MANILA(November 24) —National and Bangsamoro officials agree that holding elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) is crucial to protecting the peace gains achieved through years of negotiations.
“Election is a major part of the solution… this is what we’ve been aspiring for,” Defense Undersecretary Cesar Yano, chair of the government’s peace implementing panel, told participants at an international conference organized by the Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG).
Yano appeared alongside Bangsamoro Members of Parliament (MPs) Mohagher Iqbal and Randolph Parcasio in a panel discussing the state of the peace process and the top priorities moving forward.
Iqbal, who also heads the BARMM’s education ministry and represents the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), stressed that holding the long-delayed parliamentary polls would mark the region’s full transition to democratic self-governance.
The BARMM has been under an appointed transition authority since 2019. Its first election—originally set for 2022—has been repeatedly moved, most recently due to a Supreme Court ruling that invalidated the region’s districting laws. The high court has ordered the BARMM Parliament to craft a new districting law and set the elections no later than March 31, 2026.
Iqbal admitted doubts that the regional legislature could meet the Commission on Elections’ Nov. 30 timetable for passing the required law, given the extensive preparations needed.
Despite the delays, he said the establishment of the BARMM remains the most significant achievement of the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, citing the region’s expanded governance powers and fiscal autonomy. Unlike the previous autonomous setup, BARMM receives an automatically appropriated 5-percent block grant.
Parcasio noted that the peace tracks of both the MILF and Moro National Liberation Front have largely converged under the current regional setup, aside from long-standing territorial questions.
Yano, meanwhile, cited another key milestone: the decommissioning of 65 percent of some 40,000 MILF combatants—an essential foundation, he said, for sustainable peace in the region.
