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(MindaNews / 28 March) – Half of the teachers in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) are willing to serve in the May 12, 2025 midterm national and local elections, mainly due to security concerns, data from the region’s education ministry said on Friday.
Soldiers directs the crowd outside the Patani Elementary School in the outskirts of Marawi City, the capital of Lanao del Sur, during the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections on Monday, 30 October 2023. MindaNews file photo by BOBBY TIMONERAMobarak Pandi, information officer of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE), said that 10,512 teachers in the BARMM have formally signified their commitment to serve as electoral board members as of March 21.
The figure represents 53 percent of the total teaching workforce in the region, he said. In other words, one out of two teachers in the BARMM is willing to serve in the elections.
Aside from security concerns, Pandi told MindaNews by phone that the low number of teachers willing to act as electoral board members could also be due to lack of access to the internet.
“Many far-flung areas in the region have no internet connection,” he said, noting that the teachers volunteered to serve in the May 2025 polls through an online system.
The MBHTE, headed by Mohagher Iqbal, endorsed them to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which would be the appointing authority for them to serve as electoral board members, Pandi said.
The BARMM is composed of the provinces of Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, and Tawi-Tawi.
While Sulu had been excluded from the region, there are 5,251 teachers and 708 non-teaching personnel that are still under the MBHTE, Pandi said.
“The submission emphasized the commitment of BARMM educators to support the democratic process despite a range of challenges,” the MBHTE said in a statement.
In the past elections, there was a low number of teacher volunteers “due, in part, to concerns about security,” it added.
Pandi said that teachers in the BARMM have long faced threats and intimidation while serving in election duties, which has contributed to their hesitance to participate.
Violence in the BARMM has escalated with the 2025 election season underway. Last Wednesday, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte election officer Maceda Lidasan Abo was ambushed in Barangay Makir. Her husband Jojo, who was driving their SUV, was killed instantly while the election officer died later in the hospital.
Meanwhile, Pandi noted that there have been “persistent issues with the lack of coordination between Comelec election officers and authorized MBHTE officials.”
“This disconnect has further fueled apprehension among teachers regarding their safety and the overall efficiency of the election process. While the Comelec is responsible for overseeing the election, the ministry has had to take it upon itself to ensure that its workforce is properly supported and protected,” he said.
The MBHTE solicited volunteer teachers through the MBHTE Administrative Support System. The names of teachers interested in serving were then certified by school heads, verified by the MBHTE main office, and endorsed directly to the Bangsamoro Comelec office, with copies furnished to provincial, municipal, and city election officers.
Pandi said the MBHTE does not only strengthen the region’s commitment to free, fair, and transparent elections but also highlights the critical role educators play in maintaining the integrity of the electoral process. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
