COTABATO CITY – After years of waiting, over two thousand teachers from across the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) began to receive months of their accumulated back pays last week.

The Department of Education (DepEd) in the region held successive ceremonies here starting Wednesday to release a total of P124 million worth of unpaid salaries to some 2,017 school teachers from the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, Basilan, and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Marawi and Lamitan.

The beneficiaries included 1,106 elementary teachers, 292 high school mentors, and 619 provisionary teachers whom new DepEd-ARMM Secretary Baratocal Caudang vowed to serve in groups by province promptly.

ARMM acting Gov. Ansaruddin Adiong personally graced Wednesday’s ceremonies at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Center inside the regional government center here, handing checks to over 2,000 teachers from Maguindanao.

Caudang and ARMM Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo distributed the checks to claimant-teachers from Lanao del Sur and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi at the same venue on Thursday and Friday.

Caudang said that upon his takeover of the education department a month ago, Adiong has issued him a “marching order to rid the agency of irregularities” that have plagued the regional education administration for years.

The release of unpaid salaries among teachers in the region is one of the immediate concerns being promptly addressed by Caudang.

Earlier in Marawi City, Caudang told visiting journalists that during his initial stint in the department, he has allegedly found the existence of a group of “fixers” composed of some incumbent DepEd workers and dismissed personnel allegedly involved in duping teachers in claiming their salaries and other benefits.

“I am glad to announce that such group of fixers has been disbanded,” Caudang said.

After addressing the problem on delayed salaries, Caudang said he would pursue efforts in settling the decade-old misery of teachers on unremitted contributions to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) that now stand at about P300 million.