Philippines: First Elected Bangsamoro Parliament Chooses Macacua as Chief Minister With 51 Votes
The first elected Parliament of the Philippines' Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) convened in Cotabato City on October 30 and elected Abdulraof Macacua as Chief Minister to head the region's first regular parliamentary government, the Bangsamoro government's official website said. The session marked the transition from more than seven years of interim governance under the Bangsamoro Transition Authority to a Parliament whose 80 members were chosen by voters in the region's first parliamentary elections on September 14.
Macacua secured 51 votes from the 79 members present, meeting the majority-of-all-members requirement (at least 41 of 80) under the Bangsamoro Organic Law. Amer Zaakaria Rakim was elected Speaker with 51 votes, and Hadjimar Matba and Mamintal Adiong III were elected Deputy Chief Ministers.
Macacua, a former military leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), had served as interim chief minister since March 2025, when President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appointed him to succeed Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, who had led the region since its establishment in 2019. In the parliamentary vote he defeated Ebrahim by 51 votes to 27, with one abstention.
Republic Act No. 12317, approved in March, fixed the new lawmakers' term from noon on October 30, 2026 until noon on June 30, 2031. Election observers said the September results were broadly accepted but identified concerns involving intimidation, vote-buying and pre-shaded ballots; turnout was 84.34 percent of registered voters.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 照片：菲律宾哥打巴托市景，PeterParker22 摄，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 4.0 授权 / Photo: Cotabato City, Philippines, by PeterParker22, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
