Indigenous Tribes of the Philippines

[kiretoce]

Sangki appointed head of Office on Muslims Affairs

President Arroyo has appointed a scion of a Moro royalty of Maguindanao, Datu Ali Balayman Sangki who is a 56-year-old technocrat and management expert, as executive director of the Office on Muslim Affairs (OMA).

Arroyo signed Sangki’s appointment last Aug. 13. OMA is under the Office of the President.

Sangki will replace Sultan Yahya "Jerry" Tomawis, a businessman from Lanao del Sur and OMA head for the last two years.

Sangki has advised the OMA that he intends to assume office in simple rites today after taking his oath of office.

The Chief Executive also appointed last Aug. 9 Datu Aladdin Ampatuan, another Moro royalty clan member, as presidential assistant for Muslim Concerns at the Office of the President.

Ampatuan was the former head of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Sangki, who finished a management course at the University of Manchester in Manchester, England, through the British Council, is closely related to Moro royal families from Maguindanao’s Muslim communities, being the son of Datu Sangki Dilangalen Ampatuan and Hadja Sophia "Pinanogod" Balayman.

Sangki and Ampatuan expressed gratitude to the President for giving them the opportunity to serve their countrymen and contribute in bringing Muslim Filipinos closer to the government.

Sangki is married to Hadja Tita Lim-Sangki of Buluan, Maguindanao. Their children are Mariam, Al-Iskandar, and Sheryl Yasmin.

Sangki said he would continue Tomawis’ programs and sustain them in cooperation with other government agencies.

OMA is mandated by Executive Order No. 122-A to preserve, promote and enhance the country’s Muslim heritage and help the President address the Moro people’s concerns.

"As far as I know, Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo asked me to head OMA after knowing what I have done with the Al-Amanah Islamic Bank of the Philippines as chairman," said Sangki.

"The charter of the bank provides that my qualified successor shall be nominated by the President and properly installed during the scheduled stockholders’ meeting this coming Oct. 22," he said.

"There will be a review of the mandate of the OMA and all its existing programs and focused them on the programs of the President for a closer cooperation with the Executive," he said.

Sangki, a former OMA deputy executive director, is a member of the Technical Working Group of the government-Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace process, former Maguindanao board member, and erstwhile manager of Southern Philippines Development Authority among other positions he has held.

Sangki’s appointment lauded by Christian and Muslim solons

Christian and Muslim members of the House of Representatives lauded yesterday the appoinment by President Arroyo of Datu Ali B. Sangki, chairman and executive officer of Al-Amanah Islamic Investment Bank of the Philippines, as executive director of the Office on Muslim Affairs (OMA).

"Sangki’s profound background as a technocrat, management expertise and deep involvement in Muslim affairs that helped uplift their economic conditions through the operation of Al-Amanah Bank will give strong direction and dynamism to the missions and visions of OMA," Christian and Muslim solons said.

The solons are led by Reps. Annie Rosa L. Susano of the second district of Quezon City, Francisco T. Matugas of Surigao del Norte, and Datu Pax S. Mangudadatu of Sultan Kudarat.

They said with Sangki at the helm of OMA, the relations between Muslim and Christian communities are expected to improve vastly as he is known for promoting brotherhood, cooperation and harmony between all Filipinos as chairman and CEO of the only Muslim bank in the Philippines.

Susano, chairwoman of the House Special Committee on Metro Manila Development, said Sangki’s deep understanding of the human nature will be very useful in running OMA, one of the most sensitive government agencies in the country today.

A management graduate of Manchester University in England, Sangki was instrumental in laying a strong foundation of AlAmanah Bank despite its problems when he was appointed its chairman and CEO.

[Sinjin P.]

Islam values to be taught in Lapu-lapu

LAPU-LAPU CITY — Arabic language and Islam values will soon be taught in public elementary schools here.

The Department of Education (DepED) Lapu–Lapu City Division endorsed the offering of the Arabic Language and Islam Values (ALIVE) in the city’s public schools.

The proposal is based on the memorandum of agreement (MoA) between the Madrasah Education, DEpEd-Lapu-Lapu Division and the city government to jointly organize, implement, and sustain the ALIVE programs.

The MoA states that both parties support the DepEd National Muslim Education Roadmap not only as an affirmative action for the Muslim community but also as a peace-building strategy.

It further states the role of DepEd in identifying prospective ALIVE students, and in organizing classes, monitoring and evaluation of the program and to avail of the LGU’s honoraria.

The MoA states that the ALIVE teachers will receive P3,000 monthly..

ALIVE classes are to be conducted in Basak, Pajo, and Poblacion Primary schools and in the Lapu-Lapu City Elementary School. (Danny Fajardo)

[paulkrps]

so many years back, i heard of some mindanaoan commented that muslims (from mindanao or maybe worldwide) were losing so much of it's local colours and culture due the arabization of islam.

[Louman]

I've heard of something like that happening in Malaysia too. Apparently the culture minister or something like that was noticing some kind of Arabization of Malaysian culture. I can't remember where I saw this so maybe someone from the Malaysian forum could clear this up for us.

[Animo]

Kurdishaspect.com - BY Aland Mizell
University of Texas at Dallas school of social science

The Philippine nation is a pluralistic society and culture compared to other South East Asian countries in the region. The direction the Philippines has taken since her colonial days has been toward the integration of small, more diverse tribal communities into a more developing nation with the nation’s desired goal being to bring about a cohesive society under the unifying umbrella of institutional processes. There are many tribal languages spoken in the Philippines , especially among the Muslim minority. For example, a member of the Maranao tribe speaks Maranao, and one belonging to the Tausog tribe speaks the Tausug tribal language. The Philippine government never forced minorities to speak Tagalog, the Philippine national language. Of the 175 languages, 171 are living and only 4 are extinct, making a very diversified and rich linguistic map (Ethnologue 2007). The pluralistic nature of the Philippine society is very interesting to study in the areas of ethnic, racial, and religious relations compared to Turkey, because the Turkish nation is also a pluralistic society and culture populated by many ethnic minorities, like the Kurds, Armenians, Jews, Central Asians, and those from the Balkans; however, the direction the Turkish government has taken is not toward integration into a more diverse, tolerant society or a more educated and developing nation, but rather the direction the Turkish government has taken is to continue to deny differences, a denial based on a more racist and nationalistic approach.

Like the Turkish government, the Philippine government constitutionally remains a secular state, but unlike the Turkish government, it neither supports nor discriminates against any religious group, institution, or people according to the constitutional principles. In the Philippines , most people classify themselves along sectarian lines. However, religious fanatic groups in the Philippines are trying to divide the social structure of the nation instead of trying to unify it into a common homeland under the Philippine government. They use the drug of religion to combat against governmental efforts. Instead of fighting against poverty and illiteracy and of maintaining security and building the economy, the fanatics create problems, so that investments do not go to the rural areas. As a consequence of the violence, Muslims pay the price. Even though in the past the government discriminated against minorities, now it has recognized these past mistakes and has compensated through a program of reconciliation and autonomy. However, the Turkish government has had no reconciliation programs to reconsider the taboos against the Kurds. Just recently, the head of the Turkish Historical Society, TTK, Professor Halacoglu, argued that the Kurds actually are Turkmen and that the Alevi Kurds are Armenian. Indeed, this is the history that the Turkish government teaches to young generations with misinformation about Kurdish history. The history professor lays no claims to having foresight or pre-science, and he has studied history just enough to know that he does not know enough to risk predicting what the future holds for the Kurds. He has eyes, though, and so he is in a position to ask readers to gaze in a certain direction and determine whether they also see what he sees. This kind of professor needs to wear glasses because his eyes suffer from myopia, and, therefore, it is entirely possible that his claim rests on evidence that either results from not seeing all there is to see or from being based on what he thinks he sees. Also, a few years ago Bogazici University in Istanbul held an international conference, but the TTK pulled its funding and support when it learned that a paper on the Kurds and another on the Armenians were to be presented. The Turkish government has held this kind of groundless history for decades. However, Turkey is preparing to join the world class, so I wonder if Turkey will relinquish her narrow ideas based on a nationalistic view that denies minorities’ right to exist or if it will follow the path of Europeans who strongly believe that respect for human rights is one of the most fundamental and universal values of our world. According to Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European Human Rights Commissioner for External Relations in the European Neighborhood Policy, “All of us, in our official capacity have an obligation to promote and protect the rights of our fellow members of the human family, be that at home or elsewhere in the world” (2005).

By contrast to Turkey with its land mass being contiguous, the territorial setting of the Philippines is comprised of more than seven thousands islands, a reality that creates problems because of isolation and communication gaps. Yet, in spite of these natural difficulties arising out of its being an archipelago, the Philippines government is committed to overcoming these complexities and to narrowing the gaps. However, it is true to say that the Philippine government in the past has neglected the southern part of country, or consistently has used assimilation and discrimination policies against the Muslim minorities in that region. Proselytizing the indigenous tribes with their religions based primarily on animism, Islam was introduced to Mindanao and the Sulu Islands in the 15th century, and affected not only the religious order but the political and social system as well, establishing sultanates and bringing the barangays or kinship groups under the control of powerful datus or chieftains.. After this period of Islamic proselytism, Muslims in the southern Philippines consider themselves native since they preceded the Spaniard colonization that began with the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. Today, however, the Philippine government has admitted that the government’s past policy was wrong and unjust. The government has given a large degree of freedom in the area ranging from education to autonomous self-rule. It has created a special Muslim curriculum, Muslim institutions, and scholarship programs exclusively for the Muslim minorities. For example, Mindanao State University (MSU) is located in Marawi City , where the majority of the population is Muslim. The tuition is very inexpensive compared to other universities in the region.

When I interviewed, Dr. Tamano, a prominent Muslim, who is highly educated and enjoys a high profile, he was Secretary of the Autonomous Region in the Muslim Mindanao, Muslim advisor to the regional Department of Education, and acting Vice- President of Mindanao State University (2007). He also ran for governor but lost because of election fraud. He is now Chancellor of Mindanao State University. I asked him, “What is the Moro question?” If Muslims have their own autonomous region, their self rule, education, language, and culture, what do Muslims want? Why are they still fighting for? He told me that when the Spaniards came for three Gs--GOD, Glory and Gold. “They tried to take our land from us and to force us to believe their God. That’s why Muslims resisted them until today. That was a just war, and that’s why we won.” He explained the difference now, “But today we are fighting the wrong war, because the government now recognizes her past mistake and has given us all opportunities to catch up with the rest of society, in terms of education and economics.” Muslims have a higher illiteracy rate than the Catholic Christians. There is such a disparity between the Catholic majority and the Muslim minority in terms of poverty. He continued, “That is what Muslim leaders in the Philippines should be fighting for. They are supposed to unify to eliminate poverty, narrow the educational gaps, and create peace so that people can have jobs, but sometimes Muslims fight among themselves, especially when an election comes. Some of the leaders want the Muslim candidates to use religion as a scapegoat to gain political power for themselves.” Also, a lack of Muslim leadership among the Muslim minority perpetuates the problems. He told me to look at his university as a good example. The government has given every opportunity for Muslims to be educated and to have skills as well as good jobs. He referred to education as “the right education,” one that teaches Islam but an Islam that is compatible with science. In his view, Muslims should learn science and skills as well as their religion.

Also, I visited the Mayor of Davao City, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who is well known for making the city safe and free from the corruption of drug-dealing. He has a zero tolerance against drugs and other illegal activity. Today there is only one city in the Mindanao region that is safe, and it is Davao . When I asked him, “How did you do that?” Mayor Duterte told me that the Philippine government policy had been wrong in the past. He did not have any intention to follow the wrong policy of the government. The mayor said that the state is not a moral agent; people are, and as such, they can impose moral principles on powerful institutions. He said that he talked to everybody especially the rebels and implemented equal representation in his administration. He explained that he gave an equal voice and an equal role to every tribe to make sure each person was represented fairly and equally, and then he said he told them that there would be no more assassinations, kidnappings, or killings. That is why the city is safer today than before his coming to office. Mayor Duterte does not believe that using the military is a good solution to ethnic and religious conflict in his country. He believes we are all human beings, and as such, we all have rights inherent to that status. We all have dignity and worth that exist prior to law. That is a system in which words can change the whole structure of government, and words can prove stronger than numerous military divisions. That is why today Davao City is the safest city in the Philippines ; it is because of a good and strong mayor.

Good administration and politics emphasize rights, the superiority of law, duty, and the placement of responsible people in difficult jobs. According to the mayor, government means justice and public order. One cannot speak where those two do not exist. For Duterte, laws should be effective all the time, everywhere, and for everybody. This unity of feeling, thought, and culture are essential to the development of a strong nation because disintegration of moral unity causes that same nation to weaken.


Like more recently in the Philippines , in the 1960s America called for national integration to solve the problem of racism, and it implemented new policies to overcome the attitudes and practices that discriminated against the Blacks. Since it is hard to change what happened in the past, a society has to start at the present, so Turkey can change her attitude toward ethnic discrimination. To begin, the current leaders must realize Turkey’s guilt, get rid of their arrogance, seed humility, and exchange love, humility, kindness, and forgiveness for hate to make the present more comfortable and the future more hopeful. Peace will begin in the Kurdish region when oppression, cruelty, injustice and hunger end.

However, today the Turkish government lags behind the Philippine government in terms of its treatment of the minorities. An inquirer must ask why the law enforcement that serve in the Kurdish region are not Kurdish or at least speak Kurdish. Why are there no educational institutions that study Kurdology or that establish Kurdish institutes? Why can the Turkish government not create some kind of program like affirmative action that will allow for a narrowing of the educational gap between Kurdish minorities and the Turkish majority because illiteracy rates among the Kurds is higher than among the Turks. Why can the Turkish government not give some incentives to encourage economic progress? Kurds should be more organized and should educate themselves to realize that they would be better off if they made education a priority because education is mightier than the sword. The Kurdish culture and history should be allowed to exist in the open and also preserved, such as Kurdish names, and the Kurdish language. Why can the Turkish government not put forth some effort to foster civic engagement about the Kurdish question? Why can the Kurdish question not be discussed in the academic community? Why can the Turkish government not have some kind of scholarship program exclusively for the Kurdish minority to give them incentives to go to school? Why can the Kurds not have the same kind of autonomy that the Muslim minorities do in the Philippines ? The problem of the Kurds being subjected to objective analysis is that it necessarily requires assessment of the government’s adopted measures to effectively solve such problems. If the government denies the existence of the ethnic group, how can any kind of governmental analysis occur? Good government produces opportunities for each generation to have a developed faith, innovative technology and science, and a cultivated consciousness about their identity and their cultural values. If, by contrast, the people see the government as tyrannical or oppressive, then the nation has lost its purpose to serve the common good.

Further, in Turkey the government program still uses a military solution to achieve their policy of integration rather than an academic one. For a long time the integration policy was always interpreted as assimilation or acculturation, which means that the Turkish government tries to reconcile diverse cultures with one culture and to deny the minorities’ culture. By contrast, in the Philippines the varied Muslim tribes have their own language, dances, crafts, and customs. Yet, when Ferdinand Magellan came to the Philippines in early 1521, he conquered the archipelago by sword and cross, and for long time the Spaniards fought with Muslims in a bloody struggle and war. However, later on, the governor as well as Catholic and other denominations’ missionaries organized a politico –a military for the minorities’ group, so that they would be able to control the minorities’ affairs and supervise them. Dr. Tamano points out that the Spanish were successful in Luzon and Visayas, so the Spanish began to assimilate non-Christians into an already growing Christian society. In Dr. Tamano’s view, the Spaniards made the integration policy successful in the north because the Spaniard considered that if the number of Filipinos converted to Christianity could be measured, the numbers would show a fully successful integration. However, in the southern regions like Sulu and Maguindanao, the Sultanates of the Muslims resisted the Spaniard forces and the problem of assimilating these non-Catholic and Catholics failed to bring them to work together to bring about peace. If a traveler crosses the region, he or she will see how that policy has affected people’s life conditions there. Now the Philippine government recognizes these differences and has implemented policies to recognize the ethnic and religious differences.

Like Magellan, the Turkish government first under the Ataturk regime and then subsequent ones used force and denial as part of its assimilation policy. “Kurds are mountain Turks.” Turkey was effective with this assimilation, but they were not successful in the south; however, later on, the Turkish regime’s generals and Agah or Sheik organized a politico –the military for the minorities’ group, so that they could control the minorities’ affairs and supervised them through corrupt religious groups. The Agha in the south and in the eastern part of Turkey accomplished a successful integration policy because if the number of the Kurds who denied their identity or who believed that they were mountain Turks could be considered a criterion of national integration, then we could say that the Turkish government proved successful in her integration or assimilation policy. It is fair to say that the Turkish regime’s integration policy in the east was successful, but that it failed in the south. Last week, the mayor of the Diyarbakir challenged the Islamic Justice and Development Party (AP), saying that Diyarbakir is our [the Kurds’] “stronghold,” and we are ready to fight. However, Mayor Osman Baydemir used this word as a illustration to mean that we will not give up our culture, we will not bow down to injustice, we will not let the military burn our villages, we live here, and we will fight you not in the sense of taking up arms but a civilized way.. In the recent case, however, a member of the Fetullahci group, Fetullah Gülen’s closest assistant wrote in the Zaman newspaper criticizing Baydemir’s comments by saying that Mayor Baydemir cannot challenge the Prime Minister and that Baydemir is creating terror. But Huseyin Gulerce and his followers put the blinders on when the Democratic Social Party (DPT) leader Ahmet Turk criticized Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government by saying, “There is no mention about the Kurdish problem during the parliamentary talks over the new government plan.” However, Erdogan replied to Ahmet, “You first outlaw the Kurdish Worker Party [PKK} in the region.” Gulerce and his followers failed to see what kind of language the Prime Minister was using. What kind of leadership is it that wants to punish a majority of people because a minority of the people supports the PKK? If the Prime Minister were a mature enough leader, he would never point out differences of thought and opinion to produce conflict. It is true that no one should refuse to tolerate views that separate people into camps and destroy the community and society, but neither should they go out of their way to use them to enflame opposition. If the Prime Minister and others who think like him believe in tolerance, then why do they oppose every idea that seem contradictory to theirs and scare them off instead of seeking ways to benefit from their opinions and ideas, of trying to understand them and to build a bridge, and of beginning a dialogue with them? In other words, why do they not try to learn how to listen to what the Kurds say they really want and what they really mean? Otherwise, those who are kept at a distance and are led into dissatisfaction because they think that the government is biased will unit the masses and will resist the Turkish government. It is important that the Prime Minister and his government learn how to benefit from other people’s knowledge and views because that knowledge will help them understand how to approach the Kurdish problem.

Also, Erdogan still believes that there is no Kurdish problem and that there has never been one. By answering Baydemir, Erdogan was saying that people should produce projects not words. I wonder what Erdogan has been doing in southeastern Turkey . How many families have been compensated because the military forced them to leave their villages? How many families whose village has been burned have homes being rebuilt? How many new schools and new roads are being built in southeastern Turkey ? How many job has he created? How much has he reduced the size of the military instead of increasing it, as he actually has? A just government implies that there is a policy for everything: a policy for renewing a nation’s joy until the whole nation feel the joys and likewise feels the sorrow and pain of others in the same nation. Instead, now there is a new campaign that goes against Kurds, saying that Kurds are betrayers and have taken the side of the Christians like those in America . But, the government has never realized that Americans are the ones who freed the Kurds, not their fellow Muslim brothers. Also, it has failed to understand that those who have been oppressing the Kurds for centuries are neither Christians nor Americans, but they are their fellow Muslim brothers. Iran , for example, for a long time has oppressed the Kurds and is killing them even today; it is not a Christian nation but rather a Muslim nation. Turkey has oppressed, killed, tortured, raped, and burned houses and villages, not a Christian nation but a Muslim one. Syria committed genocide against the Kurds; it is not a Christen nation but a Muslim nation. Iraq ’s Saddam gassed Kurds not as a Christian nation but a Muslim one. Those who study politics and see politics as a propaganda struggle for power are mistaken. Politics is like an art of management based on diverse perspectives of the contemporary world and on a future that will seek the people’s satisfaction and justice. Erdogan and some others should never forget that power and dominance are transitory, while justice, equality, and truth are eternal. Even if they do not exist in Turkish politics today, some day they will. Therefore, especially those who claim to be Muslims should align themselves and their policies with equality and justice; and treat everybody the same regardless of their religion, skin color, race, ethnicity, or gender. The Prime Minister and Huseyin Gulerce should never forget when they were discriminated against by the military and the Secularists, or when they were not welcome in the presidential palace or at a meeting. How did they feel in their own country? That is exactly how the Kurds feel now. If religion is truly interpreted, it can promote democracy, understanding of others, human rights, equality, as well as justice, and those values can be guaranteed via religion. Because religion should teach that all people are created equal, it should not discriminate based on race, color, age, or nationality. Religion should declare that power lies in truth; religion should teach that justice and rule of law are essential; religion should teach freedom of belief, open ideas, and the right to life, personal name, and personal property. Everyone should be able to speak her or his language and maintain culture that God-gave to them; no one should take that away, and their rights should be violated. Religion is a relationship between men and God. It results in a commitment between God and the individual as he or she submits to His divine system in which all creatures obey Him. To abuse it is very sad in that today many people try to use religion to gain power and as a method of controlling another person’s life. If a government is virtuous and the state is chosen because of their humble ideas and justice, then that government will be strong and peace as well as reconciliation are possible, but if the government is run by officials who still have prejudice in their hearts and minds, not justice and equality, and thus they lack those high qualities, sooner or later it will collapse. Erdogan and others should remember that extreme harshness causes unexpected explosions that are waiting for the spark to ignite them. As long as his government protects people from cruelty and defends them from injustice and oppression, it will be a successful government; however, if Erdogan’s government does not do so, then he will cause more hatred, more prejudice, and more turmoil.

The majority of Muslims in the southern Philippines (the Moros), like the Kurds, are not rebellious and do not want to fight or be rebellious against their government. Even though a majority of the Moros sympathize with the Moros’ struggle against, oppression, injustice, and cruelty that the rebels represent, most Muslims like the Kurds wish for nothing more than to live in peace, pursue their livelihood, have a family, raise their kids, live in dignity, and die in a bed. The Kurds seek above all their survival as a Kurdish people. They are now convinced that their survival demands freedom from the domination of Turks in those matters which most impinge on their identity and selfhood as Kurds; those are such matters as education, community organizations, non-government organizations (NGO’s), family , law and order, an end to military rule, and economic resources. This is the kind of experience that has been telling us that there can be no real freedom for Kurds until there is fundamental change in the structures of their relationship to the Turkish government. This change must give them power, that is affective reserved powers, to order their affairs in their regions. However, those objectives should be accomplished by Turkish political systems using all of the legal constitutional means available, including publication of their ideas; organizing pressure groups and lobbies, and participating in government efforts to find the right, just solution to the Kurdish problem.


The number of Moros, like the Kurds, have acted on their belief that the only way to respond to the government’s wrong policy is to fight even though they are a comparably small entity. However, some Kurdish leaders like Baydemir, a moderate, have often eloquently articulated the legitimate and understandable grievances the Kurdish people put forth and voice sound recommendations for the government, but presently the government and the people are not ready yet to discuss openly the Kurdish question. Mayor Baydemir speaks on behalf of his people pleading for understanding and justice. Former Senator Mamintal Tamano and former dean, Cesar Majul of the Institute of Islamic Studies at the University of Philippines systems, have sets of recommendations for the Philippine government to implement. Some of the recommendations are being implemented by the government: 1) a moratorium on new settlers should be imposed, 2) law enforcement agents in the Moros areas should be Muslims, 3) more educational institutions should be established, 4) governments should encourage economic progress, 5) Muslim Filipinos should be better Muslims, 6) important elements of Islamic law should be allowed for Muslims, and 7) the national government should enable greater Moros’ participation. These are the major recommendations that two moderate Filipino Muslims have put together for the government, and many of those recommendations have already been granted and implemented.

Now more Moros have been appointed to national services. A code of Philippine Muslims’ personal law has been promulgated. Muslim holidays have legal status in the Moros region. The government has set up a Bank of the Philippines, Amana Bank, to capitalize on the Moro requirements for economic development. The Minister of Educational Culture has been making a conscious effort to meet the educational needs and religious feeling of the Muslims. Moreover, the Philippine government granted autonomy to the Muslims making them internally independent and externally dependent on the Manila government. According to Dr. Tamano, The Autonomous Region of Muslims Mindano (ARMM) was created in August 1989 and inaugurated in 1990 under the President, Corazon Aquino at the Cotabato City . This led to the Moro National Front laying down their arms and converting to the Philippine national army. The question is why can’t Turkey be like the Philippines ?




References

Duterte, Rodrigo. Mayor, Davao City . Personal Interview. 10 July 2007.

Ethnologue.com

http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=PH

Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy. “Promotion of Human Rights and Democratisation in the European Union's External Relations.” European Commission for External Relations. (10 December 2005). http://ec.europa.eu/external_relatio...ntro/index.htm

Gulerce, Huseyin. “ Diyarbakýr 'ýn mesajý doðru okunmalý .” Zaman.

http://www.zaman.com.tr/webapp-tr/ya...?yazino=584759

Tamano, Salipado S.

Acting Vice President, Office of the Vice President for Planning and Development, the Philippines-Australia Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao, RELC XII Compound ARMS Complex, ORC Cotabato City, Muslim Education Advisor, The Autonomous Region in Muslim

Mindanao, Cotabato City , Regional Secretary Regional Department of Education, Culture and Sports. Personal Interview. 7 March 2007.

http://www.kurdishaspect.com/doc091907AM.html

[kiretoce]

Office on Muslim Affairs marks 21st year today

Officials and rank-and- file personnel of the Office on Muslim Affairs (OMA) headed by Executive Director Datu Ali B. Sangki will celebrate today, Jan. 30, the 21st year milestone of OMA, an agency created by then President Corazon Aquino in 1987.

Sangki, appointed to OMA by President Arroyo in August, 2007 to "fix and reform OMA," said today’s celebration will be the first for the government agency in 20 years.

The observance, to be held at the OMA central office at Jocfer Bldg. on Commonwealth Ave. in Quezon City, will be attended by some Moro political, religious, and traditional leaders.

Sen. Joker Arroyo, in one Senate budget hearing for OMA, had said Aquino issued Executive Order No. 122-A on Jan. 30, 1987 creating OMA for the leadership training of Muslims.

OMA’s mandate is to "preserve and develop the culture, traditions, institutions, and well-being of Muslim Filipinos, in conformity with the country’s laws and in consonance with national unity and development."

It has 822 employees manning the central office (with 208 employees) and its 11 regional offices in Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. OMA also has provincial and sub-offices to attend to concerns of Muslims.

Among its mainstream programs are the processing and conduct of the pilgrimage or hajj to Makkah in Saudi Arabia, holding of Qur’anic competitions, development of Shar’ia justice system in Philippine setting, and halal industry promotion.

Sangki denied yesterday an earlier report that the President put OMA under the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) because of issues over the recent pilgrimage and issuance of halal certification. For the record, OMA ceased issuing halal certification after a Supreme Court ruling some years back.

Sangki said a group of "sheikhs" or hajj guides, led by Ustadhz Mohammad Said Mando, from Region 9 who wrote to Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz invoking "the separation of Church and State" was "motivated by personal ulterior motives" to escape the hajj reforms he planned to implement.

Arroyo appointed Sangki to OMA when his predecessor, Sultan Yahya Tomawis, had already signed hajj contracts with Saudi Arabia, leaving little room for him (Sangki) to put his reforms in place.

Sangki said the sheikhs only wanted to evade compliance with the criteria that spell out the rules for accreditation of the hajj guides, which also prescribe assessment report on the sheikhs’ performarce.

The OMA executive director said the hajj guides did not like the reforms he wanted to put in place because he discovered "highly anomalous activities in the hajj operations."

Removing the hajj operations from OMA "will only embolden and further aggravate the already very controversial hajj operations diluted by these sheikhs to perpetuate their activities. These must be corrected by the regulatory powers of the State through OMA," said Sangki.

EO No. 697 received mixed reactions from OMA employees – some apprehensive that OPAPP may re-organize OMA, others indifferent, and others still resigned to it.

OPAPP Undersecretary Nabil Tan allayed these apprehensions, saying "we will only assist, but I think there will be coordination meeting to be called by Secretary Dureza so things can be clarified."

[kiretoce]

DepEd to boost mainstreaming of Muslim schools

MANILA, Philippines -- In a bid to popularize the Standard Curriculum in private madaris, the Department of Education (DepEd) has announced that it will extend assistance to madaris looking for funding as long as they pass the necessary requirements.

DepEd Secretary Jesli Lapus said the DepEd was set to provide help to madaris or Arabic schools that integrated the standard curriculum with the Arabic Language and Islamic Values Education (ALIVE) program. He said the initiative was aimed at mainstreaming the private madaris.

"Mainstreaming Madrasah Education in our system of basic education is one of the initiatives we have been undertaking to give our Muslim schoolchildren an education that is culturally sensitive," Lapus said in a statement.

Undersecretary for Muslim Affairs Manaros Boransing said the project would provide comprehensive education to Muslim children.

"While the ALIVE Program is integral to their education, we also recognize the need for them to learn the standard subjects taught in public schools -- Mathematics, English, Science, Filipino, and Makabayan."

The Deped said it would help schools with funding needs and facilitate their grant application to the financial assistance program extended by Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). Under the OIC’s funding program, madaris can avail of funds to cover the improvement of physical facilities such as classrooms, furniture, laboratory equipment, and libraries. DepEd will help schools who pass the requirements.

Part of the assistance is expected to go to capability building, which includes training of Muslim teachers or asatidz, management training for administrators and finance managers, and installation of accounting and financial systems.

Before private madaris can avail of the financial assistance, they must obtain a permit to operate from the DepEd Regional Office in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). They should also offer the Standard Curriculum for Private Madaris as prescribed under DepEd Order 51, s. 2004.

[kiretoce]

Who are the indigenous?
Scholar says Negritos are the "Original Filipinos"

BAGUIO CITY – All these years, school teachers have taught Filipino children that Filipinos belong to the Malay stock.

Now comes a language scholar, who has authored influential studies about Cordillera and other Philippine languages for almost 50 years, who says that linguistic, archaeological and anthropological findings collected through the years prove that this assertion may have been wrong.

Based on a comprehensive study of Philippine languages and dialects, Dr. Lawrence Reid, a New Zealand-born researcher emeritus of the University of Hawaii, dates the indigenous and mainstream Filipino to Taiwan about 4,500 years ago.

Reid says the people Filipinos call “indigenous” today are themselves immigrants to the country and have become a minority that has been marginalized by the state.

He says the “original Filipinos” everyone refers to are actually the Negritos who are all but extinct in the country of their birth.

Reid has developed an influential body of work on Philippine languages – with the Ivatan language in the 1960s, a contribution to the Tasaday debate in the 1980s, and recently, with online dictionaries of a Mt. Province dialect that he speaks fluently.

In 2006, he was honored at the 10th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics in Palawan.

Uninformed

In a paper, entitled “Who are the Indigenous? Origins and Transformations,” he presented to the First International Conference on Cordillera Studies held last week at the University of the Philippines Baguio, Reid asked the government to correct websites that contain “uninformed and grossly amateurish statements about the cultural minorities.”

The most prominent site Reid poked fun at belongs to the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), the agency tasked to administer, supervise and grant ancestral land titles to indigenous Filipinos.

“There we find materials that have apparently been taken from popular descriptions and old, long outdated history books that refer to the multiple migration hypotheses of Dr. H. Otley Beyer, the leading Philippine ethnologist of his day, and which I am told is commonly taught in Philippine schools today,” he says.

He says the NCIP profiles the Ifugao as “descendants of the first wave of Malay immigrants to the country.” The Kalinga are said to be descendants of the second group of Malays who came to the islands.

“The Ibaloi are described as ‘peaceful, hardworking, and hospitable tribesmen. They are generally fair in complexion and have well-developed bodies, usually standing four to five feet above in height, have medium and narrow noses and some have broad flat noses,’” he says.

“Attention to the shape of the nose is also mentioned for the Kallahan (or Ikalahan),” he says, as well as the Bugkalot, the Yogad of Isabela and the Ivatan of Batanes.

“Absurd and completely unscientific descriptions such as these are internationally read, and not only give completely erroneous descriptions of Philippine indigenous groups, but cast a very poor light on the level of Philippine scholarship,” he says.

Who does the indigenous Filipino take after?

Reid says: “It is simply not true that the ancestors of Ifugaos or any Cordilleran peoples or of the Tagalogs or other lowland groups are descendants of the original inhabitants of the Philippines.”

“When your ancestors first arrived in these islands, they were not unoccupied. They were occupied by maybe hundreds of groups of Negritos, most of who have been completely assimilated or have died out,” he says.

He says scientists have located 25 present-day groups of Negrito stock who still thrive, although they are on the brink of extinction themselves.

Reid says the latest United Nations policy subscribes to the definition that indigenous peoples are “original inhabitants of a country, who inhabited the present territory of a country, at a time when persons of a different culture or ethnic origin arrived there.”

Negritos are “the true first Filipinos” who date back to 50,000 years, he says, while the Ifugao ancestors who reputedly built the world heritage enshrined rice terraces appeared to have arrived only 4,000 years ago “as their first colonizers.”

“It is these first Filipinos who are the most downtrodden and socially marginalized of all Filipinos, and most in need of urgent action to enable them to survive in this society,” he says.

The Cordillera no longer hosts Negrito tribes, although Reid says anthropologists have found evidence that Alta Negritos of the Sierra Madre used to thrive in the Ifugao mountains.

Citing the discovery of ancient pottery shards in a cave in Itbayat, Batanes by archaeologist Peter Bellwood of the Australian National University, Reid says strong evidence “marks [the first colonizers] as being part of a Neolithic culture that existed in southwest Taiwan and [who] spread south from there into the Batanes islands and Northern Luzon.”

He says the artifact supports irrefutable linguistic evidence debunking the “pre-scientific myth that Philippine languages are somehow corrupted versions of Malay, as a result of multiple migrations from the south.”

[limbay]

Originally Posted by Sinjin P.

Arumamen-Manuvu
Mindanao

The Arumanen-Manuvu had its origin from a village settled place called Banubu near the mouth of Pulangi River.

A god named Apo Tabunawai rules the village. He is acclaimed as the “Timuay” or the convenor of the village elders. According to legends, Timuay Apo Tabunawai was a skillful forest food gatherer such of wild ubi, sago palm, various roots crops nuts and fruits.

Issues are tackled by the Council of Elders are the review and reconstitution of community policies for the coming seasons. To bring omens of good tidings, abundance and societal well-being, marriages of young people are arranged and undertaken on the post-festival evenings.

By foot and with the use of basket types of traps, the hunters bring home large fowls, fish, lizards, pythons and lesser wild games.

The villagers acknowledge that the abundance brought home from a hunt comes from the favor of Elemental Beings whose compassion is anchored upon Apo Tabunawai.

The above picture was taken from my website, without giving appropriate credit...
Not a decent way to deal with the intellectual property of other people...

Worse than that, the picture is used in a wrong context, as it does not show
Arumanen-Manuvu but Tigwa Manobo from San Fernando, Bukidnon. The Tigwa Manobo would
not like it at all to be sold as Arumanen Manobo...

More accuracy, please...

Here is the link of my website, which is, first of all,
dealing with Mindanao tribal music and culture:

http://brandeis.home.pages.de
http://aedv.cs.tu-berlin.de/~brandei...stracts-e.html

::

[Fundador]

As far as our native culture is concerned, I am very very interested in learning

[Fundador]

Originally Posted by bola

just asking, did phillipines have any kingdoms, empire besides spain?

i think wala but American culture is very strong in our country

[kiretoce]

Western Mindanao leaders welcome bill creating National Commission for Muslim Filipinos

Muslim leaders in Western Mindanao welcome the proposed bill creating the National Commission for Muslim Filipinos, an agency that will abolish the Office on Muslim Affairs.

In a public hearing jointly conducted by the House of Representatives’ Committees on Government Reorganization and Muslim Affairs held Thursday in this city, Muslim leaders including top religious scholars from Zamboanga Peninsula including the island provinces of Sulu and Tawi-tawi, expressed support for the immediate passage of the bill into law.

“This would be of great help to the Muslim populace in the country, settling the different issues we Muslims are facing,” said Sheikh Abdulwakil Tanjilil, the deputy Mufti representing Zamboanga Peninsula, Sulu, and Palawan.

“We would like to congratulate the members of the two committees for this laudable move,” added former DepEd superintendent Hadji Abdu Rahim Kenoh.

But former Maguindanao Rep. Datu Michael Mastura said there is a need to look into “what I call cycle of abolition.”

“It is a failed policy. It is a passé unitary colonial formula which keeps Muslims trapped,” he said.

Mastura, a lawyer and historian and a member of the peace negotiating panel of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said,” the issue is Bangsamoro homeland, not national commission.”

Rep. Erico Basilio Fabian, chair of the Committee on Muslim Reorganization and one of the sponsors of the bill said the hearing is the first public consultation held outside Metro Manila. Their group, he added, will still be conducting similar meetings in the cities of Davao and Cagayan de Oro.

The proposed bill, which is the consolidation of house bills numbers 823, 2347, and 2379, will take over the functions of the would-be abolished Office on Muslim Affairs (OMA).

The proposal states the office will have seven commissioners; five representing different Muslim tribes in the country and two from the women and ulama (religious leaders) sectors.

According to Rep. Pangalian M. Balindong, chair of the Committee on Muslim Affairs, the commission will ensure the “full representation of all the Muslim ethnic tribes as well as sectors in the country, thus ensuring equal services for all.”

The bill will also define respective powers, functions and responsibilities of the commission and appropriate funds.

He added the result of the public consultation will be considered to enhance the bill.

Among the points raised and approved by the body is the power of the commission to nominate and endorse to the President of the Republic of the Philippines highly qualified candidates for posts in the foreign service, especially in the Middle East countries. This will include the positions of ambassadors and other high ranking foreign servicemen.

The commission will also have its different bureaus, particularly focusing on economic affairs, Muslim cultural affairs, Muslim settlement, and pilgrimage and endowment. The committees are also adopting the inclusion of Bureau on Halal Certification.

Other salient features of the bill are the open airline choice for the pilgrims, unlike the present which only allows the use of one airline. The bill also proposes to have a Hajj Attache and Amirul Hajj, who will be helping thousands of Filipino Muslim pilgrims.

Cagayan de Oro City Representative Rufus Rodriguez, chair of the Technical Working Group working on this bill, said they are now working to fastback its passage into law.

“This bill has been long overdue as Muslims should have already their own commission looking after the Muslim issues and concerns,. This will elevate the present OMA into a national commission” he said, adding that the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) have already their own national commission.

The staff of the two committees said the results of the public consultation will be wrapped up in May or June for endorsement to Senate. The counterpart Senate Bill No. 930 authored by Senator Loren Legarda is also pending in the upper chamber of the Congress.

[Fundador]

Islamic Summit calls on two Moro rebel groups to unite

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) has called on the two Moro rebel groups to unite for the welfare of the Bangsamoro (Muslim nation) people.

The call was contained in a resolution passed during the 11th session of the Islamic Summit held in Dhakar, Senegal on March 13 to 14.

Both the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were advised "to combine their efforts to work for peace and development of the Bangsamoro people."

Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator, told BusinessWorld that both groups were invited to attend the summit.

He said for MILF, a "position letter" was sent informing the OIC of the status of the "Bangsamoro in Mindanao" and the current state of the more than 10-year peace talks with the government.

In its statement, the OIC "also took note of the ongoing negotiations between the Philippine government and the MILF, which it "hopes [will have] a positive outcome."

The OIC brokered the peace talks between the MNLF and the government in 1996, and recognized the MNLF as the representative of the Bangsamoro people.

However, the MILF, a breakaway group of the MNLF, has since emerged as the biggest armed Muslim group fighting for a separate Islamic state in Mindanao and is now on the final stage in signing the ancestral domain agreement with the government.

The government has earlier urged the two groups to talk. "The two of them would have to talk because they will represent the Bangsamoro autonomous government. There could not be separate Bangsamoro concepts of the MNLF and MILF," Executive Secretary Eduardo R. Ermita earlier said.

Tighter security

Meanwhile, the military has beefed up security measures in the battled-scarred province of Sulu following a clash with the Abu Sayyaf group on Friday, military officials said.

The Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom), said Marines engaged in a fire fight a band of Abu Sayyaf that led to the killing of Nelson Bin Ricson, an alleged Abu Sayyaf commander in the village of Pansul in Patikul town.

The 15-minute shooting also resulted in the recovery of several firearms and ammunition and some documents. Ricson was believed to be under the command of Radulan Sahiron, who has been on the United States’ wanted terrorists list.

Marine Brig. Gen. Juancho M. Sabban, the new commander of the anti-terrorist Joint Task Force Comet, said there is a standing order that operations against Abu Sayyaf will not be suspended even during special holidays such as Christmas.

Lt. Gen. Nelson N. Allaga, WestMinCom chief, has earlier ordered no let-up in pursuing the Abu Sayyaf even during last week’s observance of the Lenten season that ended yesterday.

Military stations in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi have been ordered to rescue two kidnapped victims from the Abu Sayyaf.

In Tawi-Tawi, a rescue mission was launched for Omar Taup, a teacher of Notre Dame School in Tabawan, South Ubian, who was hostaged by the Abu Sayyaf after the murder of Fr. Jesus Reynaldo A. Roda on Jan. 15.

Troops in Sulu are pursuing a band of Abu Sayyaf holding a Chinese businesswoman, earlier identified as Ma. Rosalie Lao. She was abducted allegedly by the Abu Sayyaf on Jan. 28 while walking outside her house in downtown Jolo.

The rescue attempt for Ms. Lao on Feb. 4 angered Sulu residents after the military allegedly killed seven civilians and an off-duty Army integree in the coastal village of Ipil in Maimbung town.

Survivors claimed there was no Abu Sayyaf member in their area and the incident was a "massacre."

The Commission on Human Rights’ regional office earlier described the incident as an attack against "sleeping residents" and not against the Abu Sayyaf.

The commission also recommended the filing of criminal charges against the soldiers based on its investigation. — Darwin T. Wee www.bworldonline.com

[Fundador]

Muslims don’t believe in crucifixion of Christ

By ALI G. MACABALANG

COTABATO CITY — As the Christian world observed the Holy Week last week, Muslims in this Asia’s lone Catholic country acknowledged the sacrifices of Jesus for the good of the humanity.

Muslims revere Jesus, who is mentioned many times in the Koran, which also contains a whole chapter on the story of Eisa Ibnu Mariam or Jesus, the Son of Mary.

While professing peaceful coexistence with Christians and people of other faiths, Muslims do not observe the Holy Week in the way some of them join the Christmas festivities.

The reason is that Muslims do not believe in the death of Jesus on the cross.

The Koran’s Chapter 19 (Su’ratul Mariam or Mary’s Chapter) disputes the Gospels’ crucifixion story about the nailing by the Romans of Jesus to death.

The chapter states: "They said (in boast), ‘We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah.’ But they killed Him not, nor crucified Him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts ... for of a surety they killed Him not (Surah 4:157)."

The crucifixion story is also disputed in the succeeding verses (Surah 4:156-159), which say, in part, "They did not slay him, neither crucified him, only a likeness of that was shown to them."

Ulama (Islamic scholars) in the country said that Jesus’ advent in this world taught Muslims and Christians alike to believe in God and in the prophets, and in a day of judgment.

Ustadz Esmael Ebrahim, spokesman of the Assembly of Dharul Ifta of the Philippines (ADIP), said although Muslims do not observe the Christian Holy Week, they respect the practices and traditions of other faiths.

"I think Muslims have, so far, shown respect for other religions," Ebrahim said.

This is evident in the yearly procession of the Cross in and around communities with Muslim residents, such as in Quiapo (Manila), Datu Piang (Maguindanao), Pikit (North Cotabato) and this city, Ebrahim said.

Muslims in Christian-dominated communities do not decorate their houses during Christmas but they do exchange gifts with their neighbors as a gesture of valuing the mutual relationships.

Some of them also join Christian friends during All Souls’ Day in visiting cemeteries for their dead. Islam prescribes visiting of graves especially those of pious people.

Some male Muslims marry Christians, who are described in the Holy Koran as the "People of the Book." www.mb.com.ph

[amigo32]

merong naging muslim na dating christian.
Bakit ka nagpa convert? Gusto daw nya maraming asawa.
?????

[kiretoce]

Hijab: a symbol of liberation and not of oppression

Some very young Muslim women approached me three weeks ago. They expressed their anxiety over the fact that academic policies have compelled them to take off their hijab, specifically the head veil or khimar. School authorities ordered them as nursing students to take off their head veils while they are on hospital duty in the course of their RLE practicum. Naturally, these veiled Muslimah are apprehensive. School authorities quashed their mild protestations with the following lame, controversial, and debatable reasons: that the veil is dirty (this is either a slanderous or libelous statement); that the veil is just a cultural costume or worse a fashion just because some Muslims wear hijab while others do not (highly fallacious); and that seeing veiled nurses on duty has traumatized hospital patients (are they running out of lucid alibi? Even surgeonshave to be fully clothed in sterilized gowns their masks resemble the niqab except the color of course).

This brought to mind a similar hijab incident at Pilar College whose authorities steadfastly refused to listen to the imploration of Muslim parents on behalf of their veiled daughters. They adamantly reasoned that no one forced them to enroll their children at Pilar College and so they have to conform to school regulations just as non-Muslim OFWs have to conform to Muslim countries' legal compulsion for the former to wear the veil.

Reiterating my pronouncement during the Magna Carta for Women Conference organized by Cong Beng G. Climaco where we lobbied for the rights for equal educational opportunity for Muslim women in the Philippines, I observed that infringement on the Muslim student's right to wear the veil is a result of profound ignorance of its divine merit and significance. Asking a Muslimah to take off her veil is not as ordinary as asking her take off her hat; or as mundane as asking her to take off her coat; or as simple as asking her to take off her shoes.

In Islam, the female body, excepting the face and the hands, is considered "private parts" (awrat or juyyubihinna), and thus, the Qur'an (XXIV: 31; XXXIII:59) and Ahadeeth have so decreed that it must be covered before public eyes and even in private, i.e., home if in the midst of prohibited or restricted males. Thus, the school
authorities are unaware that asking a Muslim student to take off her head veil is tantamount to asking her to strip off her unmentionables, her undergarments, or her underpants! Thus, such action is an encroachment upon her right to privacy; it is synonymous to stripping her nude or to physical transgression.

A Muslimah who wears the veil by choice, in her obedience and worship of Allah as the Supreme Being fundamentally understands the wisdom of being covered. It is a protection of her hayya (modesty or chastity) just as the habit is as vital to a nun. How would a nun feel if one violates her habit? The hijab of a Muslimah is her shield from the penetrating bullet of evil desires of nafs/hawwa just as a knight would cover himself with an armor or a cop protect himself with a bulletproof vest. How would a cop feel if he is deprived of his armor? One Muslimah in the name of Danah Quijano said: It is my life; Islam is my life! Armed with her faith in Allah, rather than disobey Allah and resolute in safeguarding her chastity, she chose to deprive herself of a nursing career and shifted to RadTech. If you take off my veil, you are killing me! I understand Danah's predicament, I resonate her sentiments; and I know many Muslimah empathize with her. How would an astronaut feel if he is deprived of his spacesuit which to him is his lifeline?

Such incidents trigger worst memories in the mid-1990's of students being expelled from schools and by some of them who countered by successfully suing the French government; of one French student who staunchly fought for her Islamic aqeedah and shaved off her hair in defiance of the educational ban. She declared: "My decision to shave my head is dignified than committing sins by taking off my hijab."

When "religious freedom in France was restricted by a law which outlawed religious proselytizing by persons of all faiths," the French Minister of Education severely interpreted such law as banning the wearing of the hijab. Thus, he ordered the expulsion from schools of all female students who wore it. President Jacques Chirac of France was even quoted to have pronounced this statement: "Wearing a veil, whether we want it or not, is a sort of aggression that is difficult for us to accept." The Roman Catholic Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger was alarmed that enacting a law banning the wearing of hijab in public schools would encourage an aggressive anti-religious trend. He commented: "This clumsy law risks reopening...a religious war."

It is clear that the State and International Laws affirm the right to Islam and the right to wear the veil by Muslims is a fundamental right in as much as it is a substantive right; and for these very reasons it is ordained to be inalienable. The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines declares: The separation of Church and State shall be inviolable. (Article II, Section 6), and that, No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights. (Article III, Section 5).

Furthermore, the right to freedom of religion and the exercise of it is entrenched in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights1 (ICCPR). In the Philippines, Islam, as a comprehensive ad-deen or way of life, is also a deeply significant part of the cultural and ethnic identity of the Bangsamoro people. As such the Muslim Filipinos' freedom of religion is protected as both a cultural right by Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and as a right of minority groups by Article 27 of the ICCPR which states: In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, or to use their own language.

[bukid]

in the nursing profession i think it is only proper that hijab is banned because we are dealing with people's health and in a hospital setting everything had to be sterile that is why often times nurses and doctors need a special attire that would enable them to perform their duty without any hindrance.

[RonnieR]

What's the fuss on this veil? The women Moslem nurses in Indonesia are wearing the prescribed nurse cap and not the veil. In Turkey, the women are not obliged to wear veil.

[uncle rob]

I herd this place is not safe for us forieners its a shame.

[shaKEIRa]

what other universities and colleges ang may MINSUPALA na subject?