Saturday, November 05, 2005
Muslims await special court
The Muslim community in Cebu celebrated Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, against a backdrop of old and yet-to-be-remedied issues and concerns.
Topping these issues is the lack of a venue to settle conflicts peculiar to people of their faith, a Shari’a Court.
House Bill 5991, which seeks to create a Shari’a District Court and a Shari’a Circuit Court in Cebu City and Cebu, has been pending in Congress since Jan. 30, 1996.
Former congressman Bensaudi Tulaweit sponsored the bill.
The United Muslims Federation of Cebu, led by Office of the Ombudsman lawyer Macaundas Hadjira-sul, sent the Supreme Court a petition asking for the opening of at least one Shari’a Court in Cebu, the same way it opened three Court of Appeals (CA) divisions here.
That too hasn’t been acted on.
“Muslims in the Visayas have no Shari’a Court to run to for the settlement of their disputes, even though their number is more than enough to necessitate the creation of at least one Shari’a Circuit Court for each region and one Shari’a District Court for the three regions,” the petition read.
“These Muslims,” it added, “have to go to provinces in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao for the settlement of their disputes” or risk violating established principles of jurisdiction and Presidential Decree (PD) 1083 by going to regular courts.
PD 1083, the Code of Muslim Personal Laws in the Philippines, gives Shari’a Courts “exclusive and original jurisdiction” over offenses such as illegal marriages, certain civil actions like divorce and special proceedings like custody, guardianship and issues related to succession.
The leaders of at least 30 Muslim organizations in Cebu and Central Visayas signed the petition, copies of which were also sent to the Senate, House of Representatives and the Office of the President.
“It is our hope that our concerns will be given attention,” Hadjirasul said.
The Muslim community recently acquired land for a cemetery.
The Cebu City Council, in a session last June, set aside a two-hectare City-owned lot in Katibis, Barangay Guba, for the Cebu Muslim Memorial Garden.
The property was donated through the Office of the Muslim Affairs and came three years since they formally asked the City Government for help.
Under Muslim customs, the dead are to be buried within 24 hours.
And since there are no cemeteries for Muslims in Cebu or anywhere else in the entire region, Muslims are forced to spend a lot of money in sending their dead to Mindanao. (KNR)
(November 5, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
