Lawyer Pangalian Balindong, speaker of the 80-member Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), died around 1 a.m. Thursday at a hospital in Makati City due to illness.
The BTA is the provisional lawmaking body of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Balindong, 85, is the second-highest official of the BARMM, serving as its parliament speaker since 2019 until his demise.
BARMM Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua said the entire regional bureaucracy mourns the passing of Balindong.
“He was more than a leader, a guiding light whose wisdom, humility, and dedication touched the lives of many. His legacy of service to the Bangsamoro will live on in our hearts,” Macacua said in a statement.
The Philippine flag and the BARMM flag would fly at half-mast in all government offices in the region to honor the services rendered by Balindong for the Bangsamoro’s struggle for self-determination.
BTA parliament member Sittie Fahanie Uy-Oyod joins BARMM in mourning Balindong’s passing.
“Speaker Balindong was not only a pillar of the BTA but also a true Moro leader whose wisdom, dedication, and lifelong service paved the way for the realization of the Bangsamoro’s right to self-determination,” Oyod said.
Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez, Jr. described Balindong as “instrumental in setting the foundations for a more peaceful and prosperous Bangsamoro to arise.”
“A dedicated legal practitioner, lawmaker, and public servant, Speaker Balindong was a trailblazer for the Bangsamoro region in their quest for autonomy and self-determination,” Galvez said.
“Through his principal authorship of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, later renamed the Bangsamoro Organic Law, Speaker Balindong was instrumental in setting the foundations for a more peaceful and prosperous Bangsamoro to arise,” he added.
Balindong was laid to rest in his hometown in Lanao del Sur according to Islamic rites.
