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COTABATO CITY — The Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education recently conducted a series of groundbreaking ceremonies, marking a total investment of Php75,894,290.24 for the construction of school buildings and a training center across the schools divisions of Maguindanao del Sur, Special Geographic Area (SGA), Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi.
Covered by the funds are a 2-storey with 10-classroom school building, two 2-storey with 4-classroom school buildings, and a training center.
Headed by Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal, the MBHTE is one of the 15 primary ministries of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Among the projects funded under the 2023 Quick Response Fund (QRF) is a two-storey, 10-classroom school building at the Tawi-Tawi School of Fisheries (TSF) in Poblacion, Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, with an allocated budget of Php26,139,459.85. Additionally, a 2-storey, four-classroom building, amounting to Php9,915,519.56, will be constructed at Binasing Elementary School (BES) in Pigcawayan, North Cotabato.
In support of Islamic education, A 2-storey with 4-classroom Public Madrasah school building to be subsidized under 2021 Special Development Fund (SDF) amounting to Php7,500,000 will be constructed at Brgy. Kayaga, Pandag, Maguindanao Del Sur.
To be subsidized under 2022 SDF, a provincial training center amounting to Php32,339,310.83 will be constructed at Brgy. Timbangan, Indanan, Sulu. This center will offer various vocational training programs aimed at improving the skills and employability of its trainees.
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. (✓)