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- EDD K. USMAN | X (Twitter): @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 |Facebook: SDN – SciTech & Digital News
COTABATO CITY (SDN) — Close to 5,000 young school athletes march to the beat of deafening drums on Sunday as the annual BARMMAA Meet 2025 opened on Sunday, February 23, with the colorful Parade of Athletes.
School officials and technical sports officials from the 10 divisions of schools accompanied their athletes in the parade that started at around 2:30 p.m., the hot sizzling sun at 35 degrees Centigrade as shown in a Huawei GT smartwatch heating the skin.
“BARMMAA” stands for Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Athletics Association, with regional sporting competition being held annually.
Young elementary and high school athletes are competing in the 23 sports events covered in the meet, with the champions representing the Bangsamoro region in the forthcoming Palarong Pambansa 2025 to be staged in Ilocos Norte in Luzon.
Winners in the 23 sports events entered in the meet will represent the Bangsamoro region to the national games called Palarong Pambansa 2025 to be staged in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, Northern Luzon.
The sports competition covers Archery, Arnis, Athletics, Badminton, Baseball, Boxing, Chess, Basketball, Billiards, Football, Futsal, Para-Games, Pencak Silat, Sepak Takraw, Softball, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Volleyball, Wrestling, and Wushu.
As early as before 1 p.m., the delegations from the BARMM’s 10 divisions of schools (minus Sulu, the 11th), begun assembling at the City Plaza here in the downtown, milling about, beating the drums, practicing their parade routines, dancing, their batons twirling, and the sounds and spectacle of uniformed young athletes providing entertainment to city residents as hawkers and food stalls make hay in their business.
At around 2:30 p.m. the athletes assembled at and around the City Plaza started forming a line proceeding to the street to kick off the parade.
They marched on measured steps, the beating sound of ear-splitting drums and the cacophony of other musical instruments filling the air as observers gawked at the young athletes.
Along the busy Sinsuat Avenue which was close to traffic from downtown to the Cotabato State University (CSU), the parade proceeded to the CSU Field where officials of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE), led by Education Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal, with other education officials as well city officials and some local government executives awaited.
The opening program at the CSU Field stretched to the evening as the 10 participating divisions of schools of the Bangsamoro region each showcased their talents in the “Saludo” (Salute) Competition with cash prizes awaiting the winners
Front lines of the parade reached the CSU Field less than 30 minutes later, but the whole delegations’ entrance at the CSU Field taking at least an hour and a half. The proceedings concluded at around 9 p.m.
Iqbal, also a Minister of Parliament (MP) of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), started his Opening Remarks with a mention of Sulu, citing the Supreme Court’s cutting off of the province’s umbilical cord from the Bangsamoro family on September 9, 2024.
“I am so happy that we are see each other today (because of BARMMAA Meet 2025). That’s how we value this competition. But for me, of course, I’m so happy that we see each other today, with all the colorful delegations. And as for me. I believe that all of us, all of you want to win. So, that’s one of the important aims of this competition, we all want to win,” the education chief of the BARMM emphasizes.
“So, I am so happy we see each other, all of us are very happy, especially the division superintendents. I really see in their faces. But while I am so happy, while we are so happy, but I am sad.”
Remember that Sulu was part of the Bangsamoro region during the 20 years of the now defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), abolished in January 2019 by the 2018 Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).
The province’s being part of the core territory of the Bangsamoro region continued with the BARMM until the fateful ruling of the Supreme Court penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, a former chief negotiator of the Philippine Government in the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Leonen’s ponente shocked the leadership of the BARMM and they have clamored for Sulu’s return, emphasizing the Tausug people’s fundamental and key role in the struggle for the Muslim people’s right to self-determination.
Over 4700 athletes, MBHTE and school officials offer silent prayers for slain Dr. Sonatria Gaspar during BARMMAA Meet 2025 Opening Ceremonies
But their clamor may not happen, at least in the foreseeable future. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia said at hearing in the Senate in early February that plebiscite on Sulu cannot be held this year.
“Why am I sad today? Kasi hindi ko ho nakita ‘yon delegation ng Sulu. Hindi kasama ngayon ang delegation ng Sulu. Malaking bagay po na hindi natin sila nakikita dito. Dapat po kasama sila dito sa delegations ng BARMMAA 2025, and the reason I will tell you later,” Iqbal says.
(Translation: It is because I don’t see the delegation of Sulu. The Sulu delegation is not one of us. It is a big thing that we are not seeing them here. They should be present in the delegations of BARMMAA 2025.)
The MBHTE chief said he is “sadder because of what happened to our assistant division superintendent who was killed, slain,” as he virtually opened his heart on Sulu’s exclusion from BARMM and the fatal attack on the MBHTE school official.
Recall that a lone gunman shot Dr. Sonatria Gaspar, the assistant schools division superintendent of Sulu on February 7 outside the compound of the Department of Education (DepEd) office in Barangay San Raymundo, Jolo, Sulu, killed instantly with multiple hits on her head.
Iqbal said the BARMM government will do everything it can muster through legal means to identify and get the suspect, adding the provincial government of Sulu should its part in this regard.
He said he heard the provincial government had already invited the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to determine the killer’s identity let justice take its course.
As the Islamic month of fasting nears and it’s just a few days away, MBHTE 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 the MBHTE started the competition on Saturday, February 22, to make sure the participants from outside the city will be able to return home before the advent of Ramadan.
Amino said the events that were played before the formal opening of the BARMMAA Meet 2025 are Basketball, Volleyball, Baseball, Softball, Taekwondo, Badminton, Tennis, Arnis, and Billiards. He added the rest of the games will be played after the Opening Program until the last day of the athletics meet.
“We started the games this morning to cope with the days of the games, giving time for our delegates coming from the BARMM’s island provinces (Basilan and Tawi-Tawi) to travel home before the start of Ramadan,” he said.
Iqbal said while winning is important, sportsmanship and other values like discipline, honesty, friendliness, and law-abiding are also overriding factors to consider in any competitions. (♡)