25/08/2026
Inna Lillahi wa Inna Ilayhi Raji'un
It is difficult to find the right words when someone who has spent so much of his life helping others is suddenly gone.
Chairman Yusof Palawan was not simply a chairman or a community leader. To many of us, he was someone we knew we could approach when things became difficult—especially when families were divided, when emotions were high, and when a rido threatened to bring pain to an entire community.
He was, in many ways, an instrument of peace.
In the Iranun Corridor, there are many stories of families and communities affected by rido. Some conflicts have lasted for years. Some have been passed from one generation to another. And sometimes, what begins as a disagreement between a few people can become a problem for an entire community.
Chairman Yusof understood this reality.
He knew that settling a rido was not simply about deciding who was right or wrong. It was about bringing people together, listening to both sides, calming emotions, and reminding everyone that no family and no community truly wins when conflict continues.
He helped people talk when they were no longer willing to talk.
He helped create understanding when anger had already taken over.
And he helped open the door to reconciliation when many thought there was no longer a way back.
That is the kind of peacebuilder Chairman Yusof was.
His contribution, however, was not only for the Iranun Corridor. His work reflected the larger struggle for peace throughout BARMM. In his own way, through his relationships and his work with communities, he contributed to the culture of dialogue and reconciliation that our Bangsamoro people continue to build.
Perhaps not everything he did will be written in history books.
There may be no records of every conversation he had, every family he approached, every difficult meeting he attended, or every conflict he helped calm.
But the people who were there will remember.
The families who were reconciled will remember.
The communities that were spared from further conflict will remember.
And that, for TASBIKKA, is one of the most meaningful legacies a person can leave behind.
Chairman Yusof reminded us that being a leader is not always about having power or being in a position of authority. Sometimes, leadership is simply having the courage to walk into a difficult situation and say, “Let us talk. Let us find a way to settle this.”
That was his contribution.
That was his service.
And that is why his passing is not only a loss to his family. It is a loss to the many communities that knew him and benefited from his efforts to bring people together.
Today, we mourn him. But we should also remember him with gratitude.
Gratitude for the lives he touched.
Gratitude for the conflicts he helped settle.
Gratitude for the relationships he helped restore.
And gratitude for the peace he helped build.
May Allah forgive his shortcomings, accept his good deeds, shower him with His mercy, and grant him Jannatul Firdaus.
May Allah ease his journey to the hereafter and grant his family, relatives, friends, and all those who mourn him the strength and sabr to endure this loss.
And may we continue the work that he left behind—the work of bringing people together, settling our differences through dialogue, and choosing peace whenever peace is still possible.
