Bangsamoro women sidelined in first elected Cabinet — PCID

COTABATO CITY — Bangsamoro women helped carry the peace process from the negotiating table to the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Yet only two of them are among the 19 officials Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua named to lead the first elected Bangsamoro Government.

The two are Member of Parliament Jo Genna Jover, Minister of Indigenous Peoples' Affairs, and Atty. Laisa Alamia, Director General of the Bangsamoro Planning and Development Authority (BPDA). The 19 officials took their oath on Nov. 6 and held their first Cabinet meeting the same day.

The Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy (PCID) raised concern over the lineup in a statement titled "Where Are The Women?", also dated Nov. 6. It said the appointments leave women with "disproportionately limited representation at the highest levels of executive decision-making."

"Excluding women—who were fundamental in sustaining the peace process and building Bangsamoro's institutions—from executive leadership undermines democratic representation," the PCID said.

The group recalled that the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), the interim Parliament, passed a Bangsamoro Electoral Code requiring women to make up at least 30 percent of political party nominees. It said the measure applies only to parliamentary elections, but it "raised rightful expectations" that women would hold real leadership in the executive branch of the first elected government.

"Speed in Cabinet formation must not displace equity," the PCID said. It urged the Macacua administration to "transparently uphold its foundational principles of gender inclusion and equal representation in all executive appointments."

Women's participation is part of the peace agreements behind the Bangsamoro Government. The Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), which put into effect the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), requires at least one woman in the Cabinet in addition to the seat reserved for women in Parliament.

In May 2025, women leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) wrote to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. objecting to the exclusion of Engr. Aida Silongan, an MILF nominee, from the third BTA. Silongan now represents the women's sector in the first elected Parliament as a member of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP).

Since BARMM was created in 2019, no more than three women have sat in the Bangsamoro Cabinet at any one time, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported. It also reported that this is the first time women have headed the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples' Affairs and the BPDA.

Women hold 13 of the 80 seats in the first elected Bangsamoro Parliament, which convened on Oct. 30. They are six of the 40 party representatives, four of the 32 district representatives and three of the eight sectoral representatives.

The first BTA, constituted in 2019, had 16 women among its 80 members. The second, in 2022, also had 16. The third, constituted in March 2025, had 10.