Catholic radio station in Mindanao bags ICRC awards

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Two 30-minuter special radio features of Central Mindanao’s oldest Catholic radio station promoting  Muslim-Christian solidarity bagged two major awards from the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross.

The features by the Notre Dame Broadcasting Corp. (NDBC), one entitled Tudok Firiz: Meketefu, and the other, the Mga Bakwit: TNT (Takbo-ng-Takbo) sa Maguindanao, were voted first and second placers, for the "audio category," respectively, during last Wednesday’s 2nd ICRC Human Reporting Awards at the Bayleaf Hotel in Intramuros.

The NDBC has been operating since the 1960s and is known for its advocacy for peaceful co-existence of Mindanao’s Muslim, Christian, and non-Moro highland indigenous communities.

Both produced by the NDBC’s research and production specialist Malu Cadeliña-Manar, the Tudok Firiz, or Mount Firiz story tells of how Maguindanao’s non-Muslim Teduray people struggle to preserve a mountain enclave, surrounded by the adjoining Datu Unsay, Shariff Aguak, Datu Saudi and South Upi towns in the second district of the province, as a hallowed tribal sanctuary and a sacred  place for worship.

Teduray folks around Mt. Firiz have long been complaining of massive political and social marginalization owing to intrusions by forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and recently, by bandits belonging to the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

The episode Mga Bakwit: TNT (Takbo-ng-Takbo) sa Maguindanao, on the other hand,  was all about the miserable life of local folks, made  even more difficult  by recurring armed conflicts in the province, a hotbed of secessionist movements and host to dozens of government-recognized MILF enclaves, and where the BIFF has lately been attacking. - John Unson