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(SDN) January 12, 2024 — On January 2, Year of the Wood Dragon, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. issued Order OP-JAD-23-G-002 “preventively suspending” lawyer Guiling “Gene” A. Mamondiong for 90 days as secretary/CEO of the embattled National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF).
The presidential order signed by Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin, by authority of the President, has immediate effect upon receipt.
A director at the NCMF said the Office of the Secretary (OSEC) received the order on January 3 around 11:07 a.m.
“Considering that the complaints against Guiling A. Mamondiong relative to the anomalies in the recently concluded 2023 Hajj for Muslim Filipinos, as well as the Interim Findings in the Interim Audit Report as of 07 December 2023 of the Department of the Interior and Local Government Internal Audit Service both include Grave Misconduct and/or Neglect of Duty, sufficient ground exists to impose preventive suspension against him for a period of 90 days,” the presidential order explains.
It can be recalled the House of Representatives had already conducted public inquiry on the NCMF conduct of last year’s pilgrimage to Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, an NCMF director who refused to be named, said he expects more suspension, as many employees of the Commission also wish, of those involved in what he described as “a highly questionable pilgrimage operation in 2023.”
“We should not be afraid,” he says. “If anyone committed malpractices, negligence, and failed the Filipino pilgrims, they should be made to account whoever are involved. They deserve jail time.”
In relation with Marcos’s action, the NCMF was left with no officer-in-charge (OIC), prompting the employees to clamor for an OIC to run the government agency.
In relation with this, NCMF Deputy Executive Director Jehan-Jehan A. Lepail, the OIC executive director, wrote Bersamin on January 10 thru Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” C. Abalos, Jr. requesting the former “to designate an NCMF Officer-in-Charge (OIC) during Secretary Mamondiong’s suspension.”
“Without an OIC, the day to day operations of the NCMF have been effectively on hold,” Lepail emphasizes.
No longer as of today.
Abalos issued Department Order No. 2024-046 designating Commissioner Yusoph J. Mando as OIC of the NCMF.
The Commission, though under the Office of the President, is being supervised by the DILG since the time of the then President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
NCMF commissioners have four years term of office. Only a commissioner can be appointed head of the NCMF, meaning the secretary of the agency has to be appointed first as commissioner then as secretary, which has two years term.
Barring reappointment, Mamondiong’s term as secretary expires in March 2024; Mando’s four-year term lapses also this coming March. Commissioners maybe reappointed based on Republic Act No. 9997, the NCMF Charter.
In his order, Abalos emphasized that Mando’s designation covers the duration of Mamondiong’s suspension, “or until a new appointment/delegation is made, whichever comes first.”
SDN tried to reach out to the two NCMF officials to react or comment on the events transpiring at the Muslim-run government agency. Contact was not successful as of posting of this article.
The Hajj is the fifth pillar of Islam, which is obligatory to adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable to perform at least once in their lifetime.
Changes at NCMF leadership in March?
For Hajj 2023, around 7,200 Filipino pilgrims performed the pilgrimage, many of them doing it for the first time.
Old time employees have lamented that since the time of the defunct Office on Muslim Affairs (OMA) until the NCMF there was no pilgrimage operation that did not come with pilgrims’ grievances and controversy. Whether reasonable or justified to complain, it sometimes depend on where you stand.
Isn’t it that the Hajj is a series of trials and tests on every pilgrim’s patience, commitment, and ability to withstand sacrifices?
So, whether the perennial controversy during the annual Hajj is an indictment of the brand of leadership of Moro leaders is up for debate. For sure, all of them tried their best to deliver a hassle-free pilgrimage to the extent that it can be had.
To be fair, none of the past OMA/NCMF heads was brought to court. No one was suspended either. Only in 2024!
In any case, if there’s any allegation of irregulaties it must be proved in court; suspects are deemed innocent unless proven otherwise.
But what is starkly clear was that Filipino pilgrims always have negative issues to voice out every year, regardless of who is or was at the helm of the OMA/NCMF.
In fairness, the Hajj operation in the Philippines has been so complicated with myriads of issues and concerns. It sometimes appears that whoever is at the helm of OMA or NCMF, he/she was/is up against seemingly insolvable problems.
Now, with possible changes at the NCMF concerning a new Secretary/CEO that may come in March (barring any extension), we can only hope and pray the President selects the least evil. For no one is perfect! — EDD K. USMAN (*)
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January 21: Updates were made in this article to add more context.