Newly elected BARMM lawmakers urged to work hard for constituents

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October 25, 2026 | 2:29pm

COTABATO CITY — The speaker of the interim Bangsamoro parliament and an outgoing member from the Moro National Liberation (MNLF) have separately urged the newly elected regional lawmakers to work together to foster peace and development in the autonomous region.

Residents in many areas of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), which encompasses the provinces of Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, as well as the cities of Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato, are still struggling to recover from decades of secessionist strife.

BARMM Parliament Speaker Mohammad Yacob said on Saturday, October 24, that he hoped the 80 members of the newly mandated parliament would overcome their bitter partisan differences, which were fueled by intense rivalries during the region’s first parliamentary elections on September 14.

"We have to build cordiality and tight working cohesion among all of us," Yacob said.

Yacob will continue serving as a regional lawmaker, as one of the 31 members of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party elected to the regular parliament, which is set to begin functioning on October 30.

“There should be no more animosity among us. Let us work as a team,” Yacob said.

He and outgoing Deputy Speaker Baintain Adil-Ampatuan led the interim parliament's symbolic closing session on Thursday, paving the way for the first session of the duly elected lawmakers on Friday next week.

In his remarks, Yacob thanked the appointed members of the interim parliament for their cooperation in passing regional laws aimed at strengtgening governance, accelerating BARMM's socioeconomic development and promoting interfaith and cultural solidarity among its diverse communities.

The interim parliament passed a total of 94 laws since BARMM’s creation in 2019, replacing the 27-year-old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which had a 24-member Regional Legislative Assembly with more limited powers.

Yacob said the elected lawmakers should also review and enact into regional laws all pending bills authored by members of the now-defunct interim parliament.

Romeo Sema, who has represented the MNLF in the interim parliament since 2019, said the newly elected lawmakers, whose five-year term begins on October 30, should involve Muslim, Christian and indigenous communities in BARMM, as well as officials of the regional government’s ministries and support agencies, in drafting proposed laws subject to their collective imprimatur. 

“Some of the elected regional lawmakers are newcomers. They need to get acquainted with the parliament's policies and procedures on how to produce quality regional laws that would be good for the region’s Muslim, Christian and indigenous communities,” Sema, whose interim tenure as regional lawmaker shall end on October 30, said.

Sema is among the MNLF representatives appointed to the interim parliament. The MNLF forged a final truce with the national government on Sept. 2, 1996, with the organization of the Islamic Cooperation, a bloc of more than 50 Muslim nations, including petroleum-exporting states in the Middle East and North Africa.

Neither of the MNLF’s two political parties, Mahardika and the Bangsamoro Party, secured a seat through their nominees for bloc representation in the BARMM parliament during the September 14 regional elections. MNLF candidates who ran for district parliamentary seats in BARMM’s provinces and cities were also defeated by contenders from rival parties.

“Just the same, our support for the peace initiatives of the parliament will continue. We shall do that all for peace and for the prosperity of the communities in the autonomous region,” Sema said.

Sema said he and his fellow MNLF members were grateful to the Office of the President for its role in empowering the BARMM government and helping regional officials push their common peace and development initiatives forward.

“We are also thankful to President Marcos for having announced that he shall give the duly-elected members of the parliament a free hand in choosing who they would want to become their chief minister from among them,” Sema said.