Amilbahar “Amir” S. Mawallil is a legislator, writer, and youth advocate from Tawi-Tawi. He is now an active member of several committees of the parliament of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, including the committees on Accounts, and Finance, Budget, and Management. He has drafted close to a hundred legislative measures, including bills reaffirming Bangsamoro history, and supporting renewable energy, freedom of information, healthcare, and the stewardship of marine resources.

Through his work in the legislature and elsewhere, he has pursued his advocacies of good governance, transparency, social inclusiveness, peace, and the protection of our democratic spaces.

Amir grew up in a simple home that stood on stilts, typical of the Tausug who are his kin. He is the eldest son of Datu Yahcob J. Mawallil, who descends from an Arab missionary with blood ties to the Datu and Shariff of the Sulu Sultanate. The Mawallils are originally from Parang, Sulu, while Amir’s mother, Nur-Aina, is a teacher who traces her roots to Siasi and Tapul.

Amir was class valedictorian in primary and secondary school in Tawi-Tawi before earning a scholarship to the Ateneo de Zamboanga University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications in 2010. That year, he was awarded an internship at the House of Representatives, a privilege granted to only 25 young Muslim leaders at the time. It was there that Amir got a front-row seat to the workings of legislation, policy-making, and governance.

Before he pursued public service, Amir worked briefly as a journalist, writing for Businessworld in 2011 and Rappler in 2012. He remains an advocate of human rights, and worked for Non-Government Organizations in Western Mindanao alongside his job as a journalist.

In late 2012, a path opened up in the public sector: Amir was invited to work with the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), first as Deputy Executive Director of the Bureau of Public Information, then in less than a year, as its Executive Director—a post he held for more than six years while the ARMM transitioned into the BARMM. Concurrently with his duties as ED of the BPI, Amir was also assigned leadership of ARMM’s Office on Bangsamoro Youth Affairs as its executive director.

Through these years, Amir remained active in his journalistic and literary pursuits: He was a columnist for ABS-CBN online and a contributor for several other publications, including CNN Philippines, the Philippine Star, and Esquire Philippines. His first published book, “A Constant Retelling: Exploring the Bangsamoro Narratives,” collates his essays on the Bangsamoro people and their culture.

Amir now holds a Master in Public Safety Administration from the Philippine Public Safety College under the Department of Interior and Local Government, and a Master in Public Management from the Ateneo de Manila University’s School of Government. He has conducted notable studies on maternal healthcare issues in Sulu and the COVID-19 vaccination program in the BARMM. He has also taken masteral courses in History at the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology. He currently lectures on history and public policy and governance at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University. He is now taking up his Master’s in National Security Administration from the National Defense College of the Philippines.