JEDDAH, 28 September — A three-member delegation from Manila has asked the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) here for financial assistance to enable Muslims to acquire their titles for land claims in the Philippines.
The team led by Zamzamin L. Ampatuan, an undersecretary at the Office of Muslim Affairs (OMA), submitted a proposal to IDP President Dr. Ahmad Muhammad Ali early this week.
“We also suggested that the scholarship program for Muslims be enhanced,” Ampatuan told Arab News during a community meeting he addressed at Tropicana Restaurant in Jeddah.
Ampatuan, who signed an agreement with Haj Minister Dr. Iyad Madani for facilitating 4,000 Filipinos to perform the upcoming annual pilgrimage, also had a follow-up meeting at the IDB’s special assistance office and scholarship program.
In our meetings at the IDB, we focused on the need to improve the socioeconomic standard of Muslims concentrated in Mindanao so that every opportunity is made available to the country’s Muslim minority community,” Ampatuan added.
According to him, $100 million has been made available to the development of Mindanao after the 1996 peace agreement, including a token grant of $20 million from the Kingdom and another $20 million from the OPEC Development Fund. Additional funds have come from Asian Development Bank and Kuwait for infrastructure purposes.
Ampatuan, whose team included two other OMA senior executives — Yusoph Z. Kasan, also met with the director at the bureau of pilgrimage here to make arrangements for the forthcoming Haj during their visit, which ended Wednesday.
“The United Maguindanao Expatriates Association (UMEA) organized the meeting, which was also addressed by Consul General Kadatuan P. Usop. Camansa Gunao, president of UMEA, member of the Overseas Filipino Cooperation Council, welcomed the delegation.
