No worries. The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and Unity (OPAPRU) headed by Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. gave this assurance as the chief implementer of the government’s continuing peace process in Southern Philippines. Galvez expressed this confidence amid concerns on the possible impact of the Supreme Court (SC) ruling on the government peace pacts with the Muslim separatist groups in Mindanao.
The SC rendered last week its final and executory ruling resetting the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Parliament elections to not later than March 31, 2026. The holding of the country’s first ever BARMM Parliament elections originally scheduled on Monday, Oct. 13, would have completed the final political track of the Philippine government’s peace pacts under the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB).
The CAB implements the twin peace pacts entered into one after the other with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) much earlier in 1996. The CAB marked the culmination of 17 years of negotiations with the MILF.
Galvez cited the on-going activities to prepare for the BARMM Parliament elections next year as the best indicators of the robust state of the peace process. In fact, he noted, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) has swung into action to immediately comply with the requirements spelled out in the SC ruling. The BTA is an interim body composed of presidential appointees of representatives from the MILF, MNLF, Christian groups, lumads, indigenous people (IPs) and other sectoral groups. Under the CAB, once elected and constituted, the BARMM Parliament will replace the BTA as its organic legislature.
Speaking at our Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last Wednesday, Galvez disclosed BARMM chief minister Abdulraof A. Macacua and the rest of the BTA are back at work in office following the SC ruling. Macacua, also known as Sammy Gambar, is among the candidates set to run in the BARMM Parliament polls. In his most recent talks with Macacua, Galvez disclosed the BARMM chief minister has secured the cooperation of the 80-man BTA to meet the deadlines set in the SC ruling.
‘We are truly grateful for the wisdom of the SC giving the BTA more time to ensure the democratic aspirations of the Bangsamoro people are realized within the framework of the Constitution and the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL). As the SC said, we need to be setting a very legitimate and very strong legal foundation,’ Galvez declared.
On instructions of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. (PBBM), Galvez said the OPAPRU has been closely coordinating with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) through the office of Chairman George Erwin Garcia. Without interfering in the work of the BTA as an independent body, Galvez clarified the OPAPRU is helping ensure compliance with the deadlines and requirements on the holding of the BARMM Parliament polls.
Joining Galvez at our Kapihan sa Manila Bay conversations, Undersecretary David Diciano, Presidential Assistant, Office for Bangsamoro Transformation, reported the OPAPRU has resumed its various normalization programs. Some of the programs were held in abeyance to comply with Comelec rules and regulations during the campaign period. Diciano announced the OPAPRU got back to implementing educational assistance, various health and infrastructure programs under the socio-economic track of the CAB.
Comelec Chairman Garcia, who was our Kapihan guest last week, reassured the candidates in the BARMM Parliament elections that they will await how the BTA will comply with the SC ruling. Garcia conceded ‘it’s back to zero’ for the seven-man poll body in their preparations for these elections at the BARMM next year.
The 15-man SC ruled that the BTA-approved Bangsamoro Autonomy Act (BAA) No. 58 and its replacement, BAA No. 77, were both unconstitutional. The High Court thus directed the BTA to redraw parliamentary districts of the seven seats previously allocated to Sulu in accordance with the country’s Constitution and laws of the land. The SC gave the BTA until Oct. 30 this year to craft a new redistricting law.
Incidentally, the seven seats were created as a direct result of a separate SC ruling last year that upheld Sulu’s opting out from the BARMM. Originally, Sulu was part of the BARMM that included Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur and Tawi-Tawi. After Sulu opted out, the SC prescribed that the seven seats will be distributed in accordance with the required number of population, contiguous location, among other requirements under the 1987 Constitution.
These five provinces, along with the City of Cotabato and the Special Geographic Area, now constitute the BARMM.
The negotiations for these Mindanao peace pacts spanned seven administrations.
It started with the 1976 Tripoli Agreement entered into during the term of the namesake father of PBBM, the late president Ferdinand Sr. with erstwhile MNLF chairman Nur Misuari. Considered as the mother of all peace pacts, the Tripoli Agreement set forth that this and subsequent agreements should conform with all the provisions under the laws and the Constitution of the Philippines.
It was the 1996 peace pact with the MNLF reached during the administration of the late president Fidel Ramos that created the ARMM, the BARMM’s immediate forerunner. The CAB was forged with the MILF during the term of the late president Benigno ‘PNoy’ Aquino III. The Bangsamoro Organic Law, under Republic Act 11504, creating the BARMM, was signed by former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Galvez vowed to follow the guidance given by PBBM to the OPAPRU. Quoting the words of the 68-year-old Chief Executive: ‘We should be able to complete the peace process starting from the Tripoli Agreement. I want all these completed during my time.’
‘The transformation of the Mindanao peace process takes generations,’ Galvez pointed out. He vows to take it to the ‘exit’ agreement of the CAB in turning the former combatants to become part of this great transformation of peace and development in Mindanao.
As far as the resetting of the BARMM parliament polls is concerned, it’s like a brief pit stop before the ‘exit’ agreement.