DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 27 March) – Ahod ‘Al Haj Murad’ Ebrahim, chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was a no-show in Cotabato City on Thursday, March 27, at the turnover of leadership of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to Abdulraof Macacua, chief of staff of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces.
March 27 is also the 11th anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), the peace agreement signed by the Philippine government and the MILF on March 27, 2014, which paved the way for the establishment of the BARMM.
Ebrahim, who was also a no-show at the oath-taking of Members of Parliament (MP) of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) on Monday afternoon, served as Interim Chief Minister of BTA) for six years: in BTA 1 (February 2019 to June 30, 2024) under then President Rodrigo Duterte, and BTA 2 (August 2022 to March 2025) under President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr..
On Monday morning, March 24, hours before the 5 p.m. oath-taking of MPs in Malacanang, Ebrahim posted a statement on social media declining President Marcos’ appointment of him as an MP. He thanked the President for the appointment but said he would focus on the MILF and its political party, the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) and extend guidance and support to Macacua “as we move towards a brighter future for the Bangsamoro people.”
Ebrahim was represented at the March 27 turnover rites in Cotabato City by BARMM Senior Minister Abunawas Maslama, more popularly known as Von Al Haq, his nom de guerre in the MILF.
Turnover of leadership in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao from Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, Chief Minister since 2019 (represented here by BARMM Senior Minister Abunawas Maslama on the left side) to new Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua. Screengrab from Bangsamoro Government FB page
In a speech read by Maslama, Ebrahim said he may not be physically present “due to urgent matters of personal importance,” but this does not diminish the spirit and significance of this important event.”
He said he was turning over the mantle of leadership to Macacua “with the certainty that our journey does not pause, nor does our responsibility wane” as the work of building a just, peaceful, and self-reliant Bangsamoro continues.”
“In good hands”
Addressing Macacua as “my successor, and my brother in the Bangsamoro struggle,” Ebrahim said he entrusts “not only the office, and not only the leadership as Chief Minister, but also the hopes of the people who have endured, resisted, and now stand ready to forge ahead.” He said the peaceful transfer of power manifests that the MILF-led government is “committed to sustaining the gains of the peace process and the development milestone that we have achieved over the past six years.”
Ebrahim added that as chair of the MILF, he will “continue to provide guidance to the Government Of The Day as it navigates the last remaining chapter of the transition period.”
He expressed confidence that with the “proven leadership” of Macacua, the Bangsamoro government is “in good hands.”
He urged everyone to “support our new Chief Minister as he leads us all in continuing our vision of an empowered, cohesive, and progressive Bangsamoro,”
First leadership change
This is the first ever leadership change after six years in transition, done not through an election but through the postponement for the second time, of the first parliamentary election that was originally scheduled in May 2022 but moved to May 12, 2025 and again reset to October 13, 2025.
In what is now being referred to as BTA 3 is a period of seven months as it is scheduled to end on October 30, 2025, when the 80 Members of Parliament – this time elected, not appointed by the President – take over. The Chief Minister is not elected directly by the people but by the MPs.
Mohagher Iqbal speaks before reporters in Cotabato City on Thursday (20 March 2025). MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
Mohagher Iqbal, chair of the MILF Peace Implementing Panel and concurrent BARMM Education Minister and MILF Information Office chief, told reporters in Cotabato City on March 20 that the MILF Central Committee submitted the name of Ebrahim as its nominee for interim Chief Minister, to continue to lead the BARMM during the remaining seven months of the transition period.
Macacua was on the MILF’s list of 41 nominees but the first name on the list — Ebrahim — was specifically for the position of Interim Chief Minister.
MindaNews sources, however, say leadership change would have happened in 2022 and that there were several more attempts to replace Ebrahim with Macacua since then. Among the reasons cited was that Ebrahim was allegedly slow in making decisions.
“We do not question the authority of the President,” said.
“The BTA is an agency of government. We are workers of government. We cannot question the authority of the President. What we are invoking is the agreement, what is provided in the law passed by Congress,” Iqbal said. He noted that the MILF listed 41 nominees in BTA 1 and in BTA 2 and all 41 were appointed by the President.
34 of 41
In what is now referred to as BTA 3, Iqbal said only 34 of their 41 nominees were appointed by the President and their nominated Chief Minister – Ebrahim – was not appointed as such but as among 80 MPs. Ebrahim turned down the appointment.
In the final listing, 34 of those nominated by the MILF were appointed but several personalities nominated by the GPH (Government of the Philippines) are linked with the MILF. The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Misuari and MNLF Sema-Jikiri also submitted a list of nominees which were included in the GPH nominations.
Macacua, who was OIC Maguindanao del Norte Governor before his appointment as Chief Minister, told reporters in Cotabato City on March 20, that governors in the BARMM provinces of Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi were asked to submit a list of nominees.
Newly appointed Interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua signs his first administrative order, a Special Ameliorative Measure giving a ₱10,000 Ramadan allowance for employess of the BARMM, during his first day in office at the Bangsamoro Government Center in Cotabato City on Thursday (20 March 2025). MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
The oath-taking in Malacanang was the second oath-taking for the MPs. The first was on March 15 in Admiral Hotel in Manila before Macacua, who was appointed on March 3 and took his oath before President Marcos on March 12.
Macacua assumed the post as Chief Minister at the Bangsamoro Government Center on March 20. He signed his first Administrative Order and first Executive Order on that day. But the formal turnover would happen a week later.
Permission to assume post
Macacua told reporters in Cotabato City on March 20 that he met with Ebrahim and Iqbal on March 18, to seek permission from Ebrahim that he would assume the post on March 20.
“We met in (the MILF’s Camp) Darapanan because nagpaalam ako kay former Chief Minister na ngayon mag-assume ako. He agreed na mag-assume ako ngayon and even Brother Iqbal was there,” Macacua said, adding Ebrahim “wanted the turnover today” (March 20).
“But when Brother Iqbal came, he proposed that the official turnover will be on March 27 after the appearance in Malacanang,” he said.
Newly appointed BARMM Interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua speaks before reporters during a press conference during his first day in office at the Bangsamoro Government Center in Cotabato City on Thursday (20 March 2025). MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
March 27, the 11th anniversary of the signing of the CAB. It is also the last day before the election ban on appointments – from March 28 to May 11. Prohibited during this period are the “appointment or hiring of new employees, creation of new positions, filling of new positions in a government office, agency, or instrumentality, whether national or local, including government-owned or controlled corporations, except upon prior authority of the Commission.”
Not the first time
Ebrahim’s absence at the turnover rites was not the first time a Moro leader was a no-show in turnover of leadership.
On December 22, 2011, Ansaruddin Alonto Adiong, who was elected Vice Governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in 2008 but served as Acting Governor when Governor Zaldy Ampatuan was arrested in November 2009 for the massacre of 58 persons in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao del Sur, was a no-show at the turnover rites.
In his stead, then ARMM Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo handed over copies of the reports and other documents pertaining to accountability of the Adiong administration, to OIC Governor Mujiv Hataman, who was then a Presidential appointee when the 2011 ARMM election was reset to May 2013.
Hataman was elected Governor of the ARMM in the May 2013 polls and reelected in May 2016 but his second three-year term was cut off by a few months with the ratification of the law creating the BARMM.
The ARMM was abolished and replaced by the BARMM. Then President Duterte appointed members of the BTA in February 2019.
“We will overcome”
In his acceptance speech, Macacua asked for trust, patience and prayers, as he anticipated the “many challenges” his administration would face.
“But together, with unity and faith, we will overcome,” he said.
“Let us write the next chapter of the Bangsamoro story with dignity, courage and unshakable belief in Allah,” he said.
Macacua thanked Ebrahim for laying the foundation of the Bangsamoro government, for being its “father figure.”
“Now, I am responsible for continuing what you began with humility, focus and commitment,” Macacua said.
He vowed to continue to seek the wisdom and lean on the guidance of Ebrahim who continues to lead the MILF and the UBJP.
Malacanang of the South’s first guests under the Marcos administration are officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao led by interim Chief Minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim, also chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Special Assistant to the President Anton Lagdameo (in red) led the group in flashing the peace sign after he hosted the “social meeting” with the BARMM delegation, Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez and Local Governments Secretary Ben Hur Abalos at the Malacanang of the South in Panacean, Davao City on Saturday afternoon, 10 September 2022. (L to R) Bangsamoro Minister of Public Works and Highways Ed Guerra, Education Minister Mohagher Iqbal, Galvez, Ebrahim, Lagdameo, BARMM Senior Minister Abdulraof Macacua, OSAP Undersecretary Joahna Paula Domingo and Member of Parliament Sha Elijah Dumama-Alba. Abalos had earlier left for the airport. MindaNews photo by HADJI BALAJADIA
He spoke of the 11th anniversary of the signing of the CAB, described it as “more than a political document,” as it is a symbol of the collective strength of the MILF MNLF on “our shared pain and our decision to choose peace without forfeiting our past.”
He said the Bangsamoro story is a “story of survival, story of a people who never gave up, from the battlefields to the halls of parliament.”
He acknowledged that taking over as Chief Minister will not be easy but addressing his fellow Bangsamoro, Macacua vowed that the Bangsamoro government is “atin ito, sa inyo ito” (ours and yours).
He vowed to continue governing on the guiding principle of moral governance that Ebrahim promised when he first assumed the post of Chief Minister in 2019.
He said this will not just be a slogan but the standard. “It will shape every decision, every service and every move we make,” he said.
Macacua said his administration will focus on what truly matters, citing education, health, peace, livelihood, infrastructure, security and long-term development and that no one will be forgotten or left behind.
“This is about every Bangsamoro who dares to believe that peace can win, justice can prevail and a better life can be reached,” Macacua said. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
