Thousands join MILF’s grand consultative assembly

COTABATO CITY — Thousands of members and supporters participated in the general assembly and consultative dialogue of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao del Norte on Monday.

The MILF’s figurehead, Ahod B. Ebrahim, chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), and BARMM’s education minister, Muhaquer M. Iqbal, also a senior official of the front, together led the activities in the day-long event, held at Darapanan area in Sultan Kudarat.

BARMM’s health minister, Kadil M. Sinolinding, Jr., told reporters on Tuesday that he and members of the emergency response contingent that he deployed in Darapanan last Monday were surprised seeing no fewer than 300,000 participants to the event.

“All went well in that event. Participants were briefed by top MILF officials on the goings-on in the Bangsamoro government, particularly on its activities aimed at fostering lasting peace and sustainable development in the autonomous region,” Mr. Sinolinding said.

Mr. Ebrahim, who is at the helm of the 80-seat interim parliament of BARMM, said among their objectives now in regional governance is to maximize programs related to the peace and socioeconomic agenda of the MILF’s peace overture with Malacañang.

He said they would no longer ask for an extension, via a presidential initiative, of the tenure of the 80-member regional parliament, whose members, including him, are appointees of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. — John Felix M. Unson