ZAMBOANGA CITY, 29 November 2006 — Sharif Ibrahim Ajibul Mohammad Pulalun, the sultan of Sulu and North Borneo, yesterday said the passage by the Senate of a bill declaring the Philippines’ oldest mosque as a national shrine was long overdue.
“For so long now, we have asked the Philippine government to declare the Sheikh Karimul Makhdum mosque as a national shrine and it is only this time that the Senate recognized the country’s oldest Islamic landmark,” Pulalun said in a news conference in Zamboanga City.
The Senate passed the bill last week.
The mosque in Simunul town of Tawi-Tawi, the southernmost Philippine province, was constructed in AD 1380 by an Arabian missionary, Sheikh Karimul Makhdum, who introduced Islam to the Philippines long before the arrival of the Spaniards, who introduced Christianity.
The mosque is right in the heart of Tubig Indangan in Simunul. Sheikh Makhdum was buried in the same place and a simple marker stands on his grave.
The National Historical Institute (NHI), which is tasked to supervise the preservation of the site, has noted that the four big pillars of the mosque remain as they were originally.
Sen. Edgardo Angara, the proponent of the bill, said the introduction of the Islamic faith opened the country’s doors to civilization and has contributed to the enrichment, vibrancy and diversity of the Filipinos’ unique culture.
“This mosque, the first ever constructed on Philippine soil was laid long before the coming of Western colonizers,” said Angara, a former president of the University of the Philippines and chairman of the Senate Committee on Peace, Unification and Reconciliation.
In his sponsorship of the bill last year, Angara said: “We are in need of reconciling with our Muslim brothers in the south and I cannot think of any greater symbolism than this one. It is a most opportune gesture of friendship to our Muslim brothers.”
He said the declaration of a national shrine implies that the site would be part of the country’s national heritage.
In 1965, then President Ferdinand Marcos went to the site to install a historic marker giving it recognition as the first mosque in the Philippines.
“Muslims in the Philippines are rejoicing about this latest development,” Pulalun said.
A similar bill has also been filed in the House of Representatives by Rep. Juan Edgardo M. Angara, the senator’s son.
House Bill 00087 was co-authored by Rep. Erico Basilio A. Fabian of Zamboanga City, Rep. Hussin U. Amin of Sulu, and party-list Rep. Acmad M. Tomawis
“In the same manner that the Roman Coliseum is celebrated and revered up to this day, so should we honor and protect one of our country’s most important historical structures,” the younger Angara has said in his sponsorship speech.
Earlier, the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) approved a law declaring the Sheikh Karimul Makhdum centennial celebration as a special nonworking holiday in the southern Philippines.
