Maisara Cudia Dandamun-Latiph is a Filipina lawyer, educator, legislator, and former government official.
She served as first chairperson and CEO of Marawi Compensation Board from 2023 to 2025 leading the independent quasi-judicial agency. In this role she held a rank equivalent to Cabinet Secretary and Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeals under R.A. 11696.
Dandamun-Latiph helped in the draft, passage and ratification of Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) as Commissioner of Bangsamoro Transition Commission from 2017 to 2019, before becoming a Member of Parliament of the Bangsamoro Parliament from 2019 to 2022 of the Bangsamoro which arose from the BOL.
She was a principal co-author of the law which created the Bangsamoro Women Commission in the BTA Parliament.
She worked as a Senior State Solicitor at the Office of Solicitor General from 2002-2017, representing the government in the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Court of Tax Appeals, lower and quasi-judicial courts.
On August 17, 2026, she was unanimously elected by members of the Association of Former Members of Parliament of BTA Parliament as its founding President together with other members of Executive Committee. The AFMP is created by Parliament Resolution No. 562 to provide former parliamentarians with formal platform to continue contributing to governance, community engagements and civic initatives.
Career Early years Dandamun-Latiph and her Muslim women friends co-founded IQRA Kiddie Learning Center, an educational institution in Quiapo, Manila. In 2014, she and her sister co-founded Safia Learning Center, a community preschool in Quezon City, further expanding her work in Muslim community education. She also co-founded Khadija Center for Muslim Women Studies dedicated to promote and advocate rights and issues of Muslim women in Metro-Manila.
Office of the Solicitor General Dandamun-Latiph was a former senior state solicitor at the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG). She received an award for excellence in client service in 2008 as well as recognition for her Chevening Scholarship Award.
Bangsamoro Transition Commission Dandamun-Latiph was named one of the commissioners of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) in 2017 by President Rodrigo Duterte. The BTC was tasked to make the draft of the law that eventually became known as the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the charter of the Bangsamoro autonomous region established in 2019.
Dandamun-Latiph advocated women's representation in the then-proposed autonomous region. At the 2nd Bangsamoro Women Economic and Development Summit in 2018, she pledged the establishment of a Bangsamoro Women Commission to promote women's rights in the region and that the proposed Bangsamoro region should guarantee 50 percent of the available government positions to women.
Bangsamoro Parliament Following the establishment of the new Bangsamoro region, Dandamun-Latiph was appointed as a Member of Parliament representing the women sector in the 1st Bangsamoro Transition Authority Parliament. A nominee of the Philippine national government, she took oath as a member on February 22, 2019. The parliament first convened the following month.
She was principal co-author of the law creating the Bangsamoro Women's Commission, fulfilling the pledge she had made during the BTC period.
She also authored and co-authored numerous bills and resolutions, including those concerning:
An Act Adopting an Official Flag of the BARMM An Act Adopting an Official Bangsamoro Emblem An Act Creating the Attorney General's Office An Act Promoting the Development of Sports in the Bangsamoro (Bangsamoro Sports Commission) An Act Creating and Establishing the Bangsamoro Youth Commission. Bangsamoro Education Code Bangsamoro Administrative Code Bangsamoro Civil Service Code
Marawi Compensation Board On January 30, 2023, Dandamun-Latiph took oath as the first chairperson of the Marawi Compensation Board (MCB) after her appointment by President Bongbong Marcos. The body established by law under R.A. 11696 also known as "Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act of 2022" is tasked to facilitate the reparations of people affected by the Marawi siege of 2017. She openly engaged with Marawi IDPs and residents that are skeptical of the government due to delayed efforts to reconstruct houses destroyed by the battle in Marawi.
Under her leadership the MCB paid the amount of Php 1,443,712,772.10 to 848 claimants out of the approximately Php 2,393,189,880.87 approved for over 1,391 claimants. The MCB targets to process the claims of 14,495 individuals by 2028 when the board will be dissolved. She left the role on March 24, 2025, with Moslemen Macarambon Sr. succeeding her.
Court of Appeals On November 29, 2024, Dandamun-Latiph was also shortlisted by the Judicial and Bar Council for an appointment as an associate justice of the Court of Appeals.
Association of Former Members of Parliament-BTA BARMM On August 17, 2026, Dandamun-Latiph was elected as founding president of the Association of Former Members of Parliament-Bangsamoro Transition Authority BARMM at the first General Assembly held for the election of members of the Board and Executive Committee. Created under Parliament Resolution No. 562 adopted on November 17, 2025, AFMP under the Office of the Speaker, serves as the official platform for former MPs to continue contributing to governance, community engagements and civic initiatives. Dandamun-Latiph belongs to the first cohort of BTA Members having served her tenure from March 1, 2019 to August 11, 2022. 79 former MPs laid the foundational legislations and created institutions for the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). "Latiph said the association would give former lawmakers an avenue to continue contributing to governance and community development, while sharing their experience with the next generation of Bangsamoro Leaders."
Education Maisara Dandamun-Latiph completed her Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, her Masters in Educational Leadership and School Improvement at the University of Manchester, England, UK as a Chevening scholar and belongs to the pioneering batch of Senior Executive Masters in National Security Administration at National Defense College of the Philippines and Bachelor of Laws and Juris doctor degree at San Beda University, Manila. After completing all her PhD course subjects for Doctor in Educational Administration and Development at the College of Education, University of the Philippines, Diliman she defended her dissertation topic outline entitled "Development of Educational Competencies in Fragile and Conflict affected areas.
Personal life Hailing from Lanao del Sur and Pampanga, Maisara Dandamun-Latiph grew up in a Muslim community in Metro Manila. She is a lawyer, a job she aspired to become in her childhood. Dandamun-Latiph is married to fellow lawyer Algamar Latiph with whom she has two children.
References
External links
Maisara Dandamun-Latiph's Bangsamoro Parliament Profile