ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Unanimous nod for House bill granting Muslim Pinoys better digital access to Shari'a courts 

Unanimous nod for House bill granting Muslim Pinoys better digital access to Shari'a courts 

Published Sep 19, 2023 03:45 am

At A Glance

  • The House of Representatives has unanimously approved on third and final reading a measure giving Muslim Filipinos better digital access to Shari'a courts. 

FB_IMG_1695094255324.jpgLanao del Norte 1st district Rep. Khalid Dimaporo (Facebook)

The House of Representatives has unanimously approved on third and final reading a measure giving Muslim Filipinos better digital access to Shari’a courts.

Garnering 251 affirmative votes against zero negative votes and zero abstentions during plenary session Monday, Sept. 18 House Bill (HB) No.9045, or an Act providing Muslim Filipinos better access to Shari’a courts.

The measure aims to amend several provisions of Republic Act (RA) No.9997, or the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMAZF Act of 2009. It paves the way for the “digital transformation” of court services by the Muslim tribunals.

House Speaker Martin Romualdez says that the bill tasks the commission to coordinate with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Supreme Court (SC) in creating a “digital platform that allows paperless filing of routine documents".

He said these include marriage certificate, birth certificate, death certificate, among many others.

Lanao del Norte 1st district Rep. Khalid Dimaporo is the principal author of the measure, which also allows Muslim agency to “enter into Public-Private Partnerships (PPP)”.

This is in order to facilitate the filing of documents that will fulfill its mandate, but with a stern warning that all documents “shall be treated with confidentiality and the right to privacy of the parties shall (also) be observed".

"In the absence of Shari'a courts within their region, Muslim Filipinos outside Mindanao have to spend more just to file entries on the Civil Registry lodged within the office of the Clerk of Court of the Shari'a courts in Mindanao," Dimaporo earlier said in justifying the bill.

The NCMF’s Legal Affairs Bureau is also directed to help Muslim-Filipinos with “legal education” and assist them in cases of litigation; act as the “legal counsel” of the commission, and investigate cases involving its personnel and to submit all the appropriate recommendations.

At the same time, the NCMF’s Bureau of Legal Affairs is tasked to ensure that all Muslim Filipinos should have “equitable access” to Shari’a Courts, and to “facilitate submission of documents for Muslim Filipino litigants who are in a region where there is no existing Shari’a Court.”

Its powers and functions also include assisting the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in conducting census on the actual population of Muslim-Filipinos in the country, and preparing as well an “annual report” on the Muslim-Filipino population.

“The PSA and the Commission shall coordinate on the collection of statistical data for Muslim Filipinos in the national, regional, provincial, city, and municipal levels. The annual report shall include the latest census of population of Muslim-Filipinos, Muslim births, marriages, and deaths for the year,” read a portion of HB No.9045.

A “mechanism” should also be in place, in coordination with the SC, for purposes of filing or submission of legal documents to the Shari’a Circuit and District Courts, including those provided under Presidential Decree (PD) 1083, or the “Code on Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines.”

Related Tags

Sharia Courts Third and Final Reading Khalid Dimaporo
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.