Melanio Ulama

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]

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]

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