Like their counterparts in the military, Muslim personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP) will also be granted with special leave privileges to allow them to celebrate the Muslim holy month of Ramadan with their families.

Senior Supt. Leonardo Espina, PNP spokesman, said the top brass of the national police organization have already directed all unit commanders nationwide to prioritize Muslim cops in the granting of leave passes.

“This simple gesture of respect and consideration for this important Muslim tradition is the true essence of religious freedom, guaranteed by the state as a sovereign right of every peace-loving Filipino,” said Espina.

“The observance of the holy month of Ramadan for both Muslim and non-Muslim PNP personnel is an appropriate gesture of inter-faith solidarity among police personnel who share a common mission and professional calling as law enforcers,” he added.

On Saturday, Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, chief military information officer, said the leave passes will be divided into three batches until all their Moro personnel availed themselves of the leave for the Ramadan, the Muslim holy month for fasting and praying which started on Friday.

Brawner explained that they could not grant leave passes to all Muslim military personnel at the same time as it could affect the operational capability of their field units, especially in Mindanao where there are a number of Moro military personnel.

Espina, for his part, echoed the same statement, saying the granting of special leave to Moro Muslim policemen will be decided upon by local police commanders, who in turn, were instructed to make sure that it would not result in the crippling of the unit’s operational capability.