Ebrahim opens 2023 BARMAA sports tilt

COTABATO CITY - BANGSAMORO Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Al Hadj Murad Ebrahim underscored Thursday the role of education and sports in the region’s continuing development.

Ebrahim welcomed sports delegates and events competing teams for the weeklong Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Athletic Association (BARMAA) at the Cotabato State University.

He put emphasis on the BARMM government’s investment in its priority appropriations of regional expenditures program for the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) in 2023.

MBHTE Minister Mohagher Iqbal said part of the region’s overall preparation for BARMMAA 2023 were the upgrading, Grandstand, sports facilities, including the 400-meter Track-and-Field oblong of the Cotabato National High School which has been assumed by CSU; the renovation of the 25 m x 10 m swimming pool; four comfort rooms and fences of sports facilities fence.

Officials said beyond the sports competition are the spirit of sportsmanship and camaraderie that it develops among the region's youths of different faiths and persuasions in life. Some sports platforms have even hosted healthy competition between erstwhile adversary groups: local units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and former combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).  

Ebrahim said part of the region’s education fund builds a fruitful collaboration with the Cotabato State University (CSU) on upgrading its learning and sports facilities.

Iqbal said the upgrading of the CSU facilities is covered by a Memorandum of Agreement between the MBHTE and the state university.

An unconfirmed report said sepak takraw (sepaktakraw), is included in the array of BARMAA sports events. Sepaktakraw, also called kick volleyball, is a team sport played with a ball made of rattan or synthetic plastic between two teams of two.