DAVAO CITY (MindaNews /30 September) – Employees of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in the province of Sulu need not worry. Governor Abdusakur “Sakur” Tan said arrangements have been made to ensure they receive their salaries even as the Supreme Court’s ruling that Sulu is not part of the BARMM is “immediately executory.”

“The national government will not allow those people to not receive their salaries. In fact, the President himself assured us,” he told MindaNews in a telephone interview over the weekend.

“Arrangements are being made,” he said, whether the payment of salaries for BARMM employees in Sulu until December 31, 2024 is done by the national government or the regional government where the funds have earlier been allocated.

Citing statistics from the BARMM’s Ministry of Finance, Budget and Management, Tan said the BARMM has allocated PhP 4.5 billion for 7,872 authorized plantilla positions within Sulu for 2024. Of this number, 5,732 positions have been filled while 530 are non-permanent positions.

Tan said he flew to Manila last week, accompanied by his mayors, to meet with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Executive Secretary. “Practically I met with everybody,” he said, adding “so there’s really no problem about it. No worries about it. In fact, there’s going to be greater benefits for our people considering that lagi namin sinasabi (we often said), development in our area has been set back by so many decades.”

“In fact, we’re going to try to recover for the lost time and benefits for our province,” he said.

The 2025 budget for the BARMM employees from different agencies who are based in Sulu is P3.4 billion for the filled plantilla positions, Tan said.

Asked if Sulu will now be part of Region 9 (Zamboanga region), the governor replied: “Wala pang region. Kasi una hiningi ko kay Presidente kung pwede maging pilot province kami under the Office of the President (No region yet. Because first, I asked the President if we can be a pilot province under the Office of the President).

He said as a “pilot province under the Office of the President,” the Cabinet would be kept abreast of what Sulu needs. “Definitely, funds would be much, much faster. Benefits would be greater. So (in) the province, we should be able to benefit even much more.”

According to Tan, the President’s response to his proposal was that he would consult his lawyers.  

Tan said BARMM Local Governments Minister Sha Elijah Dumama-Alba was present during their meeting at the DBM regarding the payment of salaries.  He said concerns were expressed of disallowances by the Commission on Audit (COA) “but I can assure them that no disallowances will be issued considering that it’s going to be paid to public servants.”

Tan scheduled a meeting with the BARMM employees in Sulu on Monday, September 30 “to give them the assurances that everything is being done by their leaders to ensure that they get their benefits, they get their salaries and everything. Yes, in fact I want to assure them that perhaps they will even get more, like more teaching items which were denied to us for so many years,” he said.

Before the Supreme Court ruling, Tan was  endorsed in May by his political allies in the BARMM Grand Coalition to be their candidate for Chief Minister after the first elected members of  the supposed 80-member Bangsamoro Parliament shall have taken their oath on June 30, 2025.

Asked why he did not withdraw the petition the Sulu provincial government filed which became the basis for the Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of the Bangsamoro Organic Law but excluding Sulu because it voted no to its ratification, Tan said: “Pangit naman. It would appear na talagang vested interest” (It won’t look good. It would appear I have vested interest.”

The first BARMM Parliamentary Elections will proceed as scheduled on May 12, 2025. But of the 32 single district seats, only 25 will be voted upon because Sulu’s seven seats have yet to be reapportioned.

Tan said the provincial government of Sulu will not file a Motion for Reconsideration before the Supreme Court because they were the petitioner and “sasabihin ng Supreme Court sira ulo kami (the Supreme Court will think we’re crazy) because they petitioned to be out of BARMM and would now ask the court to reconsider its decision.

Tan’s assurance that arrangements have been made about payment of salaries allayed fears of the BARMM employees in Sulu, majority of whom are teachers and non-teaching personnel.

Last Tuesday, September 24, Education Minister Mohagher Iqbal told MindaNews Sulu’s 4,000 public school teachers and non-teaching personnel are assured of their September 1 to 15 salaries.

He said the BARMM received an official copy of the SC decision on September 16 and because the decision is “immediately executory,” the effect is “hindi namin susweldohan yung mga teachers doon, at saka yung mga employees hindi namin susweldohan” (we will not pay the salaries of the teachers and employees there) after September 15, but “we are willing to go another distance.”

“Babayaran, i-continue namin yung salaries nila, pero may caveat …  na pag natanggap nila yung suweldo nila from other sources … ibabalik nila sa amin yung pera” (We will pay, continue to pay their salaries but with a caveat that if they receive their pay from other sources, they will return the money to us).

How will that be implemented, MindaNews asked. He replied that they will make the teachers and non-teaching staff sign documents, individually, that they will return the money that BARMM will advance for their salaries.

Describing the BARMM employees in Sulu as “collateral damage” in the SC’s ruling on Sulu’s petition, Iqbal said they were waiting for guidance from the Office of the President or the Department of Budget and Management.

Tan said he and his mayors met with the Executive Secretary on Monday, the Speaker of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, President Marcos on Wednesday, the DBM on Thursday, the SAP (Special Assistant to the President) and the Executive Secretary on Friday.

“No day, no time is wasted. We always make sure that it’s going to be always a fruitful day. We don’t waste time,” he said. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)