Iqbal calls BFP’s 46-seat claim “optics,” pushes rainbow coalition

COTABATO CITY — Mohagher Iqbal, vice president of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party and first vice chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, on Friday dismissed as unreal the Bangsamoro Federalist Party’s claim that it has already locked in a majority in the first regular Bangsamoro Parliament.

In a Facebook post titled “Real versus unreal,” Iqbal said nothing in the coalition talks is settled until it is agreed and formally signed.

“Nothing is over until it is over,” he wrote. “In the context of negotiations, nothing is agreed upon until it is agreed upon—and formally signed.”

His statement came the same day the BFP announced that it had secured the support of 46 of the 80 members of Parliament, together with unnamed coalition partners, and was ready to organize the government of the day.

The BFP won 31 seats in the September 14 election — 16 party seats and 15 district seats — short of the 41 needed to elect a chief minister on its own. The UBJP won 30. The BARMM Grand Coalition holds 15. A BFP–BGC alignment would total 46, the figure in the BFP statement. The BFP has not named the additional members.

Iqbal said the claim of having the numbers “is more a matter of optics than political reality.” “The ball is still round, so to speak. October has only just begun.”

Members of the new Parliament take office on October 30, when they will elect the chief minister and the Speaker by a majority of all members.

He said the outcome will turn on which party holds the stronger bargaining chips, and on how the national government reads its interest: “a united or a fractured BARMM.”

Iqbal said he personally favors a rainbow coalition “in the interest of unity.” He said the parliamentary election had divided the Bangsamoro people, who are “hurt” and “angry.” He said the UBJP is “deeply aggrieved” by the death of five of its supporters and the wounding of 43 others, and that the party has asked the families of the victims to trust the rule of law.

A broad coalition, he said, would be welcomed by smaller parties that won only one or two seats, and would give the Moro National Liberation Front reason to support the arrangement. None of the MNLF-linked parties — Mahardika, BaPa, and Mushawara — won a seat.

“This formula leaves no one a loser,” he wrote.

Iqbal said such an arrangement could become “one of the most significant legacies of President Bongbong Marcos: leaving behind a united, rather than a fractured, BARMM,” and that the international community “would undoubtedly welcome and support” it.

The BFP is backing interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua for the post. The UBJP is backing former chief minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim, chair of both the MILF and the UBJP. Neither side has published a signed coalition agreement.