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.