DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao del Norte (MindaNews /22 July 2026) – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., entered the 6ID Gym here in Camp Siongco at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, graced the ceremonial distribution of P3.4 billion worth of projects and assistance to local governments and beneficiaries, delivered a seven-minute speech on the “shared task” of building a “peaceful, stable, and prosperous Bangsamoro,” and briefly posed for souvenir photos after the program ended at 10:12 a.m.
Originally scheduled for Monday, the Presidential visit was reset to Wednesday, eight days before July 30, the start of the 45-day campaign in the thrice-postponed 1st Bangsamoro Parliamentary Election scheduled on September 14.
Several attendees from among a crowd of nearly 500 inside the gym, expected the President to say something about the Bangsamoro peace process, especially because exactly a week earlier, on July 15, he named Presidential Peace Adviser Mel Senen Sarmiento as concurrent chair of the government’s Peace Implementing Panel.
But nowhere in the seven-minute speech did he mention the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro or the appointment of Sarmiento, who was not in his entourage
Of the P3.4 billion worth of projects and assistance, P2.9B is from the Bangsamoro Government and P433 million from the National Government, according to briefing materials given to the media.
Marcos acknowledged the “significant progress achieved through the partnership between the National Government and the Bangsamoro Government” but added that the “shared task” of building a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Bangsamoro continues.
He spoke of the 1st Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections on September 14, of how “we are determined that we will push through … to finally achieve our dream, our goal of being able to say that we have a duly elected parliament in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.”
He said that through the “Bawat Barangay Makikinabang” (BBM) Program, each barangay in the BARMM will receive P200,000. Half or P100,000 is allocated for educational assistance to five Presidential scholars at P20,000 assistance each; while the remaining half will be for “key priorities identified by local communities.”
BBM is a nationwide program and according to Marcos, nearly P7B has been distributed to 34,800 barangays from April 8 to July 17.
BARMM has 2,595 barangays, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority’s July 2024 census. The BBM for all barangays in BARMM will amount to P519 million.
The President did not say when the BBM for BARMM will be distributed.
Ceremonial checks
The national government distributed P433 million worth of financial assistance on Wednesday, under the Socio-Civic Projects Fund, to support priority local development projects and the delivery of essential public services in the five BARMM provinces – Basilan, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur and Tawi-Tawi and Cotabato City.
From the BARMM’s Ministry of Interior and Local Government, the governors of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur and Tawi-Tawi, received ceremonial checks worth P20 million each for prepositioned goods to support disaster relief and recovery in their respective provinces.
The governors also received ceremonial checks of P30 million each from the BARMM’s Ministry of Labor and Employment for the Bangsamoro Tulong Pangkabuhayan sa Ating Disadvantaged Workers (BTUPAD).
The seven-year old BARMM, comprising five provinces, three cities and one Special Geographic Area, will elect its first set of officials on September 14 while nationwide, voters will elect their barangay and youth officials on November 2.
Marcos also cited the Iftar Program, which, he said, ensures that sociocultural and socioeconomic initiatives reach communities “in ways that are respectful of their faith and of their traditions.”
He said at least 18,200 beneficiaries had availed of relief assistance, burial assistance, and medical missions, from January 2025 to May 2026, and that assistance has been extended to at least 26,800 Hajj registrants.
“Enduring partnership”
Marcos said the gathering reaffirms the “enduring partnership” between the National Government and the Bangsamoro Government, one anchored on “mutual trust, shared responsibility, and a firm commitment to our people.”
“There are 15 BARMM ministries and offices here—led by the Office of the Chief Minister—that will turnover various assistance to you – at least to a thousand of your local beneficiaries,” he said.
Marcos mistakenly referred to BARMM as its predecessor ARMM.
“Together, the Autonomous Region of (sic) Muslim Mindanao and the National Government of the Republic of the Philippines we are advancing a shared vision of a more peaceful, prosperous, and inclusive Philippines, guided by the belief that the strength of our nation rests on the well-being and the dignity of every Filipino,” he said.
Earlier, in welcoming the President, interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua said: “Together, we can work towards a better future for everyone in our region.”
Macacua said that in the BARMM, “we prioritize public service, we prioritize our people. Sa BARMM government, inuuna natin ang serbisyo publiko, at uunahin natin ang kapakakan ng bawat Bangsamoro.”
Marcos was supposed to attend the National-BARMM Convergence Program at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex in the Bangsamoro Government Center in Cotabato City on Monday, at 8:30 a.m., but nearly midnight on Sunday, the visit was called off.
Macacua told MindaNews on Monday: “I don’t know the exact reasons. The President himself called that it was the PSC (Presidential Security Command) who recommended for postponement.”
The visit was moved to Wednesday morning and the venue moved as well, from the SKCC in Cotabato City, to the 61D Gym in Camp Siongco in Awang, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, base of the 6th Infantry Division.
The event backdrop onstage was “Bawat Bayan Makikinabang and the BARMM Government Convergence Program.”
Silent on the peace process
The President was silent on the peace process.
The Philippine government signed the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), the peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on March 27, 2014, paving the way for the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The BARMM was established after the Organic Law for the BARMM was ratified in January 2019. During the transition, the BARMM is to be governed by an MILF-led 80-member Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) appointed by the President. The transition period was extended until June 30, 2025, extended again until October 2025 and extended anew until October 2026.
“A most welcome development” was the reaction of MILF Peace Implementing Panel chair Mohagher Iqbal after learning Sarmiento was named GPH Peace Implementing Panel chair on July 15.
Sarmiento told MindaNews on July 17 that they are conducting workshops in preparation for the meeting with their counterparts in the MILF “at the soonest possible time.”
Iqbal early this month told MindaNews that the MILF will lift the “temporary pause” it declared in March “not later than ASAP, after GPH panel has the appointment document.”
In March this year, MILF chair Murad declared a “temporary pause” in their engagements in the Bangsamoro peace process until a “full-fledged chairman” of the government PIP is named.
The MILF, Murad said, “cannot negotiate and engage with a headless counterpart.”
In July last year, the MILF suspended the decommissioning process until there is “substantial compliance” by the national government in the other tracks of normalization, such as the provision of socio-economic package to the 26,145 decommissioned combatants.
Sarmiento, however, was not part of the Presidential entourage. Accompanying the President was Special Assistant to the President Anton Lagdameo.
Lagdameo and former Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez have been the subject of criticisms for alleged intervention in BARMM affairs, including the replacement of Chief Minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad Ebrahim” by Macacua in March last year.
Projects, assistance
According to the briefing papers given to reporters, aside from what were handed over to local government units from the BARMM and national government, these are the other amounts from the ministries.
- P1-Billion from the Unified Program Management Office from the Special Development Fund for livelihood and socioeconomic assistance to former combatants of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Women Auxiliary Brigade (BIWAB), widows of war, and orphans of war to support livelihood recovery, economic resilience, and community development.
- P883-M from the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education for learner’s kits, teachers’ kits, and TVET scholarship training allowances
- P687-M from the Ministry of Social Services and Development for financial subsidies and emergency assistance for indigent persons with disabilities (PWDs), individuals in crisis situations, and orphaned children in Sultan Kudarat and Talitay, Maguindanao del Sur
- P150-M from Ministry of Labor and Employment for Bangsamoro Tulong Pangkabuhayan sa Ating Disadvantaged Workers (BTUPAD)
- P15.7M from Ministry of Labor and Employment for cash assistance under the Reintegration Program for Balik Bangssmoro Hanap Trabaho for returning Overseas Bangsamoro Workers (OBWs)
- P64-M from the Ministry of Trade, Investments and Tourism for construction of tourism parks.
- P38.8-M from the Ministry of Human Settlements and Development for 50 units of resettlement housing for beneficiaries of Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao
- P18.7M from the Ministry of Transportation and Communication for Pantawid Pasada Fuel Subsidy
- P14.9M from the Ministry of Science and Technology for educational grants and cash assistance to Mujahideen Assistance for Science Education;
- P16M from the Ministry of Health for Tulong Medical Assistance to the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center and Iranon District Hospital
- P5M from the Ministry of Health for Operation Centers in the Special Geographic Area
- P3M from Project Tabang for food packages, medical services, and livelihood assistance for vulnerable Bangsamoro individuals, families, patients and emergency-affected communities
- P2M from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Agrarian Reform for portable solar, water pumps, boat engines, certificates of land ownership awards (CLOAs), emancipation patents, and rice and corn combined harvesters for fisherfolk, agrarian reform beneficiaries and farmer beneficiaries
- P175K from the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs for financial assistance to IPs affected by disasters.
- P150K from Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources for qualified Bangsamoro beneficiaries to support, secure land tenure, social justice, and inclusive development.
There are only three months left to October 30, 2026, when the first elected officials in the BARMM assume their posts.
October 30, 2026 is also the end of the Bangsamoro transition period. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
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