The House Committee on Muslim Affairs chaired by Lanao del Norte Representative Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo adopted the substitute bill to House Bills 2587 and 3755, seeking to establish a Muslim Filipino cemetery in every city and municipality with a significant number of Muslim population.
The bills are authored by Lanao del Sur Representatives Zia Alonto Adiong, Yasser Alonto Balindong, and Deputy Minority Leader Mujiv Hataman.
In the explanatory note of HB 2587, Adiong said that presently, it is difficult for Muslim Filipinos to bury their dead due to the lack of public cemeteries that cater to their needs in accordance with their beliefs and traditions.
“Most of the time, we are forced to transport their dead to their hometowns in Mindanao, which is quite costly and difficult for the bereaved family members.”
The legislator said most of the time, they are forced to transport their dead to their hometowns in Mindanao, which is quite costly and difficult for the bereaved family members.
The panel also conducted initial discussions on HB 5045, to be known as “The Shari’a Courts Accessibility Act of 2023,” which aims to provide Muslim Filipinos better access to Shari’a Courts in its absence.
Authored by Dimaporo, the proposed bill would amend Republic Act 9997 or the “National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) Act of 2009.”
The legislator said that when he first started as chairman of the said committee, NCMF came to his office and they discussed the different challenges the commission was facing. He said one of the common problems that they (NCMF) experienced were members of the Muslim community who lived outside Mindanao and had difficulty in accessing the Shari’a Courts for the filing and receiving of routine documents, such as marriage, birth and death certificates as the nearest Shari’a Court would be in Zamboanga City.
The lawmaker said they restudied the law creating the NCMF and found out that there is no specific mandate for them to assist their constituents when it comes to the filing of these documents in the Shari’a Courts.
“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.”
“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,” he noted.
Court Administrator Raul Bautista Villanueva said that in essence, the proposed measure would empower the NCMF to serve Muslim Filipinos, particularly in birth certificates and other important document registration.
Moreover, according to the bill’s explanatory note, HB 5045 seeks to pave the way for a digital platform in the pursuit of providing a paperless process for certain Shari’a Court services.
Lastly, the panel also tackled HB 5594 or the “Philippine Islamic Burial Act,” which exempts Muslims from immediate death certificate registration, prevents the withholding of cadavers during transport or shipment of human remains, as well as penalize any violation of the proposed measure. The bill is authored by Sultan Kudarat Representative Princess Rihan Sakaluran.
