COTABATO CITY (August 14, 2026) — The Bangsamoro Federalist Party, or BFP, is one focused on strengthening Muslim-Christian interfaith solidarity and is, thus, not an “exclusivist” kind of a regional political party.

The party’s chairman for Cotabato City, Bangsamoro parliament member Naguib Sinarimbo, his colleague in their lawmaking body, Romeo Sema, and Cotabato Archbishop Charlie Inzon of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate congregation, met on Wednesday, August 12, and talked about the need to keep the religious unity among residents in the city.

Cotabato City, covering 37 barangays with culturally-pluralistic settings, is home to mixed Muslim, Christian and indigenous non-Moro communities.

Former Cotabato City councilor Freddie Ridao was instrumental in arranging the meeting of parliament members Sinarimbo and Sema, accompanied then to the Bishop’s Palace by Norhassim Sinarimbo.

The Catholic Oblate congregation, whose pontifical base is in the Vatican in Rome, has religious and humanitarian activities in Cotabato City that it pioneered in the 1930s. Cotabato City is the regional capital of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The lawyer Sinarimbo, also spokesperson of the Bangsamoro Federalist Party, whose members include many mayors in BARMM’s five provinces and three cities, said it is important for members of the 80-seat regional parliament to also focus on possible legislations needed in ensuring the welfare of the Catholic and other non-Muslim communities in the autonomous region.

Sinarimbo, Sema and Ridao, who had served as a member of the Cotabato City Sangguniang Panlalawigan, separately said their meeting with Archbishop Inzon last Wednesday at the Bishop’s Palace in the city was cordial and fruitful.

Photo shows Archbishop Inzon in the center, flanked by Sinarimbo and Sema.