Muslim cemetery sought in ARMM
- Source: https://www.manilatimes.net/muslim-cemetery-sought-in-armm/428877/
- Sunday, August 12, 2018
- By ANTONIO P. RIMANDO
COTABATO CITY: The putting up of a Muslim cemetery in every town in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), was proposed recently by Maguindanao regional Assemblyman Khadafe Mangudadatu who noted that practically all municipalities and cities in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, Maguindanao and Tawi-Tawi do not have public cemetery for their dead.
Mangudadatu attributed the situation to the centuries-old tradition of Muslim sub-tribes of Maranao, Tausug, Yakan, Samal, Iranon and Maguindanaon of burying their departed relatives in private lots or farms.
Assemblyman Mangudadatu’s bill seeks “to require every local government unit to provide at three to five hectares of land for the communal graveyards of Muslims, “explaining that his proposal aimed at providing a decent hallowed resting place for Moroland’s inhabitants, especially the indigent ones living in villages or sitio (sub-village).
Cleric Esmael Ibrahim, a member of the National Commission for Muslim Filipinos (NCMF), has strongly endorsed the Maguindanao legislator’s proposed law for regional operation.
He emphasized that Mangudadatu’s measure “will definitely help our impoverished Moro sectors in Muslim Mindanao, considered by many as the country’s most depressed and disadvantaged region.”
Mangudadatu said his family is more than willing to donate a piece of land in their hometown of Buluan for conversion into a Muslim burial ground even before the Regional Legislative Assembly can enact his bill into law.