‘Shari’ah law applies only to Muslims’

COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao:  Shari’ah law experts have given assurance that their justice system will apply only to Muslims in the proposed Bangsamoro Region. The system will protect religious free-dom and it does not prejudice Christians, indigenous peoples, and other non-Muslims living in the re-gion.

In a recent forum conducted by the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) in partnership with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) among Bangsamoro Shari’ah lawyers and the academe, Shari’ah expert lawyer Ubaida Pacasem emphasized that the Shari’ah sys-tem in the Bangsamoro will apply only to Muslims as had been practiced since the Islamic justice was adopted and made part of the Philippine judicial system in 1977.