Radio station for peace to rise in Basilan's former 'shabu capital'

BASILAN, Philippines — Stakeholders will launch Monday a “peace radio” station in the former shabu capital of Basilan province.

Besides having a new radio station, the municipality of Maluso, where the Abu Sayyaf once had camps, also boasts of a branch of the Land Bank of the Philippines in its town center established just a year ago.

The new FM station, to focus on peace-building programs to foster religious and cultural solidarity among Muslim and Christian communities, is a joint project of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance, or IAG, the Zamboanga Integrated Development Alliance and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development.

The setting up of the broadcast facility is part of the Modeling Inter-Local Government Alliance in Western Basilan Project of the three entities and the office of Gov. Jim Salliman.

The IAG, a partner of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung of Germany, has been helping capacitate the local government units in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The ARMM was replaced early this year by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Maluso Mayor Hanie Bud told reporters Sunday he is thankful to the organizations that provided them with a radio station that they can use as platform for propagation of peace in the town.

The LGU of Maluso received the Seal of Good Local Governance in 2017 and in 2018 from the Department of the Interior and Local Government for efficient fiscal management and its continuing peace and security programs.

The LGU is again a candidate for the 2019 SGLG citation.

“We shall be forever grateful to the IAG and its local and foreign partners, to the provincial government of Basilan and to the office of our congressional representative,” said Bud, who was first elected mayor in 2016.

Maluso then was notorious for unsettled feuds involving heavily-armed families and for being a major transshipment point for shabu in Basilan province.

The municipality now has white sand beach resorts in seaside barangays where there was Abu Sayyaf presence in the past.

In a statement Sunday, the IAG said its development initiatives in Basilan are being supported extensively by Rep. Mujiv Hataman, who is also deputy speaker at the House of Representatives.