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COTABATO CITY — While accepting the process of auditing some transactions of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE), Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal, nevertheless, has expressed “disbelief” at its timing on an election period.
In a statement the Bangsamoro region’s education chief posted on social media, he was said to have reviewed the timing of the ongoing Commission on Audit (COA) Special Audit in his office, in conjunction with the upcoming elections.
He pointed out at the explanation of some lawyers who don’t usually file audits during elections has become clear.
“If the lawyers are right and I believe they are right, why is there an election audit now? “Iqbal’s points out, expressing disbelief.
The official added that contrary to the normal process where the audit starts at the bottom before going up, the current process is “top to bottom” which he is not normal.
However, Iqbal ensured that his office was ready to cooperate and submit all necessary documents. “The ball is gone with us. We have given it our all. Let’s just wait for the outcome. I still respect the process of the government,” Iqbal said.
While he admitted the situation was causing some employees nervousness, Iqbal insisted they would remain prepared: “Whether it’s an audit, whether it’s taken to court, we’ll deal with it.”
Earlier, he also took note of the ₱1.7 billion fund transactions of his agency as COA performs the audit.
Not hiding anything
Iqbal, who wears many hats in the Bangsamoro peace process, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) vice chairman for Committee on Information, peace panel chief negotiator, chairman of the Peace Implementing Panel (PIP), and others, welcomed COA’s probe.
“We are not hiding anything here, everything is documented,” he assures in Filipino when interviewed by a Central Mindanao based news correspondent. “So, I repeat and reiterate that we welcome the investigation so that the whole truth and nothing but the truth will come out.”
BARMM’s education minister recalled that even before COA’s probe there were posts on social media making allegations about the over Php1.7 billion transactions. There was no signature or name of the complainant, he added.
He said whether the allegations are “legitimate concern for good governance or ‘paninira lang’ (just defamation), I am not in a position to determine which of the two possibilities is the real one.”
But though the allegations did not bear the name of any complainant, Iqbal says “that’s beside the point. As far as we are concerned, we welcome the investigation, so that at least, once and for all we will know the truth.”
The MBHTE is one of the 15 primary ministries of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) which was established in January 2019 through the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to implement the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB). On March 27, 2014, the Philippine Government (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed the CAB, ending the Moro people’s decades of struggle for self-determination and bringing much-sought peace and stability in Southern Philippines, particularly Central Mindanao.
Established in 2018 by the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), the Bangsamoro region, e 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. (✓)