and nobler being. In every spiritual tradition of the world education has been believed to be a way towards oneness with the Divine Creator, which is the ultimate goal of every human being. In this sense, education is not only desired for its personal benefits of fulfilling individual potentials but it is obligatory for every religious person to support educational pursuits as a form of spiritual duty. Education, then, is not only a human right beneficial for this lifetime, but is a moral and spiritual obligation that prepares us for eternal life. Hence, education should not be regarded merely as social and economic bases for physical existence, but more importantly, education should be taken in the light of it being ethical and spiritual issues defining people’s ‘humane-ness’ and essential for the full realization of human dignity. II. Comment on the Core Principle We strongly agree with the core principle that Education measures to benefit indigenous peoples should respect their right to self-determination…. And therefore devolution to indigenous [and, we must add, minority] people of educational management and development of programmes and delivery of educational services is a right stemming from their right to self-determination; and henceforth, base our succeeding observations and recommendations from the spirit of this principle. III. Comment on Essential Requirement of Minority Education: The Need for Self-determination and Self-Governance Let me start with an observation that the core principle is true and relevant only in as far as its implementation schemes are in place and followed faithfully. Hence, we agree that States should create conditions enabling institutions, which are representative of minorities to participate in a meaningful way in the development and implementation of policies and programmes relating to education for minorities. Enabling institution for effective participation of minorities, to my mind and according to the experience of Bangsamoro people, have been negotiated forms of power-sharing and political arrangements among indigenous and minority population with the State. In its concrete form and essence, genuine representation and effective participation should not fall short of a clear political and governance arrangements between the national or central government with its minority and/or indigenous population. In the example of the Bangsamoro people of southern Philippines, a negotiated peace settlement have been agreed in the form of special autonomy arrangement and the creation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as an outcome of Peace Agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front (GRP-MNLF) in 1996. To this day, the MNLF insists that the provisions that are now enshrined in Republic Act 9054 otherwise known as the “Organic Act on the Implementation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao” have not been fully delivered by government, failing the spirit and intent in the GRP-MNLF Peace Agreement of 1996 that promised genuine self-governance for the Bangsamoro. Without having satisfied the terms of its commitment to the MNLF, more recently, the GRP under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration again entered into a covenant, this time, with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in what almost concluded a ten-year protracted peace-talks in a Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOAAD), among which significant breakthroughs have been defining in clear terms the governance structure and power-sharing arrangement between the Bangsamoro and the central government described as the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE). Had the MOA-AD been given chance for further negotiation and refined to produce the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, it would have set the enabling mechanism for the Bangsamoro people’s effective participation in framing and designing the minority people’s education. Yet, even before the MOA-AD saw the dawn of light, unfortunately, Arroyo government reneged on its obligation and unilaterally abrogated the agreement while the Philippine Supreme Court subjected through the legal frameworks of