The Philippines - albeit being a Muslim minority - is trying to capture a sizeable chunk of this thriving market despite domestic trade still being at its infancy stage.  But it is gaining much progress, tells Datu Tahir Sinsuat Lindasan Jr, Director of External Relations, Halal and Technical Department of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) - the government agency that exclusively handles the country's halal matters.  Datu Lindasan admits that not having a concrete local halal trade is due to the fact that several agencies -with different perspectives - have been tasked to deal with halal issues, hence, resulting in conflicts. Until the later months of former President Gloria Arroyo's term this year that NCMF, through Republic Act 9997, was finally given the powers, functions, responsibilities and appropriating funds as well as other purposes for matters involving Muslim Filipinos, including halal. 

 

Since NCMF only assumed powers this year, Datu Lindasan acknowledges that the halal meat industry is not an established trade yet but is confident of having one few years from now.

 

 

 

According to the Asean General Guidelines on the Preparation and Handling Food, halal food is "any food that does not contain components or products of animals that are unlawful as food to Muslims in accordance to the Shariah Law or lawful animals that are not slaughtered according to Shariah law."  The halal principle, says Datu Lindasan, is everything except those that are prohibited by God stated in the Holy Koran and these are pork, intoxicating liquor and animals with talons.  Cow is halal but Lindasan says slaughtering it should follow a ritual called sabiha. The sabiha, according to Asean guidelines, is to effectively drain the body of animal's blood, resulting in more hygienic meat. In the process, it aims to minimise the pain and agony of the animals. The guidelines also stipulate that the knife's blade should be extremely sharp yet not be sharpened in front of the animal; the animal must not be slaughtered in front of other animals; and the animal's eyes and ears must be checked to ensure its health and suitability for slaughter. If it is deemed healthy, it should be given water to drink before slaughtering.  Genetically-modified organisms and antibiotics are also strictly prohibited for halal animals.

 

Recently, the Department of Agriculture (DA), in coordination with the NCMF, announced that modification of halal standards for food commodities will be sped up for the country to be able to tap the multi-billion dollar halal market. The standards, which were initially developed by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), will be refined to effectively harmonise standards and certification procedures. According to Sani D.

 

Macabalang, Head of the DA- Halal Food Industry Development Committee, this will be done following a visit by foreign participants of the International Halal Poultry Standards Training Workshop in October this year to a poultry plant which allegedly did not follow halal standards, thus, putting the country in a bad light. 

 

Macabaleng said such malpractices are possibly proliferating among plants which are hell-bent on penetrating the halal market even to the extent of twisting and violating regulations.

 

For this reason, the DTI recommended the adoption of halal standards of Australia which have effectively implemented halal systems that readily fit Muslim countries' regulatory framework. According to the DTI, the Australian halal system will raise the bar of halal conformance in the country, particularly of Filipino Muslim slaughterhouse workers.  This will also strengthen the acceptability of halal certification issued by Philippine Islamic organisations.

 

Amid the developments, Datu Lindasan claims that local halal meat has yet to take off.  "There had been significant increase in halal abattoirs but the problem right now is we're neither a production nor a consumer-based halal market. We neither produce cows, we don't produce halal chicken and we're not even a consumer-based halal market. But it can be 5-10 years from now. I think we are already late in our halal operations."

 

 

 

Oddly, Thailand - a non-Muslim country - has been very successful in conquering the halal market, even overtaking Muslim nations Indonesia and Malaysia. Datu Lindasan explains that these countries encountered policy problems, similar to that of the Philippines. "Eight years ago, Singapore, Malaysia Indonesia and Thailand are talking about halal standards. Malaysia and Indonesia can never agree on what their standards should be and cannot even adopt the Asean draft halal standards. Thailand immediately adopted the standards and had a document ready to carry back to their government.  Malaysian states cannot agree on what halal standards they should adopt. For example, Wrigley company is okay with (certifying agency) Jakim but if you put in another state, it again has to get halal standards or halal acceptance.  Jakim has another halal certifying counterpart. Hence, regulations became confusing. This is what is happening here, only that in Malaysia the conflict is in the form of Muslim agencies whereas here, it is between government agencies. We were taken over by DTI and DA before and only in this year, we were granted through RA 9997."

 

Datu Lindasan stresses that since halal is integrated in Muslim culture, NCMF should intervene simply "because we're Muslim Filipinos."

 

"There is one specific provision that instructs the NCMF to promote and develop the Philippine halal industry and we are duty-bound to define what is halal, to create standards and implement such to promote the industry.  Now the word halal is already in Philippine jurisprudence and we can now give part of our mandate to DA and DTI in form of memorandum of agreement or memorandum of understanding."

 

The newly-minted NCMF gave Datu Lindasan confidence that the country can already move forward just like Thailand, which already accounts for 68%-70% of the halal market.  "State regulation can exist when you have specific standards. You cannot delegate something which in the first place does not have power to do such.  With NCMF capping the mandate, we can now move on."

 

 

 

Since only five million Filipinos are Muslims, the best market for the Philippines is to go global. For instance, conglomerates like San Miguel and RFM are producing halal chicken but supply cannot even meet the demand. "We're the only non-Muslim country in Asia that has halal jurisprudence, meaning we can now define what is halal and other agencies can now come out with standards based on the powers given by NCMF. Our opportunities are now very vast in the international market," says Datu Lindasan.

 

According to him, one global halal company says the Philippines is one country to watch out for. "We move so fast that we have already come up with the halal law. Neighbouring countries are always planning to come up with halal laws. However, as of this time, this has not materialised. So right now, only Thailand and Philippines have come up with clear laws and we can develop existing mandates and develop new ones," shares Datu Lindasan.

 

The biggest concentration of Muslim consumers are in Indonesia with 212 million;  Pakistan, 158 million; Bangladesh, 127 million; Egypt, 69 million; Iran, 67 million; Turkey, 66 million; and Nigeria with 64 million. Non-Muslim countries with sizeable Muslim population include India with 174 million; China, 38 million; Russia, 11 million; US, five million and Thailand with 4.5 million. Hopefully, the Philippines can get a good slice from the halal market pie.

 

Since halal process is stringent - from the care of animals, certifying their health, and the manner of slaughtering - Datu Lindasan assures that halal products are of very high quality. "When you see the halal label, it means there's no contamination in every aspect. So it's healthier." Moreover, since halal standards are highly regarded, halal products - particularly in exports - are more expensive and consumers tend to pay for brands that they know are of quality and have been processed on known halal benchmarks.  Of late, a myriad of companies are lining up to get halal certification from the NCMS and the agency is delighted that halal is highly-recognised even by non-Muslims.

 

Now that NCMF officially takes the halal helm, Datu Lindasan believes that there is no way for the halal market but up. "We have so many vast lands and maybe we can use that for halal and put an end to the problems faced by some Muslim areas, particularly those that are rebel-infested. With the help of Organization of Islamic Conference for instance, we can put up Islamic facilities because it's a halal area. You can easily get the sympathy of the people because you are putting up something that is close to their heart."

 

Datu Lindasan adds that the local halal meat industry will tremendously benefit if it tries to partner with halal meat producing countries such as Australia and New Zealand, aside from adopting their regulations. "Maybe if we assert their limitations, for example feed, I think we can supply that. In that way, we don't compete with them directly but both parties will benefit."

 

Industry experts are optimistic that with NCMF official halal standardisation and certification, this will lead to wider market accessibility, higher gross national income and create new jobs.

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