MNLF's party all set for BARMM parliamentary polls

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The political party of the Moro National Liberation Front officially pitted on Friday, November 8, its candidates for the 80-seat Bangsamoro parliament in preparation for next year’s first ever parliamentary elections in the autonomous region.

Regional Labor and Employment Minister Muslimin Sema, president of the MNLF’s Bangsamoro Party, filed on Friday a Manifestation of Intent to Participate in the 2025 Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Parliamentary Elections at the regional office of the Commission on Elections at the BARMM capitol in Cotabato City.

Sema, who is chairman of the MNLF that has a peace agreement with Malacanang, is not aspiring for a seat in the regional parliament.

Sema was accompanied to the Comelec office by senior MNLF officials from Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and from the cities of Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato.

“While there are efforts by national lawmakers to reset next year’s regional parliamentary elections, we shall proceed with our plans because if they cannot postpone the elections through a congressional measure, it will take place as scheduled,” Sema said.

The MNLF, which forged a final peace compact with Malacanang on September 2, 1996, is helping the chief minister of BARMM, Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, oversee the regional government’s peace and development initiatives.

Ebrahim is the chairman of the central committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that also has separate peace deals with the national government, the 2012 Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro and the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro.

The two government-MILF agreements paved the way for the replacement, via a plebiscite in 2019, of the then 27-year and now defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with a more empowered BARMM.

Sema and other officials of the Bangsamoro Party reminded on Friday all of its candidates, members and supporters in BARMM’s five provinces and three cities to adhere to a party rule prohibiting the use of Facebook and mainstream media platforms to attack other parties, or candidates from other blocs even if they are rudely provocative in their campaign manners.