Eid celebration in central Mindanao peaceful

COTABATO CITY --- The Eid’l Fit’r congregational outdoor prayer rites Monday in many areas in central Mindanao that thousands of Muslims attended were generally peaceful, the police and military said.

Major Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division, said Monday all went well in areas where the Eid open-field prayers were held.

“There was good coordination between our units and the regional police offices in the Bangsamoro region and in Region 12 in providing security for the worshipers,” Uy said.

The traditional outdoor ceremony marked the culmination of the month-long Islamic Ramadan fasting season that started last April 3.

Ramadan is a holy month in the lunar-based Hijrah calendar where physically-fit muslims fast from dawn to dusk for one lunar cycle, or from 28 to 30 days, both as sacrifice and religious obligation.

The 6^th ID covers the provinces of Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao, both in the Bangsamoro region.

The division also has units in North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and in Sarangani and in the cities of Koronadal, Tacurong, and General Santos City in Region 12. 

Brig. Gen. Arthur Cabalona, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said he is grateful to local government units in all of the five provinces under his jurisdiction for supporting the Ramadan and Eid security efforts of his office.

“Credit for the peaceful Eid holiday in the Bangsamoro region also has to go to the provincial police offices and all the municipal police stations in the Bangsamoro region,” Cabalona said.  

About 80 percent of around five million residents in the Bangsamoro region are Muslims while the rest are non-Moro indigenous people and Christians.