Duterte in Sulu for Eid’l Fitr?

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte was set to visit Sulu yesterday to mark the end of Ramadan with Muslims in the area, Malacañang officials said.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the President would go to Sulu but had yet to provide details of the visit at press time.

The President was expected to also give a pep talk to troops involved in the military offensive against terrorists operating in Mindanao. 

Duterte’s visit came a few days after Dutch national Ewold Horn was killed during military operations in Sulu last week. The Dutch national was kidnapped and had been held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf since 2012. 

Malacañang had earlier condemned Horn’s killing.

Horn was killed during an encounter between government troops and the Abu Sayyaf. His death was confirmed by the Western Mindanao Command.  

“We express our deep condolences to Mr. Horn’s family and loved ones. We vow to pursue his killers to the ends of the earth until they are brought to justice,” Panelo said last week.

The President, who declared today a regular holiday to mark Eid’l Fitr, is also expected to celebrate the end of Ramadan tomorrow in Davao.

Different days

Middle Eastern nations celebrated Eid’l Fitr yesterday after Arab clerics saw the crescent moon rising last Monday but their Asian counterparts, including Filipinos, were not as lucky.

The Saudi Arabian Royal Supreme Court declared June 4 as the culmination of Ramadan, where Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, focus on good deeds and prayers for one lunar cycle of 28 to 29 days.

Clerics in many parts of Asia did not see the crescent moon last Monday in separate moon-sighting rites, a practice pioneered by the first Muslim community established by Mohammad, the progenitor of Islam.

The Darul Iftah or House of Opinions in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) set Eid’l Fitr celebration today in its five provinces.

The Darul Iftah’s grand mufti or preacher Abu Huraira Udasan, who had studied Islamic theology in Egypt, announced the celebration last Monday night.

The Darul Iftah is composed of senior Islamic theologians from across the BARMM, among them graduates of Islamic universities in the Middle East and North Africa.

Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith, which include belief in Allah, praying five times a day facing west, giving alms to the poor and for those who can afford the cost of travel, performing the hajj or pilgrimage to Makkah in Saudi Arabia even just once in a lifetime.

Sick people, the elderly, pregnant and lactating mothers are exempted from the obligatory Ramadan fasting process.

For their part, senators yesterday greeted Filipino Muslims in their celebration. 

 “May the teachings of the Holy Month for each and everyone to bear their respective and societal challenges in patience be observed while joining hands as a nation to realize the lofty promise of the BARMM,” Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said. 

Sen. Grace Poe said the month of daily fasting is not only a sacred duty, “but a powerful teaching to remind us of our shared obligation with all faiths to aid those who live in suffering and poverty.” – With John Unson, Paolo Romero