Former peace adviser says exit deal possible once key Bangsamoro commitments are irreversible

Former peace adviser Teresita Quintos Deles told a Manila forum on June 18 that an exit agreement for the Bangsamoro peace process can be signed once the most important pillars are irreversible, even if not every element is complete. “We can sign an exit agreement even if it is not yet all done, as long as it is all in the way already.

She listed suspended decommissioning, a headless government peace implementation panel, and unspent normalization and peace-building funds as issues that have stalled progress and breached trust. Deles said the commitment to an MILF-led political transition, as set out in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro and the Bangsamoro Organic Law, has been seriously breached, most markedly by the removal of MILF chair Al Haj Murad as interim chief minister in March 2025.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Replaced Murad with Abdulraof Macacua as BARMM interim chief minister. Macacua later ordered the removal of MILF peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal from parliament over corruption allegations. The MILF recently suspended Macacua as its military chief.

Macacua is running independently in the September 14 parliamentary elections and has been endorsed by a competing political party. Deles said the MILF has split into two competing political parties ahead of the elections, with its official slate being the United Bangsamoro Justice Party. She noted that the split is popularly perceived by the public as orchestrated by the national government.

Deles served as peace adviser during the Benigno Aquino III administration. She said peace must not only be negotiated but institutionalized, and she recalled Aquino’s personal involvement in the Mindanao talks. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, the peace negotiator who oversaw the signing of the CAB in 2014, also spoke at the forum and said the exit agreement will be the product of dialogue rather than fixed terms.