Transfer of Sulu parliamentary seats opposed

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in the 80-seat Bangsamoro parliament and regional agencies are hopeful that Congress can help reintegrate Sulu in the autonomous region.

“The MNLF is against reapportioning Sulu’s parliamentary seats to other provinces in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. We are still trying to reintegrate Sulu into the BARMM’s core territory,” MNLF chairman Muslimin Sema said yesterday.

Regional lawmakers are currently holding public consultations regarding a proposal to transfer seven parliamentary seats vacated by Sulu to the remaining five provinces of the BARMM.

The remaining BARMM provinces are Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur and Tawi-Tawi.

The proposed transfer is part of ongoing preparations for the holding of the first BARMM parliamentary elections on Oct. 13.

Last year, the Supreme Court granted a petition to exclude Sulu from the core territory of the BARMM.

The petition was filed by Sulu Gov. Hadji Abdusakur Tan Jr.

Sema, chief of the BARMM labor and employment ministry, said Sulu is the birthplace of the MNLF, where present leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) originated.

“Sulu is where the struggle of the Muslim people for self-rule started five decades ago. It hurts to see Sulu detached from the Bangsamoro region, whose creation is a dividend of that bloody uprising,” Sema said.

Malacañang and the MNLF have committed to foster peace, security and humanitarian initiatives that would benefit Muslims, Christian and indigenous communities.

The agreement was brokered by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, whose members include more than 60 Muslim countries, including petroleum exporting states in the Middle East and North Africa.

The MILF signed a separate peace agreement with the government, the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro, in 2014.

Both the MNLF and MILF have representatives in the BARMM parliament.