Featured image above shows President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. (2nd, left) joined in by newly re-appointed Secretary Sabuddin N. Abdurahim (center) to head the NCMF for two more years. With them are Mrs. Deweratna Hassan Abdurahim, NCMF Chief of Staff Atty. Hassanal Abdurahim, and BMCA Director Benrajiv J. Kashim. (Credit: PCO)
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DUSIT THANI MANILA, Makati City, March 6, 2026 (SDN) — Sheikh Sabuddin N. Abdurahim of Tawi-Tawi, will serve Muslims in the Philippines for two more years as head of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF).
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has re-appointed him as secretary and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Commission. His new two-year term starts on March 8; he will at the same time serve his remaining two years term as commissioner. NCMF’s nine commissioners have each a four-year term.
He took his second oath of office today, Friday, before the President, accompanied by members of his family, also with Bureau of Muslim Cultural Affairs (NCMF-BMCA) Director Benrajiv J. Kashim in Malacañang.
Abdurahim’s re-appointment to the Commission was announced during the NCMF Grand Iftar organized here by the BMCA, an annual tradition every month of Ramadhan attended by diplomats and Moro community leaders.
Every head of the NCMF has to be first appointed as commissioner and then as secretary and CEO.
The NCMF Charter, Republic Act No. 9997 allows reappointment of the secretary and the nine commissioners on the President’s pleasure.
Marcos first appointed Abdurahim, native of Tawi-Tawi, one of the component provinces of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), to the NCMF in April 2024 and took his oath of office later on March 27 administered by the then Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin.
The native of Tawi-Tawi, being a former “sheikh” or pilgrims’ leader every Hajj or Pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, is well- versed with the Hajj operation being involved for many years, guiding pilgrims in the pilgrimage rituals.
He was a former first district board member of the province.
In his first to years at the NCMF, he introduced and put in motion various Hajj related operation reforms that none of his many predecessors were able to implement since the time of the defunct Office on Muslim Affairs. (OMA).
Abdurahim is expected to continue putting in place reforms at the Commission, which still needs more work to do in order to serve more its Muslim constituents and better services. — EDD K. USMAN (©)