COA report flags P2.2B fund 'misuse' in BARMM education ministry

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May 19, 2026 | 7:20pm

COTABATO CITY — Bangsamoro Chief Minister Abdulrauf Macacua is likely to assume control of the region's education ministry, now embroiled in controversy following findings by the Commission on Audit of its questionable spending of P2.2 billion in funds, within a short period of time, sometime last year.

Regional officials hinted on Tuesday, May 19, at such a possibility if Minister Muhaquer Iqbal of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao stands firm on his assertion that he will not resign from his post, despite Macacua's directive. The chief minister has justified the move as essential to preserving the integrity of the BARMM government.

Thousands of Iqbal's supporters, including traditional Moro community leaders, staged a rally on Monday near the 32-hectare regional capitol in Cotabato City, where speakers took turns urging the BARMM leadership not to replace him, saying COA's findings on the ministry’s P2.2 billion in disbursements last year are still under review by state auditors.

They also urged Macacua then to wait for the final result of COA's probe on the fund mishandling issue before acting on it administratively.

Macacua, figurehead of the 80-seat Bangsamoro parliament, who is also overseeing ministries and agencies of the BARMM government, asked Iqbal last week to resign due to the controversy now hounding the MBHTE-BARMM

Macacua explained to reporters on Monday that his written directive for Iqbal to resign was intended to preserve public trust in the now seven-year BARMM.

Certain regional executives close to Iqbal, as well as some education officials in the Bangsamoro provinces and cities, said it could have been his subordinates in the MBHTE-BARMM, not Iqbal himself, who facilitated the fund releases now being questioned.

Macacua, the figurehead of the 80-seat Bangsamoro Parliament who also oversees ministries and agencies of the BARMM government, asked Iqbal last week to resign due to the controversy now hounding the MBHTE-BARMM.

The BARMM, a product of 22 years of peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, replaced the less empowered Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in early 2019 after 27 years in existence. Macacua and Iqbal are both members of the MILF’s central committee.   

In his memorandum asking Iqbal to resign, Macacua cited COA findings on alleged irregularities in the MBHTE-BARMM's disbursement of P2.2 billion in tranches, without sufficient documentary support.  

Officials of the COA, escorted by personnel from the 6th Marine Battalion, which is helping the Army’s 6th Infantry Division secure Cotabato City, and police officers, confiscated earlier this year from MBHTE-BARMM office disbursement records related to the release of the P2.2 billion in ministry funds through separate transactions. The documents were brought to the commission's central office in Metro Manila for an extensive examination by state auditors.

Macacua assumed leadership of the BARMM government in March last year through an appointment by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. He replaced then the MILF’s central committee chairman Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, who had been appointed to the post in 2019 by former president Rodrigo Duterte.

“While there is this legal notion that I can’t remove from office any member of the regional parliament, I can replace officials of agencies and ministries under the Bangsamoro regional government,” Macacua told reporters on Monday after the rally of Iqbal's supporters near the gateway to the regional government center.

Iqbal was quoted in radio reports on Monday afternoon as saying that he would not resign and would instead wait for Macacua's final action on his assertion that he would remove him from office.

“I respectfully decline to resign at this time,” Iqbal was quoted as saying in radio reports and social media posts.

Officials in the Office of the Chief Minister at the regional capitol in Cotabato City said they are certain that Macacua will soon assume the post of minister of the MBHTE-BARMM, based on his authority, as figurehead of the regional government.

“Chief Minister Macacua is likely to take over the management and control of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education within the week,” one official, who requested anonymity, said.