UAE envoy visits Marawi City on Eid’l Adha, distributes qurban meat

MARAWI CITY — The United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the Philippines Hamad Saeed Al-Zaabi led the distribution of the qurban meat in line with the Meranaw’s Eid’l Adha celebration on Sunday.

About 19 cows given by the UAE ambassador were butchered and distributed to 1,000 residents who were internally displaced after the Marawi siege and are living at Sagonsongan temporary shelters for over two years.

Each cow weighed about 60 to 85 kilos and was equally distributed at one kilo per family, said Association of Barangay Captain (ABC) president, Jun Gandamra.

“During Eid’l Adha, itong feast of scrifice kung sino po iyong may kaya na magpa-qurban, magsacrifice ng isang baka o kambing-isa po itong ritual ng isang muslim, ang pagsakripisyo ni Prophet Ibrahim sa anak niya which instead napalitan ng animal,” he said.

Ambassador Al-Zaabi said he has chosen Marawi City as a place to celebrate Eid’l Adha because of the upcoming projects that the UAE Embassy will soon implement here.

“We are going to construct certain projects which will be focused on the health and education sectors,” he said.

The projects include school rehabilitation in Marawi, construction of a child and youth center, center for orphans and construction of rural health unit in Butig. The project will be funded by the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nanyan Foundation through the UAE Embassy.

“We are just waiting for the feasibility study of the project before its implementation,” Al-Zaabi said.

In his two-day visit on August 10 and 11, the Ambassador also distributed gifts of ‘mokna and kemon’, Maranao attire for men and women in preparation for the Eid’l Adha prayer held at the Sarimanok Tent City Site 2.