Funding program for indigent BARMM college students mulled

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December 11, 2025 | 4:59pm

COTABATO CITY — Members of the 80-seat Bangsamoro Parliament have proposed creating a funding program to support the education of Muslim, Christian, and non-Moro Indigenous students from marginalized families in the autonomous region.

Regional lawmaker John Anthony Lim, spokesperson of the Bangsamoro Parliament, said on Thursday, December 12, that the proposed College Education Bridging Fund (CEBF) aims to provide beneficiaries with monetary grants for food, transportation, boarding house fees, and internet connectivity, expenses essential to their studies.

The intricacies and implications of the CEBF were discussed by parliament members during the first reading of the proposed measure on Wednesday, which will still require approval from the regional lawmaking body.

Proponents have recommended providing P50,000 in educational assistance to each CEBF beneficiary, according to Lim and ranking staff of the Parliament’s information office at the regional capitol in Cotabato City.

Deputy Speaker Baintan Ampatuan, the main proponent of the CEBF, said that the lack of financial resources is the primary reason many college students from low-income families fail to complete their courses.

Ampatuan, a civil engineer by profession, said she is optimistic that her fellow lawmakers will support the legislation of the CEBF program into a regional law.

The enabling measure for the CEBF was co-authored by 10 other members of the parliament, Sittie Fahanie  Uy-Oyod, Khalid Hadji Abdullah, Laisa Alamia, Suharto Ambolodto, Don Mustapha Loong, Rasul Ismael, Rasol Mitmug Jr., Tawakal Midtimbang, Jaafar Apollo Mikhail Matalam and Michael Midtimbang.

Lim said once passed into law, the regional government’s Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education shall oversee the regionwide implementation of CEBF along with local government units, the college institutions where beneficiaries are enrolled and and other stakeholders.

BARMM covers the provinces of Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato, where its regional capitol is located.