It’s all systems go for the first-ever elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) that will coincide with the mid-term national and elections on May 12, 2025.
The Supreme Court announced its decision last seek declaring that the Bangsamoro Organic Law is constitutional “because it does not make BARMM a separate state from the Philippines.” But the High Court struck down as unconstitutional the provision in the law directing the provinces and cities of the erstwhile Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to vote as one geographical unit. Accordingly, Sulu province, in which the majority voted to reject the law, is deemed excluded from the BARMM.
The exclusion of Sulu from the BARMM prompted the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to reset the filing of candidacy for those participating in the BARMM elections to Nov. 4-9, 2024.
These twin developments — namely, the Supreme Court’s ruling affirming the constitutionality of the Bangsamoro Organic Law; and the Comelec’s immediate response that paves the way for the conduct of the first-ever BARMM elections — bode well for peace in Mindanao.
Auspiciously, these have achieved fruition during the nationwide observance of September as the National Peace Consciousness Month that is being led by the Office of the Presidential Adviser of Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU), that was formerly known as the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).
Indeed, the attainment of peace is facilitated by processes of reconciliation and unification.
Last Sept. 2 marked the 28th anniversary of the signing of the Final Peace Agreement between the Moro National Liberation Front (MILF), represented by its Chairman Nur Misuari, and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) panel chair Manuel Yan, on behalf of then President Fidel V. Ramos. According to a 1999 paper by Kenneth E. Bauzon for the Ethic Studies Review: “By the time the Agreement was signed, the war is estimated to have cost the GRP over $3 billion since it began in 1972.”
Loss of lives was estimated at 120,000 persons, with up to 300,000 Muslim refugees displaced and rendered destitute. Intense fighting took place in Cotabato, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Basilan, where, coincidentally, “poverty (had) become inescapably endemic.” Military spending reportedly escalated to twice the combined budget for education and health. By the time the peace agreement was signed, the total cost of war, incurred by the government from 1972 to 1996, was estimated at $3 billion.
During the administration of then President Benigno S. Aquino III, a framework agreement was signed between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) covering 81 powers, of which 58 were devolved to the Bangsamoro, nine were reserved to the central government, and 14 were shared. The framework agreement had four annexes, on Transitional Arrangements and Modalities, Revenue Generation and Wealth Sharing, Power Sharing and Normalization, together with an Addendum on Bangsamoro Waters.
The armed clash in Mamasapano in January 2015 caused a delay in the peace process, but a peace agreement was finalized during the Duterte administration, leading to the enactment of the Bangsamoro Organic Law and the establishment of the current transitional government.
We share the Filipino people’s earnest expectations that the election outcome will demonstrate the determination of Muslim Filipinos to integrate themselves into the national mainstream.