LAMITAN CITY, Basilan (MindaNews / 07 June) –The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Basilan last week initiated a loyalty check among its members following some changes in the local leadership. Verjiv Rajan Abdurahman, designated by the MILF Central Committee
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 07 June 2026) – “First, I don’t have his name,” was the quick reply of Ustadha Nur-Ainee Tan Lim, the first nominee of the Mahardika Party, when asked what she can offer the Bangsamoro Parliament other
ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews / 07 June 2026) — The transition from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) was hailed as a historic milestone — a hard-won opportunity to redress historical
COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 5 June 2026) – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Central Committee has placed on indefinite suspension Bangsamoro Interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua as chief of staff of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF). In a four-page resolution
ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews / 24 May) — The promise of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) was built on the foundation of self-determination, historical redress, and the hope for a transformative peace. Yet, in the wake of recent
LEYTE (MindaNews / 13 May 2026) — When I first reported a story for MindaNews, I believed I was documenting surrender. It later struck me that I was actually capturing what comes after — the quiet moments where promises linger, where
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 9 May) – The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU), headed by Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento, has committed to support efforts to attract more investments to the fledgling Bangsamoro Autonomous Region
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 8 May) – The Philippine government pushed anew the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) as the country’s export gateway to the Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines – East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP–EAGA) subeconomic
COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 8 May) — The Bangsamoro Federalist Party (BFP) claimed it has obtained the support of most mayors in the provinces of Basilan, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, and Tawi-Tawi for the first ever regional parliamentary
MARAWI CITY (MindaNews / 6 May 2026) — After a long delay, the first parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have officially begun. Lawyer Rey Sumalipao, regional director of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the
MindaNews / 23 April — The Office of the Chief Minister (OCM) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has established satellite offices in Basilan and Tawi-Tawi to bring the Bangsamoro government closer to its constituents in the
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 21 April) – The Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Energy (MENRE) and the Forest Foundation Philippines (FFP) have forged a partnership for forest conservation and restoration in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
PASIG CITY (MindaNews / 17 April) – The most fragile phase of a peace process is often the one that sounds most confident in public. That is where Bangsamoro appears to be today: narrative coherence improving faster than implementation coherence.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 11 April) — Civil society groups, Bangsamoro leaders, and international speakers gathered on Friday, April 10, for a national solidarity conference on Palestine, with key speakers drawing parallels between the Palestinian struggle for self-determination and the
(Keynote delivered by Mohagher Iqbal, Vice Chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and chair of the MILF Peace Implementing Panel at the “National Solidarity Conference for Palestine and Call for Peace in the Middle East” on April 10, 2026
MAKATI CITY (MindaNews / 10 April) – It’s as if the long-simmering national discourse between the pro-liberal (yellow/pink), the pro-Duterte (green) and the pro-PBBM (red) has found renewed vigor, new lexicon — even, perhaps, new fractures. But this time, the colors aren’t
PASIG CITY (MindaNews / 9 April) — As September 2026 approaches, one point should be clear: the MILF has already secured a historic political victory. The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro stands. The Bangsamoro Organic Law stands. The Bangsamoro government
BAOSHAN, Shanghai (MindaNews / 02 April) — I have spent the better part of my adult life in the unglamorous business of dialogue. Not the kind that makes headlines in Manila or gets celebrated in Brussels. The kind that happens in
PASIG CITY (MindaNews / 31 March) — MILF Vice Chairman Mohagher Iqbal said something significant recently. The UBJP, the MILF’s political party, will accept the results of free, fair, and honest elections. That is a meaningful democratic commitment. Let me
COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 30 March) — The spokesperson of the Police Regional Office of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR) on Monday said the Dawlah Islamiyah (DI) was responsible for the Saturday night ambush of a police patrol car in Shariff
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 30 March) — The coffee table book chronicling the making of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), a cornerstone of peacebuilding in Mindanao, brings renewed attention to a process often sidelined in national narratives, following its win
COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 29 March) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act No. 12317 on March 25, 2026, resetting the first regular parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to the second Monday of
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 29 March) — Violence against women remains a pressing issue in the Philippines. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, 17.5% of women aged 15–49 have experienced violence from an intimate partner, while thousands of rape cases
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 24 March) – The Presidents of the three Jesuit-run Ateneo universities in Mindanao are urging Malacañang to “act with urgency and clarity” and appoint a new chair of the government’s Peace Implementing Panel, as the peace process
COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 24 March) — Interim Chief Minister Abdulraof “Sammy Gambar” Macacua has asked executives of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to lessen “SOP” demands from contractors. Macacua, speaking during the Bangsamoro Government Executive –
MindaNews / 24 March — The Bangsamoro government, which is still under a transition period, has adopted another battlecry: from “moral governance” to “Mas Matatag na Bangsamoro.” Bangsamoro interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua has formally launched the “Mas Matatag na
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 23 March) — The government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) need to “re-commit to the principles” underpinning their shared journey to peace as implementation of the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) remains incomplete,
PASIG CITY (MindaNews / 23 March) – The MILF’s unaddressed grievances are real. What is being built around them in the political shadows is the more urgent problem. The Marcos-Duterte UniTeam ended in disaster. What will replace it is being
OPAPRU’s response correctly defends the peace architecture. It does not address what actually broke — or how the process moves forward when trust cannot be rebuilt. The MILF’s declaration of a temporary pause on some aspects of engagement under the
TAGUIG CITY (MindaNews / 15 March) Skeptics would be justified in asking a fair question: haven’t we heard these ideas before? Renewable energy corridors, agro-industrial value chains, logistics modernisation, halal hubs, and diaspora investment have all appeared in development plans for Mindanao over
PASIG CITY (MindaNews / 13 March) – Six misconceptions are costing us the peace process. — When the MILF suspended its decommissioning commitments in July 2025, the immediate response from many quarters was predictable: calls for dialogue, assurances of commitment
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 12 March) — Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU), has called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to intensify preparations for the first Bangsamoro parliamentary
PASIG CITY (MindaNews / 11 March) — There is a comfortable assumption that runs through every peace process: that everyone at the table — governments, armed groups, civil society, international partners — wants the process to succeed. It shapes how
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 7 March) – In celebration of Women’s Month, a women’s group reminded the public that the dignity and rights of women – whatever their cultural or traditional affiliations – must be upheld at all times. The
MindaNews / 4 March — Women in the Bangsamoro Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has something to celebrate during National Women’s Month: a recent fatwa (religious edict) issued by Islamic jurists in the region declared that forcing a rape victim
PASIG CITY (MindaNews / 28 February) — A petition filed at the Supreme Court on February 9 challenging Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 86 will almost certainly delay BARMM’s elections again. That delay will test the patience of communities that have
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 27 February) — The Bangsamoro peace process is in “limbo,” the erstwhile rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said. In an editorial entitled “Need for a full-pledged GPH Panel Chair now” published Thursday on luwaran.com,
MindaNews / 26 February – Every election season in the Bangsamoro, the same reports emerge. Datus negotiating bloc votes. Liberation groups directing their constituencies. Whole communities arriving at the polls having already decided together. COMELEC and international observers note the
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 08 February) – The Senate Committee on Local Government has also proposed the second Monday of September this year (September 14) as the date of the first Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections but issues on sectoral representation need to
QUEZON CITY (MindaNews / 08 February) — As I sit in Speaker Nograles Hall to attend the Congressional Committee Hearing on HB 7236 as a resource speaker, waiting for my name to be called, the silence is often deceptive. In
COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 6 January) — Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Speaker Mohammad Yacob on Tuesday called for a special session on January 12 to pass the new districting law so the twice-postponed 1st Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections can push through.
COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 5 January) — Amid the politics and various issues confronting the Bangsamoro Parliament, a few legislators have been quietly introducing bills that will help the region’s voiceless and vulnerable sector — persons with autism. This development
QUEZON CITY (MindaNews / 2 January) – As we step into 2026, I find myself thinking about peace, not as an abstract ideal, but as something tangible we might actually build together this year. This article is about hope tempered
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 3 December) – A member of the Bangsamoro Parliament on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to resolve all pending cases related to the holding of the first regional elections before the “March 30, 2026” date indicated
COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 02 December) — The Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) vowed to pass a new law this month to apportion the 32 districts across the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) so the twice-delayed first regular elections can
JOLO, Sulu (MindaNews / 30 November) — On November 24, 2025, an aged Bangsamoro Army mujahideen quietly passed away in the obscurity of an undisclosed village in Sulu. He was known to many in the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)
ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews / 23 November) — As I reflect on contemporary times, it becomes clear that Muslim leaders in the Philippines—both religious and political—are grappling with unique challenges that require them to navigate a complex landscape. The Muslim community,
MAKATI CITY (MindaNews / 23 November) – At least 800 members of the erstwhile rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have so far applied for amnesty with the deadline for application just less than four months away, government officials
MAKATI CITY (MindaNews / 21 Nov) – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has pushed the parliamentary election to proceed next year, with Mohagher Iqbal, MILF peace implementing panel chair, saying the front “is already ashamed” of asking for another
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 19 November) – If the October 13, 2025 elections had pushed through, the term of office of the first elected Members of Parliament (MPs) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) would have been two
