Meeting between Filipino bishop, Muslim leader gestures stronger interfaith tolerance, harmony

The meeting between the Filipino bishop and the Muslim leader gestures for stronger interfaith tolerance and harmony.

Bishop Socrates Mesiona, Apostolic Vicar of Puerto Princesa, recently visited Muslim leader Hadji Jamael Kasim, demonstrating a strengthening interreligious rapport in Palawan, the country’s largest province by land area.

The bishop visited the Kasim to express solidarity with him and other Muslim brethren. 

“I actually wanted to accord you respect, to show you respect as a leader,” Mesiona told Kasim.

The Muslim leader has also expressed appreciation for the bishop’s gesture.

“It’s the first time that a priest, a bishop, has visited me,” Kasim said in Filipino. “We also see each other at events in the plaza,” he added, referring to interfaith gatherings in the province.

Kasim assured Mesiona of interfaith tolerance and harmony.

“We are like a broom that, when bound together, no one will say that this one is a Muslim and that one is a Christian,” Kasim said in Filipino.

“We are all humans, after all,” Mesiona said.

Kasim recognizes the strong harmony between Christians and Muslims in the town.

Palawan is a predominantly Christian province. But Muslims represent a significant share of Palawan’s population, especially the southern part of the province, estimated at 10 percent of the inhabitants. The religious influence in the area could be traced back to the Sulu Sultanate and Brunei Muslim missionaries.

Interfaith cooperation between Christians and Muslims in Palawan includes environmental conservation, like seaside clean-ups.

The bishop paid a courtesy visit to Kasim in his store in Balabac, a town in Palawan, on the early morning of March 10.

He was accompanied by Divine Word Father Rodrigo Salazar, parish priest of ICP Balabac Parish, and some parish church leaders.