Unity, discipline urged as Muslims end fasting

MANILA, Philippines – President Duterte called for unity and discipline among Filipinos yesterday in his first message as Chief Executive for Eid’l Fitr or the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Duterte said this year’s celebration was timely and relevant as the “Filipino nation starts a fresh move towards peace, stability, development and progress under a new leadership.”

In Maguindanao, Christian soldiers and hundreds of Muslims held an Eid banquet never witnessed since the start of the Mindanao secessionist conflict in the 1970s inside the Philippine Army’s Camp Siongco.

The Muslim community in Cagayan de Oro City, meanwhile, appealed for peace and prayer in the wake of terror attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iraq and Bangladesh in the past days.

“May the sense of discipline the holy month of Ramadan has taught and nurtured among Muslims inspire all the members of the Muslim Filipino communities to unite with other Filipinos to achieve lasting peace, political stability, economic growth and development,” the President said in a statement.

“Indeed, change is coming!” he added.

According to Duterte, Ramadan teaches discipline, instills honesty and sincerity and promotes peace, sympathy and love for fellowmen.

“Definitely, we view the new administration with high hope and sustained enthusiasm that with the support and cooperation of every Filipino, it will propel our country to greater heights,” Duterte, the first president from Mindanao where most Filipino Muslims live, said.

Muslims view Eid’l Fitr as a time for healing relationships, bringing families together and spiritual thanksgiving. The date of the celebration varies as it is based on the Islamic or lunar calendar or upon Islamic astronomical calculations. The religious event was declared a national holiday under Republic Act 9177 enacted in 2002.

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza, for his part, called for “perseverance, endurance and cleansing” among Muslims and non-Muslims, being “necessary hallmarks” to achieve peace in the country.

Christians, Muslims celebrate

Christian soldiers assigned to the 6th Infantry Division, whose main headquarters is inside the 500-hectare Camp Siongco, served more than a thousand Muslims with food and drinks after an early outdoor congregational Eid worship rite at the parade grounds of the military facility.

Among those present at the event were representatives of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team, which is helping enforce the interim ceasefire pact between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front since late 2003.

Sandra Siang, chairperson of the Kutawato Muslim Chamber Inc., Joery Delumpa-Amad, a senior staff of the regional office of the Department of Health in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and a key 6th ID official, Col. Markton Abo, a Sunni Muslim who is of Maguindanaon descent, all said they were happy with the event.

Siang said she wanted to be part of “something so historic, something I haven’t witnessed since I was a child,” while Amad disclosed it was also her first time to experience an outdoor congregational prayer inside an Army camp.

Abo said their families would have a good story to tell about the division having hosted an Eid outdoor prayer and a banquet for worshipers.

“I felt so proud and honored while attending the event,” said Abo who, as a child, experienced the hardships caused by the Moro rebellion in the 1970s.

Clerics present took turns thanking the commander of 6th ID, Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, for hosting the activity.

“This event is very important to us Muslims. This strengthened our conviction that we have an Army division in this part of the country that prefers to solve security concerns through diplomatic maneuvers,” Lt. Col. Farouk Sarip, the imam of 6th ID, said.

Camp Siongco was a tactical springboard for large-scale military offensives against the Moro National Liberation Front in the 1970s until the late 1980s and, subsequently, against the MILF from the early 1980s until 2009.

There has not been a single encounter since 2010 between MILF guerillas and soldiers in areas under 6th ID, which covers the adjoining Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces and several towns in Lanao del Sur.

In Cagayan de Oro City, Maj. Adzramien Sahisa, the division chaplain of the Army’s 4th ID in Camp Evangelista, Barangay Patag said the terror attacks in various countries saddened a majority of the Muslims, who only want peace and congenial relationship with people of other faiths. 

Sahisa led the prayer during the Eid celebration and also gave the khutba or sermon to the more than 2,000 Muslims who attended the celebration at the Don Gregorio Pelaez Sports Center grounds.

“Let us pray for our brothers and sisters all throughout the world, whether Muslim or Christian, who are victims of evil deeds,” Sahisa said. – With John Unson, Jose Rodel Clapano, Gerry Lee Gorit