Australian envoy visits Cotabato to support ARMM education projects

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Officials were elated with Thursday’s courtesy visit of Australian diplomat Nelson Ireland to Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in what was for them another “vote of confidence” for the present ARMM administration.

Ireland was accompanied to the Astanah, an extension office of Hataman annexed to the Office of the Regional Governor inside the 32-hectare ARMM compound in Cotabato City, by Zamboanga City-based peace activist Nung Ajihil.

Ajihil is involved in various peace programs complementing the ongoing peace overture of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Malacañang.

John Magno, regional education secretary of ARMM, on Saturday said the meeting of Ireland, a senior official of the Australian Embassy in Metro Manila, and Hataman was a tacit indication that foreign dignitaries are safe when they are here for official visits to regional officials.

“What else can be a better proof they are safe when they tour around? The coming over of another foreign dignitary to the ARMM capitol was a vote of confidence for the ARMM government,” Magno said.

The Australian government is funding costly education projects being implemented in the ARMM, as a partnership initiative along with the Department of Education (DepEd) in the autonomous region.

During their meeting, Hataman and Ireland discussed the need for capacity-building programs to hone the teaching propensities of teachers in the autonomous region.

They also talked about upgrading the capability of teachers to provide quality education to children through strategies tailored-fit to the geographical and the culturally pluralistic settings in the five ARMM provinces.

The ARMM covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

The DepEd-ARMM was touted as the most corrupt agency in the autonomous region during the time of past regional governors, plagued with thousands of ghost teachers listed in the agency’s payrolls.

Hataman had cleansed DepEd-ARMM’s payrolls from between 2012 to 2013, generating some P800 million worth savings from funds obtained from the Department of Budget and Management.

The department’s figurehead, Magno, even got death threats for rejecting applications for teaching positions by unlicensed teachers banking only on written recommendations of influential politicians.

Magno and Hataman had enlisted close to 3,000 duly licensed teachers in recent months through a recruitment process capped off with actual teaching and written qualification examinations, after having delisted thousands of non-existent mentors from DepEd-ARMM’s old payrolls.