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By EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN – SciTech and Digital News
AL NOR CONVENTION CENTER, Cotabato City, 12th April 2023 (SDN) — For the over 500 new appointees and those promoted in the Bangsamoro Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) taking an oath may look just a simple ceremony.
But no. It means more than just raising one’s hand and reciting the oath.
In fact, particularly for the 544 newly hired and promoted teaching and non-teaching personnel of the MBHTE headed by Minister Mohagner M. Iqbal, it has deeper meanings.
“Its meaning and relevance are crucial to realizing Moral Governance and delivering government services to our constituents in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,” Iqbal emphasizes.
He gave this reminder at the Mass Signing of Appointments and Oath taking here on Tuesday, April 11. Some of the new appointees were applicants since 2018 in the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Iqbal, who wears many hats in the more than 40 years old Mindanao peace process, and other speakers at the event, in English and Pilipino, such as MBHTE Deputy Minister Atty. Haron Meling, MBHTE Director General for Basic Education Abdullah Salik, Jr., Ustadhz Hussain Abdul Kahar, Member of Parliament (MP) Eddie Alih, and BARMM Metro Manila Liaison Office (BMMLO) Director Gafur A. Kanain, their remarks focused on practicing Moral Governance and applying the values so cherished in the revealed Islamic Holy Book, the Noble Qur’an, on enjoining good and shunning evil.
Kahar started off, speaking in Pilipino. “True Muslims do not lie. True Muslims do not steal. Among true Muslims there is no corruption,” he asserts, addressing the new appointees who joined the MBHTE family.
Iqbal, chair of the MILF Peace Implementing Panel, laid down the description of the Bangsamoro government’s “Moral Governance”, which BARMM Chief Minister Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim since day of the MILF governance has enunciated and repeated many times.
MBHTE Director General for Basic Education Abdullah Salik, Jr. (with head gear), Minister of Parliament Eddie Alih (at podium), and BARMM Metro Manila Liaison Office Director Gafur A. Kanain (in black jacket). (Photos: SDN — SciTech and Digital News and MBHTE for MP Alih)
Moral Governance is enshrined in the BARMM Employee Handbook. It is “the set of rules, practices, and processes that are completely devoid of all evil and corruption, explicitly driven by moral principles of dedication, devotion, honesty, justice, and integrity,” the eduation minister underscores, quoting from the handbook.
“It sets a higher ethical standard for all officials in the BARMM, whether elected or appointed and the entire bureaucracy in fulfilling their responsibilities,” Iqbal says of the blueprint on Moral Governance.
On the other hand, Iqbal, also a Minister of Parliament in the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), told the new hires that taking an oath brings commitment that to fulfill the duties, responsibilities, and obligations of your office.
Photos: SDN — SciTech and Digital News
“You are pledging to perform your duties truthfully and with honor. In other words, you are morally obligated to carry out your mandate because the law requires it, and as a Bangsamoro, we must do so,” Iqbal emphasizes.
In both his extemporaneous and written speech, he urged the new members of the MBHTE family to cherish their appointments for the Bangsamoro autonomous region was “not given in a silver platter. We paid for this with tears, sweat, and blood”.
Iqbal was apparently referring to the decades of Bangsamoro struggle for self-determination in an internecine war triggered by the infamous 1968 Jabidah Massacre on Corregidor Island in Luzon’s Cavite province, and the subsequent Mindanao peace process with the with the Philippine government that started off with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in the 1976 Tripoli Agreement and 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA) and concluded with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) with the signing in 2014 of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and its implementation which is seen to continue in the years ahead.
Two of the appointees from the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area (SGA), youthful Bai Queenie M. Manampan and Farida Kamad, both for Teacher 1 positions, express elation as they signed their green and white appointment papers.
SDN — SciTech and Digital News asked them how they feel now that they realized their long-time dreams.
Manampan, of Pikit: “Overflowing happiness, answered prayers.” She said she applied at the time of ARMM, which BARMM replaced. “Now, BARMM opened the doors for our dreams. This is for our family.”
Kamad, of Kabacan: “Very happy. We applied a long time ago, since 2018. I am anxious to what school I will be sent (to teach).” She and Manampan Pikita and Kabacan are municipalities under the Province of North Cotabato, but the two live in the SGA which comprised of 63 barangays or villages under the jurisdiction of the Bangsamoro government by virtue of a plebiscite in February 2029.
“So, let us thank Allah (God in Arabic language) that we attained (this fruit of the struggle). We did not ask for payment (for your appointments). Allah is our Witness. If anyone of you paid, we will take back your appointment. Both the one who paid and the one who received are destined for Hell,” says Iqbal.
“I am telling you, we will not ask for payment (in exchange for your appointment). Let us be thankful, all of us should work together. Let us be thankful that we have this (BARMM),” says the education minister.
“You must translate moral principles in the classroom.”
Parliament Minister Alih, an educator for 36 years, also drummed up the difference between the BARMM and, apparently, its predecessor, the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) during which talks about “money-for-appointment” schemes were rife.
The Bangsamoro legislator, chair of the Committee on Education, described the twin events as “a momentous occasion as you embark on a new (journey).”
“Before, there were those who paid, but they still did not get (their appointment). (Today), you did not pay. You got your appointment because of your qualifications,” Alih stresses. “Take pride in your appointment. Let us draw on the teachings of Islam.”
Iqbal assures MBHTE commitment to fill up remaining vacant positions
He also urged the new hires to have a sense of purpose and responsibility towards their fellow human beings. “Allah will not change your condition unless you change yourelf.”
BMLO’s chief, Kanain, in his message, underscored the role that every Bangsamoro played in the attainment of the stronger autonomy through the CAB and as implemented by the 2018 Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).’
“If not for you, we will not be here. This was not given to us (freely), but through blood, sweat, and tears,” he says. “This is not an individual effort, this is a collective effort. I challenged you, the future of the Bangsamoro is in your hands,” Kanain says.
Salik, Jr., the head of the MBHTE Directorate General for Basic Education, ascribed to Iqbal the unofficial title “Father of Bangsamoro Education”.
“You are now with us,” addressing the new members of the MBHTE family, Salik, Jr. tells the new appointees. “Welcome to the family for the fulfillment of your dreams. You are the ones trusted by the Ministry through your work.”
“Let’s accept the challenge that there will be a professional in every Bangsamoro family, every Bangsamoro has the right to study, for them to become useful citizens.”
Meanwhile, Iqbal assured that MBHTE will seek to fill up every vacant position in the ministry before the six-year transition period of the Bangsamoro government concludes in 2025.
Saying he was not campaigning, Alih said it would be nice to continue the leadership of the BARMM, seeing how, particularly the MBHTE is addressing the quality education in the region.
The BARMM is made up of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the 63 barangays or villages dubbed Special Geographic Area (SGA) that voted “yes” in a plebiscite in February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction.
According to the Philippine Atlas has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities: Basilan, 11 municipalities; Lanao del Sur, 39; Maguindanao, 36; Sulu, 19; and Tawi-Tawi, 11. Its component cities are Cotabato (the regional center and capital) in Maguindanao; Lamitan in Basilan; and Marawi in Lanao del Sur. (✓)