The Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao experienced a century old peace and order problems. This situation was an offshoot of its being the most poverty stricken region, low telecommunications network and lack of other needed infrastructure and facilities, all of which causes low attraction of businesses. Despite this, the region has truly extraordinary natural resources but now slowly degraded and depleted. There is also the failure to invest adequately in the human resources that resulted in opportunities lost. The RA 9054 known as the Organic Act as amended stipulates to strengthen and expand the Organic Act for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was signed into law on the 24th day of July 2000. In the Article XIV Section 1 specify that the Regional Government shall establish, maintain and support as a top priority a complete and integrated system of quality education and adopt and educational framework that is meaningful, relevant and responsive to the needs and responsive to the needs, ideals and aspirations of the people in the region.

CHED ARMM operates not only overseer or regulatory body of educational system that is deemed integral component of the national educational system of the Regional government but as an implementer of programs related to the tri-function of academic institution. Among others, it adopts the educational policies and principles on (a) perpetrations of Filipino and Islamic values; (b) inculcation of values of peaceful settlement of disputes; © community participation in education, etc. It has also a mandate of improving and providing quality education in the region through curriculum development and many more according to the needs of the region and its residences. To strengthen this agency the law explicitly stipulates that: the educational system of the Regional Government shall be deemed a subsystem of the national educational system. The regional educational subsystem shall enjoy fiscal autonomy and academic freedom. During the time that many agencies of the government underwent regional counterparts, the CHED was left out. Through the efforts of the then, director of Bureau of Higher Education, Dr. Norma Sharief spearheaded the petitions for devolving the CHED to the region. After two years of hard works, with the pressures and recommendations from various leaders and politicians, the Executive Order Number 315 entitled “Devolving to the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao Certain Powers and Functions of the Commission on Higher Education, the Control and Supervision over its Programs in the Region and for other Purposes” was issued by the office of the President on March 30, 1996.