THE last remaining 231 stranded Muslim pilgrims left for Riyadh yesterday night and this morning ending their two-week stressful delay at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) Officer in Charge Malo Manonggiring for the Bureau of Pilgrimage and Empowerment, said the 171 Muslims would leave on Friday night while the last batch of 60 pilgrims is scheduled to leave today.
More than 966 pilgrims, mostly from Lanao del Sur (not 3,200 as reported by other news organizations) were left stranded at the NAIA since June 19 because of the delay in the release of their passports and visas
Manonggiring said many of the 900 pilgrims have already boarded flights for Riyadh and Mecca using their own money to pay for their passage.
NCMF Commissioner Yusoph Mando said Philippine Embassy officials led by Consul General Rommel Romato have welcomed some of the batches of pilgrims who t arrived in Riyadh last Thursday.
“Alhamdulillah! All of the pilgrims can leave for the Hajj,” Mando said.
The plight of the Muslim pilgrims left stranded for days in NAIA prompted neophyte Congressman Zia Alonto Adiong (1st District, Lanao del Sur) and Congressman Yasser Alonto Balindong ( 2nd District, Lanao del Sur) to call for an inquiry once the 19th Congress opens in August.
Adiong said he would want to look for the root causes of why this incident happened despite the yearly Hajj pilgrimages.
“There is a glaring lack of concern and empathy for Muslim Filipinos and we can not stand idly as their energy and resources wear thin,” Adiong said in a statement.
He said this incident could have been prevented because Muslim Filipinos make the yearly pilgrimages — stopped only for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Adiong said he could not understand why existing policies failed despite the coordination between the NCMF and the Department of Foreign Affairs.
