The Third Party Monitoring Team (TPMT) has sounded the alarm: the Bangsamoro peace process—once hailed as one of the most significant political achievements in our nation’s history—now stands at a perilous crossroads.
For over a decade, the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) has been the bedrock of peace and reform in Mindanao. Signed in 2014 after years of painstaking negotiations between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the CAB is more than a political document. It is the living testament of a people’s struggle for dignity, identity, and self-governance. It is the promise that the horrors of war can be replaced with the institutions of peace.
That promise, however, is under threat.
The TPMT’s latest statement reveals an unsettling truth: trust between the Parties has eroded to its lowest point since the signing of the CAB. The suspension of the decommissioning process, coupled with political upheavals in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), exposes fractures in what should have been an unshakable partnership. Unless these cracks are repaired, the peace process risks stalling at the very moment it should be reaching its most historic milestone—the first regional elections of the BARMM on October 13, 2025.
These elections are not merely procedural. They are the culmination of the political track of the CAB, the moment when the Bangsamoro people themselves will elect their first parliament. This is no small feat: it is a historic milestone, one that could firmly anchor the BARMM as a model of democratic autonomy in the Philippines.
But without mutual trust, elections alone will not suffice. Political legitimacy cannot grow in soil poisoned by suspicion.
This is why the TPMT’s call must be heeded. Dialogue, not deadlock, should define this critical phase. The normalization track—particularly the completion of decommissioning—cannot be treated as an afterthought. To falter now would not just betray past sacrifices; it would squander the fragile hope that the Bangsamoro peace process represents for future generations.
The TPMT plays a unique role here. As an independent body composed of both local and international representatives, its mandate is clear: to monitor, assess, and communicate the progress of peace implementation. It is not beholden to either side. Instead, it is beholden to the truth, to the commitments made in the CAB, and ultimately to the people who stand to gain or lose the most from this process—the Bangsamoro themselves.
The TPMT is not a mere observer. It is a conscience. And right now, that conscience is warning us of backsliding.
The GPH and MILF must listen. More than that, they must act. Trust cannot be rebuilt with rhetoric alone; it requires concrete gestures of cooperation, transparency, and renewed commitment to the letter and spirit of the CAB.
The Bangsamoro peace process was never meant to be easy. But it remains one of the most significant national undertakings in modern Philippine history. To falter now, so close to the finish line, would be nothing less than tragic.
The TPMT has kept faith with its mandate. The question is whether the Parties will keep faith with the Bangsamoro people.
History is watching.