Iqbal: MILF wants Bangsamoro polls next year; ashamed of asking for another transition extension
MAKATI CITY (MindaNews / 21 Nov) – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has pushed the parliamentary election to proceed next year, with Mohagher Iqbal, MILF peace implementing panel chair, saying the front “is already ashamed” of asking for another extension of the Bangsamoro transition period.
This developed as Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Peace, Unity and Reconciliation (OPAPRU), disclosed that his agency has initiated moves for Congress to set the date of the first parliamentary elections next year.
Iqbal and Galvez were both speakers at the international conference on “After the Peace Agreements: The Bangsamoro and Beyond,” which gathered at least 200 local and international participants here from November 18-19. The event was organized by the Cotabato City-based think tank Institute for Autonomy and Governance.
The October 13, 2025 election did not push through because the laws apportioning the 32 parliamentary districts were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in a decision dated September 30, 2025.
The Supreme Court declared BAA 58 and 77 unconstitutional, a decision that it said was “immediately executory,” and directed the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), the governing body of the BARMM during the transition period, to “immediately undertake by October 30, 2025 at the latest” the passage of a new law for the 32 parliamentary district seats “in strict compliance with the priorities and requirements provided to the Bangsamoro Organic Law, as well as the criteria laid down in this decision.
It also urged Congress to “promptly enact a law that would reschedule the BARMM Parliamentary Elections … as much as practicable, not later than March 31, 2026.”
Iqbal, also the region’s education minister and a member of the BTA or Bangsamoro Parliament, said the MILF “is really keen on having the election as provided for in the law,” even as he noted that they respect the decision of the Supreme Court declaring the BAA 58 and 77 unconstitutional, which effectively postponed the October 13 elections.
The historic Bangsamoro Parliamentary election has been postponed thrice: from May 9, 2022 to May 12, 2025; from May 12, 2025 to October 13, 2025. The postponement from October 13, 2025 to a still to be determined date is the third.
Iqbal stressed that holding the first Bangsamoro parliamentary election is “very important because it signals that the area or the region is practically normal.”
“For the MILF, we are not only prepared to win, but we are also prepared to lose. The MILF, which has always been a revolutionary organization, is keen on having the election rather than some other groups that want relief or another extension. We are already…we are ashamed of asking for another extension (of the Bangsamoro transition period),” he said.
“We want the election to happen as it was scheduled, but we don’t understand why,” he added.
The Bangsamoro transition period was supposed to be for three years only — from February 2019 to June 30, 2022. This was extended to another three years, until June 30, 2025 and extended again supposedly until October 30, 2025 if the elections were held on October 13.
During his closing remarks, Galvez disclosed that the OPAPRU is talking with Senator Miguel Zubiri, the principal author of Republic Act 11054 or the Bangsamoro Organic Law, to schedule the first Bangsamoro parliamentary election next year.
He called on Congress and the BTA to convene, through the Intergovernmental Relations Body,and agree on the proposed districting law and the date of the election.
“I told them personally that the longer it takes for the election to proceed, the higher the risk,” Galvez said.
Iqbal expressed doubts that the Bangsamoro Parliament can pass the districting law on or before November 30 at the rate things are going.
Five districting bills have been filed at the BTA, where deliberations have been focused on the 2026 budget.
Galves later told reporters at the sidelines that Bangsamoro interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua had committed to pass the districting law by the second week of December, which “will still allow the Commission on Elections time to comply with the SC ruling to hold the election not later than March 31, 2026.”
Galvez said that Zubiri gave assurances that “it would be easy to set the date of the election” once the BTA approves a districting law that complies with the Constitution.
“Maganda magkaroon ng election kasi it will solidify yung legitimacy at accountability ng mga elected officials. Sabi ko nga (As I said), the longer it takes, the higher the expectation and the higher the risk will become,” he said. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
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