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COTABATO CITY — The Php30 billion budget of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) headed by Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal has sailed through the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Parliament.
MBHTE is one of the primary ministries of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The Bangsamoro region, established in 2018 by the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), 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 Special Geographic Area’s (SGA) 63 barangays or villages that voted “Yes” in a plebiscite in February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction.
According to the Philippine Atlas BARMM has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities: Basilan, 11 municipalities; Lanao del Sur, 39; undivided 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.
Since he assumed the education post of the Bangsamoro government, Iqbal has been putting in place reform measures to raise the quality of education of the region through, among them, construction of new school buildings to add more much-needed classrooms, hiring of teaching and non-teaching personnel, providing IT equipment, school supplies, Teachers’ Kit, Learners’ Kit, armchairs, etc.
In relation with this, the Parliament’s Committee on Finance, Budget, and Management, led by Member of Parliament (MP) Architect Eduard U. Guerra, approved on November 27 the MBHTE 2024 budget amounting to Php30,231,210,027.00, during the Mother Committee Deliberation.
As stated in the Bangsamoro Expenditure Program (BEP), there’s an increase or additional funding for the technical-vocational education and training (TVET) programs of the Ministry. Meanwhile, research for the Tribal University will be subject for separate deliberation and approval of the committee.
Sub-Committee C, headed by MP Atty. Jose P. Lorena, presented and sponsored the budget. Iqbal supported him.
“We are here to defend and explain our budget, which focuses on school facilities, learners’ and teachers’ kits, school feeding programs, trainings, and other initiatives for the advancement of quality education and service in the Bangsamoro region,” said Iqbal.
During the session, the MBHTE underscored its role in shaping education policies and programs in the Bangsamoro region. The budget aimed to fund Personnel Services, Learning Services, including Madaris Education Services, infrastructure projects, scholarship programs, and several programs to enhance and strengthen the implementation of education-related initiatives. (✓)