Traders welcome Basilan’s liberation from Abu Sayyaf

COTABATO CITY— Officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and business groups expressed their satisfaction over the complete clearance of the Abu Sayyaf terror group from Basilan.

Basilan, which has 11 towns and two cities, Lamitan and Isabela, was declared Abu Sayyaf-free during a symbolic multi-sector rite on Monday, June 9, that the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, Carlito Galvez, Jr. and Special Assistant to the President Antonio Ernesto Lagdameo Jr., both attended.

Also present at the event, held in Sta. Clara, the provincial capital of Lamitan City, were Muslim and Christian religious leaders, as well as representatives from business groups in the province.

Mohammad Omar Pasigan, chairman of the Bangsamoro Regional Board of Investments, told reporters on Tuesday, June 10, that this achievement will undoubtedly accelerate efforts to attract investors from other regions and abroad to engage in viable, capital-intensive businesses in Basilan.

“The province has been rising fast, even before that ceremony, as a new investment hub in the Bangsamoro region. This positive development will make Basilan shine even more as an investment destination,” Pasigan, whose office is the conduit of the Bangsamoro government to local and foreign investors, said.

Gov. Hadjiman Salliman told reporters on Tuesday that it was the joint peacebuilding projects of their provincial government, the military’s Western Mindanao Command, the Army’s 101st Infantry Brigade led by Brig. Gen. Alvin Luzon, the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and local executives in Basilan who virtually liberated the province from the Abu Sayyaf terror group.

Merchants in Lamitan City and members of the Basilan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, led by businessman Alex Abujen Jr., were quoted  in radio reports as saying that they are thankful to  Salliman, the Army’s 101st Infantry Brigade, the PRO-BAR, the Police Regional Office-9 based in nearby Zamboanga City, their congressional representative, Mujiv Hataman, and their mayors for having secured the surrender of 523 Abu Sayyaf members in the province from 2016 to 2022,

They also lauded the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for helping address the Abu Sayyaf menace that plagued the province for more than 20 years,

At least members in Basilan of the MNLF and the MILF, which have separate peace compacts with the national government, perished in clashes in the past six years with Abu Sayyaf members they drove away from their bastions that are recognized as "peace zones" by the police and military.

Entrepreneur-lawyer Ronald Hallid Torres, chairman of the Bangsamoro Business Council—which includes members from the five provinces and three cities in BARMM, said on Tuesday that they are considering formulating, together with experts from the trade, tourism, and agriculture ministries of the regional government, comprehensive investment plans for Basilan to attract capitalists from outside the region.

“We are certain that Basilan’s being Abu Sayyaf-free now will be a strong magnet that will bring them in,” Torres said.