Civic group urges Marcos to meet Murad before Bangsamoro Parliament opens

COTABATO CITY — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should meet Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim before the first elected Bangsamoro Parliament convenes on Oct. 30, the civic group AMANA BARMM said, describing such talks as key to concluding the decades-long Bangsamoro peace process.

Such a meeting, the group said in a statement issued Monday, Oct. 12, could help end a conflict that began 50 years ago. It pointed to the need to complete the peace process and resolve the stalled decommissioning of MILF combatants.

"Fifty years. Twenty months. One meeting," said Sultan Alim Saad Amate, AMANA convenor.

Murad sought a meeting with the President through a letter dated Oct. 1, according to the statement.

Tracing the peace process back to the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, signed under the administration of the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., AMANA called that accord the first step toward peace and the proposed Exit Agreement its final stage.

Both the Government of the Philippines and the MILF, it said, must sign the latter for the process to be completed.

For Amate, the proposed meeting is a chance for the President to complete what his father started. "Father opened. Son can close. Last page. Two pens," he said.

Some 14,000 MILF combatants remain awaiting decommissioning, the group said, adding that none have undergone the process since July 2024.

Abdulraof Macacua, former chief of staff of the MILF's Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), was appointed by President Marcos in March 2025 as Interim Chief Minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), replacing Murad.

Macacua now heads the Bangsamoro Federalist Party, according to AMANA.

That leadership change, the group argued, did not alter the allegiance of the combatants, who it said continue to recognize Murad as MILF chair.

"The seat moved. The command stayed," Amate said.

Since the Sept. 14 Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections, President Marcos has met with Interim Chief Minister Macacua and leaders of the BARMM Grand Coalition, but not with the MILF leadership, AMANA noted.

Behind the coalition are Basilan Gov. Mujiv Hataman, former Maguindanao Gov. Suharto "Teng" Mangudadatu, Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal "Bombit" Adiong Jr. and Sulu Vice Gov. Abdusakur Tan.

Likening the MILF's absence from these meetings to a vacant seat, Amate said: "The table is set. One chair is empty."

Support for 'rainbow coalition'

Also endorsed by AMANA was the United Bangsamoro Justice Party's (UBJP) proposal for a "rainbow coalition" government bringing together the MILF, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), other elected parties, Indigenous Peoples and settler communities.

Established by the MILF, the UBJP won 30 seats in the September elections, among them all six elected sectoral seats, the statement said.

"Many colors, one Bangsamoro," said Maulana Mamutuk, AMANA co-convenor.

Citing a September Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, Mamutuk said the President's national rating had dropped to minus 11, with Mindanao the only region where it rose.

"Mindanao moved first. Now, Malacañang," Mamutuk said, urging the Palace to respond to the shift.

"One meeting. One signature. One legacy," he added.

Set for Oct. 30 in Cotabato City, the inaugural session of the first elected Bangsamoro Parliament will mark the end of the BARMM transition period.