COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Four offices of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines on Thursday received citations for having helped ensure the welfare of thousands of Muslims who left in May for Saudi Arabia for the obligatory hajj and returned last week to their provinces.
Bangsamoro Transportation and Communications Minister Paisalin Pangandaman Tago told reporters here on Saturday that they have provided with special citations the CAAP offices in the airports in the cities of Zamboanga, Davao, General Santos and Cagayan de Oro for having supported extensively the regional government’s effort of guaranteeing the convenient travel of its constituents who performed the hajj, or pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
“We are thankful to the officials and personnel of CAAP in these four airports,” Tago said.
Tago said the Ministry of Transportation and Communications-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is as grateful to CAAP's office in the Cotabato Airport in Barangay Awang in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, only about eight kilometers south of this city, the capital of BARMM.
Thousands of Muslims in the six provinces and three cities in BARMM joined this year’s hajj to Makkah in Saudi Arabia.
Performing the hajj, for those who can afford the cost of travel, is one of the so-called five pillars of the Islamic religion, which includes belief in Allah, praying five times a day facing west, fasting from dawn to dusk during the month of Ramadhan and giving of alms to the poor.
Officials of the Bangsamoro Civil Aeronautics Board facilitated the turnover early this week of the citations to CAAP's offices in the airports in Zamboanga, Davao, General Santos and Cagayan de Oro , according to Tago.