Bishops Praise Deceased Muslim Leader

Bishops in the southern Philippines are praising the peace efforts of a prominent Muslim partner in interreligious dialogue who was reported killed in a car accident on Dec. 6.

PHILIPPINES (UCAN) - Mahid Mutilan was traveling through Matangad village, in Misamis Oriental province, more than 830 kilometers southeast of Manila, when his vehicle was involved in an accident at 5:18 a.m., according to the initial report from the Philippine National Police headquarters in Quezon City, northeast of Manila.

It said the 64-year-old leader was reported "dead on arrival" at the medical center in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental's capital.

Mutilan, president of the Ulama (Islamic scholars) League of the Philippines, co-convened the Bishops'-Ulama Conference (BUC) in 1996 with Catholic Archbishop Fernando Capalla of Davao. They later invited United Church of Christ in the Philippines Bishop Hilario Gomez Jr. as another co-convener.

They saw religion as a way to transform the centuries-old animosity among Muslims and Christians and push development in their war-weary region. Over the last few decades, Muslim rebel groups on Mindanao Island and outlying islands have been fighting government forces to assert their Filipino Muslim cultural identity and their right to rule over what they view as their land.

In a press statement sent to UCA News, Archbishop Capalla said the BUC "has lost a valuable and sturdy pillar in its peace-building efforts" with Mutilan's sudden death.

He said his co-convener "certainly deserved to be rewarded with a peaceful rest with his Creator, the God of peace." Mutilan, the archbishop noted, "had been actively involved in the promotion of peace and development" while holding various posts as a government and as religious leader.

A native of Marawi City, Mutilan had served as mayor of that city, the capital of Lanao del Sur, as well governor of that province and vice-governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, a predominantly Muslim area of the southern Philippines.

Bishop Gomez told UCA News in Manila, "I am not a Muslim, but I cried at having lost a good friend and brother." Mutilan, he continued, "opened up a great reservoir of good feelings towards the Christians of Mindanao."

With the Muslim leader's "assurance," Catholic and Protestant Church leaders could "go to Marawi and other parts of Lanao del Sur which are not deemed as safe," the UCCP bishop noted.

The Protestant bishop, a native of Lanao del Norte, where there are large communities of Muslims, remembers Mutilan as an "extraordinary Muslim" who had "developed a kind of security" that allowed him to deal comfortably with people of various cultures and religions.

He was a "well-educated" theologian and had a "broad experience," Bishop Gomez noted.

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Mutilan obtained his doctorate in Islamic propagation and culture from Al-Azhar University in Cairo in 1980. He also holds a master's degree in Islamic guidance and theology and a bachelor's degree in Islamic theology from the same university.

According to his resume from the BUC secretariat, he had additional master's degrees in philosophy, education and psychology. He served as a missioner in Japan and as a member of the International Islamic Da'awan (propagation) Organization in Tripoli as well as the Southeast Asian Ulama Solidarity Council in Kuala Lumpur.

Catholic Bishop Edwin de la Pena of Marawi spoke with UCA News on the phone about his late "friend." He said he will always remember Mutilan's "welcome" and "assurance of support." He quoted the former mayor saying to him, after his installation as bishop in 2000, "If anyone tries to kidnap you, they will have to do it over my dead body."

Bishop de la Pena recalled Mutilan's role in negotiating with former rebels for the release of the late Irish Columban Monsignor Desmond Hartford in 1997.

According to the 2000 national census, 5 percent of the 76 million Filipinos were Muslims, while Catholics accounted for 81 percent of the population.

About 4 million Muslims live in the Mindanao region, the poorest of the three main Philippine island groups. Development agencies attribute the poverty partly to armed conflicts in the region, including the centuries-old Muslim rebellion.

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Republished by Catholic Online with permission of the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCA News), the world's largest Asian church news agency (www.ucanews.com).