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COTABATO CITY — Who among the competing athletes across the 11 divisions of schools of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will represent the region in the Palarong Pambansa 2025 in Laoag, Ilocos Norte?
Surely, the answer to this vital question should be known at the conclusion of the 4th BARMM Athletics Association (BARMMAA) Meet 2025, a week-long event featuring the region’s elementary pupils and high school students here, the Bangsamoro capital.
As this developed, under the leadership of Education Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal, the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) started on Thursday, February 20, the two-day refresher course for the 497 technical officials who will serve in the regional sporting competition.
Iqbal has earlier the importance of the athletics meet, saying: “The values of sportsmanship are very important and, in the whole, it is more desirable than winning in any game.”
Held at Tamontaka Central Elementary School (TCES), the training aimed to equip technical officials with updated policies and guidelines in their respective field of sport, improve the participants knowledge and skills in officiating while upholding the highest value of fairness, safety and professionalism.
The refresher course covered key topics such as the Jury of Appeals, due process in dispute resolution, Child Protection Policy for athlete safety, and injury prevention in sports, ensuring a succesful and well-organized regional meet.
These technical officials will officiate 23 sports events of the BARMMAA which will kick-off on Sunday, February 23.
Bangsamoro Sports Czar Dr. Yusoph “Thong” Amino, director of the Bureau of Physical Education and Sports Development (MBHTE-BPESD), told SDN – SciTech & Digital News in a text message that around 4,775 athletes from the region are expected to compete in various event categories.
The sports competition includes 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.
On February 19, around 539 delegates from the Schools Division of Marawi City have arrived in the city for the meet.
Last year they made an impact by winning Gold Medal in the Tennis (Elementary category, boys singles) and represented BARMM at the Palarong Pambansa and won the Silver Medal against all regions of the country.
BARMMAA Meet is an annual event that brings together athletes from the 11 schools divisions across the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, uniting the region’s best sports youth talents to compete in a variety of sports disciplines.
This year’s theme, “Championing Peace and Unity through Bangsamoro Sports,” sets the stage for the fourth edition of the BARMMAA which will be once again hosted by the Cotabato City Schools Division in collaboration with Cotabato City Local Government Unit.
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. (✓)