Misuari wants Macacua to remain as BARMM's figurehead

COTABATO CITY — Various sectors welcomed the wish of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founder Nur Misuari for Abdulraof Macacua to remain as chief minister of the Bangsamoro regional government.

“That is something so touching for us,” lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, spokesperson of the Bangsamoro Federalist party, who was elected to represent a parliamentary district in Cotabato City during the September 14 elections in the autonomous region, said.

The 80 elected members of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will convene for the inaugural session on October 30, following the region's first-ever parliamentary elections on September 14.

Macacua was also elected to represent a parliamentary district covering neighboring barangays in Cotabato City and parts of the nearby province Maguindanao del Norte during last month's  polls.

Up to 46 newly elected members of the BARMM parliament, including Macacua, formed a bloc during a dialogue in Davao City last week to promote inclusive regional governance that involves Muslim, Christian and indigenous non-Moro communities in the autonomous region.  

Macacua, whose tenure as interim chief minister is set to end when the elected regional lawmakers convene for their first session on October 30, visited Misuari at his residence in Davao City on Thursday, October 22, along with BARMM’s local government minister Jordan Bayam. They discussed various issues, including governance in autonomous region.

During their conversation, Misuari first congratulated  Macacua on his election to the BARMM parliament in the September 14 regional polls. Their meeting, which was also attended by Bayam, was captured on video. Copies of the footage circulated among members of BARMM’s media community on Friday, October 23.

“You have my support, my full support,” Misuari told Macacua, after saying that he wants him to stay as BARMM’s chief minister.

Macacua would need at least 41 votes from the 80 newly elected BARMM lawmakers to become chief minister if nominated for the post during their first session on October 30.

Misuari served as governor of the now-defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao after the MNLF and the national government signed a peace agreement on September 2, 1996. The agreement was brokered by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a bloc of more than 50 Muslim-majority countries, including oil-exporting nations in the Middle East and North Africa.

“We need good people like you at the helm,” Misuari told Macacua while he and Bayam were in his residence in Davao City.

All five BARMM governors, Ali Midtimbang of Maguindanao del Sur, Tucao Mastura of Maguindanao del Norte, Mamintal Adiong Jr. of Lanao del Sur, Mujiv Hataman of Basilan and Ysmael Sali of Tawi-Tawi, had assured, pledged their support for the 46-member bloc of newly elected lawmakers during a meeting in Davao City last week. 

The bloc members are expected to support Macacua if he is nominated for chief minister during the parliament’s first session on October 30.

“Carry on, I hope you will stay long in your administration, In Shaa Allah,” Misuari told Macacua as they ended their talk with a handshake.

Officials of the Bangsamoro Initiative for Peace, Progress and Solidarity (BIPPS), a multisectoral peace advocacy entity with members across BARMM's provinces and cities, separately told reporters on Sunday that they appreciated Misuari’s vote of confidence in Macacua.

Traders in BARMM, including members of the influential Bangsamoro Business Council, which has groups across the region’s five provinces and three cities, said they did not oppose efforts by various sectors to keep Macacua as chief minister of the autonomous region.

“We don’t have a problem with Chief Minister Macacua remaining as chief minister in the Bangsamoro region," Adiong, the now second term governor of Lanao del Sur, said.

Adiong said officials and members of their regional party, the Serbisyong Inklusibo, Alyansang Progresibo, are thankful to Misuari for his desire for Macacua to remain as BARMM chief minister.