Members of the newly elected Bangsamoro Parliament must be free to choose their leaders, including who will head the regional executive, Peace Adviser Mel Senen Sarmiento said on Wednesday.
‘The gains of the peace process must now be carried forward through the parliamentary process,’ Sarmiento said in a statement. ‘Members of Parliament must be free to choose their leaders and determine who will lead the executive branch.’
Respecting that choice, he said, ‘honors the essence of autonomy and self-determination, and the trust that voters have placed in their representatives.’
Sarmiento, who also chairs the government’s Peace Implementing Panel, described the Sept. 14 elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) as ‘successful and relatively peaceful.’ He said, ‘Our duty is clear: respect the will of the people and sustain the peace they have worked so hard to achieve.’
He urged elected leaders to ‘rise above political divisions’ and place the welfare of the Bangsamoro people ‘at the center of every decision.’ Healthy and respectful debate strengthens democracy, he said, but ‘differences must never stand in the way of serving our communities.’
The statement did not name a party or a candidate for chief minister. It was issued following the close of National Peace Consciousness Month, as the country marks Indigenous Peoples Month.
It came two days after 10 Bangsamoro civil society organizations released a manifesto urging President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to stay out of choosing the next chief minister and leave the choice to the elected Parliament.
The 80-member Parliament was proclaimed shortly after midnight on September 16. Canvass figures showed 2,018,478 voters cast ballots, a turnout of 84.34 percent.
Of the 40 regional party seats, the Bangsamoro Federalist Party won 16, the United Bangsamoro Justice Party 15, the BARMM Grand Coalition eight, and the Raayat Democratic Party one. District and sectoral representatives hold the remaining seats.
The Sept.14 vote was the first regular parliamentary election in BARMM, held 12 years after the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.