Philippines: Muslim doctors take over on Christmas

DAVAO CITY – Sharing their fellow Filipinos the spirit of giving, Muslim doctors and nurses in the southern province of Mindanao have volunteered to take over work shifts during Christmas holidays, offering their Christian neighbors an opportunity to celebrate Christmas.

“They said they don’t celebrate Christmas anyway,” nurse Mary Divene Hilario from the Information Officer of the Department of Health regional office told MindaNews on Monday, December 17.

“So they chose those dates so that doctors and nurses in these areas can take a break and spend Christmas with their families.”

Affected by the typhoon that hit the country earlier this month, medical services have been put on high alert, making it difficult for Christian doctors to take vacations to celebrate Christmas with their families.

But the situation changed after Muslim doctors from the Integrated Provincial Health Office in Mindanao and Buluan, the hometown of Mindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu, volunteered to take over.

Hilario said several medical teams from local government units outside the region have come to provide health services to the typhoon survivors such as Team Cagayan de Oro, Team Zamboanga, Team Albay and Team Cebu.

Teams from private groups have also been doing their own medical missions, she said.

Christmas is the main festival on the Christian calendar.

Its celebrations reach its peak at 12:00 PM on December 24 of every year.

Mindanao, the birthplace of Islam which reached the Philippines in the 13th century about 200 years before Christianity, is home to more than 5 million Muslims.

Doctors’ Shortage

Despite the Muslim endeavor, doctors’ shortage remains a problem for typhoon-hit areas.

Medicines are not a problem, “We have more than enough,” Hilario said.

“(But) we still need doctors.”

Typhoon Bopha/Pablo has hit Philippines from December 4-9, killing 1,020 people.

It was the strongest tropical cyclone to ever hit Mindanao, making landfall as a Category 5 super typhoon with winds of 160 mph (260 km/h).

Hilario clarified there is no outbreak of diseases, but acknowledged there were three suspected cases of measles in New Bataan, Compostela Valley province.

She said vaccination teams from the regional office were deployed to area Thursday and to Compostela Valley town on Friday.

The hardest hit towns in Compostela Valley are Compostela town, Monkayo and New Bataan while the hardest-hit in Davao Oriental are Baganga, Boston and Cateel.

Out of these six towns, only Cateel has a hospital which has been listed “damaged” in the Regional Health Office’s initial monitoring.

Muslims make up nearly 8 percent of the total populace in the Philippines, which Islam reached in the 13th century about 200 years before Christianity.

Run for Muslim women’s veil on EDSA Sunday morning

MANILA, Philippines – Wearing pink hijabs, young Muslim women will join hundreds of other Muslim professionals, members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and other non-Muslims in a run Sunday on the historic Epifanio de los Santos Avenue or EDSA to promote religious understanding among Filipinos.

“This run by Muslim women on EDSA is the first of its kind and its significance also underlines the need for awareness on the wearing of hijab [veil] as an important part of our Islamic Faith, celebrates diversity and peaceful coexistence in the mainstream,” said Bai Rohaniza Sumndad Usman of the Young Moro Professionals Network (YMPN) that is organizing the event.

“This is also a good opportunity for us to present the positive paradigm about Islam in response to the different challenges being faced by Muslims,” she added in a statement released by the AFP public information office.

The event, dubbed “Hijab Run for Peace: Religious Understanding Now,” will be from the EDSA People Power Monument to the AFP Grandstand. It will start at 6 a.m.

It comes on the eve of the signing of the so-called Framework Agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Malacañang on Monday.

The agreement has been described as the blueprint for a final peace accord between the government and the MILF.

“This run is a very promising event as it is also timely with the signing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro region. This goes to show that our nation continuously commits itself in winning the peace and it is our call in this gathering for all Filipinos to welcome this development and altogether give peace a chance,” said YMPN Chairman Nash Kasim.

Amirah Gutoc, chair of the YMPN Committee on Women, added that the group believes that “religious understanding and freedom (are)  a vital step towards achieving peace in our country.”

Gutoc said that the run was a “symbolic response to the negative portrayal of Muslims in media, following the hype by the controversial film Innocence of Muslims that caused violent reactions locally and in areas in the Middle East and also in relation to the recently discriminatory policy of banning the hijab in private schools and certain health facilities in the south.”

For AFP Chief of Staff General Jessie Dellosa, the Hijab Run “is a symbolic activity where all religions could converge and unify for a single purpose of increasing awareness for social unity and equality.”

“In light of the recent developments in our quest for peace, the whole Armed Forces supports this gathering to show our solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters who undertake initiatives that bring us closer to just and enduring peace for the country,” he said.

Also expected to join the event were AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Civil Military Operations  Rear Adm. Miguel Jose Rodriguez, Presidential Assistant for Muslim Concerns Yasmin Busran Lao, Philippine Commission on Women Chairperson Remedios Ignacio-Rikken, officials from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, Department of Health, National Commission on Muslim Filipinos,  and civil society organizations.