PRRD wants higher budget for hajj — Andanar
Published Jun 10, 2019 12:36 pm
By Ali Macabalang
COTABATO CITY - Amid the controversy over the use of P5-million Marawi rehabilitation fund for hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca, President Rodrigo Duterte wants a budget increase that would enable more Filipino Muslims to travel to Saudi Arabia for the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, according to Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar.
Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar
(ALBERT ALCAIN/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) "...The budget, I believe, will be increased dahil naniniwala si Presidente na ang isang Muslim ...would rather be able to go to Mecca para doon sa Hajj kaysa magkaroon ng... Isa o dalawang mansion. That is nothing compared to being able to go to Mecca para sa isang pilgrimage," Andanar said. The annual hajj, which all Muslims try to perform at least once in lifetime as one of the five pillars of Islam, is administered in the Philippines mainly by the National Commission Muslim Filipinos (NCMF). Sec. Andanar was referring to President Duterte’s pronouncement during the 2019 Eid’l Fitr Celebration in Davao City on Thursday, during which he appealed to the Commission on Audit (COA) to reconsider its findings against the diversion of P5-million worth of rehabilitation funds to send some displaced Muslims of Marawi to the hajj last year. The President shared a general belief in the Islamic world that an ordinary Muslim, who has undergone atonement and other solemn rituals in the Holy shrines of Macca, would gain higher propensity to be peaceful and amiable. He said government funds spent for hajj of financially strapped Muslim Filipinos should be viewed as part of “investments on peace.” Police and military authorities have earlier pointed to Muslim communities in the country as a prime source of extreme militancy leading to violent activities. Sec. Andar and the President did not specify what category of hajj assistance-related fund should be increased. The President mentioned P10-million to P15-million subsidy that Malacañang has been providing for the annual hajj since the creation of NCMF, an agency under the Office of the President, through R.A. 9997 in 2010. NCMF replaced the defunct Office on Muslim Affairs (OMA), which evolved from the Marcos government-established Philippine Pilgrimage Authority (PHILPA). Under PHILPA and OMA, the Palace annual subsidy used to be handled by an amirul hajj (head of Philippine pilgrims delegation) designated by Malacanang. Under R.A. 9997, the setting secretary/CEO is automatically serving as amirul hajj. In July 2018, President Duterte named lawyer and former Lanao del Sur Governor Saidame Pangarunan as NCMF secretary/CEO reportedly with a mission to “fix” the agency’s operations, including hajj management, beset allegedly by cases of graft and corruption. In less than a year in office, Sec. Pangarungan has instituted drastic reforms in bureaus and divisions under his jurisdiction, dismissing from service some middle management executives found remiss in their functions, said NCMF spokesman Jun Alonto-Datu Ramos, who was also appointed by President Duterte earlier in 2018. Datu Ramos confessed having filed administrative and criminal cases against over a dozen of NCMF rand and file personnel due to alleged misuse of “overtime” fund amounting to over P1-million. During last year’s hearing of the NCMF budget, the Senate, on recommendation of Senator Panfilo Lacson as chair of the Finance Committee, increased the agency’s 2019 budget to 618,884 million pesos (broken down as P469-M for personnel salaries, P110.8 million for maintenance and other operating expenses, and P39-million for capital outlay) from its 2018 allocation of P573,961,000 without a capital outlay. Datu Ramos said the NCMF has proposed a P1.12-billion proposed budget for 2020 that encompassed two tiers - Tier 1 for 803,581,000 pesos and Tier 2 for 22 new programs worth 308,419,000 pesos. Among the 22 proposed projects are enhanced and reformed processes in hajj pilgrimage, a campaign preventing or countering violent extremism, an improvement in Madrasah system, and the halal industry, he said. The President admitted at the Eud’l Fitr dinner facilitated jointly by NCMF and Malacanang officials last Thursday that he had sent Muslims to Mecca when he was mayor of Davao City for several years.
Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar(ALBERT ALCAIN/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) "...The budget, I believe, will be increased dahil naniniwala si Presidente na ang isang Muslim ...would rather be able to go to Mecca para doon sa Hajj kaysa magkaroon ng... Isa o dalawang mansion. That is nothing compared to being able to go to Mecca para sa isang pilgrimage," Andanar said. The annual hajj, which all Muslims try to perform at least once in lifetime as one of the five pillars of Islam, is administered in the Philippines mainly by the National Commission Muslim Filipinos (NCMF). Sec. Andanar was referring to President Duterte’s pronouncement during the 2019 Eid’l Fitr Celebration in Davao City on Thursday, during which he appealed to the Commission on Audit (COA) to reconsider its findings against the diversion of P5-million worth of rehabilitation funds to send some displaced Muslims of Marawi to the hajj last year. The President shared a general belief in the Islamic world that an ordinary Muslim, who has undergone atonement and other solemn rituals in the Holy shrines of Macca, would gain higher propensity to be peaceful and amiable. He said government funds spent for hajj of financially strapped Muslim Filipinos should be viewed as part of “investments on peace.” Police and military authorities have earlier pointed to Muslim communities in the country as a prime source of extreme militancy leading to violent activities. Sec. Andar and the President did not specify what category of hajj assistance-related fund should be increased. The President mentioned P10-million to P15-million subsidy that Malacañang has been providing for the annual hajj since the creation of NCMF, an agency under the Office of the President, through R.A. 9997 in 2010. NCMF replaced the defunct Office on Muslim Affairs (OMA), which evolved from the Marcos government-established Philippine Pilgrimage Authority (PHILPA). Under PHILPA and OMA, the Palace annual subsidy used to be handled by an amirul hajj (head of Philippine pilgrims delegation) designated by Malacanang. Under R.A. 9997, the setting secretary/CEO is automatically serving as amirul hajj. In July 2018, President Duterte named lawyer and former Lanao del Sur Governor Saidame Pangarunan as NCMF secretary/CEO reportedly with a mission to “fix” the agency’s operations, including hajj management, beset allegedly by cases of graft and corruption. In less than a year in office, Sec. Pangarungan has instituted drastic reforms in bureaus and divisions under his jurisdiction, dismissing from service some middle management executives found remiss in their functions, said NCMF spokesman Jun Alonto-Datu Ramos, who was also appointed by President Duterte earlier in 2018. Datu Ramos confessed having filed administrative and criminal cases against over a dozen of NCMF rand and file personnel due to alleged misuse of “overtime” fund amounting to over P1-million. During last year’s hearing of the NCMF budget, the Senate, on recommendation of Senator Panfilo Lacson as chair of the Finance Committee, increased the agency’s 2019 budget to 618,884 million pesos (broken down as P469-M for personnel salaries, P110.8 million for maintenance and other operating expenses, and P39-million for capital outlay) from its 2018 allocation of P573,961,000 without a capital outlay. Datu Ramos said the NCMF has proposed a P1.12-billion proposed budget for 2020 that encompassed two tiers - Tier 1 for 803,581,000 pesos and Tier 2 for 22 new programs worth 308,419,000 pesos. Among the 22 proposed projects are enhanced and reformed processes in hajj pilgrimage, a campaign preventing or countering violent extremism, an improvement in Madrasah system, and the halal industry, he said. The President admitted at the Eud’l Fitr dinner facilitated jointly by NCMF and Malacanang officials last Thursday that he had sent Muslims to Mecca when he was mayor of Davao City for several years.