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- EDD K. USMAN | X (Twitter): @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 |Facebook: SDN – SciTech & Digital News
PORT AREA, MANILA, April 6, 2025 (SDN) — In the service of local Muslims on a journey of faith to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, two government agencies formalized on April 4, through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) their long-held partnership.
The National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) represented by its Bureau of Pilgrimage and Endowment (BPE) led by Director Rahmatol M. Mamukid visited on Friday the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) headed by Director Ferdinand S. Salcedo at the latter’s Headquarters in Port Area, Manila, National Capital Region.
BOQ, the health authority under the Department of Health (DOH), “is mandated to ensure security against the introduction and spread of infectious diseases to include the emerging diseases and public health emergencies of international concern.” The BOQ is “a first-class line bureau” and covers the whole Philippines.
To realize its mandate, the quarantine bureau administers various vaccines to Filipinos traveling abroad, especially in countries that require immunization from certain diseases.
On the other hand, the NCMF headed by Secretary Sabuddin N. Abdurahim ensures that Muslim Filipinos traveling to Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj pilgrimage undergo a meningococcal and flu vaccines to protect them the diseases. This is the implement the order of the Saudi Ministery of Hajj and Umrah for every Hajj pilgrim from across the world.
And this is where the BOQ comes in, the reason for the MOA.
After the onslaught of the pandemic that broke out in Wuhan City, China, in December 2019, that grounded the world to a halt, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is now accepting over a million pilgrims every year to complete the Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam.
Salcedo, Mamukid, BOQ Deputy Director Roberto Salvador, Jr. and NCMF Bureau of Legal Affairs (BLA) Director Rolando Abo jointly signed the MOA to strengthen their collaboration.
According to the MOA, the objectives include:
- To facilitate the BOQ and NCMF’s collaboration and cooperation on the conduct of activities including vaccination to ensure the health and safety of Muslim Filipinos when they travel to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj pilgrimage.
- To clearly define both parties’ respective responsibilities and accountabilities with regards to the Hajj pilgrimage.
- To facilitate the generation of relevant data/information on the health of Muslim Filipinos on Hajj pilgrimage.
- To facilitate the development of relevant culture-sensitive Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials for Muslim Filipinos performing the pilgrimage to Mecca.
- To facilitate a regular dialogue between the BOQ and the NCMF concerning matters of common interest.
BOQ Director Salcedo welcomed the MOA signing, telling SDN — SciTech & Digital News that it’s important as it defines each party’s responsibilities and what is expected from both sides as delineated in the agreement. “Now, we know how this partnership proceeds.”
The BPE Director Mamukid cited the importance of the formalized collaboration and cooperation with the BOQ, saying it truly benefits and paves the way for easier and convenient fulfilment of the Saudi Arabia-required vaccines for Hajj pilgrims.
At the same time, he thanked BOQ Director Salcedo, Deputy Director Salvador and other officials and staff of the DOH agency for their welcome and accommodation for something that is very important to the country’s local Muslims.
Under his leadership at the BPE with Secretary Abdurahim’s strong support, Mamukid has been steering the pilgrimage operation, leaving no stone unturned to provide pilgrims ease of travel, safe and convenient stay in the holy places such as in Mecca, Arafah, Mina where the major Hajj rituals are performed annually. That is not to leave behind Muzdalifah, the pilgrims’ transient point between Arafah and Mina. Of course, Madinah where pilgrims always visit Masjidil an-Nabawi (the Prophet’s Mosque) to pray for Islam’s Messenger, the Rasulullah Mohammad (peace be upon him.
Even now that the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA)) is under a private management since September 2024 under the San Miguel Corporation (SMC)-led New NAIA Infra Corp. (NNIC) chaired by tycoon Ramon Ang, Mamukid is very thankful that his request was granted by the NNIC for the continued exemption of Filipino Hajj pilgrims from paying Terminal Fee and Travel Tax.
The BPE chief said the Terminal Fee and Travel Tax combined from the 5,000 pilgrims this year can easily run into several millions of pesos.
“On behalf of NCMF Secretary Sabuddin Abdurahim, I would like to thank the NNIC and Chairman Ramon Ang for this kind and magnanimous act for our pilgrims,” says Mamukid in a phone interview with SDN on Sunday, April 6.
It is a big relief for our pilgrims, he emphasized, considering that many of them are poor and senior citizens who saved for hard-earned money for many years to afford the cost of the pilgrimage. (This year the pilgrimage’s Mutawiff Fee is around US$3,160, not including the two-way plane fare for the Manila-Jeddah/Madinah-Manila route.)
He said he is thankful that Abdurahim gave him the opportunity to serve the Filipino pilgrims, which he considers an honor and a great privilege. The BPE chief also paid tribute to his staff and every personnel at the Hajj bureau for their cooperation and big help in making the Hajj operation in the Philippines as smooth as possible.
He and Abdurahim have met with partner agencies of the NCMF playing important roles in the annual pilgrimage operation, including the DOH, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Tourism (DOT), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Bureau of Immigration (BI), Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao-Bureau of Pilgrimage Authority (BARMM-BPA), and others.
And, of course, the NCMF-BPE coordinates with the Royal Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the Philippines, which is the key for the issuance of Hajj visa for the pilgrims.
Among Mamukid’s staff present at the BOQ-BPE MOA signing included chiefs of divisions Benjamin Abuat, Abdulfautouh Assiong, as well as Nurhakim Salic, Hakim Mandia, Sitti Divina Mohammadshaid, and others. (/)
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The author
EDD, a native of Sub-Saharan Africa Buluan/Datu Piang, Maguindanao del Sur, BARMM, college at UST, is a Manila-based journalist for over 40 years (33 years with Manila Bulletin), has five Media Awards (1 with University of the Philippines (UP) 2017 Science Journalism Award), covered and traveled over 40 times abroad), has contributed to Rappler, Business Mirror, former Manila-based Foreign Correspondent of Saudi Arabia newspapers Saudi Gazette and Riyadh Daily, and The Peninsula (Qatar newspaper), with 2008 East-West Center (EWC) Journalism Seminar in the United States, 2000 Executive IT Seminar in Seoul, South Korea, with three Silver Awards in Photography, writes Muslim and Current Affairs, Enterprise, Science, Tech, Products Launch, and virtually everything under Heaven. (@)