Marcos' SONA: Bangsamoro Peace Process Gets Less Than a Minute

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday dedicated a mere 40 seconds across three paragraphs to the Bangsamoro peace process, largely focusing on the upcoming September 14 polls. This marks a significant brevity compared to the 86-minute speech. Marcos highlighted the readiness of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) electorate for its first regular parliamentary election, calling it a critical accomplishment under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB). "Comelec, law enforcement, volunteers, deputized agencies, all stakeholders are now ready to ensure that this defining political exercise will be peaceful, orderly, and credible," he said, expressing hope that these developments "strengthen our collective belief in the unity and indivisibility of the Filipino nation amidst our individual diversity." However, stakeholders involved in the peace process expressed concern that the election is not the entirety of the peace journey. The implementation of the CAB, contained in Republic Act 11054, encompasses two tracks: the political track, revolving around the BARMM government as the main vehicle, and the normalization track, where the government and MILF Peace Implementing Panels (PIP) are the main mechanism. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, chairperson of the government peace panel that signed the CAB along with MILF chair Mohagher Iqbal in 2014, noted a "drift" where the political track, led by national government appointees, is unduly privileged at the expense of the PIP. "The SONA reflected the current drift where the BARMM mechanism led by national government appointees are unduly privileged at the expense of the PIP," she told MindaNews. She added that if the President is being made to believe that the election is the only remaining aspect of the CAB’s implementation, "he is getting it all wrong." Iqbal, MILF Peace Implementing Panel chair, echoed these concerns, asking, "How about the other deliverables under the normalization process?" He also expressed concern "about the obvious support of men in the government for the BFP [Bangsamoro Federalist Party]," noting that "Even the name of the party has an unmistakable semblance with the president’s own party, Partido Federal Ng Pilipinas." He appealed to the President to "level the political playing field in order to have a fair, credible, and peaceful election in September 2026. This will help raise or restore the trust and confidence between the parties." Formal peace negotiations between the Philippine government (GPH) and the MILF spanned four administrations (Ramos, Estrada, Arroyo, Benigno Aquino III), although attempts were made under Corazon Aquino's post-EDSA administration. The implementation of the CAB, signed under the Aquino administration in 2014, has continued through three administrations – Aquino, Duterte, and Marcos Jr. The MILF broke away from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) led by Nur Misuari in the late 1970s after the failed implementation of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement under the administration of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. President Corazon Aquino resumed peace negotiations with the MNLF, but no agreement was reached until the Ramos administration signed a Final Peace Agreement (FPA) with the MNLF in 1996. The implementation of the FPA also faced challenges, leading to divisions within the MNLF. Under the Marcos Jr. administration, all Moro Liberation Fronts were finally represented in the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), which held its inaugural session on September 15, 2022, after the MNLF-Misuari faction agreed to nominate members. The MILF-led BTA was chaired by Ahod "Al Haj Murad" Ebrahim, with 55 representatives from all Moro liberation fronts. However, in March last year, Marcos replaced Ebrahim as interim Chief Minister with Abdulraof Macacua, also of the MILF. Several MILF nominees were not reappointed, a move that eventually led to divisions within the MILF. Information Source: MindaNews Philippines (GN)