ARMM Madaris outfit need help from DepEd national secretary

COTABATO CITY --- Without support from the national government, how can moderate clerics help address religious extremism in the south rising in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria?Preachers in the Madaris Bureau of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) have been haggling since January for the release by the Department of Education of their honoraria for 2016.Imam Alzad Sattar, regional undersecretary for ARMM’s Bureau of Madaris Education, last wrote Education Secretary Leonor Briones on October 26 begging for the release of the honoraria for his subordinate theologians handling Arabic and Islamic values education classes.A copy of the letter was obtained Tuesday by this news website from DepEd-ARMM.The ARMM covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao, and the islands of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, known hotbeds of Islamic militancy.Local officials have overtly been acknowledging the importance of preachers in ARMM’s Madaris Bureau in addressing religious extremism in areas now plagued by jihadists boasting of loyalty to ISIS.ARMM’s Madaris faculty members are propagating culture of peace based on Islamic teachings on religious tolerance, interfaith unity and respect for non-Muslims and their religious leaders.Most of them are assigned in far-flung communities vulnerable to manipulations by Islamic militants now spreading in many parts of Southern Philippines.In his latest letter to Briones, Sattar, also asked the DepEd central office to provide them grants for procurement of chalks and other provisions needed in classrooms.He also asked for uniforms for the personnel of the bureau.The October 26 letter of Sattar to the office of the national DepEd secretary was his third since January this year.He twice wrote the DepEd central office early this year, while Benigno Aquino III was still president.Briones is still to act on the October 26 letter of Sattar.