By Lilian Mellejor | Philippine News Agency
DAVAO CITY — President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Thursday asked the Commission on Audit to reconsider its decision disallowing the use of the PHP5 million from the Marawi rehabilitation funds to pay for the 2018 Hajj pilgrimage of Muslims to Mecca.
“I am asking COA to reconsider. Ano ba naman ‘yang 5 million (What is 5 million)? Actually that 5 million is worth billions in terms of your kind, I said generosity, to finance the poor people — Muslim to go for Hajj,” said Duterte, emphasizing the importance of Hajj to Muslims more than anything else.
Duterte said there is no prohibition for the diversion of the money.
“Bakit maging illegal (Why is it illegal) when as a matter of fact there is a 15 million annually set aside for the Mecca journey. So kung merong piso, dalawang piso, eh ‘di allow na ‘yan (If there is one peso, two pesos, you just allow it),” he said in a speech during the Eid al-Fitr celebration at the Arcadia Active Lifestyle in New Matina, here on Thursday evening.
“Ngayon, kung 5 million (Now, if it’s 5 million), it’s just a matter of amount and there is no prohibition,” he added.
When he was Davao City mayor, Duterte sponsors Hajj pilgrimage of Davao Muslims who could not afford to go to Mecca for the annual Hajj – a ritual promoting the bonds of Islamic brotherhood and sisterhood.
The Hajj is the fifth and final pillar of Islam. The city’s sponsorship for poor Muslims to go to Mecca has continued under Mayor Sara Duterte.
“Over the years, it’s not financing of a religious journey. Do not take it in that sense, that there is a separation of Church and State. Take it as a pacification campaign for after all natives man tayo dito (we are all natives here) and we were subjugated,” Duterte said.
The President pointed out that for Muslims, the Islamic pilgrimage is more important than government housing efforts. He said it is the lifetime dream of every Muslim.
“You can forget the housing there being planned by the government but to the individual Muslim believer, limang mansyon ibigay ng gobyerno, but a simple token of generosity makapunta siya makapag-Hajj, mas mahalaga ’yan sa kaniya (government could give five mansions, but a simple token of generosity, going for Hajj is more important for a Muslim),” Duterte stressed.
Duterte said Muslims do not go to Mecca for anything else but to fulfill a religious obligation.
In its 2018 report, COA flagged the HUDCC’s transfer of PHP5 million in rehabilitation funds to the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) for the annual Muslim pilgrimage of some evacuees of Marawi.
COA said the money came from the PHP500 million allocated by the Office of the President to HUDCC for the “recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation of the City of Marawi and other affected localities”.
Del Rosario, who also chairs Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM), has asked COA not to disallow the “vital transaction”. He said the PHP5 million was properly dispensed by the NCMF.
Del Rosario said the Hajj pilgrimage is part of the social healing process and part of the over-all rehabilitation of Mara
