ARMM Teachers' welfare campaign launched

February 9, 2010

COTABATO CITY – The new administration of the Department of Education (DepEd) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has kicked off a campaign against unauthorized deductions or contributions from the pay checks of teachers in the region, starting with Lanao del Sur where the illegal scheme was reported rampant.

On his 6th day in office and upon order of regional governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong, newly installed DepEd-ARMM Secretary Hamid Barra personally distributed the January pay checks to more than 10,000 teachers from the five (5) divisions of Lanao del Sur province on February 6, 2010 at the Provincial Capitol Gym in Marawi City.

Barra said he was personally directed by the regional governor to “make sure that no teacher will go home without his paycheck.”

The inter-personal distribution of checks in Lanao del Sur was first of its kind designed to minimize if not eliminate cases of illegal “contributions” allegedly exacted by local education officials from as much as P1,700 each teacher per month.

Barra said the Adiong leadership is seriously committed to give what is due to teachers. “We mean business this time,” he stressed.

He said the January pay checks of teachers in Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi were distributed on time through the “usual process” at the division levels.

DepEd-ARMM has more than 22,000 personnel across the region, about 90 percent of which are teachers.

In an interview, Barra stressed that he accepted his appointment in the DepEd on condition he could introduce drastic reforms in the department, something Adiong approved.

“He (Adiong) also wants reforms in DepEd-ARMM. We have the same concern,” Barra said.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno installed Adiong as acting governor last Dec. 11 following the detention of Regional Governor Zaldy Ampatuan in connection with the Nov. 23 massacre in Maguindanao, and on the heel of reports that teacher-applicants were exacted P100,000 to P150,000 each to get appointed.

Barra said his agency will soon establish a hot line where in teachers and stakeholders could convey their concerns and suggestions thru text messages or call.

Barra is determined to implement reforms based on his four (4) core values – knowledge, faith, virtue and practice.

The department is conducting Comprehensive Evaluation and Assessment before reforms will take place and this comes in three phases.

Surprise visits will be conducted to inspect physical facilities of schools in the region and to conduct meetings with school heads to listen to their reports and issues and concerns.

Barra assures that the issues and concerns submitted to his office will be looked into. Teachers from all over the region submitted issues like the unremitted GSIS contributions and arrears, delayed approval of appointments and reclassification and the unpaid salaries of some teachers.

“We will gradually deal with all these issues and concerns. We will look for strategies to solve these concerns of our teachers in the region,” Barra said.

A compliance and management audit will be conducted to assess the extent if teachers are in conformity with the standing rules and regulation of the department and the finance and personnel of the school or office will also be verified.

Barra also warned fixers in the department that they will be sanctioned if proven that they are involved in the “selling of appointments”.

“There will be no sale of items. Those who passed the examination, give them what they deserved. Items are not for sale,” Barra stressed.

He called on the more than 20,000 teachers all over the region to do their job and be committed to the profession. “We are here to work as a team, to work for the future of our children. This is for their education,” Barra stressed. (johenry/bpi-armm)

Women empowerment.

Hadja Pombaen Kader, social welfare regional assistant secretary in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, assures members of the Badak Women Association of her agency's assistance during the two-day women assembly recently at Barangay Badak, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao. The Badak Women Association is groomed to become a model community women group in the ARMM. (bpi-armm)

08 February 2010


DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao – One hundred women benefited from a two-day women’s assembly organized by the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DSWD-ARMM) to make them accessible to government services and projects.


These beneficiaries belong to the Badak Women Association composed Moro and Tiruray women from different sitios of Barangay Badak.


According to DSWD-ARMM assistant secretary Pombaen Kader, the assembly enables these women craft plans and programs strengthen their association with the assistance of ARMM agencies such as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF), and the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA).


With the support of DSWD-ARMM, the Badak Women Association has been recipient of the Learning Livelihood and Food Sufficiency (LLFS) program of the ARMM Social Fund Projects through its Community Development Assistance (CDA), which promotes local women empowerment, said Kader, who is concurrent acting DSWD-ARMM secretary.


The LLFS program trains participants on livelihood and income-generating activities, and also undertakes functional literacy training that requires 150-hour classroom sessions under the non-formal education by the Department of Education (DepEd).


The training provides women and mothers especially from the far-flung areas basic ability to read and write as well as mathematics. It also affords them technical, financial and material support for the household food sufficiency which is designed to address the nutritional needs of their families.


Ms. Jennylyn Yap of the DSWD-ARMM said that their office is now planning to make Badak Women Association as model women group in the entire region for them to continuously avail of the services of the women’s welfare program of the DSWD-ARMM.


About 270 communities are being targeted for the Learning Livelihood and Food Sufficiency as part of its sustainability program under the CDA component of the ARMM Social Fund Project. (bpi-armm)

One scholar, one town program. A Maranao students from one ofr higher educational institution in Lanao del Sur (right) receives from ARMM acting Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong her certificate of scholarship as CHED-ARMM Chair Norma Sharief (second from left) and her two subordinate officials look on at the opening of the first regional solidarity games, academic and cultural events competitions in Marawi City on Wednesday. (Ali G. Macabalang)

Adiong opens ARMM’s inter-collegiate competitions One town, one scholar program launched

February 4, 2010


MARAWI CITY – The Commission on Higher Education of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (CHED-ARMM) opened here on Wednesday its first regional solidarity games, academic and cultural events competitions covering initially 20 of the region’s higher educational institutions (HEIs) due to operational kinks.

Acting ARMM Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Alonto graced the opening rites of the four-day affairs, which was held in conjunction with the awarding of scholarship grant for each of the 117 towns in the region.

In addition to the regular one scholar, one town program slots, CHED-ARMM Chair Norma Sharief commended the 20 participating HEIs from Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur including Marawi City by awarding them one scholarship slot each.

In his extemporaneous speech in vernacular, Adiong Adiong urged the participating students to harness their sports and academic prowess to be able to achieve brighter prospects.

Adiong cited the current emergence of Filipino sportsmen Like Manny Pacquiao in the global scene should stimulate the in-school youth to strive hard.

“Your successes in sports and academic endeavours would mean the success of our region at least,” Adiong said.

The four-day affair here covered sports games, cultural and academic events.

The games category covered badminton, chess, table teniis, karatedo, lawn tennis, swimming, taekwondo for individuals, and basket, baseball, football, softball, sepak takraw and volleyball for teams.

The cultural category includes awit saya, tipa at tugtugan (solo instrument), lihawit (song-writing), ginoo at binibining Pamantasan (pageant) for individuals; awit-saya for duet, sayawitan (sing and dance choir) sayaw Pinoy (Filipino creative folk-ethnic dance) for groups.

Winners in this regional competition will represent the ARMM to the national level, which will be held in Pasig , Metro Manila on February 23-29 with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as officiating guest of honor, Sharief said.

The academic category covers impromptu speech, oration, poetry interpretation, story-telling, science quiz, math quiz and computer quiz for individuals, and debate for groups.

Sharief said the CHED-ARMM was one week late in holding the four-day affair due to the delay in the release of funding support from Manila spawned by operational kinks in her agency’s recent leadership turnovers.

As a result of the regional operation’s hitches, HEIs in the island provinces of Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi did not make it to send delegates to the competitions here, said Sharief, who hoped for a wider participation in the second phase of the activity next year. (Ali G. Macabalang)

Maguindanao governorship still vacant – ARMM officials

February 2, 2010


(Ref.: Ali G. Macabalang, BPI-ARMM)

COTABATO CITY – Officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) yesterday doused cold water on the debates over reports that acting OIC-Governor Nariman Ambolodto of Maguindanao might be replaced by a new appointee in the provincial leadership.

The issue at hand is not a matter of replacing Amboldto but to fill up a vacancy in the office of the Maguindanao governor, which is still vacant, ARMM officials clarified yesterday.

Civil society representatives had aired dismay after Local Government Undersecretary Marius Corpus announced in Metro Manila on Jan. 28 that the ARMM leadership has created a search committee for at least 27 aspirants to the vacant position for Maguindanao governor.

Corpus purportedly described the search “as part of overall efforts by the government to normalize operations in the said province” following the fateful massacre of 57 people including at least 31 journalists that resulted to the imposition of a short-lived martial law and the suspension cum detention of some officials including Maguindanao top leaders.

A day after the national government installed him into office last Dec. 14 as acting regional governor, Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong had appointed Engr. Nasser Sinarimbo and Amboldto, an incumbent board member, as OIC- governor and OIC-vice governor, respectively to fill the top Maguindanao leadership vacancies.

But Engr. Sinarimbo refused to assume office to pursue his career service in the ARMM bureaucracy, prompting Local Governments Secretary Ronaldo Puno to install Ambolodto as OIC-vice governor on concurrent capacity as acting OIC-governor on Dec. 15.

Civil society groups including women’s sector and Church-backed NGOs have since shown satisfaction with the Ambolodto transitional governance.

But some interested resident leaders of Maguindanao have invoked to higher authorities and legal luminaries that the position of OIC-governor in Maguindanao is still vacant.

Hence, at least 27 of them have aspired for the slot, prompting acting ARMM Governor Adiong to create the search committee chaired by regional DILG Secretary Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman Jr. to screen them.

“Everyone is encouraged to apply or submit application (for the position),” said Adiong, who anchors his administration on the operating principles of transparent, consultative and moral governance.

ARMM Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo, a lawyer, said Ambolodto “may apply and be considered” in the screening process.

The issue at hand is not a matter of replacing Amboldto but to fill up a vacancy in the office of the Maguindanao governor, Sinarimbo said. (AGM/bpi-ARMM)

AusAID likely to extend education program in ARMM with US$33-M fund

February 1, 2010

COTABATO CITY – The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) is likely to extend up to ten years its bankrolled Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM), this time focusing only to the depressed communities of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with a total fund of US$33-million.

This was announced Monday by ARMM Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo during the oath-taking rites here of lawyer Hamid Barra, who was earlier appointed by acting Regional Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong as regional secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd).

“He (Barra) will be playing a main role in the extended BEAM projects,” Sinarimbo told reporters covering the oath-taking ceremony he administered.

Adiong and Mitra enthusiastically discussed the extension of BEAM program in ARMM alone in five to ten years after they signed last January 27 at the Australian Embassy in Manila a memorandum of agreement providing for a US$5-million AusAID fund for the first year of the extended deal, Sinarimbo earlier said in a live radio interview here.

“The additional good news is that they (Adiong and Mitra) agreed in principle on a new system through which the program will be extended from five to ten years…with a total funding package of US$33-million for the ARMM alone,” he said in Pilipino.

Sinarimbo said the extended BEAM program seeks to intensify the AusAID intervention in addressing the sad statistics in ARMM on high dropouts, elementary undergraduates, classrooms shortage, and inappropriate teachers’ instructional skills.

He said the proposed education program extension covers only the elementary level. For high schools that are equally needing improvements, the ARMM government will have to conduct study and present proposals to prospect sponsors, he added. (bpi-armm)