MILF political bloc's first general assembly held in Lanao del Sur

COTABATO CITY – Thousands participated in the first-ever general assembly of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Lanao del Sur on Monday, where a number of local executives pledged allegiance to the group.

Radio reports here on Tuesday said that at least 30,000 Maranaos from across Lanao del Sur participated in the sortie, held in Poona Bayabao. The event was initiated by senior MILF officials, among them the chairman of its central committee, Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, the appointed chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Regional Parliament Member Kadil Monera Sinolinding Jr. and BARMM's education minister, Muhaquer Mohammad Iqbal.

Monday’s activity in Poona Bayabao of the MILF-led UBJP was part of the front’s initial preparations for the first-ever BARMM parliamentary elections in 2025, simultaneous with the municipal, city, provincial and senatorial elections.

The MILF has 41 representatives, comprising a majority bloc, in the 80-member BARMM parliament, also known as the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, functioning as presidential appointees, not as elected regional lawmakers.

Ebrahim, in a message during the Poona Bayabao UBJP gathering, said that they appreciate the continuing support of southern communities to their political party, launched only about four years ago, and called on Moro sectors to unite and together keep the gains of the peace process between the government and the MILF.

He also emphasized that the creation of BARMM via a plebiscite in 2019, replacing the then 27-year Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao that has lesser political and administrative powers, was an outcome of the peace talks between Malacañang and the MILF that lasted for about two decades, sealed with a final compact, the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro, in 2014.