the capital of BARMM. Lim, who is of Tausug descent, was elected as a nominee for bloc representation of their party to the 80-member Bangsamoro parliament.

Hanie Bud, a scion of a Yakan clan in one of the towns in Basilan, also elected as a nominee for group representation in the parliament of their party, the BARMM Government Coalition, said he will also help foster patience and understanding among partisan groups in the autonomous region.

“Political and religious tolerance among BARMM residents is vital in keeping, nurturing the initial gains of the development initiatives of our regional government,” Bud, a former three-term mayor of Maluso town in Basilan, said.

Lim said he does not harbor bitterness against voters in his province, Tawi-Tawi, who voted for bloc representatives to the parliament of other parties.

“We want peace and unity now among the communities that supported rival political parties and rival individual candidates for seats in different districts during the September 14 regional electoral exercise,” Lim said.