A Moro leader with the initials “DLM” from another government agency, whether he was joking or not, suggested to SDN — SciTech & Digital News that a Christian pastor should, instead, be appointed to the NCMF as secretary/CEO!

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• EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN — SciTech and Digital News

(SDN) — As the Philippine Hajj operation continued to be bedeviled by chronic controversies and allegations of mismanagement, the Bangsamoro government on February 8 reiterated its desire to manage Filipinos’ pilgrimage starting Hajj 2024.

The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has its own Bangsamoro Pilgrimage Authority (BPA) which has been priming up to implement the task. Whether the BPA is capable of absorbing and implementing a perennially problematic undertaking, perhaps it deserves a chance to prove itself.

On February 8 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City, Metro Manila, the National Government and the Bangsamoro Government Inter-Governmental Relations Body (IGRB) convened for the 17th time.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and BARMM Chief Minister Ahod B. “Al-Haj Murad” Ebrahim attended the meeting. The IGRB deals with the multi-faceted relations between the National Government and the Bangsamoro Government, focused on the full implementation of the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).

BARMM Education Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal, IGRB co-chair, reminded at the meeting the Bangsamoro government’s desire to manage Philippine pilgrimage operation.

In his Welcome Remarks, Iqbal, also a BARMM Member of Parliament (MP), lauded the IGRB’s many successes in resolving many contentious issues. He also noted that many equally challenging issues are still on the table, one of them the pilgrimage.

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“We cannot rest on our laurels yet. While we have arrived at compromises on more controversial and seemingly insurmountable differences, those that remain for discussion are equally challenging not just in terms of technicality but also because they strike at the heart of our people’s quest for self-determination.

“For example, the management of haj or the holy pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia – which is a sacred obligation of all Muslims and which our communities hold dear, has not been properly taken care of. It is due to adversities experienced in the past by our pilgrims that we earnestly hope that the Bangsamoro Government will manage the Bangsamoro pilgrims to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, starting this year,” Iqbal, also chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Peace Implementing Panel, emphasizes.

The pilgrimage comes approximately three months after the annual fasting month of Ramadan, which is projected to start either on March 10 or 11 this year.

On the other hand, the Bangsamoro government has abundance of cash it can advance and pay for pilgrims’ hotel accommodations in Mecca and Madinah without waiting for pilgrims’ payments. The National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) has to wait for pilgrims to pay their Hajj “Mutawiff” fees before it can rent hotels, a reason only substandard accommodations are available after the rich countries have picked the best ones.

Year in and year out, starting with the defunct Office on Muslim Affairs (OMA) until today with the NCMF, Filipinos’ performance of the annual Islamic religious activity had not enjoyed a respite from claims of mismanagement tinged with allegations of corruption. Every year thousands of pilgrims are left fuming towards some concerned NCMF officials.

In fact, the House of Representatives has been holding public hearings after every Hajj operation in response to pilgrims’ and their relatives’ barrage of complaints, including Hajj 2023. This leads to jokes that a morally equipped Moro leader to straighten out the Hajj operation through the NCMF has not been born yet! Really?

A Moro leader with the initials “DLM” from another government agency, whether he was joking or not, suggested to SDN — SciTech & Digital News that a Christian pastor should, instead, be appointed to the NCMF as secretary/CEO! Desperate already?

A Moro congressman even suggested transferring pilgrimage management to the public sector, thinking it would solve the enduring ills plaguing Philippine Hajj operation.

In fact, a brewing controversy this early has already erupted concerning the current NCMF management’s alleged signing of new contracts for Hajj 2024. This even while the incumbent NCMF secretary is on a 90-day “preventive suspension” until the first week of March.

Amid this background hounding the NCMF handling of the pilgrimage, the Bangsamoro government continued to insist on managing the Islamic activity. But the NCMF has been resisting. Why?

Section 2 titled “Powers of the Bangsamoro Government” of Article V of Republic Act No. 11054, the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), covers “Haj and Umrah”.

Republic Act No. 9997 empowers the NCMF to manage Philippine pilgrimage operation through its Bureau of Pilgrimage and Endowment (BPE).

Question, which of the two legislations supersedes which act?

The BARMM-BPA is headed by MP Ustadhz Said Salendab, a widely respected member of the MILF Central Committee. In fact, the BARMM has enlisted the assistance of at least two former NCMF officials to help.

Meetings had already been conducted between the NCMF and the BARMM to resolve the issue on managing the pilgrimage. One of the meetings was hosted by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (IGRB). The Bangsamoro government wants to handle pilgrims from BARMM areas. Pilgrims outside BARMM for the NCMF — Luzon and Visayas — to manage.

Sources familiar with the meetings said the NCMF had already allegeldy agreed with the BARMM on the issue. Later development, Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin issued a statement, saying the NCMF “shall remain to be officially recognized as the sole government agency in charge of hajj matters in the country.” He added this is because the NCMF has jurisdiction over national and local affairs of local Muslims.

Apparently, Bersamin issued the clarification in response to a request from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

So, the issue on whether the BARMM should manage pilgrimage operation still hangs even as the Islamic obligatory activity is already just a few months away.

The National Government through the IGRB must hasten its decision-making for Filipino pilgrims’ benefit, especially that the NCMF Central Office already stirred the hornets’ nest with allegations it allegedly signed new contracts for Hajj 2024. There’s a possibility the President may appoint a new NCMF secretary this coming March, or later. For sure there are already many applicants.

A powerful clique of the NCMF’s 11 regional directors questioned in a letter the supposed new contracts, contending that signing contracts is not covered by an officer-in-charge’s (OIC) function. Note that for the duration of the DILG-imposed suspension of NCMF Secretary Guiling A. Mamondiong until March, the Commission is being managed by an OIC, Com. Yusoph J. Mando, designated by the DILG.

Perhaps, the Royal Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the Philippines, or the Philippine Embassy/Jeddah Consulate can help determine whether there’s already NCMF-signed contracts for Hajj 2024.

Observers of the yearly Hajj operation wondered why, considering the National Government’s often problematic track record in managing the Hajj pilgrimage, why NCMF and BARMM so far still can’t come to terms on the issue.

They said allowing the BARMM-BPA to do it would generate a competition to the NCMF-BPE on which is better in providing services to pilgrims.

So, are concerned NCMF officials responsible for Hajj operation afraid of competition?

In fairness, the stumbling block on BARMM managing the Mecca pilgrimage may not necessarily lie with the NCMF, but a policy of the Saudi Ministry of Hajj that it recognizes only one Hajj mission office in a country.

As revealed by a DFA official during the latest public inquiry on Wednesday, February 14, by the House oof Representatives on the NCMF handling of Hajj 2023, he said the BARMM, reading a Note Verbale from the Saudi government, may participate in the management of Filipino pilgrims but it has to be through the Commission.

Perhaps, the best way to resolve the issue, certainly for the benefit of Filipino pilgrims, is for lawyers of both the NCMF and BARMM to meet and sift through the issue that divides them.

Much as the Bangsamoro government wants to manage pilgrims only in BARMM areas, it seems the NCMF’s position is backed by the policy of the Saudi Ministry of Hajj.

Thus, after a suggested meeting of the two parties’ lawyers — should it come about — the NCMF and the BARMM should then endeavour to seek a meeting with the Saudi government for a possible solution. The Saudi Embassy should be able to help.

Suffice to say that all is for the benefit of the thousands of Filipino pilgrims answering the call of the Hajj annually. (♤)

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Update: Lucas P. Bersamin is the Executive Secretary, and not Bienvenido Laguesma as earlier mentioned in the story. Thanks to BARMM Environment Director General Badr Ebos Salendab for calling out SDN for the mis-identification.

Update, February 16: more details were included as information came in. This is a running story.