SEEKING REINSTATEMENT. Terminated teachers and non-teaching personnel of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao hold a peaceful protest in front of the BARMM regional center in Cotabato City on Thursday (July 9, 2020). The protesters, all provisional MBHTE-BARMM employees, are demanding reinstatement, citing that many of them have been serving the region’s education department for more than two decades. (Contributed photo by Bai Intan Galinanda)
COTABATO CITY – The sacked provisional teaching and non-teaching personnel of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MBHTE-BARMM) have sought reinstatement after their services were terminated by the current education leadership.
A total of 828 provisional teachers and employees out of an estimated 25,554 MBHTE-BARMM employees have been terminated.
On Thursday morning, some 100 protesters assembled in front of the BARMM compound here to demand that the regional government hire them back.
Bai Intan Galinanda, speaking for the affected MBHTE-BARMM teachers and workers, said her group is asking for reinstatement in the spirit of fairness and justice. Galinanda said she was already serving the education department for the past 33 years but remained a provisional worker.
“We wonder why my status was not acted upon, why was I not promoted, despite that I continued to serve,” Galinanda said. “We all received cease and desist order from MBHTE-BARMM Minister Mohagher Iqbal."
Galinanda said her group had sought reconsideration from Iqbal and the intervention of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), BARMM’s lawmaking body, but received no action.
A letter was also sent to BARMM Chief Minister Murad Ebrahim asking him to intervene but Galinanda said her group has yet to receive a reply.
“We demand that we would be reappointed not as contractual but regular workers,” she said.
In a previous statement, Iqbal emphasized that a provisional or temporary appointment is good only for one year. However, the affected employees stayed with their positions for almost two decades, some over three decades.
“This is clearly against the law and it is only during our time that we have decided to correct it,” Iqbal said, referring to existing labor governing the reappointment of contractual workers.
“By doing so, we will have an opportunity to professionalize the role of teachers in the BARMM and a chance to clean and disinfect our payroll,” he said. (PNA)
