COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 4 October) – Bangsamoro Education Minister Mohagher Iqbal has created a special body to investigate the alleged sale of a teaching position for as much as P300,000 in the region.
Iqbal addressed the controversy in a pre-recorded video posted at the Facebook account of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) on Tuesday during the oath-taking of newly-hired teaching and non-teaching personnel.
“I have to inform you that I have created a special committee to look into these allegations and to ferret out the truth. We are not saying that this has not existed. We are not saying also that this is true,” he said.
The alleged “teacher’s item for sale” at the MBHTE has been magnified after Mayor Raida Maglangit of Kapatagan, Lanao del Sur expressed her disgust on Facebook about the purported rampant malpractices in the hiring of teachers in the region.
She claimed that a teacher’s item in the region can be bought for P300,000.
“I cannot imagine that this is still happening under this administration that vowed to serve with moral governance (as its compass). There are people inside the ministry who are still doing dirty works,” Maglangit lamented.
“Pity those teachers who before they can get a job, they are burdened with debts just to pay the bribe. We hope (the MBHTE will) address this issue,” she added.
Maglangit stressed said “that if no one will dare to stand and speak for the truth, no one will speak for the next generations.”
The mayor urged the victims to come out and tell the truth.
Iqbal said the ministry “has been very transparent” in the hiring process for teaching positions.
“We hired those who are competitive and have undergone the right process. We hired those who have the relevant courses, experiences, trainings, and passed the demonstrations and written exams,” he said.
Iqbal gave assurances that the investigation will be thorough and in-depth.
“We will leave no stone unturned,” he said.
Iqbal said that certain parties are riding on the “rumors to destroy the image of MBHTE.”
He said it is “unimaginable for an individual like him who had been in the revolution for four decades to be dragged on such an anomalous issue, which were among the things that they fought before.”
“The best part of my life has been spent in the struggle for Islam, for our people and for our homeland. We don’t want to end our lives in disservice to the people and for me to go to hell,” he said. (Ferdinandh Cabrera / MindaNews)
