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COTABATO CITY, July 15, 2025 (SDN) — Bangsamoro Member of the Parliament (MP) Mohagher M. Iqbal remains as the head and minister of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE).
Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Chief Minister Abdulraof A. Macacua, as it develops, has officially “declined” Iqbal’s courtesy resignation dated June 30, 2025.
So far, the retained MBHTE head is only the seventh minister whose resignations the Chief Minister, secretary general of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), did not accept as their service is needed in their respective ministries.
The BARMM, still on its transition phase leading to the regular Bangsamoro government, has 15 primary ministries and several agencies and offices.
MP Bailing S.U. Mantawil posted on Tuesday on her social media page a screenshot of the Chief Minister’s communication to Iqbal, chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Peace Implementing Panel (MPIP).
Macacua, chief of staff of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (MILF-BIAF), declined the resignation of Iqbal, UBJP vice president for Central Mindanao, in a letter dated July 14.
“In reply to your letter dated 30 June 2025 tendering your courtesy resignation from the position of MINISTER in the MINISTRY OF BASIC, HIGHER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION please be informed that after careful review and evaluation, the same is hereby declined.
“As such, you are hereby advised to continue to report for work and perform your usual duties and responsibilities as Minister,” Macacua emphasizes in the letter to Iqbal.
Recall that the Chief Minister issued a Memorandum Circular on June 23, 2025, asking all Bangsamoro ministers, deputy ministers, and heads of offices and agencies to tender their courtesy resignations.
On the other hand, despite his memorandum, Macacua ensured that all government services were not disrupted, telling those concerned to “continue to report for work and perform only their routinary functions not involving discretion until any action on the courtesy resignations are taken.”
Earlier, the Office of the Chief Minister (OCM) released the first batch of six ministers whose resignations were declined.
The six are Ministers Akmad Brahim, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR); Ubaida Pacasem, Ministry of Finance, Budget and Management (MFBM); Minister Kadil Sinolinding, Ministry of Health (MOH): Minister Muslimen Sema, Ministry of Labor and Employment (MOLE); Minister Raissa Jajurie, Ministry of Social Work and Development (MSSD); and Acting Minister Jehan Usop, Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).
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, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the Special Geographic Area’s (SGA) 63 barangays or villages — now eight new municipalities — 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. (✓)