‘We can only hope that COA digs deep into this anomaly and ferrets out the truth. After that, heads must roll.’
WITH the guns silenced after the formal establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in 2019, hopes soared that peace and development would finally reign there.
But those hopes have been shattered with the filing of two complaints against Minister Mohagher Iqbal of the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education (MBHTE) of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) for alleged anomalous disbursements totaling P2.2 billion.
Commission on Audit Chair Gamaliel Cordoba has notified BARMM Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua that formal complaints have been submitted to the Commission regarding the controversial fund releases, naming Iqbal as the respondent.
The first complaint alleged that the MBHTE allegedly released ₱1.77 billion in a single day, on March 7, 2025, for “Learners’ and Teachers’ Kits.” Checks were reportedly issued to individual personnel, including the cashier, without proper oversight.
The second complaint alleged that ₱449 million was reportedly handed to a single supplier under suspicious circumstances.
Add them up, and you have ₱2.2 billion in anomalous disbursements. The question is: Where did the money for “learning” really go?
That money should have been used to build classrooms, train teachers, and lift literacy levels in a region that has historically been neglected.
It is disheartening that despite the MBHTE receiving the largest share of BARMM’s budget, amounting to over ₱36 billion or about one-third of the regional government’s total allocation, education outcomes in the past six years have remained poor.
BARMM still has the highest illiteracy rate in the country.
Billions of pesos have flowed, yet classrooms remain overcrowded, teachers still lack support, and students still face an uncertain future.
We can only hope that COA digs deep into this anomaly and ferrets out the truth. After that, heads must roll.
