This column ran a series of articles exposing the recurring problems encountered by Filipino Muslims going on a Haj pilgrimage to Holy Mecca. The problems had become an annual cycle that past administrators of the National Commission on Filipino Muslims (NCFM) had failed to solve.

This is one of the reasons there has been a constant change of leadership in the agency, a “rigodon” as some observers call it. The immediate past leadership of the NCFM was relieved because of the seriousness of the complaints about the conduct of the religious pilgrimage last year, which the agency is mandated by law to supervise and manage.

When the President appointed a new secretary of the NCFM, a wave of fresh hope swept over Morolandia. The appointment was met with optimism that the problems would finally be addressed squarely and seriously. It helped that the new secretary was a sheik or a leader of pilgrims who had first-hand knowledge of the problems and perhaps knew the solutions for them. But, alas, it was not to be. The Maranaw pilgrims who came back had good and bad news.

The good news was they had nothing to complain about the accommodations and the food served them. According to them, for the first time, their quarters, although not ideal, served the purpose without much inconvenience to them. In fact, their tent in the desert of the Holy Places of Mount Arafat and Mina were air-conditioned and came complete with the amenities they needed.

The bad news was there was no bus or other transportation to ferry them from Mount Arafat to Mina, thus they were exposed to the harsh desert elements while performing the rituals required of pilgrims to complete their pilgrimage. The place in Mina where they were quartered was several kilometers from the shrine where the “stoning of the devil” took place which made it very difficult for the aging and senior pilgrims to perform the ritual.

This was their principal grievance, the “fly in the ointment.” Other than that, they had no issues with the other amenities and accommodations. Incidentally, for the uninformed, the pilgrims before they departed Manila shelled out much of their hard-earned money for the “Mutawif fee” for the food, accommodations, including transportation, while performing the pilgrimage.

This piece is not an indictment of the competence and ability of the new secretary of the NCMF. Far from it. This column takes note of the observation of many that there was so much improvement in terms of the services and supervision by the NCMF officials who were with the pilgrims. Just the same, there is a need for a proactive move to anticipate and address the recurring problems. These are not new problems encountered by the pilgrims but have been there since the pilgrimage started eons ago.

But one must admit that the problems are so daunting that they defy easy solutions. They are so huge that special attention should be paid by any administrator of the NCFM.

Imagine putting together a horde of two million people in one setting to perform the same ritual. There is bound to be chaos and disorder. It’s almost impossible to manage a crowd of that magnitude. In fact, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the host country deserves accolades for successful crowd management and for providing the pilgrims with satisfactory services despite the magnitude of the numbers.

Well, it was a baptism of fire of sorts for the new secretary and he passed it successfully, although as we have described there were problems that could have been avoided. We are optimistic that the next haj pilgrimage will be short on complaints, otherwise, it would give more reasons for critics to campaign for the deregulation or freeing of the pilgrimage from the management of a government agency like the NCFM. Another idea, which surfaced in the face of these problems, is to allow the Bangsamoro Autonomous Government in Muslim Mindanao to manage the pilgrimage through an agency they can create through the regional parliament.

Meantime, hold your horses, readers. Do not judge the new Secretary prematurely. Allow him room to prove his worth.

amb_mac_lanto@yahoo.com