Coalitions shaping up to rule Bangsamoro

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines — Negotiations are underway to form a coalition of regional political parties in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) following its historic parliamentary elections on Sept. 14.

Member of Parliament (MP)-elect Naguib Sinarimbo, spokesperson for the Bangsamoro Federal Party (BFP), said their group started exploratory talks with winning regional parties to form a governing coalition once the duly elected BARMM parliament opens on Oct. 30.

“The BFP simply does not have the numbers in parliament on its own, so we must form alliances with other parties,” Sinarimbo told the Inquirer.

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The BFP had secured 31 of 80 seats in the elected regional legislature—16 through proportional party representation and 15 representing parliamentary districts. It needs at least 10 MPs to support its bid to form the ruling coalition and elect its choice of chief minister.

Sinarimbo admitted that the BFP has been courting the support of Serbisyong Inklusibo-Alyansang Progresibo (Siap) led by Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr., which won six of nine parliamentary district seats in the province.

Adiong earlier voiced his strong support for interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua—who won a parliamentary district seat in Maguindanao del Norte—to be the region’s regular chief executive.

“We already have a standing coalition with Siap, as BFP did not field any candidates in the district representatives race in Lanao del Sur,” Sinarimbo said.

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‘Kingmaker’

Adiong noted that coalition-building is a natural next step for parties after the Sept. 14 elections, calling it the most viable path to forming a governing majority in the incoming Bangsamoro parliament.

“In a parliamentary system, representatives elect their chief minister. The coalition that commands majority support among lawmakers will secure the leadership,” said Adiong, a former member of the interim Bangsamoro parliament from 2019 to 2022.

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With a BFP-Siap coalition still falling short of the required numbers, Mindanao peace activist Charlito Manlupig pointed to the key role of the BARMM Grand Coalition (BGC) to provide the swing support to the BFP.

Manlupig noted that the BGC alone had eight seats for party representatives. Add to this, the seats its member-parties garnered in the polls—six for Siap that was already committed by Adiong to the BFP, and one for Al-Ittihad Party in a parliamentary district in Maguindanao del Sur.

“This places BGC in an enviable kingmaker position, giving it the option to negotiate with either of the two dominant blocs,” said Manlupig, adding that its endorsement will ultimately serve as the deciding factor in choosing the next chief minister.

Apart from the BFP, the only other viable coalition partner for the BGC is the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), the official political arm of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which controls 30 of 80 parliament seats.

The BGC was formed in 2024 by Sulu Vice Gov. Abdusakur Tan, Basilan Gov. Mujiv Hataman, former Sultan Kudarat Gov. Suharto Mangudadatu, then Maguindanao del Sur Gov. Bai Mariam Mangudadatu, and Adiong.

On Tuesday, the BGC said its leaders will hold dialogues with other political parties in the region in a bid to come into a consensus on the shape of a governing coalition.

The BGC acknowledged calls for political parties in parliament to set aside their differences and said it remains committed to finding common ground with other blocs, including the UBJP and BFP, to build what it called a united front for the Bangsamoro.

The coalition said dialogue should be the starting point of that process, with plans to engage other party leaders, not to negotiate positions but to listen and identify shared ground.

Among the issues it intends to raise are ways to build a more inclusive regional government with room for the Moro National Liberation Front and other parties that performed poorly in the polls, faster implementation of the peace agreements—particularly normalization and decommissioning under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro—and accountability for violence and irregularities reported during the elections.

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“Our collective vision as a coalition is clear: that BGC is willing to work with UBJP and BFP, come together, and build a united front for the Bangsamoro,” MP-elect Amir Mawallil, speaking for BGC, said in a statement on Tuesday. —With a report from Edwin O. Fernandez