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- EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN — SciTech & Digital News
COTABATO CITY (SDN) — It’s the time of the year when all roads lead to the Cotabato State University (CSU), along Sinsuat Avenue in the Bangsamoro capital.
For what? It’s the second iteration of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Athletics Association (BARMMAA) since 2020 when it was first held, with thousands of primary and secondary student athletes competing with or against each other.
The MBHTE suspended the BARMMAA in 2021 and 2022 as the lethal coronavirus pandemic that started in Wuhan City, China, slashed through the world, killing millions of people, including in the Philippines.
Delegations for the third regional sporting competition are now in town, coming from and representing 11 school divisions in Basilan, Lamita City, Lanao del Sur I, Lanao del Sur II, Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, City of Marawi, Special Geographic Area (SGA), Sulu, Tawi-Tawi.
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. With the recent plebiscite at SGA, the BARMM now has eight new municipalities as residents voted “Yes”.
According to the Philippine Atlas BARMM has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities (plus eight newly established under the SGA: 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.
School officials, BARMMAA competition officials, and their athletes are now in town, billeted, or staying, in the city’s various schools.
PNP, Marines, Coast Guard to provide security for over 7,000 participants
The Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) headed by Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal, who wears many hats in the Mindanao peace process, organized the five-day inter-school regional sporting competition, involving 23 sports events.
On May 8 to 10, officiating school officials underwent a three-day Refresher Course Training (RCT) at Lugay-Lugay Central Elementary School (LLCES).
With the training, the MBHTE said, was aimed at enhancing “their officiating abilities, update them on new policies and guidelines in their respective sports, and reinforce values like fairness, safety, and professionalism.”
On May 7, t, all the coaches and athletes involved, the MBHTE pointed out, passed through screening evaluation conducted at the Cotabato City Central Pilot Schools (CCCPS).
In an interview with BARMMAA Meet 2024 Sports Czar Dr. Yusoph Thong Amino, director of the Bureau of Physical Education and Sports Development (MBHTE-BPESD), told SDN – SciTech & Digital News that all systems are go for the BARMMAA 2024 that will kick off with a rousing parade of colors of the over 7,000 athletes and school and competition officials.
He said student-athletes are roughly 4,000 while the school officials and sporting events coaches, assistant coaches, and referees are more or less 3,000.
Amino said: “The activity tomorrow is OK, the preparation of the program is already prepared. Hopefully, everything will be fine ‘in sha Allah’ (God-willing). We can conduct the BARMMAA 2024 with all the security (preparations in place).”
The MBHTE sports education official, who also led BARMMAA 2023 with around the same number of participants, more or less, called on the student athletes to showcase their skills, without forgetting sportsmanship, fairness, and friendliness.
Amino said during a meeting over the week, the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Marines, and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) contingents in the Bangsamoro region have all committed and assured security for the BARMMAA delegations.
The BARMM leadership, particularly the MBHTE, thanked the security establishments for being partners for peace, security, and development.
He further encouraged the student athletes to do their utmost, show the preparations they had through the year after BARMMAA 2023 as champions in this year’s competition will represent the Bangsamoro region in the Palarong Pambansa 2024.
Competition proper will start on Sunday, May 12, he said, for the following sporting events: Archery, Arnis, Athletics, Badminton, Baseball, Boxing, Chess, Basketball, Billiards, Football, Futsal, Paragames, Pencak Silat, Sepak Takraw, Softball, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Volleyball, Wrestling, and Wushu.
Amino said the defending champions in each events need to do their best to retain their crown, or new champions will emerge. (✓)