Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, has declined his appointment to the 80-member Bangsamoro Transition Authority, the interim parliament of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
But in a statement posted on his Facebook page Monday, Ebrahim, who served as BARMM Interim Chief Minister from 2019 until this month, congratulated his successor, Abdulraof Macacua.
Macacua, chief of staff of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, military arm of the MILF, was installed on March 20.
“Personally known to me as ‘Sammy Gambar,’ ICM Macacua brings a wealth of experience to this new role. He leaves his position as the Governor of Maguindanao de Norte while still being Chief of Staff of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) of the MILF. His leadership and commitment to peace and development in the region are well-documented. I wish him well in his endeavors,” Ebrahim said in the statement.
He said he will continue to lead the MILF and its political party, the United Bangsamoro Justice Party.
Ebrahim also thanked President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. for offering him another chance to serve in the Bangsamoro government as a Member of Parliament, but “I have decided to respectfully decline said appointment.”
Ebrahim and Macacua have scheduled a formal turnover on March 27 at the Bangsamoro Government Center in Cotabato City.
In a briefing on March 20 in Cotabato City attended by journalists from across Mindanao, BARMM Education Minister Mohagher Iqbal said the government has been inconsistent in as far as the leadership of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is concerned, leading to confusion among the people.
Iqbal said that while the MILF recognizes the President’s authority to appoint BTA members, certain provisions of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro and the Bangsamoro Law were violated.
He said the BTA is supposed to be MILF-led, which means 41 members of the 80-member parliament should come from the organization. But he noted that six appointees from the MILF side were not in the list that they submitted to the President.
The minister was referring to Article XVI, Section 2 of Republic Act 11054, which provides that the MILF shall lead the BTA as the interim regional parliament.
But he clarified that Macacua was included in the list of nominees that they submitted to Malacañang but only as a Member of Parliament, not as Interim Chief Minister.
In a press conference on March 20, Macacua said that if MILF members harbored ill feelings toward each other [because of Ebrahim’s replacement as Interim Chief Minister], they can reconcile their misunderstanding as brothers in the revolution.
He said he was told by Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity that some appointees from the government side are MILF members. This, he said, means that the BTA will still be MILF-led.
BTA members will serve until the holding of the first parliamentary election in October this year. (Ferdinand B. Cabrera/MindaNews)
