Sara arrives in Brunei to serve duty as SEAMEO president

Vice President and Education

Secretary Sara Duterte has arrived in Brunei Darussalam for a three-day visit as part of her mandate as the president of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO).

On Monday morning, Duterte paid a courtesy call to Brunei Crown Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee

Billah before visiting public and private schools in Bandar Seri Begawan.

Duterte then proceeded to a public school where many children of Filipinos are studying. She observed the classes and activities of the students in the institution.

She is also expected to go to a private school, as well as to

Duterte said that the painstaking years of martyrdom left F the SEAMEO Regional Centre for Vocational and Technical Education and Training (SEAMEO VOCTECH) on Monday afternoon. There will also be a gathering of the Filipino community in Brunei as part of the commemoration of the Philippines’ 125th Independence Day.

Philippine Ambassador to

The call, reiterating their February 20, 2023 “urgent appeal” to President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., was made during the Regional Peace and Order (RPOC) meeting held in Maimbung, Sulu on Saturday.

In a press statement, Basilan Governor Jim Hataman Salliman said he filed a motion during the meeting seeking the creation of a Technical Working Group that will study the position papers of the five BARMM governors who want a postponement: Hataman Salliman, Sulu Governor Sakur Tan, Tawi-Tawi Governor Yshmael Sali, Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal Adiong, Jr., and Maguindanao del Sur Governor Bai Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu.

The five governors submitted their “urgent appeal” to President

The February 20, 2023 “urgent appeal” called for a swift investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators who ambushed Governor Adiong “and of other violent incidents in the BARMM,” immediate decommissioning of MILF forces, camps and base commands, and postponement of the barangay elections in the BARMM “until after the full decommissioning of the MILF.” Congress decides on the postponement of elections, not the President.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has set August 28 to September 2 as the period for the filing of Certificates of Candidacy.

In their February appeal, the governors said they are “seriously concerned that law enforcement in the BARMM will continue to be handicapped leading to the barangay elections of October 30, 2023 unless effective decommissioning of MILF combatants and firearms is completed.

The Normalization process as