Standard on halal guidelines presented to Arroyo soon
A GROUP of ulamas from all over the country
has already come up with a Philippine National Standard on Halal
Guidelines, a halal advocate in Davao City said.
Aleem Jamal Munib, executive director of the Madrasah in Davao
City, said in Wednesday’s edition of the Club 888 press forum that the
Philippine National Standard on Halal Guidelines will soon be presented
to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
“On January 21, a group of Ulama all over
the country converged in Zamboanga City and we came up with the
national standard on Halal Guidelines which we will endorse to the
President on March 13,” Munib said.
He said the group also created the
Philippine Halal Accreditation Board, which will also be formally
endorsed to the President by Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
Secretary Peter Favila also on March 13.
He added that if the accreditation board will formally be
recognized by the government, it will act as a regulatory board
responsible of filing charges against restaurants, fast foods, and
canned good manufacturers that claim to serve and sell halal products
even if they are not.
“There’s a lot of fast foods, restaurants, and canned goods which
have Halal mark, but in fact they are not Halal certified. This is one
of the concerns we want to address, sa ngayon wala pa kaming ngipin.
But as soon as the board will be recognized by the government, maybe we
can file charges against owners of these food outlets and manufacturers
of these canned goods,” Munib explained.
He said halal is a billion dollar industry that can generate up to US$6 billion annually.
He said with the creation of an accreditation body here in the
Philippines, the industry can contribute a lot to the economic growth
of the country.
“There is a big demand of halal foods in Arab countries. The good
thing about it is we are the only country in Asia that is free from
bird flu. It is our advantage. Hindi kasi tatanggapin ng Muslim
countries ang mga halal export products from the Philippines unless the
process passes through the Philippine National Standard based on Asian
Halal Guidelines,” Munib concluded. (JGRS)
