Lanao del Norte 1st district Rep. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo (Dexter Barro II/MANILA 

Mindanao congressmen want the annual hajj to be "privatized" for the benefit of Filipino-Muslim pilgrims. 

Lanao del Norte 1st district Rep. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo bared in a press conference Tuesday, March 19 that bills for this purpose have been filed by Basilan lone district Rep. Mujiv Hataman and Lanao del Norte 2nd Rep. Sittie Aminah Dimaporo and referred to the House Committee on Muslim Affairs. 

Hajj in Islam refers to the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, which every adult Muslim must make at least once in his or her lifetime. 

Rep, Khalid, chairman of the committee, commented on how the annual hajj under the auspices of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) has been problematic and riddled with irregularities that ultimately burden the pilgrims. 

“Every year, may bagong hajj. Every after hajj, may bagong investigation (Every year there's a new hajj. Every after hajj, there's a new investigation). So, we had one for the 2022 hajj. We had an investigation for the 2023 hajj. Now we are preparing for the 2024 hajj," he said. 

“Before this presscon, I came from the Committee on Public Accounts and we were informed by the NCMF that there really is a danger that hajj 2024 might not occur because of all of these problems that are happening within the NCMF,” he shared. 

“On the part of the House, the Committee on Muslim Affairs is proposing a possible solution and that is the bills filed by Representative Mujiv Hataman and Lanao del Norte Rep. Sittie Aminah Dimaporo and that is the privatization of the hajj," said Rep. Khalid. 

He then went on to explain the point of the bills filed. 

“So, you have to think about it. Kayo (You) are my Christian Catholic brothers, sisters. If you want to go on a religious pilgrimage to let's say, to Israel, to see where Jesus was crucified, why do you have to go through a government agency? 

“Why does a government agency have to dictate where you will stay and yung hotel mo and transportation mo? Shouldn't it be freedom of choice?” he said. 

Rep. Khalid said he hopes that the particular bills will be prioritized, passed on final reading, and then enacted into law. 

“Hopefully, it will be prioritized and it will pass into third reading before we adjourn, even better before the SONA (State of the Nation Address). But that is one of the things that we hope to accomplish in the Committee of Muslim Affairs, the privatization of the hajj,” he said. 

For the past years, reports of stranded pilgrims both in Metro Manila and in Saudi Arabia have grabbed headlines during the 2022 and 2023 hajj.