Manila City Hall urges Muslim-Christian unity

While Muslims may have suffered persecution following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, those of Islamic faith in Manila are assured that they would be treated as family, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim said.

“The Muslims are our siblings. So, we need to be united, to be together and to help each other. Enough of the fighting; nothing will happen to it. [For instance,] we all want the peace process in Mindanao to succeed so we can live together peacefully,” Lim said in Filipino at the city government’s Sept. 6 celebration of the end of Ramadan.

Muslims in Manila have lamented that the 9/11 attacks, attributed to the terrorist group al-Qaida, created misconceptions about their faith.

“It damages the image of Muslims. We are for global peace,” Lim’s consultant for Muslim affairs, Bae Bayolan-Tamano Marohombsar, said in a phone interview.

“Some of us don’t even believe the attacks were done by Muslims. It could have been politically motivated,” she added, before begging off from speaking further of the subject due to its sensitive nature.

She expressed her gratitude for the city government’s support for Muslims in Manila, citing Lim’s campaign against piracy in Quiapo as a way for him to “guide them to have a decent living.”

Lim has also expressed plans to include Islam culture and history in Manila public schools’ curriculums.

“We are suggesting to Division of City Schools Superintendent Ponciano Menguito that a subject be introduced in high school so that students will know our historical background involving the Muslims,” he said in a recent press statement.

[When the Spaniards came, Manila was a thriving Muslim community. Its ruler, Rajah Sulayman, was related by marriage to the sultan of Brunei. Sulayman, who resisted Spanish conquest, is honored today in Manila with a plaza and a huge monument in front of Malate church on Roxas Boulevard.]

“For national unity, for lasting peace, there is a great need for us to study and analyze Muslim-Filipino history. This has not been effectively achieved,” Lim said.