The Philippine House Committee on Muslim Affairs chaired by Rep. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo (1 st District, Lanao del Norte) on Wednesday concluded its investigation based on the two measures regarding the conduct of the 2022 Hajj to Mecca, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
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The House Resolution 7 authored by Reps. Yasser Alonto Balindong (2nd District, Lanao del Sur) and Zia Alonto Adiong (1st District, Lanao del Sur) called for an inquiry, in aid of legislation, into the administration, formulation of policies, and coordination with pertinent agencies by the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) on the conduct of the 2022 Hajj to Mecca, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), which caused hardships on the Muslim Filipino pilgrims.
Similarly, HR 22 by Rep. Mujiv Hataman (Lone District, Basilan) seeks an inquiry into the alleged failure of the NCMF to secure the travel visas of Filipino Muslim pilgrims for the annual Hajj, with the end in view of instituting necessary reforms to ensure a better pilgrimage experience.
Among the issues tackled were the cancelled flights from Manila to KSA and delayed issuance of visas, causing hundreds of pilgrims being stranded, as well as the new system of payment of Hajj-related fees through the ELM portal adopted by KSA, among others. During the hearing, NCMF Secretary Guiling Mamondiong was asked why he opted for the staggered payment scheme for the service providers. He said that he wanted to make sure the pilgrims were protected in case there were violations in the contracts with the service providers.
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In his closing remarks, Dimaporo said that he understood the difficulty of the NCMF as this was the first Hajj after the pandemic and the new reforms instituted by the KSA. “So there needs to be a little bit of learning process. On the other hand also, we have identified quite frankly, I don’t know if we’ll call it negligence or mismanagement on the part of the NCMF,” he said. Dimaporo said he would task the committee secretariat to draft a committee report with recommendations.
He said the members of the panel would decide during the break or before the resumption of session to decide whether or not to pursue further investigation or focus specifically on the preparation for the Hajj 2023.
Flipnews
