Eid celebration in Central Mindanao peaceful

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines  --- The Eid’l Fit’r celebration in Central Mindanao Monday morning was generally peaceful, the military said.

The Eid’l Fit’r, an important religious event in Islam marking the end of the 29-day Ramadan fasting season and the start of the month of Shawwal in the Islamic Hijrah calendar, is traditionally capped off with morning outdoor congregational prayers in areas designated by religious leaders.

Some of the sites for the open-field prayers were tightly guarded by soldiers and policemen to foil any plan to sabotage the event.

Brig. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said there was no report of any untoward incident in the provinces of Maguindanao, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Lanao del Sur, which are under 6th ID’s jurisdiction, while Muslims were out to celebrate the Eid.

“Credit should go to the Islamic religious communities and the local government units in these provinces,” Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan tendered for 6th ID’s Muslim personnel and their dependents an Eid banquet at the division’s mosque adjacent to Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao. The feast was preceded by an outdoor prayer rite led by the 6th ID’s command Imam, Capt. Mujiv Ladjabuan.

Pangilinan, in a message to 6th ID’s Muslim rank-and-file personnel, said the division supports Muslim-Christian solidarity to attain peace in Mindanao.

“We want our soldiers to be loyal to their religion, obedient to divine laws pertaining to peace and co-existence, while they exemplify loyalty and dedication to government service,” Pangilinan said.

Chief Supt. Noel Delos Reyes, police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the ARMM has also been peaceful while thousands were gathered in different sites for the Eid prayers.

Pangilinan and Delos Reyes both lauded the ceasefire committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for helping  secure the event.

Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, commander of the Western Mindanao Command, which covers all provinces of ARMM, encouarged the region’s Muslim, Christian, and indigenous non-Moro communities to continue supporting the peace panels of the government and the MILF, which are trying to establish  “genuine peace” in Moro-dominated areas.

“The Western Mindanao Command wants lasting peace in Mindanao and calls on the local communities to sustain the gains of the peace process by helping foster political stability and reconciliation among all people,” Guerrero said in his emailed Eid’l Fit’r statement.