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QUEZON CITY (MindaNews/09 June) – A Moro member of the House of Representatives has filed a bill giving Moro and Lumads (Indigneous Peoples) membership in the governing bodies of the State Universities and Colleges (SUCs).
Rep. Sitti Djalia A. Turabin-Hataman of Anak Mindanao (AMin), vice chair of the House Committee on Muslim Affairs, said HB 5786 seeks to amend RA 8292, also known as the “Higher Education Modernization Act of 1997,” a press statement released by the House of Representatives’ Public Relations and Information Bureau (PRIB) said.
Turabin-Hataman’s bill proposes that the head of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) shall automatically sit in all the governing boards of SUCs with a significant Moro student population, while the head of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) shall also sit in all governing boards of SUCs with a significant Lumad student population.
The wife of Governor Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) said Moro and Lumads are not represented in the SUCs’ governing bodies.
“If they are, they represent not the Muslim and indigenous groups but their constituents, such as alumni president, faculty president and president of the Student Council,” the PRIB’s press release quoted her as saying. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
