ILOILO CITY, Philippines, March 14, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – As part of Muslims’ unrelenting efforts to wash away misconceptions about their religion, a Filipino Muslim lawmaker has recently tabled a bill on the inclusion of the basic teaching of Islam in the college curriculum.

“I believe that requiring all colleges and universities to integrate in their curriculum a subject on Islam and the Muslim is a feasible and credible answer,” Representative Faysah Dumarpa told IslamOnline.net.

She said the course would include a brief study on the basic teachings of Islam and the history of the Filipino Muslims and may be taken as an elective subject.

This “will enlighten and broaden the majority of Filipinos on the subject” and help foster “cultural sensitivity awareness”, maintained the lawmaker.

Dumarpa hopes the measure would be supported by her colleagues - both Muslims and Christians.

The bill will be submitted to the Committee on Muslim Affairs and would be debated in the House of Representatives.

Once approved, it would be passed to the Senate for passage. It will still need a presidential approval to become a law.

Dumarpa recognized that the proposal, at first glance, might seem favorable to the religion of Islam and may constitute a violation of the constitution, which provides for a separation of religion and state.

But, she maintained, awareness and cultural sensitivity are also very important, as these are powerful tools for the achievement of peace and development.

The lawmaker said her drive was motivated by the misunderstanding of Islam and growing bias and discrimination against her fellow Muslims.

“The level of cultural awareness of most Filipino about Islam is at its lowest and we need to heighten this to fully grasp the real issues on Mindanao problem and accord its ultimate remedy,” said the lawmaker.

Dumarpa lamented that many Filipinos, and even in some part of Mindanao, the home of most Filipino Muslims, see the Muslim populace “as barbaric, uncivilized, terror-loving and violent people”.

She said even some educated individuals have a negative impression about Muslim Filipinos and these can be corrected through education.

Filipino Muslims have complained of being wantonly tagged as “terrorists” and criminals, particularly in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

They say there is a brewing Islamophobia that has hit places around the world including the Philippines, which has an estimated Muslim population of 10 million.

Yusuf Ledesma, a Filipino Muslim, earlier told IOL that “by education, by showing the beauty of Islam to others” the misconceptions of Islam can be corrected.

Senator Francis Pangilinan had championed a bill to strengthen and develop the Madrasahs, including infrastructure development, nutrition and feeding program, classroom facilities, textbook assistance funds, scholarship grants, education loan fund, in-service training fund for teachers, and scholarship grants to children of teachers.

He said one of the ways to address the issues in Mindanao is to focus on the issue of Muslim education and to empower the Muslim youth to take charge in reshaping Mindanao.

The Fund Assistance to Madrasah Education Act of 2002 aims to enrich and harmonize the Madrasah system to make it compatible and at par with the formal education system.