AT LEAST 2,000 Muslims gathered to celebrate Eid’l Fitr or Festival of Breaking the Fast, at Plaza Independencia in Barangay San Roque, Cebu City, on Saturday, April 22, 2023.
According to an official from the Office of Muslim Affairs and Indigenous Cultural Communities (OMAICC) in Cebu City, this year’s attendees surpassed the number of attendees in 2022, which was only 1,800.
Dr. Ijodin Saripada Mamacol, the executive director of OMAICC, said Muslims from cities of Mandaue, Talisay and Lapu-Lapu, as well as members of Muslim tribal groups such as the Maranaos, Tausugs, Maguindanaons, Yakans and Balik-Islams, or those who have returned to Islam, also attended.
Other nationalities from Saudi Arabia, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Iran also joined the gathering that took place on the plaza grounds in front of Fort San Pedro.
The three-hour-long gathering began with praying the Eid Salat, or the holy holiday prayers in the Islamic tradition, led by an imam. Afterward, the members of OMAICC and the Cebu City Government prepared a communal meal shared by Muslim groups and families.
Datu Abubacar Gunang, the development management officer of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF), described the observance of Ramadan as orderly, stating that many Cebuano Muslims followed the dawn-to-dusk fasting and prayed the Salat five times each day for the past 30 days.
However, he said some Muslims were exempted from fasting due, such as pregnant or nursing women, those with illnesses or ailments, children under the age of adolescence, and the elderly. Travelers were allowed to postpone their fast but were encouraged to resume it immediately if they had the opportunity.
In some countries, especially in the Middle East, Eid’l Fitr was observed on Friday, April 21. However, in the Philippines, the holiday was postponed to Saturday because the NCMF’s moon-sighting activities failed to produce any evidence of the crescent moon.