OMI launches fifth radio station in Koronadal

KORONADAL CITY, Philippines - Muslim officials on Tuesday lauded the congregation of Orlando Cardinal Quevedo for putting up one more Catholic AM radio station to help promote harmony among local Moro, Christian and Lumad communities.

Quevedo, who belong to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), launched on Monday the Catholic station dxOM-AM in Koronadal City, the congregation’s fifth broadcast facility in Central Mindanao.

“We are so inspired by the nation-building examples of the OMI priests in Mindanao,” the regional governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Mujiv Hataman, who is an ethnic Yakan from Basilan, said in a statement.

Hataman said the OMI’s now five radio stations in Central Mindanao are powerful information facets helping educate the Muslims, Christians and the lumads on the importance of unity amid religious diversities.

The ARMM covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in Central Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

The OMI is engaged in continuing humanitarian missions for needy Muslim and non-Muslim communities in Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi since before World War II.

The congregation, whose pontifical base is in Rome, has been operating radio stations in Southern Philippines since the 1960. It owns stations dxMS-AM and dxOL-FM in Cotabato City, the dxND-AM and dxDM-FM, which are both in Kidapawan City, and the original dxOM-FM in Koronadal City.

OMI missionary Jonathan Domingo, chief executive officer of the Notre Dame Broadcasting Corporation (NDBC), said the new dxOM-AM station, located along Gensan Drive at Barangay Morales in Koronadal City, will broadcast high quality, easy to comprehend news reports premised on the tenets of responsible broadcast journalism.

The OMI radio stations in Central Mindanao, which are grouped together under the NDBC administration, and partners dxGD in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, and the dxMM in Jolo, Sulu, pioneered “peace journalism” in Mindanao, in support of local and multinational efforts to foster lasting peace and prosperity the region.  

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, who is personal friend of Quevedo, said what is fascinating about the OMI radio stations are local programs protecting the tribal and religious identities of Mindanao’s Islamic communities.

“These stations teaches respect for all people regardless of religions and tribal identities and detests any attempt to foment any misunderstanding among the Moro, Christian and lumad sectors in areas where these broadcast facilities operate,” Mangudadatu said.

The inauguration of station dxOM-AM was intentionally jibed by organizers with the December 8 observance of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

The NDBC is known throughout Central Mindanao for its journalism competence and high quality innovative programming that made its stations win national and international awards.

The dxOM-AM now operates digitally with a 10-kilowatt nominal power capacity through a full solid state AM transmitter.