GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The city government of General Santos, through the City Mayor’s Office Integrated Cultural Communities Affairs Division (CMO-ICCAD), presented at the Philippine Councilors League (PCL) Year-End Assembly on Wednesday, December 6, at the World Trade Center in Pasay City the Shari’a Atas Bitiara, a comprehensive and balanced conflict resolution program for Muslims being implemented in the city.
CMO-ICCAD Division Chief Jocelyn Lambac-Kanda, a Shari’a counselor and the Shari’a action officer, narrated how the mechanism effectively addresses conflicts in General Santos City involving Muslims, or whether one of the parties is a Muslim.
The Shari’a Atas Bitiara is one of the ten programs of the local government units that won the 2023 Galing Pook Awards.
Kanda briefly narrated how the program was conceptualized, passed into ordinance, and implemented by the members of the Shari’a Consultative Body, which is comprised of Ulama (Islamic scholars), Kadatuan (Moro traditional leaders), and Shari’a counselors.
“The presence of the Ulama, Kadatuan, and Shari’a counselors as members of the mediating team facilitates the speedy resolution of cases through dialogue and amicable settlement,” Kanda said.
From 2019 to date, Kanda related that the Shari’a Atas Bitiara has resolved more than four hundred cases. Shari’a Atas BIitara was implemented by virtue of City Ordinance No. 55 series of 2028.
“Atas Bitiara is literally a ‘high council of mediation’. In the ordinance, it refers to an approach to settling disputes based on PD1083, or the Code of Muslim Personal Laws and Moro customary laws,” she said.
“Shari’a Atas Bitiara project facilitates the amicable settlement of conflict relating, but not limited to, marriage, divorce, paternity and filiation, guardianship and custody of minors, support and maintenance, claims for customary dower (mahr), bethrotal, breach of contract to marry, solemnization and registration of marriage and divorce, rights and obligations between husband and wife, paternal authority, property relations between husband and wife, inheritance, and many other concerns,” Kanda explained.
She added, “Aside from settling conflicts through mediation, this project was also designed to promote the Code of Muslim Personal Laws, facilitate marriage counseling in Muslim communities, and assist in the registration of marriage, conversion, and divorce in partnership with the Shari’a Circuit Courts and Local Civil Registry.”
City Councilor Dominador Lagare Jr., the co-author of the ordinance and then chairperson of the Muslim Affairs Committee of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, joined Kanda in the presentation.
Kanda urged other LGUs, which have a considerable population of Muslim constituents, to take a look at Shari’a Atas BItiara and consider replicating the initiative.
The other LGUs that won the 2023 Galing Pook Awards also shared their respective LGU programs. (Gandhi Kinjiyo, CMO-ICCAD Gensan/PIA SarGen)
