Ramadan in NCotabato peaceful so far

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - The observance of Ramadan in North Cotabato's 17 towns and in the provincial capital Kidapawan City has been peaceful so far.

The province has been peaceful since Sunday’s start of the Ramadhan atonement season, according to North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza, presiding chairperson of the provincial peace and order council (PPOC).

“The provincial government will always value the importance of religious solidarity among the `tri-people’  communities in the province. It will always advocate for religious solidarity amid diversities in practices and religious identities,” Mendoza said.

North Cotabato is home to diverse communities of  Muslims, Christians, and indigenous non-Islamic tribes in its hinterlands.

Mendoza said peace among the communites helped the province recover from the devastation wrought by armed conflicts  between 2000 and 2008.

Senior Supt. Danny Peralta, provincial police director, said Muslims in the first and second districts of North Cotabato, including those dwelling along the 220,000-hectare Liguasan Delta, have been fasting from sunrise to sunset since Sunday.

Peralta said that on Mendoza’s request, Muslim members of the provincial police have temporarily been given lighter duties to  allow them to perform their obligatory prayers during the day for the whole duration of the Ramadan.

Col. Alan Arrojado, commanding officer of the Army’s 602nd Brigade, which has jurisdiction over more than half of North Cotabato's towns, said recent isolated security concerns that hounded far-flung areas in the province were settled diplomatically through the efforts of Muslim and Christian political and religious leaders before the Ramadan started on June 29.

Arrojado said Mendoza had earlier requested the 602nd Brigade to help the police watch over Islamic worship sites in the province during the Ramadan.

Arrojado said Mendoza had also urged the military to maximize its confidence-building programs to boost the cordiality between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front during the 30-day atonement season. - John Unson