Thousands in Basilan join MNLF’s Bangsamoro party

COTABATO CITY —Thousands of residents from across the 11 towns and two cities in Basilan have pledged allegiance to the Bangsamoro Party of the Moro National Liberation Front during a gathering in the island province on Thursday.

The Bapa Party of MNLF, which has a final peace pact with Malacañang since Sept. 2, 1996, is popular for its paramount regulation strictly restraining members from attacking other regional political blocs and from engaging in hostile partisan discourses on social media and other communication platforms, including print and broadcast news.

Reports on Friday morning by different radio stations in Zamboanga City and in the Bangsamoro provinces stated that at least 20,000 people joined the Bapa Party’s first ever sortie in Basilan, held at Barangay Poblacion in Tuburan town and capped of with an oathtaking rite as prelude to their admission as party members.

They were sworn in by party officials led by Bangsamoro labor and Employment Minister Muslimin Sema and regional lawmakers Muslimin Jakilan and Hatimil Hassan of Basilan, Adzfar Usman of Sulu and Romeo Sema of Cotabato City, who are members of the 80-seat parliament of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and are senior officials of the MNLF's top leadership core.

They took turns urging participants to the symbolic event to protect the gains of the MNLF’s final truce with the national government and support Malacañang’s compact with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro, which is a product of 22 years of peace talks that led to the replacement in 2019 of the then 27-year Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with a more administratively empowered BARMM.

The present chief minister of BARMM is Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, the chairman of the MILF’s central committee, whose office, as figurehead of the Bangsamoro parliament, and the MNLF are together overseeing the peace and socio-economic programs of the regional government.