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COTABATO CITY – The Office of the Vice President (OVP) has started distributing ‘Janazah’ (Funeral) kits to the families of deceased residents living in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The Janazah kit distribution in BARMM is part of OVP’s Burial Assistance Program for Muslim Filipinos, considering that it should be in accordance with Islamic funeral rites.
Under the Islamic tradition, every deceased Muslim needs to be washed and shrouded, and a communal prayer is performed before a body is interred in a grave in the shortest possible time after death. They are also forbidden to cremate or embalm their deceased.
The Janazah kit includes all the necessary materials for washing and shrouding a deceased Muslim — liquid soap, cotton buds, camphor, sintook roots, white cloth, cotton roll, attar oil, scissors, apron and gloves, and a trash bag.
Muslim Filipinos who wish to avail themselves of the Janazah kits for their deceased loved ones may inquire at the OVP BARMM Satellite Office located at the G/F Wilmond Printing Supply Building, Lot 16A, Sinsuat Avenue, Rosary Heights V1, Cotabato City.
The Bangsamoro region, established in 2018 by the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), is made up of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the Special Geographic Area’s (SGA) 63 barangays or villages that voted “Yes” in a plebiscite in February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction. With the recent plebiscite at SGA, the BARMM now has eight new municipalities as residents voted “Yes”.
According to the Philippine Atlas BARMM has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities (plus eight newly established under the SGA: Basilan, 11 municipalities; Lanao del Sur, 39; undivided Maguindanao, 36; Sulu, 19; and Tawi-Tawi, 11. Its component cities are Cotabato (the regional center and capital) in Maguindanao; Lamitan in Basilan; and Marawi in Lanao del Sur. (✓)