Kusug Tausug Party-list Rep. Shernee Tan-Tambut (Rep. Tan-Tambut's office)

Kusug Tausug Party-list Rep. Shernee Tan-Tambut--who is on her third and final term as a congresswoman--has decided to run for vice mayor of her hometown of Maimbung in Sulu province in the 2025 polls. 

Tan-Tambut, 39, is the youngest daughter of Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan. 

Dubbed the "true voice of the Tausug people", Tan-Tambut was the youngest member of the House of Representatives in the 17th Congress, or during her first term. 

As for Kusug Tausug, she said the Party-list will again participate in the 2025 mid-term elections. The outgoing solon called on her supporters nationwide to continue to support the group. 

The party-list’s first nominee in the upcoming elections is Maimbung Vice Mayor Ainan Tan. 

In Tan-Tambut's first two terms, her constituents referred to her as a female “David” who stood up against the “Goliaths” in Congress that tried to silence her consistent criticism of the now- defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). On many occasions, she was the sole voice championing the rights of the Tausugs. 

She urged then-president Rodrigo Duterte to expand nationwide the coverage of his declaration of martial law in Mindanao.


Vindicated 

The congresswoman was also among the very few who objected to the broad provision in the plebiscite for the Bangsamoro  Organic Law (BOL), which fixed the provinces that would constitute the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM)  when the majority approved the BOL. 

Calling the provision unconstitutional for not allowing each province to individually decide whether or not to become part of the BARMM, she pointed out that a blanket approval of the BOL’s proposed area coverage deprived each proposed province the right to refuse inclusion in the autonomous region. 

Her stand has since been vindicated by the Supreme Court's (SC) September 2024 decision, which removed Sulu from the BARMM. 

Sulu province overwhelmingly voted “No” during the 2019 BARMM plebiscite. 

Tan-Tambut has consistently promoted the products of Sulu and the history and culture of the Tausug people. Because of her efforts, many more people have become aware that peace and order has been restored in the province and Sulu is ready for investments.