Tribal villages highlight ARMM's Ramadhan festivities

COTABATO CITY -- Thousands have been flocking to the seat of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to watch nighttime Ramadhan activities depicting the area’s culturally-pluralistic settings.A big number of non-Muslims, among them members of the indigenous non-Moro Teduray group, have also been touring the 32-hectare ARMM compound southeast of Cotabato City to watch the regional Ramadhan festivities, which started June 18, day one of the 2015 Ramadhan.People on Sunday night saw Don Mustapha Loong, public works secretary of ARMM, recite the azan (call) to an evening prayer in a mock Tausug village, while the region’s education secretary, John Magno, hosted an iftar, first meal after a day-long fast, in a Yakan enclave nearby.Loong, who is from Sulu, and Magno, of Maluso town in Basilan, are the chieftains of the ARMM’s model Tausug and Yakan villages, respectively.Loong said Tausug employees of different regional agencies are helping manage their village, a prototype of the champion in last year’s contest that capped off the celebration of the 24thfounding anniversary of ARMM. The challenge for us now is how to make at par this time, if not surpass, our good show during the ARMM anniversary celebration where we won as top in the tribal village competition,” said Loong.Magno had put up a loom weaving facility in the Yakan village for people to see how Muslims in Basilan produce the iconic Yakan cloth” using equipment invented by their ancestors. We recommend the viewing of these tribal villages to teachers and students for educational purposes,” Magno said.The villages are showcases of the distinct identities of cultural communities in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao, and the islands of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.Among those who brought family members to the ARMM compound Sunday night was Ma. Theresa Talan-Chua, a key staff of the Region 12 office in Koronadal City of the Department of Trade and Industry.Chua and her children dined together in one of the food booths in a trade fair run by the DTI-ARMM, located near the Yakan and Maranaw villages.Entrepreneur Lalaine Duque, who is engaged in food catering business, also toured the villages to observe the Ramadhan activities of ARMM employees.Urbano Saliling, a Teduray from Upi town in the first district of Maguindanao, said he chartered a small passenger vehicle for P500 just for his family to reach the ARMM compound, 38 kilometers from their municipality. Para sa akin mahirap kitaain ang halagang ginastos ko para lang kami makarating sa lugar pero yung mga natutunan naman ang aking mga anak at mga apo sa aming pagpunta sa ARMM ay mahalaga at nakadagdag pa sa kanilang kaalaman,” Saliling said.Sounds of brass gongs and kulintangs have been reverberating through the ARMM compound every after dusk since June 18, played by Iranun and Maguindanaon musicians as part of the nightly shows in their villages.ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, the main planner of the evening Ramadhan activities, said this year’s cultural events could the last for regional employees under the autonomous government. The ARMM shall be replaced soon with a new Bangsamoro entity through a proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law,” Hataman said.He said his administration looks forward to the enactment into law of the draft BBL. We are confident the Bangsamoro entity will continue these activities to show to the Filipino nation and to the whole world what we have as a people with a proud identity,” Hataman said.The Bangsamoro bill, still pending in Congress, mired by controversies, aims to replace ARMM with a more empowered Bangsamoro government, to be led by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front based on its 2014 peace deal with Malacañang. In the meantime let us focus on observing the Ramadhan in peace and solemnity,” Hataman said.Ramadhan is a holy month for Muslims, where they fast at daytime and focus on reparation for wrongdoings for one lunar cycle, about 28 to 29 days, as a religious obligation and a form of sacrifice for them to learn the importance of self-restraint to achieve spiritual perfection.Fasting during the month of Ramadhan is one of the five pillars” of Islam, which include absolute belief in Allah, praying five times a day facing west, giving of zakat (alms) to the poor and, for those who can afford the cost of travel, performing the hajj (pilgrimage) to Makkah in Saudi Arabia.-