ZAMBOANGA CITY, 21 July 2005 — Local Muslim religious and international groups are pushing a prominent leader in the southern Philippines to head the government’s Office of the Muslim Affairs (OMA).
Many Muslim groups in the southern Philippines have recommended former Lanao del Sur provincial administrator Datu Mamintal Alonto Adiong Jr. as the next OMA executive director after Zamzamin Ampatuan was named as the lead convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NPAC).
The OMA is the agency tasked to assess and respond to the needs of the local Muslim community.
The influential World Muslim Congress headed by Dr. Abdullah Omar Nasseef also recommended Adiong and even wrote President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to appoint him to the post because of his sincere dedication to serve the Muslim communities in the Philippines.
“We are happy to note the opportunity you have given to many Muslims Filipino to join your government as part of your quest for national unity and reconciliation. Indeed, we are very grateful for this.” Nassif, a former secretary-general of the Rabital Al-Alami Al-Islami and vice chairman of the Shoura (the Saudi Arabian Consultative Council), noted that Adiong has a “great aptitude for a responsibility reflective of the national agenda on planning and management of Muslim affairs.”
Adiong aide Nasser Ganda said they were flattered and encouraged by the huge show of support from different Muslim groups.
A prominent civil engineer who has performed Haj several times, Adiong is the eldest son of former Lanao del Sur governor Mamintal Adiong Sr. and the grandson of ex-senator Domocao Alonto (1955-61).
Alonto, a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission and the first Maranao recipient of the internationally distinguished King Faisal Peace Award in the 1980s, was the author of Republic Act (RA) 1552, which changed the name of Dansalan into Marawi City in Lanao del Sur, in honor of the Marawi Sultanate Confederation. He was the author of the RA 1387, that paved the way for the establishment of the Mindanao State University (MSU) in 1961.
Alonto ended his senatorial stint under the Nacionalista Party in 1961 and devoted much of his time in defense of the rights of the Muslim people. Like his grandfather, Adiong has been largely cited by non-government organizations for his social work in mostly poor Muslim communities on Mindanao island.
Adiong’s group, the League of Masaikh Foundation, had previously led tens of thousands of Filipino Muslim pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for the Haj.
