MNLF, BARMM officials strengthen peace, development efforts in Cotabato’s Special Geographic Area

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COTABATO, Philippines – The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) central committee and MNLF leaders in the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area (SGA) agreed on Saturday, September 27, to strengthen coordination on municipal peace and security programs in support of Malacañang’s Mindanao peace process.

The MNLF signed a final peace agreement with the national government on September 2, 1996, in Jakarta, Indonesia—a landmark deal that continues to guide peace efforts in conflict-affected areas of Mindanao.

MNLF chairman Muslimin Sema, who also serves as minister of labor and employment in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), met with pioneer MNLF leaders in Kapalawan, a newly created municipality in the SGA. The talks centered on peace and development priorities in Kapalawan and other Cotabato towns with MNLF and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) communities.

During the meeting, Sema and Datu Kineg Inalang—an MNLF veteran from the 1970s who now heads the group’s political committee in Cotabato—exchanged commitments to bolster cooperation in local peace and security initiatives.

The SGA comprises 63 barangays from different towns in Cotabato province that opted to join the BARMM through a plebiscite. Last year, the Bangsamoro Parliament consolidated these barangays into eight municipalities: Pahamuddin, Kadayangan, Nabalawag, Old Kaabakan, Kapalawan, Malidegao, Tugunan, and Ligawasan. Kapalawan itself was carved out of barangays formerly under Carmen and Kabacan towns.

Cotabato Governor Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza, known for backing Malacañang’s peace agenda in Moro-dominated areas, has also gained the support of MNLF and MILF leaders. Sema and Inalang vowed to coordinate with her office on development projects in Moro communities across the province.

MNLF and MILF leaders in Cotabato province actively campaigned for Taliño-Mendoza in the May 12, 2025, elections, citing it as a gesture of gratitude for her public service in the SGA and other Moro communities under her administration. (Handout photo from Bangsamoro Maksud Incorporated)