A post by Facebook user Fahima Salik tv that the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) failed to pay the salaries of its employees since last year is false.
On August 28, Fahima Salik tv posted: “BARMM government gulatin niyo mga empleyado niyo ibigay niyo ang sahod nila last year pa yan mag 1 year na.” (BARMM government surprise your employees. Give them their salaries. They have not been paid for one year.
Ameen Andrew Alonto, executive director of the Bangsamoro Information Office, belied the false claim.
“ There has been no report of delayed salaries (covering a period of one year),” he said in a private message on Tuesday, 12 September.
Alonto also pointed out the Bangsamoro Transition Authority had approved a legislation establishing a P1 billion buffer fund to defray the delayed salaries of employees under nationally-funded programs.
A triangulation using Google Advance Search yielded no local and national media reports about a year-long salary delay for employees of the Bangsamoro region from August 2022 to September 2023.
MindaNews learned that Fahima Salik tv is the new Facebook account of Fahima Salik.
The Fahima Salik page was taken down by Facebook on June 16, after it was reported to have been spreading baseless accusations and hate speech against BARMM officials.
The malign actor quickly generated a new account on June 17 that now has at least 3,500 followers. In July, the new account revived unverified claims that certain government officials were paid P5.3 billion to arrange Abdulraof Macacua’s appointment as Maguindanao del Norte governor officer-in-charge. This baseless claim was often cited in Fahima Salik’s previous account.
The delayed salaries for workers in the BARMM was evident after its establishment in January 2019, following the ratification of Republic Act 11054 or the Organic Law for the BARMM, also known as the Bangsamoro Organic Law. The BARMM replaced the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The BARMM workers’ delayed salary during its early years was part of the “birth pains” of the new region.
But officials of the BARMM have been trying to address the salary delays complained by the affected employees.
Alonto confirmed that there was a delay in the salaries of workers — particularly under nationally-funded programs by agencies such as the Department of Health and the Department of Social Welfare and Development — before but only for months and not year-long.
It took four to six months then to download the funds from the concerned national agencies, he added.
Alonto said the problem involving delayed salaries has been addressed by the passage of the Bangsamoro Revolving Fund Act of 2023 on May 17, 2023.
The Act allots P1 billion revolving fund for the timely payment of salaries of workers under nationally-funded programs directly supervised by the BARMM ministries, offices, and agencies.
As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes leads or suggestions from the public to potential fact-check stories. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
