THE HOLY month of Ramadan for Muslims ended last week. During its final days, I was fortunate to attend two iftar invitations from my Muslim friends based in Manila. Allow me to share some of my realizations and discoveries.
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On March 12, I attended the iftar Thanksgiving dinner organized by the Halal Development Institute of the Philippines (HDIP)—one of the leading halal certification bodies in the country. The event was attended by various government officials, foreign dignitaries, and representatives from companies in the Philippine food and pharmaceutical industries. This was my first time attending an iftar dinner, as I am not a Muslim. My interest in religion stems from my research focus on the faith-based market of the halal industry and the politics of Mindanao.
Upon arriving at the venue, I was warmly welcomed by HDIP personnel, some of whom have become my friends. Before the program began, I met an ustadz (a religious teacher in Islam) who is a balik Islam—a non-Muslim who converted to the Islamic faith. As a former Christian, he shared his conversion story with me. While I am a Roman Catholic myself, I did not feel offended; instead, I became deeply interested in his faith journey.
My curiosity about his journey is rooted in my academic interest in religion. Since 2010, surveys among Filipinos have indicated a gradual secularization of Philippine society, particularly among Roman Catholics. One notable finding is the increasing number of Filipino Catholics who no longer attend Sunday Mass regularly. These trends are further supported by sociological studies on Filipino religiosity. Some Filipino sociologists of religion have observed that many Catholics express their faith through “right living” rather than “right believing.” In other words, especially among the youth, faith is often manifested through ethical behavior and relationships rather than strict adherence to doctrine.
While I do not dispute these findings, I believe there is another dimension that scholars should explore more deeply—the increasing number of Filipinos, particularly Christians, who are converting to Islam. This phenomenon likely reflects a complex interplay of historical, political, economic, and personal factors that deserves closer academic attention.
Another realization concerns the role of the Philippine halal industry in the broader economy. Since I began immersing myself in this faith-based market in 2022, halal industry advocates have consistently argued that its development is key not only to empowering Filipino Muslims but also to achieving lasting peace in Mindanao. This argument is premised on the idea that economic development can help eliminate the remaining pockets of extremism in the southern Philippines. As such, calls for stronger government support for the halal industry are often framed within the broader agenda of peacebuilding and the political autonomy of the Bangsamoro region.
However, my attendance at the HDIP iftar dinner revealed another important insight: Christians are also part of the promise of halal industry development. During the event, I met several Christian employees of HDIP. This experience led me to realize that while the halal industry is inherently rooted in Islamic principles, its economic benefits are not exclusive to Filipino Muslims. Rather, its expansion creates opportunities that extend to the broader population. This provides even more reason for Filipinos to support the growth of this sector.
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On 14 Mar, a friend from the Halal Industry Development Office of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) brought me to another iftar dinner hosted by the Malaysian Embassy in the Philippines. The Malaysian embassy-hosted iftar dinner was organized for the benefit of Filipino Muslim children taken care of Dar Amanah Foundation, an orphanage based in Silang, Cavite, created to take care of orphaned Filipino Muslim children.
Conversing with other guests present, I learned that the Malaysian Ambassador to the Philippines, Dato Abdul Malik Melvin Castelino Anthony, is a sponsor and patron of the Dar Amanah Foundation. To be honest, this was my first time to learn about the existence of an orphanage dedicated to the care of orphaned Muslim children in the country.
Learning about the support of the Malaysian Embassy to the Dar Amanah Foundation made me realize that there are a lot of untold stories about Malaysian assistance and contribution for the Philippines to become an inclusive society.
As a trained political scientist, my political science lectures at the University of Santo Tomas during my undergraduate years covered the role of Malaysia in the past in brokering the peace talks between the rebel groups in Mindanao and the Philippine national government.
In 2022, the Malaysian government also pledged its commitment to support the development of the Philippine halal industry during the state visit of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Since then, Philippine President Bongbong Marcos Jr. has consistently included the halal industry, especially tourism, in his annual State of the Nation Addresses (SONA) and speeches at ASEAN-related events.
As the Philippines continues to develop its halal sector, Malaysian assistance remains crucial—not only because of Malaysia’s long-standing expertise, but also due to its global leadership in mainstreaming halal trade. Existing scholarship notes that as early as the 1990s, Malaysia played a key role in institutionalizing the inclusion of religious services within the United Nations’ Central Product Classification (CPC), which is linked to food standards under the Codex Alimentarius. These efforts led to the formal inclusion of a subcategory for religious services in 1997, labeled as “product subcategory 9591”.
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As ASEAN’s current chair, the Philippines should sustain its efforts to harness the developmental potential of the halal industry. Beyond prospects for investment and employment, the expansion of this sector contributes to building the social capital necessary for a more inclusive society—an element that, as development studies suggest, is a key driver of long-term economic growth.
Brian U. Doce is a practitioner-scholar with a background in politics and international relations. Aside from being a lecturer in various universities in Manila, Brian has experienced working in the space of business-government relations, policy advocacy, and diplomacy. He is currently finishing his PhD at the Indo-Pacific Research Centre of Murdoch University in Australia. You can reach out to him via his e-mail: scholarbud@gmail.com.
