1 month ago
23
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
John Unson - The Philippine Star
February 20, 2026 | 12:00am
Physically fit Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during Ramadan, a holy month in Islam, and focus on reparations for wrongdoings and reconciliation with adversaries as a religious obligation.
The STAR / Ryan Baldemor
COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Residents of Bangsamoro and other southern cities and provinces yesterday started their month-long Ramadan fasting season.
Physically fit Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during Ramadan, a holy month in Islam, and focus on reparations for wrongdoings and reconciliation with adversaries as a religious obligation.
Fasting during Ramadan is one of five fundamentals of the Islamic faith, which include absolute belief in Allah, praying five times a day facing west, giving of alms to the poor and, for those who can afford the cost of travel, a pilgrimage to Makkah in Saudi Arabia – seat of the Islamic faith – even just once in a lifetime.
Two non-Muslim local officials, Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza and her counterpart in South Cotabato Reynaldo Tamayo Jr., separately told reporters yesterday that they will expand their humanitarian programs for Muslim constituents, in support of the
national government’s peace overture with southern Moro communities.
Tamayo, presiding chairman of the Regional Peace and Order Council 12, said he has requested the Police Regional Office 12 and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division to secure worship sites.
Three Muslim members of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM)’s 80-seat parliament, lawyers Jet Lim and Naguib Sinarimbo and physician-ophthalmologist Kadil Sinolinding Jr., began their separate Ramadan humanitarian activities for Muslim constituents on Monday, supported by chief minister Abdulrauf Macacua.
Macacua on Wednesday issued a memorandum, for all ministries and support agencies of the BARMM government, directing fasting employees and their officials to work from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., from Monday to Friday, so they can leave early and have enough time to prepare for iftar, or first meal after a day-long fast.
Sinolinding, who is overseeing the Ministry of Health-BARMM, said all emergency response operations will continue during Ramadan.
Bangsamoro Labor and Employment Minister Muslimin Sema, chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front, said MNLF members in BARMM shall support Ramadan security missions of the police and military.
Lt. Gen. Donald Gumiran, commander of the Western Mindanao Command, said they appreciate the commitments of the MNLF, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, provincial officials in Cotabato and South Cotabato and Macacua to cooperate in maintaining law and order.
No immediate dangers tied to religious activities have been monitored, police chief Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said.
In Metro Manila, over 350 police officers have been deployed for security operations.
Speaker Faustino Dy III, for his part, said Ramadan is a time for discipline, sacrifice and solidarity. – Jose Rodel Clapano, Mark Ernest Villeza
