News update Restaurants to serve halal meals

DAVAO CITY - Muslims will soon find it convenient to dine out in this city as local legislators passed an ordinance requiring restaurants to serve what is fit to their religious dietary laws.

The ordinance, penned by outgoing Councilor Maria Belen S. Acosta and passed with finality recently, will require all food establishments here to seek accreditation from a Muslim Ulama Halal certifying and monitoring agency.

Once it becomes a law, restaurants found guilty of committing forbidden procedures, such as preparing halal food using kitchen wares previously used in preparing pork-based food, would face penalties of P500 for the first offense and revocation of business permit for the third and final offense.

Muslim communities here are elated with this development as they admit looking for restaurants that adhere to halal can be frustrating.

"Looking for restaurants serving halal meals is really hard for us. Sometimes we would just go to restaurants and order food that has no haram (opposite of halal) ingredient," Moselemen Ayo-Malambut Macarambon Jr., told the Manila Bulletin Wednesday.

"One time, I ordered for a bowl of seafood meal, I got appalled learning there was pork in it," he lamented.