IN THE global Halal industry, Turkey occupies a prominent place in discussions on certification, standards, and the regulation of Halal trade. Yet Turkey’s influence in this field cannot be understood solely through its domestic institutions or its position in the Muslim world. It is also connected to a less familiar story that begins in Manila.
In 2015, representatives of Halal certification bodies from different parts of the world gathered in Istanbul for what became known as the HCB Unity Meeting Against Non-Muslim Interference in Halal Issues. Organized by the WHC on June 13 and 14, the meeting was a historic expression of opposition to the European Committee for Standardization’s (CEN) initiative to develop a European standard for Halal food.
Since 2010, CEN had been working through a technical committee tasked with preparing a European standard on Halal food. The initiative was intended to establish a common technical framework, consistent with the broader objectives of European standardization. However, the WHC raised concerns over the composition and authority of the committee, arguing that non-Muslim experts were leading the process while Islamic authorities would be relegated to an advisory role. For the WHC, this was not merely a technical disagreement. It was an attempt to transform a religiously grounded concept into a technical standard governed by institutions outside the Muslim religious community.
The WHC consequently called on Muslim authorities and Halal certification bodies worldwide to unite against what it considered non-Muslim intervention in Halal affairs. The Istanbul meeting sought to establish a common position among Muslim stakeholders and defend their authority over Halal standards and certification.
But why did Turkey become the venue for such an influential gathering? And what does Manila have to do with this story?
The connection can be traced to the early 2000s, when the Philippine government attempted to centralize Halal certification under a single government agency.
In October 2001, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Executive Order No. 46, designating the Office on Muslim Affairs (OMA) as the government agency responsible for undertaking Philippine Halal certification and regulatory activities. The order effectively gave OMA exclusive authority to issue Halal certificates, formulate policies and guidelines, and oversee the implementation of a national Halal certification scheme. This placed private Halal certification bodies, including the Manila-based Islamic Da’wah Council of the Philippines (IDCP), in a difficult position. OMA warned consumers against relying on certifications issued by nongovernment organizations and instructed food manufacturers to obtain certification exclusively from the government agency, disrupting the business operations of private certifiers.
IDCP challenged the constitutionality of the executive order before the Supreme Court. In July 2003, the Court ruled in its favor and declared EO 46 null and void. In its decision, the Court held that classifying food products as Halal was a religious function because the standards were derived from the Quran and Islamic beliefs. By granting OMA exclusive authority to issue Halal certifications, the government effectively imposed its interpretation of Islamic religious requirements on Muslim consumers. The ruling invoked the constitutional principle of the separation of Church and State under Article II, Section 6, and the guarantee of religious freedom under Article III, Section 5, of the 1987 Constitution.
The decision became a landmark in the development of Philippine Halal regulation. More importantly, it helped establish IDCP as an influential stakeholder in international discussions on the religious authority of Halal certification bodies. The organization was already part of the international Halal certification community, but its legal victory provided an important precedent that resonated beyond the Philippines.
This international connection became particularly significant through the World Halal Council. Established in Jakarta in 1999, the WHC was created as a federation of Halal certifying bodies seeking greater coordination and harmonization in certification and accreditation practices. According to the council’s own institutional history, Abdul Rahman T. Linzag of IDCP served as its Secretary-General from 2007 to 2010. This placed a Manila-based Halal certification body at the centre of an international network that was increasingly concerned with defending the religious character and integrity of Halal certification.
Meanwhile, Turkey was developing its own influence within the council through the Foundation for the Protection and Promotion of Halal and Healthy Products, commonly known as GIMDES. Its chairman, Dr. Huseyin Kami Buyukozer, was elected honorary president of the WHC in 2011. By 2015, Istanbul had become an important venue for the council’s international gatherings, with GIMDES playing a visible role in organizing events and advancing discussions on Halal standards.
The Manila-Istanbul connection was therefore not simply a relationship between two geographically distant certification bodies. It was built through the institutional collaboration of IDCP and GIMDES within a global network of Muslim Halal certifiers. Despite the growing prominence of Turkey in the WHC, IDCP remained an important voice in these discussions.
This was evident during the June 2015 Istanbul meeting. Abdul Rahman Linzag was among the speakers in a session devoted to the views of Halal certification bodies on non-Muslim interference in Halal standards. A representative of GIMDES, meanwhile, participated in a session discussing strategies to oppose such intervention. The meeting’s program illustrates how Manila and Istanbul became connected through a shared position on the religious authority of Halal certification.
The relationship would become relevant again when the Philippine government attempted to reform its Halal regulatory framework.
Between 2014 and 2016, Congress deliberated on legislation intended to strengthen the Philippine Halal industry and expand its access to international markets. With the ASEAN Economic Community approaching and the prospect of greater trade opportunities in the Gulf region, policymakers recognized the need to improve the competitiveness of Philippine Halal exports and harmonize domestic standards with international requirements.
This effort culminated in Republic Act No. 10817, or the Philippine Halal Export Development and Promotion Act of 2016. The law created the Philippine Halal Export Development and Promotion Board, chaired by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), with the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) as vice-chair. It also empowered the Philippine Accreditation Bureau (PAB), an agency attached to the DTI, to accredit Halal certification bodies.
Although the law sought to strengthen the country’s export capacity and provide a more coordinated regulatory framework, its institutional arrangements raised renewed concerns among Muslim stakeholders. For IDCP, the issue was whether a government accreditation body without an Islamic religious mandate should have the authority to assess the competence of organizations performing a fundamentally religious function. The distinction is important: the PAB was tasked with accrediting certification bodies, not directly certifying individual products as Halal. Nevertheless, the arrangement reopened the debate over the proper relationship between state regulation and Muslim religious authority.
The WHC and its Turkish leadership publicly supported IDCP’s position. In February 2022, the council issued a statement criticizing the expanded role of the DTI and PAB in Halal accreditation and expressing solidarity with IDCP. It also disclosed that IDCP had filed another petition before the Supreme Court challenging the government’s implementation of the new framework. This demonstrated that the relationship between Manila and Istanbul was not merely ceremonial or commercial; it had also become a channel for international institutional support in domestic regulatory disputes.
The history of Philippine–Turkish Halal relations offers an important reminder that the development of the global Halal industry is not shaped exclusively by governments in Muslim-majority countries. A Manila-based organization helped establish a legal precedent on the religious character of Halal certification, while its international partnerships connected it to influential institutions in Istanbul. The story of Halal governance, therefore, is also a story of how religious authority, commercial interests, and regulatory power travel across borders. Manila and Istanbul have been connected by this debate for more than two decades, and their relationship continues to shape how the global Halal industry is understood and governed.
BIONOTE:
Brian U. Doce, Ph.D. is a practitioner-academic working in the space of public affairs, government relations, and strategic communications. As an academic, he is part-time faculty member of Metro Manila-based universities teaching courses on Political Science, International Studies, and Development Studies.
