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18June
"In my view, my removal from the MBHTE was more a blessing than a setback. I didn't take it personally; instead, I felt relieved to leave an environment where people are judged before any wrongdoing is proven, and where comrades who stood side by side for more than forty years are treated as enemies." Mohagher M. Iqbal(UBJP Party Vice President)
Iqbal calls removal from MBHTE 'a blessing,' hits back at 'selective' anti-corruption drive
- Jun 18, 2026
- Taher G. Solaiman
- HITS: 507
In a Facebook post dated June 15, Iqbal opened with a triple invocation of praise — "Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah" — before citing a Qur-anic verse: "When there is hardship there is ease."
"I have never felt the pang of it; on the contrary, more than ever, I am relieved of a hellish situation," Iqbal wrote, without naming those he held responsible for his ouster.
He described the environment he left behind as one "where people are convicted before they are tried, where comrades for more than four decades of struggle are treated like enemies, and where the so-called campaign against corruption is selectively applied."
Iqbal also alluded to the credibility of those who orchestrated his dismissal, invoking a common metaphor: "Forgetting that accusing someone, only two fingers are pointing to the accused but three rivet back to the accuser."
In a pointed warning to unnamed officials, he compared the BARMM's close-knit political environment to the pungent durian fruit. "In the BARMM, everybody knows everybody. Like the foul-smelling durian fruit, even stored in a tight closet, the smell will still stink," he wrote.
Iqbal closed his statement on a note of measured confidence in divine justice: "Allah knows everything. In the end, the truth will unfold itself and judgment will be rendered."
Iqbal's dismissal was widely seen as part of a broader consolidation of power by the Macacua camp.
Legal observers, including Atty. Camilo Miguel "Bong" Montesa in a widely circulated Amicus Pacis opinion, have questioned the legal basis of Iqbal's removal, adding weight to concerns over due process within the Bangsamoro government.
Iqbal has served the Bangsamoro cause for more than five decades and remains a central figure in BARMM politics as the September 14, 2026 Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections draw near.
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