BARMM polls: Over half of Tawi-Tawi bets have ties to political families

CEBU, Philippines – Political dynasties in Tawi-Tawi, an island province in the southwestern Philippines near Sabah, are seeking to extend their influence into the parliamentary government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), bringing familiar names and political alliances into the first elections for the region’s parliament.

In the province’s four parliamentary districts, members of political clans, former local officials, civil society leaders and professionals are campaigning for seats in the 80-member Bangsamoro parliament. More than half of them have ties to local political families.

In the first district, one of three Que brothers from Bongao is seeking a parliamentary seat. The Matba, Amilbangsa, Matolo, Jamalul and Ahaja clans also have members in the races for the second, third and fourth districts.

Tawi-Tawi Governor Yshmael Sali’s sister-in-law, Rhosatina Sulayman Matolo-De Asis, is among those seeking a seat in the third district.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) data as of May 8 show that Tawi-Tawi’s 11 towns have 264,192 registered voters for the 2026 BARMM elections.

Here are the candidates running in each of Tawi-Tawi’s four parliamentary districts:

1st District: Que clan scion vs educator

The first parliamentary district covers Bongao, where the Que family has established a political base. Jasper Que is the mayor of Bongao, while his brother Jimuel is the vice mayor.

Their brother Julbert, a former vice mayor of Bongao, is seeking the parliamentary seat in the first district.

Julbert is the candidate of the Bangsamoro Federalist Party (BFP), founded by BARMM Member of Parliament Tomanda Antok and led by regional interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua.

He is running against educator Shirmal Hajim Sabal, the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) candidate. The UBJP is the political party of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), led by former BARMM interim chief minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim.

Sabal previously served as a provincial director of the BARMM Ministry of Science and Technology.

2nd District: Ex-vice mayors and retired colonel

The second district includes the municipalities of Languyan, South Ubian and Panglima Sugala.

Former South Ubian vice mayor Abdelaziz Halun is in the race under the UBJP. He is up against Gamal Hayudini and Hadjimar Matba.

Hayudini, a retired Philippine Air Force colonel and head of the civil society organization Ako Sama, is the candidate of the BARMM Grand Coalition (BGC).

The BGC is an alliance of the Bangsamoro Peoples Party (BPP), Serbisyong Inklusibo-Alyansang Progresibo (SIAP), and Al-Ittihad-Ungaya sa Kawagib Nu Bangsamoro.

Matba, a former vice mayor of Languyan and former provincial administrator of Tawi-Tawi, is the candidate of BARMM Member of Parliament Don Mustapha Loong’s Progresibong Bangsamoro Party (PRO BM).

Matba is a relative of incumbent South Ubian Mayor Hadzri Matba.

3rd District: Governor’s sister-in-law vs 3 bets

The third district comprises the towns of Tandubas, Sapa-Sapa and Simunul.

Mali Albrinji is campaigning under the BGC. He is a former deputy regional manager of the Bangsamoro Ports Management Authority and former regional director of the Maritime Industry Authority under the now-defunct Department of Transportation and Communications in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Rajsidana Kimble Amilbangsa, a nurse and member of the Amilbangsa clan, is running under the UBJP.

The BFP has fielded Rhosatina Sulayman Matolo-De Asis, a pharmacist and former municipal administrator of Sapa-Sapa.

She is in a race where her political connections are difficult to separate from the contest itself. She is the daughter of former Sapa-Sapa mayor Putli Aisa Sulayman Matolo and sister of Sapa-Sapa Mayor Rhodesia Matolo, who is married to Tawi-Tawi Governor Yshmael Sali.

Meanwhile, the Bangsamoro Party (BAPA), led by BARMM Minister of Labor and Employment Muslimin Sema, has fielded former Tandubas municipal councilor Alnahada Dalagan.

Dalagan is the daughter of the late Roxas Salih, a former mayor of Tandubas and the first chairman of the Tawi-Tawi State Revolutionary Committee of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

4th District: Ahajas, Jamalul scion, and Mapun native

Tawi-Tawi Provincial Board Member Michail Ahaja is seeking the parliamentary seat in the fourth district, which comprises the towns of Mapun, Sitangkai, Sibutu and Turtle Islands. The former Tawi-Tawi vice governor and vice mayor of Sitangkai is running as an independent candidate.

Also from the Ahaja political clan is BFP candidate Nur-Mahadil Ahaja, who served as a member of the Bangsamoro parliament from 2019 to 2022.

Sanya Jamalul, daughter of Turtle Islands Mayor Jay Sayang Jamalul and Vice Mayor Mohammad Faisal Jamalul, is an independent candidate for the district seat.

Mapun native Hamdan Musa Kasim is also running under the UBJP in the fourth district. – Rappler.com