COTABATO CITY—THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is fielding local candidates of Christian descent in the coming May 9 elections in what was seen as the beginning of the erstwhile separatist group’s transformation and reintegration into the political and societal mainstream.
The MILF leadership has anointed Mohammad Ali “Bruce” Matabalao, a former city councilor as its political party’s mayoral bet here. Matabalao’s mother, surnamed Dela Cruz, traces her roots from Eastern Visayas and Ilocos Sur.
Abdulraof Macaua who used to be MILF vice-military chairman, said two elections have passed since the group registered the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in 2015.
“If we do not participate in the coming May polls, the UBJP will lose its Comelec accreditation as a political party,” Macacua said.
Maguindanao First District Rep. Roonie Sinsuat is seeking reelection under the UBJP banner.
Sinsuat hails from an illustrious political family whose ancestry dates back to the Philippine Commonwealth Senate and the Quesada clan of Spanish ancestry.
Matabalao’s lineup for the city council includes news anchor Florante Formento, also an incumbent city councilor, and younger brother of veteran broadcast journalist Bing Formento; and radio reporter Henjie Ali whose family lineage comes from Muslim- Christian intermarriage.
Sinsuat’s cousin, Maguindanao Second District Rep. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu is UBJP’s gubernatorial bet against incumbent Gov. Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu.
Labor and Employment Minister Muslimin Sema of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), a non-candidate, said the new generation of Moros and Christians here were lucky that their forebears have transcended an “imaginary dividing wall.”
Sema, chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Council of 15, said even Christian residents had asked him in 1998 to help “bring the dividing walls down” amidst the polarization of the city’s population between Christians and Muslims for many years.
Sema, who was also former radio commentator of the BBC-run Suara Malaysia (Voice of Malaysia), recalled that students in his time had to row bancas to reach the city from Barangay Bubong (site of the present-day Cotabato Grand Mosque) and rented bed-spaces while studying.
He said thanked, his wife former Rep. Bai Sandra Sema for helping raise funds for the construction of the Cotabato Circumferential Road which now interlinks most of the inaccessible villages..
Macacua, also BARMM’s senior minister has assured supporters that the MILF-led UBJP would uphold its commitment to peaceful, honest and orderly elections as it participates in the local polls for the first time.
The UBJP slate has two female candidates; Hunyn Abu and Bai Myria Candao, granddaughter of the late Datu Liwa Candao, a former city vice-mayor; Kusin Taha, a veteran city councilor’ and five newcomers, namely Kagui Hamid Maguing, Guiadzuri Midtimbang, Marouph Pasawiran, Abdulrakim Usman, and Naut Usman.
UBJP’s line-up included some broadcast journalists. Henjie Ali is a radio reporter; vice-mayoral bet Butch Abu, also an incumbent city legislator, is the son of the late MILF first vice-chairman Ghazzali Jaafar, a vernacular broadcaster for the UMBN when he joined the underground Moro movement in the 1960’s, and later a commentator for the BBC-run Suara Malaysia (Voice of Malaysia).
Candao’s uncle, a former elected official, also worked part-time for a local broadcast station prior to entering the local politics.