At least six of the 22 new members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) came from entrenched or budding political clans.

“The noticeable pattern is that the BTA members have more additional members who are appointed from the political families,” said Yasmira Moner, political science professor at the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology.

Two members are from the Alonto-Adiong clan of Lanao del Sur: Rashdi Taib Adiong and Amer Zakaaria Adiong Rakim. They replaced Amir Mawallil and Hamid Malik, respectively.

Amir Alonto Balindong, son of BTA Speaker Pangalian Balindong, was also appointed. He replaced Nabila Pangandaman.

Abrar Hataman is another new addition. He is a nephew of Basilan Governor Jim Hataman Salliman and Rep. Mujiv Hataman. Abrar replaced Muslimin Jakilan.

Meanwhile, Ma-Arouph Candao replaced his sister Maleiha. They are children of former Maguindanao Governor Zacaria Candao.

Naguib Sinarimbo, the former BARMM minister of interior and local government, was also included in the list. He is running in the October parliamentary elections in the BARMM, while three other members of his clan — Nimbo, Duds and Zainuddin — are hoping to win local seats in the May midterm elections.

Gus Miclat, the executive director of the Initiative for International Dialogue, made the same observation.

“Without questioning the integrity and capacity of the newly appointed officials, this smacks of a political maneuver of converging interests and agendas by different actors, including political clans, elements within the Bangsamoro and MILF itself and officials within the national government.”

The number of women in the BTA was also reduced from 15 to ten.

Moner said this was disappointing, noting that the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) contained several provisions to ensure women have substantial representation in government.

“In the new BTA, the number of women was reduced… We’re regressing back to our fight for gender equity and social justice in the region,” she said in a mix of Filipino and English.

The BARMM replaced the former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), gaining broader powers and greater access to resources. It was established through peace negotiations between the government and the former rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which also committed to decommission its combatants.

MILF chairman Ahod Ebrahim led the 80-member BTA since its creation in 2019, alongside 40 other MILF nominees, giving the former rebel group dominance in the transition government.

The MILF expected the same arrangement until the region’s first regional elections in October.

However, the MILF Central Committee expressed its members’ “frustration” over the new appointments of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

He appointed former Maguindanao del Norte Gov. Abdulraof Macacua as the new BARMM chief minister, replacing Ebrahim. Macacua is the chief of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces.

MILF also said only 35 of its nominees were appointed to the BTA. The group said this “can be categorized as meddling in the internal affairs of the MILF and directly erodes the principle of autonomy outlined in the Bangsamoro Organic Law.”

The group said it was looking to “explore legal and diplomatic avenues to challenge the appointments.”

“In the last six years of the BTA, the national government has been generally accommodating to the MILF,” said Benedicto Bacani, the executive director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance.

“What has changed to merit the national government taking such a risky move? What is expected to be done in seven months that (has) not been done in the last six years of the BTA?” he added, addressing participants in a recent event commemorating the 2014 peace deal between the MILF and the government.

The leadership shakeup took place just seven months before the region’s first elections, scheduled for October, which have already been postponed twice.

Malacañang’s move did not come as a surprise to Bangsamoro stakeholders, as talks of a BTA shakeup had been circulating for some time. But there were those who pushed for the retention of the BTA members.

“We were still hoping that the boat wouldn’t be ‘rocked’ while the remaining short seven months of transition was still underway. This move by Malacanang raises more questions than in achieving stability that the appointments were supposed to guarantee,” Miclat told PCIJ.

One of the key tasks of BTA members—who primarily craft laws in the BARMM—before the October elections is to address regional legislation affected by Sulu’s exclusion from the region.

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity said that the appointments mark “continuity of the mutual commitment and efforts of both (government of the Philippines) and MILF parties towards fulfilment of the Comprehensive Agreement in the Bangsamoro…”

All of these concerns underscore the urgency of holding elections in the region, Bacani said.

“The sooner the political transition ends and elections for the regular parliamentary government, the better for evolving an inclusive, accountable and democratic autonomous government for the Bangsamoro,” he said.

But Moner said changes in the BTA could benefit newly appointed members who are running in the midterm elections in May and the parliamentary elections in October.

“It’s not coincidental that they have changed leadership a few months before the midterm elections,” she said.

“There’s now much expanded power given the block grant, there are more territories that were included in the autonomous region… It’s also very hard to institutionalize an anti-dynasty provision in the rest of the country, much more so in the BARMM where the nucleus of power is basically the clans. So when you vote, you basically consider the political interest as well as the preference of the clan,” she said. — PCIJ.org

Guinevere Latoza