For the fifth time, the reactionary government postponed the supposed first regular parliamentary election of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Ferdinand Marcos Jr signed Republic Act No 12317 on March 25, postponing the election from May to September this year.

The elections have been stalled for seven years from the original year set in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The MILF has fulfilled its obligations under the agreement since 2014. Around 14,000 of its combatants have undergone “normalization” and have surrendered 2,450 weapons.

However, the GRP fulfilled less than half of its obligations. The MILF Central Committee consequently ordered the halting of the disarmament process for its remaining forces in July 2025, until the GRP fulfills its agreed obligations.

Contrary to the CAB’s promises of livelihood and peace, thousands of former mujahideens or MILF fighters and their families remain landless and without livelihood.

History of betrayal

The history of the reactionary state’s betrayal of the Moro people has been long and bloody. Decades since the Ferdinand Marcos Sr’s dictatorship, which carried out brutal massacres in Jabidah, Manili, and Palimbang, to the Marcos family’s return to power under Ferdinand Marcos Jr, fascist attacks on their communities have continued.

The reactionary state has always colluded with US imperialism in its campaign of repression. The US declared West Mindanao a “second frontline of terrorism” in 2001 after the Al Qaeda attacks on the US, second to Afghanistan. The US has since used the Bangsamoro islands and provinces as a laboratory for its counterinsurgency tactics. After the Philippines expelled US military bases from Luzon in 1991, the US positioned the Joint Special Operations Task Force–Philippines (JSOTF-P) in West Mindanao to lead its special operations in Maguindanao (Task Force Mindanao) and Sulu (Task Force Sulu). Hundreds of American troops assumed base in Zamboanga City for roughly 14 years.

Under US directives, Duterte imposed martial law over entire Mindanao in 2017 to pound Marawi City and hunt down the island’s armed groups, including NPA units. He colluded with American troops in driving out the Moro people from their homes and seizing prime lots to build a military base. Tens of thousands of displaced people have yet to return to their communities and are denied justice and rightful compensation. The US later used the city as base of Operation Pacific Eagle–Philippines, which replaced the JSOTF-P.

Firm solidarity and war footing

The National Democratic Front and its revolutionary forces in Mindanao are fully aware of the crisis now facing the Moro struggle. The US and the reactionary government continue to sabotage the agreements reached after more than 17 years of peace negotiations, in order to keep the Moro people oppressed and dispossessed of their land. The Marcos regime is selling off their resources to foreign mining, agri-business, and commercial plantation companies.

The NDF is keenly aware how the GRP used the peace process to neutralize the Moro people’s resistance while preserving the very conditions that bred it. The NDF firmly upholds this lesson in conducting peace negotiations with the GRP.

The revolutionary forces of the NDF stand in firm solidarity with the Moro people’s aspiration for selfdetermination against national oppression. Their struggle is rooted in the widespread plunder of their land and livelihood, as well as in the oppression of their culture and traditions. This is integral to the entire Filipino people’s broader struggle against imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism.