Growing travel restrictions

Growing travel restrictions

By: Abdel Aziz Dimapunong

In a memorandum dated last Friday, November 24, 2006, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez of the Philippines said he had received confidential information about illicit human trafficking of Indians using Manila’s international airport. Because of the report, the memorandum ordered all immigration and airport officials to monitor and conduct surveillance on the entry of Indians, Pakistanis and Afghans to this country.

In another airport only four days before the order in Manila, six Imams in USA were investigated by police and airport authorities in Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The six Imams in USA were already aboard Flight 300 of US Airways when they were asked to leave the plane last November 20, 2006. This was a report featured by the Philippine Daily Inquirer last Wednesday, November 22, 2006, with a source from the Associate Press, Minneapolis.

According to the report, police assistance was called upon when the Imams of USA refused to leave when asked to do so by the captain and the airport security. When finally they were taken off the plane, they were investigated before being released. According to Omar Sahin, one of the Imams, they were humiliated “in a very disrespectful ways”.

According to the spokeswoman of the US Airways the incident was triggered by an anxious passenger who slips a note to the flight attendant, only raising (unfounded) concern. After the investigation, nothing wrong was discovered.

The Council on American Islamic Relations in Washington, through its spokesman, Mr. Ibrahim Hooper, expressed anger at the detention. In this same way, the Manila-based International Islamic Civilian Relations officially expressed today its disappointment with the captain and the flight attendants of Flight 300 US Airways.

Only one day before the Minneapolis incident, I wrote a blog about profiling Muslim identities. In that blog I wrote: Was Moses a Muslim? Yes, he was a Muslim. Non-Muslims call him Moses. The Muslims call him Musa Alaihi Salam. Many Muslims bear the name Musa. Many others are named Moses or Moshe. What difference does it make? What is in a name? And then I said that variations matter in some major cities of the world, more specifically inside international airports.

The incident at the airport reminds me of a joke about an immigrant at one of the free ports of North America when it was popularly known as the land of the free.

This is only a joke but I shall not deliver the punch line. At the beginning of its history North America was well known as a land of the free. Entry to this new world was sought after. It was then very easy to become an American citizen (Many Filipinos also became American citizens). In those days (according to this joke), only three questions were asked for an immigrant to enter into the land of the free and be among its citizens. The following is a transcript of one of those interviews. Again this is only a joke without a punch line.

The immigration officer asked an immigrant: “What is your name?” The immigrant replied, “My name is Abram.”

The officer said, “If you can answer just three questions, you become a citizen of North America, the land of the free”

First question: “Who was Christopher Columbus?” Abram replied: “Sir, he was Christoval de Colon, a maritime explorer.” The officer rephrased the question for clarity: Who was Christopher Columbus in relation to America. Abram replied: “Sir, Don Christoval Colon discovered America.” The officer replied: “That’s correct.”

Second question: “Who was George Washington? Abram replied: “Sir, George Washington was the first presidente of North America. He founded the Count”. “That is correct, “the officer said.

Final question. The officer said, “If you can answer this final question, then you are welcome to the land of the free. You become a proud American. You shall have your homestead as far and wide as your eyes can see. You will also have freedom of religion. You can be a Christian, a Mohammedan, a Buddhist, or whatever you choose.

The final question was: “Who was Abraham Lincoln?” Abram replied, “Sir, he is my namesake. He is Ibrahim or Abram for short. In my place, he is known as Abe de Linc.” The officer rephrased the question: “Who was Abe Lincoln to the Americans? Abram replied: “To be specific sir, Abe Lincoln declared on January 1, 1863 that all slaves are forever free. He made the Count free. ”That is correct, said the officer. He hugged Abram who just became a citizen in the land of the free. This is just a joke. It could have been true. Under present condition, it is just impossible to happen.

Who was Abram? It did not and still does not matter.

The Islamic Bank as a chartered bank

By: Abdel Aziz Dimapunong

Chancellor, Islamic Banking Research Institute

I have just uploaded a pdf file of an update (October 2006 Edition) of the Charter of the Amanah Islamic Bank of the Philippines. The file maybe downloaded with the following link.


http://www.keepmyfile.com/download/17ac5f1156861

Because the file is rather long, I am writing below only the introductory portion.


Introduction

Today, we face challenges that are rapidly expanding in the age of information technology. In order to capture the opportunities presented by this changing environment, we need to review and refresh so we can act and respond positively with global reach. The changes that we face today are so pervasive in the way they are taking place. It is driven by a force of extraordinary advances that reverberates globally through the World Wide Web. This is a force in Cyberspace that is transforming banking and commerce from conventional to e-commerce. The wind of change is blowing upon every business entity and regulatory agencies including Central Banks in some countries.

It is for this reason that we in the Islamic Banking Research Institute, and the Islamic Bank (Private) itself have decided to review and refresh the charter of the Al Amanah Islamic Investment Bank of the Philippines.

By way of review we recall that as early as 1993, we had to provide some footnotes to some provisions of Republic Act No. 6848, the charter of the Al Amanah Islamic Investment Bank of the Philippines. The first occasion presented itself when on June 2, 1992; a court order was erroneously issued by then Judge Zosimo Angeles of the Regional Trial Court of Makati, Branch No. 58. This was a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) in civil case No. 92-1487, a result of a baseless complaint filed by directors of the abolished Philippine Amanah Bank who permanently lost their jobs.

The court order enjoined both parties to the case as cited above to observe the status quo then prevailing. At that point in time, there existed two banks in that legal controversy. They were as follows:

1. One was the defunct Philippine Amanah Bank created under Presidential Decree No. 264 as amended which a board consisting of six (6) members who were to serve until the new Islamic Bank shall have been organized was then managing. The Philippine Amanah Bank was abolished and its charter, PD 264, was repealed entirely by Republic Act 6848, the charter of the new Islamic Bank.
2. The other one was the newly organized Al Amanah Islamic Investment Bank of the Philippines created under Republic Act No. 6848. This bank was organized on April 28, 1992, just one month before the court order. It was being managed by a Board of Directors under the leadership of Abdel Aziz Dimapunong, founding chairman and chief executive officer, and Macapanton Abbas, Jr, Ali Malambut, Grande Mitmug Dianaton who were elected pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act No. 6848.

The court order was wrongfully issued by then Judge Zosimo Angeles. It was ordered lifted by the High Court of Appeals in its Decision in Case No. CA-GR No. SP No. 28445, Abdel Aziz Dimapunong vs. Judge Zosimo Angeles. The Decision was promulgated January 13, 1993. The Judgment was made final and executory on June 16, 1993. Farouk Carpizo appealed it to the Supreme Court in UKD-11290 but the highest court ordered it TERMINATED, there being no merit in the appeal.

Although the court order was issued in error and was lifted one year later by another court order in the form of a Decision, both the lower court order and the high court order had some effects on some provisions of RA 6848. For one, the lower court order that enjoined a status quo prevented a turnover of the assets and liabilities of the abolished Philippine Amanah Bank to the Islamic Bank.

The Decision of the Court of Appeals also clarified the fact that there are private stockholders in the Islamic Bank. Among those named in the Decision were: Macapanton Abbas Jr., Ali Malambut and Grande M. Dianaton. These stockholders were in the minority in 1992. But a few years later, they became the majority and controlling stockholders. On the other hand, the National Government of the Philippines, owing to its mounting deficits, failed to invest subscribe to any shares of stocks of the Islamic Bank.

There were other major occasions when annotations and commentaries on Republic Act 6848 became so necessary. Footnotes were not enough when the Philippine legislature put an end to the Old Central Act, Republic Act No. 267. Needless to say, the end of the Old Central Bank Act washed all the powers of the old Monetary Board away. Congress enacted a new Central Bank Act, Republic Act No. RA 7653. This new law created the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas to replace the old Central Bank of the Philippines. Under this new Central Bank Act, the powers of the Monetary Board were diminished.

On May 23, 2000, the Philippine legislature also put an end to the General Banking Law, Republic Act No. 337. Needless to say, all the powers of the Monetary Board that were derived from the General Banking Law were also washed overboard. Congress enacted a New General Banking Law of 2000; Republic Act No. 8791 which greatly enhanced the powers of the Islamic Bank. Section 71 provides that:

“The organization, ownership and capital requirements, powers, supervision and general conduct of business of Islamic banks shall be governed by special laws.”
So, today, the General Banking Law of 2000 no longer governs the Islamic Bank. The general banking law governed other banks. This means that the Islamic Bank is an autonomous bank, in the same way that its area of responsibility that is the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is also autonomous by provision of law.

Since the organization of the Islamic Bank in 1992, the Monetary Board, which never had a Muslim member, had been very much remiss in fulfilling its duties to the Islamic Bank. However, since 1992, the Islamic Bank has been gaining powers and exemptions by newly enacted laws in the Philippines.

It is with hope that this writing will shed light to some still lingering issues about the Islamic Bank. And, after we are refreshed with the implementation and development of Islamic banking in the Philippines, we hope to stir more awareness and further interest on the concept of Islamic banking in general.