New BARMM chief gets support from local executives

COTABATO CITY — Local executives have expressed support for Abdulrauf A. Macacua, the newly appointed interim chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

According to radio reports on Monday, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Claire A. Castro confirmed the appointment of Mr. Macacua, who was governor of Maguindanao del Norte, as the new chief minister of BARMM. He replaced Ahod B. Ebrahim, who was installed to the post in 2019.

Mr. Ebrahim is the chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), while Mr. Macacua is the chief of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces-MILF, which has groups in BARMM’s Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi provinces.

The front’s two compacts with the national government — the 2012 Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro and the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro — paved the way for the replacement in 2019 of the then 27-year Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with a more administratively and politically-empowered BARMM.

“We congratulate Chief Minister Macacua for his appointment as BARMM chief minister. We also thank his predecessor, former Chief Minister Ebrahim for the services he had extended to our people and for all the projects of the BARMM government in our province during his tenure,” Basilan Gov. Hadjiman H. Salliman told reporters in Cotabato City on Monday.

Mayor Rhoderick H. Furigay of Lamitan City in Basilan said he and his constituent Muslim and Christian leaders will support the peace, security and development initiatives of Mr. Macacua just as they supported the administration of Mr. Ebrahim.

Meanwhile, some skeptics, including civil society organizations and peace-advocacy groups, have expressed concern over a possible adverse impact on the unity of MILF leaders of Mr. Macacua’s assumption as chief minister, replacing Mr. Ebrahim.

Mayor Marshall I. Sinsuat of Datu Blah Sinsuat, touted as the most peaceful town in Maguindanao del Norte, said he is certain that top leaders of the MILF have given Mr. Macacua their “imprimatur” to replace Ebrahim as BARMM chief minister.

“Their central committee acts like a collegial bloc. I’m convinced there was a consensus about that. We in Datu Blah Sinsuat recognize the new chief minister. We too shall support his administration to the best we can,” Mr. Sinsuat said.

Mr. Salliman, Mr. Sinsuat and Mr. Furigay, who is seeking reelection as mayor of Lamitan City unopposed, are members of the MILF’s regional United Bangsamoro Justice Party.

An influential leader not aligned with them politically, the reelectionist Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamimtal A. Adiong, Jr., had urged Mr. Macacua to adhere to the “moral governance principle” that the MILF bloc in the 80-seat BARMM parliament has overtly been espousing as their main principle in managing the regional government.

“We wish to see a strong regional bureaucracy under your leadership of the regional government,” Mr. Adiong said

Mr. Adiong said they want Mr. Macacua’s peace and security and community development initiatives done in the context of transparency and accountability and for the utmost benefit of all constituents regardless of their religious and cultural identities. — John Felix M. Unson