OVER two weeks ago, the newly and reappointed members of the Bangsamoro Parliament for the extended transition period gathered at Malacañan Palace in Manila for their oath-taking before President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. Their term officially started on the day that they were sworn in, i.e., from Aug. 12, 2022, until the month (June) after the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao's (BARMM) first elections in May 2025. Forty-one of these parliament ministers (PMs) are appointees of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), while 39 are appointees of the national government. These PMs are expected to complete the region's vital pieces of legislation and will continue working on the transition government's priority agenda.
The BARMM's Public Information, Publication and Media Relations Division (PIPMRD) provided interesting brief profiles of the 80 PMs. Forty-nine are reappointees, while 31 are new. The MILF has 13 new appointees, while the national government has 18. I believe that the process of choosing the PMs was done judiciously by the MILF and the national government, after the Philippine government's approval of the BARMM's three-year transition extension in October 2021. The selection criteria are based on the PMs' experiences, competencies and potential contributions to the attainment of the transition government's goals in the next 33 months.