In an effort to attract more tourists to the country, Vice President Sara Duterte underscored the need to strengthen the Halal industries or food and products permitted by the laws of Islam.

In separate courtesy calls to Duterte on Thursday, Malaysian Ambassador Abdul Malik Melvin Castelino and Brunei Darussalam Ambassador Megawati Manan said boosting the halal industries in the Philippines will make the country more friendly for Muslim communities.

The Vice President said she agreed to establishing programs aimed at strengthening the halal to better serve Muslims and foreign tourists.

“With regard to the Halal industry, yes, I agree with you. When I was mayor in Davao City, one of our bigger projects was about tourism. And we were missing out a segment of tourists because there’s much (of them who asked) how strong is the halal industry,” the Vice President told Ambassador Megawati.

“Admittedly, we did not have before so we created the Davao City Halal Council to discuss how we can strengthen the halal industry in Davao City,” she added.

She also shared that she built a halal slaughterhouse during her term as mayor of Davao City.

Meantime, the Vice President also appealed to the collective effort of stakeholders “to have our sights set on an active call for inclusion.”

“To all of us, let us never dim the lights of inclusive education,” Duterte said in her keynote speech during the Language and Inclusion Summit at Marriot Hotel in Pasay City.

She underscored the Department of Education’s MATATAG agenda in basic education which “only becomes truly meaningful and effective if we can put inclusivity at the center of what we do — if we only make inclusivity the heart and the soul of our reforms and efforts to improve basic education.”

“This means that our MATATAG Agenda does not forget, discriminate against, or disregard Indigenous Peoples or our Lumad brothers and sisters, our Muslim communities, or people with disabilities,” said Duterte.