COTABATO CITY – Nineteen of the 215 Filipino Muslims who attended a recent religious gathering in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia were tested positive of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) and were not allowed to travel back home, an official of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) said Monday.
NCMF-12 Director Datu Mama Sinsuat Jr. said the Malaysian health minister has informed him that 19 Filipino Muslim preachers, also known as “Tabligh,” are being held in various hospitals in KL undergoing medication for Covid-19.
“They were not given clearance to travel back home, they were found positive of Covid-19,” Sinsuat said over a local radio station Monday.
Only recently, one of the attendees passed away at the Amai Pakpak Medical Center in Marawi City. Another one remains under medical isolation at the Cotabato Regional Medical Center in Cotabato City, while tests are still being administered for a third attendee who voluntarily submitted himself for quarantine in Lanao del Sur.
The NCMF said 215 Filipino Muslims attended the Tabligh gathering from February 27 to March 1 at the Jamek Sri Petaling Mosque in Kuala Lumpur.
Of the 215 Filipino-Muslim attendees, 115 were from Lanao del Sur including Marawi City, and the remaining 100 were from Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and other parts of the country.
Aside from Malaysia and the Philippines, the religious event attended by 16,000 people, has also led to infections in the bordering countries of Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, and Brunei Darussalam.
Sinsuat said his office only managed to identify 14 of the remaining 194 Islamic preachers and their names have been submitted to the Bangsamoro region for massive tracking activity.
As the NCMF is concerned, he said the participation of Filipino Islamic preachers in Malaysian was “informal.”
“It was not coordinated with NCMF and that they used the southern backdoor (Tawi-Tawi and Palawan) in going to Malaysia,” Sinsuat said.
Sinsuat has appealed to the immediate relatives of the concerned “Tabligh” to provide the NCMF with information of their whereabouts so that they will be protected and saved from the disease. (With a report from Noel Punzalan/PNA)
