BARMM governors, mayors urged to let electorate vote freely

Mohagher Iqbal —PHOTO FROM MBHTE-BARMM

COTABATO CITY – Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) first vice hcairperson Mohagher Iqbal on Thursday appealed to local chief executives in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to let their constituents vote freely in the historic Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE) on September 14.

“I appeal to all our local government executives in the BARMM to allow the people to vote freely on election day,” said Iqbal, also the vice president of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), the MILF’s political party

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“This is democracy and it is good for everybody. It is for peace, for justice, and for the promotion of national interest,” Iqbal added.

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In a statement, Iqbal stressed the first Bangsamoro elections, which is rooted in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), is “historic, symbolic, and emotional.”

“It is (a) direct empowerment of the Bangsamoro People granted by law, the result of almost two decades of hard, arduous negotiations,” he said.

The CAB, final peace agreement signed by the Philippine government and the MILF in 2014 after 17 years of negotiations, paved the way for the establishment in 2019 of the Bangsamoro region, which will hold its first regional elections in September after four postponements since 2022.

Iqbal said the MILF is not asking local government executives across BARMM to side with the UBJP or any other regional political parties registered by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

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“Stay neutral, so that our party members, who number in the hundreds of thousands or perhaps more, will not feel sidelined,” he said.

Iqbal, the MILF chief peace negotiator and head of the front’s Peace Implementing Panel, stressed that this election “is a litmus test for the national government.”

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BARMM is made up of the provinces of Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Marawi and Lamitan, and the Special Geographic Area.

The region has 105 municipal mayors, three city mayors and five provincial governors.

The September 14 BPE is historic because this the first parliamentary elections ever held in the BARMM that will allow the region to transition from an interim government to a democratically elected parliamentary government.

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The Comelec registered at least 2.3 million voters in 108 municipalities in the BARMM. /gsg