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COTABATO CITY — “I am respectfully submitting my opposition to BTA Parliament Bill No. 47, which seeks to reorganize the MBHTE by splitting it into four separate agencies. My opposition is not personal but is rooted in the very legal framework that binds us.”

With this statement, Bangsamoro Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal is standing up for what could be his immovable stance on the plans to divide the MBHTE into the Ministry of Basic Education (MOBE); the Bangsamoro Commission on Higher Education and Development (B-CHED); the Bangsamoro Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (B-TESDA); and the Ministry of Madaris Education (MME).

Needless to say, splitting the MBHTE may entail, if accomplished, a gauntlet of challenges and issues such as logistics, division of personnel or hiring new ones, building of new structures, and many others.

But Iqbal, who also sits as member of the Parliament (MP) of the BTA (Bangsamoro Transition Authority), has stronger stance on the issue on BTA Bill No. 47, citing possible transgression of the Charter — Republic Act (RA) No. 11054 — of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and Bangsamoro Autonomy Act (BAA) No. 18, the education code.

“Firstly, the splitting of MBHTE risks violating the spirit and letter of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) and the Bangsamoro Education Code,” he emphasizes. The MBHTE head is a pivotal figure and wears many hats in the Mindanao peace process, as Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chief negotiator, chairman of the MILF Peace Implementing Panel (PIP), erstwhile chairman of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), among others.

He referred to the two laws — first, a national law and the second a regional law — as “landmark” on which the Bangsamoro Government is anchored and mandated on the establishment, maintenance, and providing support for “complete and integrated system of quality education that is a subsystem of the national education system.”

“This conception stands in direct harmony with the idea of a unified education ministry, where learning is governed as one continuum rather than fragmented domains.”

— Education Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal

The MBHTE minister emphasized the term “integrated” in reference to the setup of the regional education agency.

In the “Call for Unity” statement he issued, Iqbal said the BOL clothed the regional government with authority over education even as it allowed it to come up with institutions that addresses regional realities.

Establishing the MBHTE, he added, as a single ministry covering basic, higher, and technical education reflects a deliberate policy choice that was aimed to ensure the continuity of education across all levels; the vertical alignment from basic to tertiary education; and the efficient coordination with national agencies such as the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

He also cited the absence of any “constitutional or statutory compulsion” in the BOL that requires splitting higher education governance into a separate commission. “On the contrary, the integrated structure under MBHTE is consistent with the BOL’s objective of institutional stability during the transition period,” the Bangsamoro education chief asserted.

The current critical period, he noted, calls for a deep reflection on the history of the Bangsamoro coupled with an unflinching commitment to preserve the “vision of our collective struggle.”

Decades of conflict, marginalization, and neglect, Iqbal pointed out, had visited the Bangsamoro people and their educational system rendered fragmented, underfunded, and irrelevant to their unique culture, history, and aspiration.

“Our children were denied the fundamental right to quality education that respects their identity. The historical neglect of the Moro people’s education is a story of a people fighting for recognition, a struggle culminating in the very establishment of this autonomous government,” the MBHTE head stressed.

“We fought for a government that is responsive, integrated, and holistic. We fought for an educational system that heals the wounds of the past and builds a future rooted in the principles of justice and peace. That vision is enshrined in the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) and the Bangsamoro Education Code.”

Iqbal provided three more reasons for not agreeing with Parliament Bill No. 47, such as:

• Secondly, the MBHTE’s unitary structure is in (compliance) with the only one philosophy of education vital for the educational system to be responsive to the needs, ideals, and aspiration of the Bangsamoro People.
• Thirdly, and crucially, the unified MBHTE has powerfully strengthened Islamic Education through the Madaris system, a feat that a separate office would find difficult to replicate.
• Fourthly, Basic Education and Madaris are inseparable, and this integration must extend into Higher Education.

Iqbal also cited, among others, that “Islam does not recognize an artificial divide between stages of learning” on which knowledge is seen as “a single, unfolding process, beginning from the most basic acquisition of literacy and culminating in wisdom, ethical responsibility, and service to society.”

He added, “This conception stands in direct harmony with the idea of a unified education ministry, where learning is governed as one continuum rather than fragmented domains” and is “grounded in the Qur’an itself” through the first revelation to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him.

“Read in the name of your Lord who created.
Created man from a clot.
Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous.
Who taught by the pen.
Taught man what he did not know.”
(Qur’an Surah Al-Alaq 96:1-5)

The BARMM education minister, thus, doubled down on his opposition to any attempt to fragment the Bangsamoro education agency, the MBHTE, urging his fellow regional lawmakers to “uphold the principle of an integrated and unified Bangsamoro education system as mandated by our Organic Law and the will of our people.” — EDD K. Usman (©)

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The author

EDD, a native of Sub-Saharan Africa Buluan/Datu Piang, Maguindanao del Sur, BARMM, college at UST, is a Manila-based journalist for over 40 years (33 years with Manila Bulletin), has five Media Awards (1 with University of the Philippines (UP) 2017 Science Journalism Award), covered and traveled over 40 times abroad), has contributed to Rappler, Business Mirror, Manila Business Insights, Panorama Magazine, Agriculture Magazine, and others, former Manila-based Foreign Correspondent of Saudi Arabia newspapers Saudi Gazette and Riyadh Daily, and The Peninsula (Qatar newspaper), with 2008 East-West Center (EWC) Journalism Seminar in the United States, 2000 Executive IT Seminar in Seoul, South Korea, with three Silver Awards in Photography, writes Muslim and Current Affairs, Enterprise, Science, Tech, Products Launch, and virtually everything under Heaven. (©)