Commander Bravo frustrated but will toe line – MILF chair

DAVAO CITY — The commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in northwestern Mindanao, popularly known as Commander Bravo, is frustrated by the results of the recent plebiscite in Lanao del Norte but will support the rebel group’s efforts to achieve autonomy.

MILF chair Murad Ebrahim said this on Sunday as he expressed confidence that Bravo, whose real name is Abdullah Macapaar and who enjoys a strong following in the province, would “toe the line.”

“We are confident that Commander Bravo will toe the line,” Ebrahim said in an interview, days after the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) in a plebiscite.

“We know he was very frustrated because people in the area were very supportive [of the BOL]. [H]e assured us that he would submit to the command of the [MILF] central committee,” he added.

Ebrahim, who is expected to head the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) as interim chief minister, said the MILF had already submitted to President Duterte a list of 41 BTA nominees and was only waiting for him to appoint the rest of the 80-member body.

Interim government

The BTA would serve as the interim government in the Bangsamoro region until its first elections in 2022.

“Hopefully this month, we will have an oath-taking. Forty-one [of the members will have] to come from the MILF, to ensure [that the group will have a] sitting majority,” Ebrahim said.

Ebrahim said that among the MILF nominees was Macapaar, who had strongly denied the allegations of the Dimaporo clan in Lanao del Norte that he was behind the bombings in three towns of the province on the eve of the Feb. 6 plebiscite.