Bangsamoro Business Groups, MNLF Pledge Support for Elected Parliament’s Economic Agenda
Business leaders, peace activists and MNLF veterans have all thrown their weight behind the newly formed Bangsamoro Parliament. They are all hoping that the regional government will be able to tap into the region’s investment potential and turn it into real economic opportunities for the communities that have been so badly hit by conflict and underdevelopment.
Their statements on Monday, November 2, came three days after the 80-member Bangsamoro parliament held its inaugural session at the regional capitol in Cotabato City, marking the transition from an interim body appointed by the president to a legislature whose members were elected in the September 14 regional polls. The transition represents an important institutional development for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Lawyer-entrepreneur Ronald Hallid Torres, Chairman of the Bangsamoro Business Council (BBC), said the business community was very much in favour of the establishment of an elected parliament which he believes will provide a much more solid legislative basis for the development of the region’s economy.
“Now we have an empowered parliament that can focus on legislations that can help us, in the business sector, make our economy grow to generate capital-intensive businesses, with capital inputs from local and foreign investors, which can provide employment for BARMM residents,” Torres said.
Torres (who also heads the multi-sectorial Regional Advisory Group of the Police Regional Office – Bangsamoro Autonomous Region) said business leaders from the various chapters of the council in the region’s five provinces and three cities were in full agreement with him on the outlook.
The advisory group (which included lawyers from the BARMM ministries and supporting agencies, traditional Moro leaders and representatives from the Muslim and Christian religious communities) also welcomed the peaceful transfer of power from the interim parliament to the duly elected legislature.
The various Chinese merchant organisations in Cotabato City have individually congratulated Mr. Abdulraof Macacua on his appointment as Chief Minister.
Peace remains essential to economic growth
For the MNLF the economic aspirations of the region are inextricably linked to the task of maintaining peace.
MNLF Chairman Muslimin Sema (whose term as BARMM Minister of Labour and Employment came to an end with the conclusion of the interim parliament’s term on Friday) said the MNLF would work with Macacua’s administration to maintain peace and order in the communities where the MNLF has a presence.
“We don’t have a problem doing that, all for an enduring peace in BARMM. We shall support the peace and development initiatives of our now regular parliament for our region’s economy to flourish,” Sema said.
A former three term mayor of Cotabato City, Sema also mentioned the possibility of drawing in investors from the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) member states (over 50 of which, including several oil producing nations in the Middle East and North Africa).
He said Macacua and the parliament could work together to enable these potential investors to get into the region.
The OIC has been a key player in the Bangsamoro peace process having facilitated the 1996 final peace agreement between the Government of the Philippines and the MNLF and been a key player in the various peace processes that followed, including the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro between the Government and the MILF.
These agreements in fact laid the groundwork for the creation of BARMM in 2019, which effectively superseded the 27 year old ARMM.
Other MNLF veterans who separately backed Macacua were Hatimil Hassan (former member of the interim BARMM parliament), Gerry Salapuddin (former governor and congressman of Basilan) and Hussein Mohammad (former mayor of Omar town in Sulu).
From political transition to economic delivery
Macacua was elected Chief Minister in the first session on Friday. In that role he is expected to be in charge of the day to day running of the various ministries and supporting agencies.
The expressions of support from business groups, peace groups and former MNLF folks point to the wide range of constituencies that are looking to the new parliament and the new regional leadership for economic development.
But the challenges ahead are substantial.
Decades of armed conflict and persistent underdevelopment have left many communities, particularly those in geographically isolated areas, struggling with limited economic opportunities and inadequate access to essential services.
Mohammad Pasigan, chairperson of the Bangsamoro Regional Board of Investments (RBOI), told reporters that he and the agency’s staff were grateful to Torres and Sema.
Records obtained from Pasigan’s office and the Office of the Chief Minister showed that investors from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), other regions and abroad had invested P21.6 billion in business ventures in BARMM since the region’s establishment in 2019.
These capital-intensive business ventures had created 12,320 jobs.
Attracting foreign and domestic capital will therefore require more than investor-friendly legislation. It will also depend on reliable infrastructure, transparent public institutions, predictable regulations, security, and an adequately skilled workforce.
Equally important is ensuring that economic expansion does not remain concentrated in commercial centers while remote communities continue to be left behind.
The challenge is to translate political legitimacy into responsive legislation and measurable improvements in living conditions.
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