Catamco: COVID-19 problem will not dampen zeal of fasting Muslims
HEALTH • 10:00 AM Mon Apr 27, 2020
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By:
John M. Unson
Gov. Nancy Catamco has been touring around to greet Muslim anti-COVID-19 frontliners. (Contributed photo)
KIDAPAWAN CITY --- The resilience of Moro residents in North Cotabato and elsewhere will help them get through the Ramadhan season amid the COVID-19 threat, Gov. Nancy Catamco said Monday.
North Cotabato covers 17 towns and more than 40 barangays in its capital, Kidapawan City, where there is a big population of Muslims, mostly Maguindanaons and Iranuns. There are Maranaws in the province too.
“I wish all of my Muslim constituents a solemn and peaceful Ramadhan. I’m grateful to all of them for cooperating with the provincial government’s war on coronavirus. Many of my Muslim constituents are in the frontlines in fact,” Catamco said.
Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during the 30-day Ramadhan fasting season that started on April 24.
"This COVID-19 problem will not dampen the zeal of fasting Muslims in North Cotabato. They are resilient, patient and persevering," Catamco said.
Fasting during Ramadhan, one of the 12 months in the Islamic Hijrah calendar, is obligatory for Muslims --- as a sacrifice and for them to learn the importance of self-restraint to achieve spiritual perfection.
Lactating mothers, children, the sick and the elderly are exempted from fasting during Ramadhan.
“I am also praying in my own way for the fasting activities of my Muslim constituents not to get affected by this COVID-19 problem besetting the province,” Catamco said.
Catamco, who belong to North Cotabato’s indigenous non-Moro community, said her administration is keen on fostering religious solidarity among Muslims, Christians and the ethnic-non Muslim sectors in support of Malacañang’s southern Mindanao peace process.