Ballots where rifles used to speak: Bangsamoro's first elected Parliament takes its seats

In Cotabato City on Friday, 80 members chosen in September's first-ever Bangsamoro parliamentary elections took their seats and elected Abdulraof Macacua as Chief Minister with 51 votes — formally ending more than seven years of appointed interim rule. The session completes a journey that began with the 2014 peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front: a region that once settled its future by force now does it by vote, in a chamber where former adversaries sit as legislators. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who attended in person, called it a milestone marking the shift from armed struggle to democratic governance, and challenged the new Parliament to turn peace into schools, clinics and jobs families can feel.

SDG 16 · Peace, justice and strong institutions — Mechanism: institutional program