COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 27 August) — The Commission on Audit (COA) has ordered a special audit on “alleged anomalous disbursements” of ₱2.2 billion by the education ministry of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), including nearly ₱1.8-billion payment made in a single day.
Gamaliel Cordoba, chair of the Commission on Audit (COA), informed BARMM Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua in a letter dated August 11, that they received formal complaints filed against Minister Mohagher Iqbal of the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education (MBHTE), about the “alleged anomalous disbursements” of ₱1.77-billion payment made by the MBHTE in a single day and ₱449.2-million payment issued to a single supplier “under questionable circumstances.”
Cordoba said the disbursement of ₱1.77 billion in a single day circumvents the Finance Division standard review process “through issuance of checks to individual personnel, including the cashier.”
He said initial review “by the relevant COA offices” indicates that the complaints “merit the conduct of a special audit.”
Cordoba’s letter said they were “in the process of constituting a special audit team.”
A copy of Cordoba’s letter to Macacua has circulated through social media and shared by a Manila-based radio network.
MindaNews asked Macacua on Wednesday if the special audit has started. “Wala pa po” (it hasn’t started), he replied.
He said he expects the COA has communicated with Iqbal.
The first complaint, which drew attention to ₱1.77 billion in payments made in one day — on Friday, March 7, 2025 — was allegedly for Learners’ and Teachers’ Kits.
The spending allegedly bypassed the scrutiny and signatures of the Finance Division, which serves as a safeguard to ensure legality, completeness, and compliance with government regulations.
The MBHTE has the largest budget allocation in the BARMM, amounting to over ₱36 billion, or nearly one-third of the regional government’s spending.
The second complaint focuses on ₱449 million in payments made to a supplier under what COA has termed as “questionable circumstances.”
Among the country’s 18 regions, BARMM had the “highest proportion of individuals aged 5 years and over who cannot read and write,” at 14.4 percent, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). This is based on the result of the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) which PSA released on June 30 this year.
The MBHTE, which has been under Iqbal since February 2019, has been plagued by corruption accusations, including claims of selling teaching items to aspiring teachers.
The results of the audit are expected to determine if the alleged irregularities will become the basis for filing administrative or criminal cases.
‘Demolition’ job, says Iqbal
Iqbal, who also chairs the MILF Peace Implementing Panel, dismissed the allegations as a “demolition” job by his critics.
“That is more demolition operation,” he told MindaNews in reaction to the special audit.
In a statement on June 10, Iqbal denied the alleged anomalies, claiming that all their transactions “undergo strict internal and external controls.”
Iqbal said the MBHTE procurement process is “transparent, accountable and consistently subjected to post-audit by the COA” and that allegations about a ₱1.77B transaction carried out in a single day without appropriate review and sign-off are “grossly misleading and ignore the layered controls within our financial systems.”
He said all deliveries of procured items are inspected and documented in the presence of the MBHTE inspectorate team and the COA representatives.
A group of unnamed individuals, who identified themselves as MBHTE insiders, had claimed that the agency’s procurement process was manipulated to favor the relatives of certain high-ranking officials, and they called on the Office of the President and the COA to investigate.
Iqbal said there is “no truth” that relatives of officials have interfered in procurement or program implementation. “No person outside of official authority can override decisions that undergo proper procurement and planning,” he said.
Iqbal’s statement stressed that the MBHTE takes these allegations of anomalies seriously and was “initiating an internal fact-finding investigation to verify these claims.”
“Rest assured, we will not hesitate to hold any individual accountable, regardless of rank or affiliation, should wrongdoing be established,” he said.
There has been no update as yet on the results of the internal fact-finding.
The Blue Ribbon Committee of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) is conducting a separate investigation to shed light on the allegations of anomalous transactions by the ministry, lawyer Rasol Mitmug Jr., Deputy Floor Leader and Blue Ribbon Committee chair, said.
A “full blast” investigation is scheduled for the first week of September, he said. (Ferdinandh B. Cabrera with a report by Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
