MALABANG, Lanao del Sur—Members of the Balindong political clan secured victories in the May 9 elections and passed the 2021 Bar Examination results released on April 12.
Speaker Ali Pangalian Balindong of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Parliament feted his grandson Ali Pangalian P.A.A. “Chito” Balindong III for making it to the 2021 Bar Examination.
The older Balindong and his brother Mayor Alinander Balindong of Malabang, Lanao del Sur have survived an ambush perpetrated by suspected political foes in that town last month. Nash Maulana
The younger Balindong obtained his law degree from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 2021. He is also one of 23 young Philippine Muslims in the Supreme Court’s 273 successful examinees rated with Exemplary Performance (85% to 90%).
Speaker Balindong, a lawyer himself, is one of the still living 1971 Constitutional Convention Delegates who wrote the 1973 Charter. He has been a three-termer congressman representing Lanao del Sur’s Second Congressional District, and a former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives.
Strangely, Balindong stood for the prohibition of political dynasty in a draft constitutional amendment written by the Constitutional Commission created in 2016 by President Rodrigo Duterte to review and propose amendments to the 1987 Constitution. Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who headed the commission, highlighted this in an introduction he wrote for a biography book, “Revolutionary Democrat: The Life and Times of Pangalian Balindong.”
Balindong has said only few remain alive among the elected Delegates to the 1971 Constitutional Convention—including him, outgoing Senator Gordon, and Michael Mastura, both being lawyers also.
Members of the Balindong family who ran in the last May elections have mostly won: The Speaker’s son House Rep. Yasser Alonto Balindong, who succeeded him in the second district of their home province won a second term; Mayor Alinader Dagar Mariam Balindong has been re-elected in their hometown in Malabang, Lanao del Sur. Other kindred in the winning row are Vice Mayor-elect Raizoli Sarip Balindong of of that town; re-elected Mayor Mesron Dimaporo Balindong; Vice-Mayor-elect Yacob Dimaporo Balindong of Picong, Lanao del Sur; re-elected Mayor Al-Fattah Pacalna Balindong and Reelected Vice-Mayor Alber Pacalna Balindong of Tugaya, Lanao del Sur.
Three of them have been sworn into office by incoming House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
On the second week of the bar results’ release, the elder Balindongs celebrated their fourth year past the Golden Anniversary on April 29: “Happy 54th Anniversary to me and to my former girlfriend, Hajjattu Jamila Alonto Balindong. Special guests: Anonie, Nassif, Ainah, and Gani,” wrote Speaker Balindong on the wall of his personal Facebook account.
Balindong said he, his family and the Bangsamoro Government also celebrate with highest praises to God for all Moro examinees who passed and those who did not alike, and will try their luck in the coming batch.
Among the 23 Muslims in the Exemplary Performance Rating of the Supreme Court are: the Atty. Johanne Abdulrahman; Atty. Mohammad Muariff Balang; Atty. Sadam Hussien Balt; Atty. Ali Pangalian Balindong III; Atty. Ilham Batugan; Atty. Jamil Dalidig; Atty. Sima Hajihil; Atty. Mohammad Khalid Hamed; Atty. Norhaya Lago; Atty. Faisah Macabuat; Atty. Suhayle Macauna; Atty. Walid Macmod; Atty. Sittie Aina Munder-Gandambra; Atty. Abubakar Murray; Atty. Jamairah Nagamora; Atty. Mardheeya Nuruddin; Atty. Anna Sophia Paglas Piang; Atty. Sittie Rham Pumbayabaya; Atty. Ibn Ismael Sappayani; Atty. Datu Aureli Ibn Aldwin Firdauz Sinsuat; Atty. Sittie Janessa Talon; and Atty. Mariam M. Usman.