COTABATO CITY—The local officials and members of conservative Muslim political party Ummah have declared their support for the presidential bid of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
Led by its Philippine chair, former Ambassador Aleem Ameroddin Sarangani, Ummah has embraced Duterte’s advocacy of a shift to federal form of government to address the Moro’s bid for self-determination through genuine autonomy.
Sarangani broke the news on Friday afternoon in Marawi City.
He said the Ummah party was supporting Duterte because of his strong and popular advocacy.
Former regional assemblyman Abdul Malik Laguindab of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), who was with Sarangani when the party announced its support to Duterte, said unlike the Catholic Church, Islam did not espouse the doctrine of separation of the Church and the state.
Earlier, Shiek Aleem Jamil “Mutawa” Yahya, one of the founders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and imam of the Islamic Center of Marawi City, came up with a video statement on social media endorsing Duterte for president and Agakhan Sharif for vice governor of ARMM.
With estimated regular members numbering to 50,000, the conservative Markhazooshabab Philippine Muslim Foundation hosts Mindanao’s counterpart of the Ummah party.
Sarangani and Laguindab declared Ummah’s support to Duterte in the presence of hundreds of its members. RC