Follow Columban Fr Rex Rocamora on a "Pilgrimage of Peace" to Southeast Asia’s oldest mosque in Tawi-Tawi. Through the simple gift of a favorite pen and a promise of friendship, this story illustrates how deep, historic interfaith connections can transform past divides into a shared future of harmony.
Fr Rex’s (left) visit to Sheikh Karimul Makhdum Mosque on the island of Simunul, Tawi-Tawi. Photos: Fr Rex.
On 4 May 2026, I found myself once again walking toward the Sheikh Karimul Makhdum Mosque on the island of Simunul, Tawi-Tawi, the oldest in Southeast Asia, built in 1380 by the Arab missionary Karimul Makhdum, the first to bring Islam to these islands. My first visit was in 2024, when 22 of us, Catholics, Muslims, and members of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, made what I called a Pilgrimage of Peace.
This time I came with Fr Yrap Nazareno, IRD Director of the Diocese of Malaybalay; Fr Joseph Joy Rocamora of the Diocese of Ipil, my own brother; and Dominic from Myanmar, a Columban FMA student. Dominic and I took the 12-hour bus ride from Iligan to Zamboanga City, where we joined Fr Yrap overnight at Silsilah Harmony Village and met its founder, PIME missionary Fr Sebastiano D’Ambra, recipient of the CBCP’s Bishop Jeorge Barlin Golden Cross Service Award (July 2024). The following morning, we flew to Tawi-Tawi for the 25th anniversary of Fr Ramil Janguin – Fr Bagay, “Friend” in Tausug – faithful to these islands for a quarter century.
At the mosque, a guide walked us through the history: how the local chieftain was initially cautious, but once he converted, the community followed. Islam took root here centuries before Christianity arrived in the archipelago in 1521.
After the tour, the assistant imam invited me to his Madrasah, a simple room where he teaches young children. He took out paper so I could try writing Arabic letters. Then I gave him my pen. “Is this a sign pen?” he asked. “It’s an ordinary pen,” I replied, “but my favorite.” He smiled and promised to keep it.
“It is all about friendship,” Fr Popong Halley once said. In his memory, we held the first Pilgrimage of Peace (POP) in August 2023 in the Prelature of St Mary in Marawi with the first batch of Columban FMA students. This August, as part of the First Mission Assignment program, we do it again, to mark Fr Popong’s 25th Death Anniversary and the Prelature’s golden jubilee, culminating on 20 November. Established in 1976 by Pope Paul VI with Bishop Bienvenido Tudtud as its first prelate, the Prelature of Marawi was itself an act of dialogue, “a reconciling hand to our Muslim brothers and sisters”.
On the outrigger boat back to Fr Ramil’s parish in Bato-Bato, the waves splashed over me. In that wet, prayerful moment, I remembered that my maternal grandfather, a WWII veteran, had migrated from Carigara, Leyte to Jolo, then Zamboanga City, before settling in Ipil, Zamboanga del Sur. Somewhere in these waters ran a thread of my own story. I thought to myself: this could have been my home.
Columban Fr Rex Rocamora is the Columban IRD Coordinator for the Philippines.
Related links
- Read more from the current Columban Interfaith eBulletin
