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(SDN) — Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal’s Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) is revving up preparations for the May 9, 2022 national and local elections.
First, the MBHTE formed for its 2022 Election Task Force composed of teachers who will serve during the elections; second, it launched on April 25 the task force; third, it conducted an orientation program for the members of the task force.
Iqbal noted the importance of keeping one’s mind attuned to the fast approaching political exercise.
“Like any logical process flow, we need to be oriented for a role before going to the field. Or else, we may unintentionally commit an offense that can question the integrity of the May 2022 elections and obstruct Moral Governance,” the education minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Comprising the Bangsamoro autonomous region are the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi as well as 63 villages designated as Special Geographic Area (SGA) in North Cotabato province (which itself is not part of BARMM).
The MBHTE, one of the line agencies of the Bangsamoro government, conducted the orientation on April 28 (Thursday) for the teachers who will serve in the polls through the region’s MBHTE Election Task Force.
Covered in the orientation included the ministry’s preparations for the elections and the BARMM-MBHTE Election Task Force, duties and responsibilities of each of the task force’s unit/group, and operation of the task force: process flow.
Iqbal assured that the MBHTE will provide the teachers with necessary support mechanisms during this critical period.
The MBHTE 2022 Election Task Force was organized to complement the work of the teachers that will be deployed in various precincts.
Election for the first batch of elected officials of the BARMM is not included in this year’s political exercise because President Rodrigo R. Duterte approved the resetting of the regional election to May 2025.
As said above, the MBHTRE launched the task force on April 25 at the Shariff Kabungsuan Cultural Complex (SKCC), now the Bangsamoro Government Complex (BGC).
“The task force is composed of the Regional and Division Task Force which shall ensure that all MBHTE personnel, both teaching and non-teaching, shall be provided with adequate information, technical support, and legal assistance in the course of the performance of their duties as members of the Electoral Board on May 9, 2022 National and Local Elections (NLE),” the ministry said.
During the activity, participants were oriented on their (1) participation and preparations for the 2022 NLE, (2) constitutional provisions, laws, and jurisprudence on Electioneering and Political Partisan Activity, and (3) Political Neutrality and Learner’s Participation in Political Partisan Activity.
The BARMM is a new political entity (NPE) formed out of the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), which in turn is being implemented through the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), the BARMM’s Charter.
Government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels started talking peace in January 1977. An off-again, on-again peace process finally resulted after over 17 years of talks to the signing of the CAB, which many hope — including the international community — finally end the Mindanao internecine conflict — Filipinos against Filipinos engaged in a bloodbath.
Today, there is at least a relative in the Muslim Mindanao brought on by the CAB. (✓)