Cebu judges see real need for Shari’a courts in Visayas

Regional Trial Court judges from Cebu believe that there is a need to create Shari’a courts in the Visayas that would cater to legal issues among Muslims in the region.

 The RTC judges from the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu stipulated this concern in a resolution they passed after a three-day seminar/workshop on comparative analysis between the Family Code and the Code of Muslim Personal Laws.

 The resolution was then forwarded to the Supreme Court, the proponent of the seminar.

 The judges acknowledged the absence of Shari’a courts in the Visayas despite the growing number of Muslims in the area. The Office on Muslim Affairs has recorded around 300,000 Muslims now residing in the Visayas, however, no Shari’a court is available to implement Presidential Decree 1083 or the Code of Muslim Personal Laws.

 The Code of Muslim Personal Laws governs persons, family relations, succession and customary contracts of Filipino Muslims. The judges are pushing for the creation of a Shari’a Circuit Court each for Regions 6, 7, and 8 and one Shari’a District Court for the whole Visayas.

 “Indeed, there is no Shari’a Court now in the Visayas to implement the Muslim Code among the Muslims in the area…realizing the urgency of the need therefore, we hereby express our full support to the petitions of the Muslims in the Visayas for the creation of at least one Shari’a Circuit Court for each of Regions 6, 7, and 8, and one Shari’a District Court for the whole Visayas,” the resolution reads.

 The Supreme Court has ordered the seminar/workshop to be mandatory for all the RTC judges from the three cities, categorizing the same as “official business.” — Joeberth M. Ocao/MEEV