Melanio Ulama

Timuay Melanio Umbit Ulama is a Filipino politician, ancestral leader, and peace advocate who serves as the Indigenous Peoples' Affairs Minister of Bangsamoro and a member of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority Parliament.[1]

Timuay

Melanio Ulama
Member of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority Parliament
Assumed office
29 March 2019
Appointed byRodrigo Duterte
Chief MinisterMurad Ebrahim
Bangsamoro Minister of Indigenous Peoples' Affairs
Assumed office
26 February 2019
Personal details
BornDatu Piang, Philippines
CitizenshipFilipino
Spouse(s)Elsie Capillo Grajido-Ulama
Children2
OccupationAncestral leader, politician

Early life and education

A member of the Teduray ethnic group[2] and a native of Upi, Maguindanao,[3] Melanio Umbit Ulama was born in Kabenge, Datu Piang, Maguindanao to Diwan Mamintal Ulama and Lucia Umbit Ulama. He attended Upi Agricultural School for his collegiate studies where he obtained a bachelor's degree in agriculture, majoring in agronomy in 1982. He pursued a masters' degree in public administration at the Notre Dame University in Cotabato City.[1]

Career

Ulama is a prominent leader of the non-Moro indigenous people (IP) community and was involved in several peace organizations in Mindanao. He holds the traditional title of Timuay and represents the Teduray.[4] He also served as the IP consultant for the former secessionist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the leader of the Teduray and Lambangian Conference. He was also a member of the Chairman of Mindanao Peoples Caucus, a peace organization which consist of IP, Bangsamoro, and Christian communities in Mindanao. Ulama was also a former chairman of the Organization of Tribal Leaders Associations Conference and of Mindanao Action for Peace and Development and a former Vice Chairman of the Kadtuntaya Foundation. From 2003 to 2013, Ulama worked with the Office of Southern Cultural Communities Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (OSCC-ARMM).[1]

He is also a two-time member of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, which helped formed the draft of a bill, which eventually became the Bangsamoro Organic Law,[2] with the MILF endorsing his appointment to the government body on both occasions.[1]

Ulama became part of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority Parliament, the interim legislature of the Bangsamoro autonomous region formed in 2019[2] and was appointed as the first minister of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples' Affairs on February 26, 2019 by interim Bangsamoro Chief Minister Murad Ebrahim.[5]

Personal life

Melanio Ulama was married to Elsie Capillo Grajido, a school teacher, with whom he has two daughters who grew up to be nurses.[2]

References
  1. "Minister's Corner". Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  2. Arguilas, Carolyn (August 7, 2020). "From RAG to ARMM to BARMM: the IP's struggle for ancestral domains continues". MindaNews. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  3. "JICA, BTC, MILF Turnover QIP" (PDF). CCDP-B Bulletin. Comprehensive Capacity Development Project for the Bangsamoro (4): 2. July–September 2005. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  4. "Moro: High Level Meeting With Indigenous Groups". Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. June 25, 2015. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  5. Arguilas, Carolyn (February 27, 2019). "Murad vows a government "free of all the ills of governance;" names 10 ministers". MindaNews. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
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