COTABATO CITY (MindaNews/27 June) – The head minister of Basic, Higher and Technical Education of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BARMM) in Muslim Mindanao has ordered the revocation of designation orders issued by the administrations of the dissolved Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

“That is in preparation that eventually the structure of BARMM in governance would be ministerial in nature in character. We want to streamline, we want to rationalize. The bureaucracy is so bloated,” BARMM Education Minister Mohagher Iqbal said.

Memorandum Number 12 released on June 25 is part of the reform efforts done by the new Bangsamoro government “to ensure effective organizational change and restructuring of the offices.”

The memo covers undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, bureau directors, schools division superintendents and other lower officials.

Among the issues hounding the abolished ARMM are allegations of “ghost” teachers and students.

In one of his State of the Nation Addresses former president Benigno S. Aquino III called the ARMM a “failed experiment” owing to the alleged prevalence of graft in the regional bureaucracy.

(Ferdinandh B. Cabrera/MindaNews)