Marcos to the Bangsamoro: “We will never abandon you”
The first duly elected Bangsamoro Parliament convened its inaugural session on Friday, October 30, 2026, and elected Abdulraof Macacua as chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Seventy-nine of the 80 elected members of Parliament voted Macacua into the post. He will lead the regional government and oversee its development priorities. One member was unable to attend the session because he was indisposed.
The session at the Bangsamoro Government Center in Cotabato City marks the region’s shift to regular parliamentary governance after its first parliamentary elections on September 14.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who attended the session, pledged the national government’s full support. “To the people of the Bangsamoro, the national government stands with you. Your success is the country’s success. We will never abandon you,” he said.
Marcos asked the Bangsamoro people to remember those who lost their lives in years of conflict, and honored “the leaders from every side of the table who listened to one another.” He said their efforts paved the way for the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, the Bangsamoro Organic Law and the Bangsamoro Transition Authority.
“Brothers and sisters, I come before you as your president and a man of a different faith. We may call upon God in different ways, yet we all ask for the same mercy, the same peace, and the same strength to do what is right,” the President said.
He urged the new lawmakers to uphold unity and statesmanship, and to pass laws and deliver services that respond to the needs of the Bangsamoro people while ensuring transparent use of public funds. “Never forget the struggle that people have endured. Serve with humility,” he told them.
Marcos also warned that the elections were only the beginning and that the “hard part” will be making the parliamentary government work.
The session opened with Bangsamoro wali Sheikh Muslim Guiamaden striking the gong. Director Jaime Ayub, the highest-ranking officer of the Interim Parliament’s Secretariat, then presided over the election of a temporary presiding officer so the body could proceed with its business.