Mohagher Iqbal, the peacemaker

He is a relatively small man with a mustache. In between his thick brows and protruding cheeks are deep-set eyes. He talks gently, and his voice is soft.

His name is Mohagher Iqbal. It is not his real name though. Mohagher Iqbal is his nom de guerre, used to sign the peace agreement and the countless official documents.

"I have so many names," Iqbal said in a 2015 congressional hearing on the Mamasapano clash. "That's natural in revolutionary organizations."

Iqbal was facing Philippine lawmakers who were saying the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was coddling terrorists and accusing the group of striking during a ceasefire. There was a breach of trust. Eventually, the plan to pass the Basic Bangsamoro Law did not push through.

Those in his perimeter call him "Sir IQ."

Iqbal is the minister of education in Bangsamoro. His office is currently hounded by corruption allegations.

In every movement is the leader who lends his image to the cause, the general who rallies the troops, and the ideologue who writes the party line.

Iqbal is considered the intellectual in the MILF. He has been its chief peace negotiator since 2003. He had brokered terms with former Philippine officials, including presidents.

He said he is nearing 79. He laughed when asked for his birth date. He did not answer. Iqbal aided the nascent armed revolution of the MILF, negotiated terms of peace with the Philippine government in the years following the 2000 all-out war. He is witness to the birthing pains of the Bangsamoro.

Iqbal wears many hats. He is currently the minister of education in the region, the chairperson of the MILF's peace implementing panel, and co-chairperson of the Intergovernmental Relations Body. The protracted journey has been long, he said, but he's yet to see it to its end: the signing of an exit agreement.

'We are prepared to lose'

The MILF wants the election to take place. Aside from a historic first, the conduct of a successful election will realize half of the political track in the peace agreement. First, the establishment of a new political entity. Then followed by a government elected by the people.

It has been delayed three times since it was first set for 2022. Now a new date is set: September 14, 2026.

"We are not preparing only to win, but even to lose," Iqbal told Rappler. "We are prepared to lose."

Part of the peace agreement Iqbal worked on provided that the MILF would hold a majority of seats in the interim parliament, all appointed by the Philippine president.

Election campaigning requires a substantial amount of money and resources. It is an exercise in geography and local politics: Who do you ally with to win a town, a province? It would seem easier for many parties to retain the status quo. But Iqbal said there is more legitimacy in a parliament the people voted for.

Wouldn't it be painful for the MILF to lose the election, given that it led the region's struggle for self-determination and peace? "That's part of the struggle," Iqbal said simply.

In Cotabato City are outdated tarpaulins of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) bearing the number 7 on the ballot. These are tarpaulins of the MILF's political party, displayed for what should have been the October 13, 2025 election.

Many featured the face of Murad Ebrahim, their chairman. Others have Iqbal's face, the party's second nominee. Some huge ones in the city, with greetings of Eid Mubarak, bore the faces of Ebrahim, Iqbal, and Abdulraof Macacua — the chairman, the intellectual, and the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces chief of staff who is now the interim BARMM chief minister.

Macacua is the BARMM's second appointed interim leader after Ebrahim. Internal tensions erupted following Macacua's appointment in early 2025. The MILF said they submitted a list of appointees to the President which Marcos did not follow.

On the surface, everything is civil. Macacua remains with the MILF. But the upcoming election is heightening tensions. The MILF already released a memorandum on April 2 and a policy statement on April 16 that UBJP is its sole political party. All members who joined other parties "are considered on indefinite leave."

The newly-formed Bangsamoro Federalist Party reportedly backs Macacua, who is vying for a parliamentary district seat a position that would make him, like other would-be winners, eligible to be chosen as the region's chief minister. Under the BARMM setup, the chief minister is selected by the regional parliament from among its members.

The place of a writer

Iqbal might sound nonchalant in the face of the possibility of an election loss. But this is coming from a man who had joined the revolution at an early age. All things considered, it had been a lifetime of winning and losing, of ebbs and flows.

When the Jabidah massacre happened in 1968, Iqbal was a political science student in Manila at the Manuel L. Quezon University. The young Iqbal joined the nine-day demonstration in front of Malacañang at Freedom Park.

After his studies, he joined the Moro National Liberation Front in 1972. He followed Salamat Hashim when the latter left Nur Misuari's MNLF in 1977 and eventually founded the MILF.

As a writer and propagandist, he published three books: Bangsamoro: A Nation Under Endless Tyranny, The Long Road to Peace: Inside the GRP-MILF Peace Process, Negotiating Peace: An Insider Perspective of the Bangsamoro Struggle for Self-Determination.

He was the former chief information officer, a position that involved writing the editorials for the MILF's official publication. He used the pen name Salah Jubair for his first two books. His last book was a compilation of speeches. He would always return to the root of the conflict, Mindanao's resistance against colonial rule, the Moro question, the need for autonomy.

The struggle, as history played out, would not only require the Mujahideen — Muslims like Iqbal — to take up arms. He and his comrades would eventually take to the negotiating table with the Philippine government in 1997.

Decades down the line, they would assume government positions. Iqbal would head BARMM's education ministry, which is now hounded by corruption allegations over spending amounting to some P2.2 billion.

One of Iqbal's most defining roles was his position as the longest-serving chief negotiator for the MILF. He led the MILF through the peace negotiations starting in 2003 and saw the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB), the final peace deal. And until now, he leads the peace implementing panel.

Negotiations require a tenacity to endure disagreements to arrive at a resolution. Iqbal is often described as a soft-spoken and patient man. Miriam Coronel Ferrer, the government's chief negotiator when CAB was completed, said Iqbal was always "the most civil person" in a room filled with intense emotions and shouting.

She said he would just keep quiet, his eyes lowered. His face unreadable. He is not a naturally funny man but when he cracks a joke, you would know negotiations are faring well, said Ferrer.

Of the many tasks Iqbal assumed, Ferrer found his role as the MILF's intellectual the most important.

"I knew him before because he was the writer," said Ferrer.

"He's the intellectual, the writer of the MILF. Hashim Salamat gave him a mission. Ever since, that has been his big role. To write up the history."

The objective is either an independent state or an autonomy. Hashim would have been the "happiest man in the world" if he had lived to see the peace talks through, Iqbal said in 2013.

"What we have now hopefully we would be able to settle everything is meaningful autonomy," Iqbal said. It was a year before the peace accord was finally signed.

The peace deal reads: "The Parties acknowledge the identity and the legitimate grievances of the Bangsamoro."

He said he wanted to be remembered for dedicating his life to the jihad. That he started young and is still going on. When asked how he thinks history will judge him, Iqbal conceded his legacy to whoever will write about him in the annals of history.