SULU Governor Abdusakur Tan will challenge the leadership of Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim in the 80-member Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in 2025.
Tan made his announcement to run as party representative and challenge the current Barmm leadership during a big political rally in Maimbung town in Sulu province last Saturday.
Four political parties attended the rally and formed the Bangsamoro Grand Coalition.
The political parties are Serbisyong Inklusibo-Alyansa Progresibong Party (SIAP) led by Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal Adiong; Al-Ittihad-UKB founded by Secretary Suharto Mangudadatu, Tan’s Salam Party and Bangsamoro People’s Party led by Basilan Representative Mujiv Hataman attended the rally and formed the
Bangsamoro Grand Coalition spokesperson Amir Mawalli said the four parties have endorsed Tan’s candidacy for the Barmm parliament in 2025.
“Governor Tan will run for member of the Barmm parliament under the banner of Bangsamoro Grand Coalition. He will not run for governor of Sulu anymore,” Mawalli said.
Mawalli said Tan will run as party representative and will no longer run for governor of Sulu province.
If he wins in the parliament elections, Mawalli said Tan will have to get the majority votes in the 80-member BARMM parliament.
The BARMM parliament consists of 40 party representatives, 32 district representatives, and eight sectoral representatives.
Presently it is dominated by Ebrahim’s party mates in the United Bangsamoro Justice Party.
Ebrahim, better known as Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, a former leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, is the first Chief Minister of the BARMM parliament which was formed after the Bangsamoro Organic Law was ratified in January 2019.
SIAP President and Lanao del Sur Vice Governor Mohammad Khalid Raki-in Adiong said Tan was the natural choice for Chief Minister by the coalition since talks started in January this year.
“Tan is our unanimous candidate and all of us will endorse him one hundred percent,” Adiong said.
In a statement, the BGC said Tan’s record as governance is a testament to good governance, and through his leadership the threat of the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu was eliminated.
