President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Bangsamoro officials witness the destruction of surrendered assorted loose firearms during the Panabangan Si Kasanyangan (Peace Offering Ceremony) in Sumisip, Basilan on March 2, 2024. KJ Rosales, PPA pool 

MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday said that his administration eyes turning once war-torn Basilan into the Philippines’ “food and fisheries production center.”

Basilan’s geographical location and quality of soil make it an ideal food hub that can aid the country’s food security woes, Marcos Jr. said in his speech in the southern province.

“You have a land area twice the size of Singapore, blessed with a rich soil, above-all more or less typhoon-free, which makes you an ideal bulwark in our fight for food security,” the President said.

“When your agri-fisheries potentials are unlocked, the whole country, not only Basilan, not only BARMM but the whole country will benefit. This makes Basilan no longer an island far south, but a very strategic island in the front and center of our national goals and our transformation,” he added.

The national government is committed to help Basilan fulfill its new role against the “war on hunger,” Marcos Jr. said.

“Ang kailangan lang ay tulungan ang Basilan para maging isang lubos na food and fisheries production center,” he said.

“Please be assured that we will play our role as partner of Basilan’s great leap forward,” he added.

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Basilan was once known as one of the strongholds of terrorist group Abu Sayyaf that profited from kidnap-for-ransom schemes and beheaded several foreign and local hostages in the 90s and the early 2000s.

The government had launched the Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) and Assistance for Security, Peace, Integration and Recovery for Advanced Human Security in BARMM (ASPIRE) to restore peace in the region.

Abu Sayyaf sub leader Sawadjaan killed in Basilan operation

The continuous development of Basilan is key to turning it into a”an epicenter of peace,” Marcos said.

“Peace is more than the cessation of hostilities. It is about the creation of a social order that values human dignity, improves lives, and promotes progress,” he said.

“Peace is totally achieved not when the sound of gunfire has ended. It is when the clamor for better lives has been met,” he said.

Marcos lauded the people of Basilan for having a “proud history because it refused to continue to be a place of violence.”

“Attacked and threatened, the people of Basilan stood their ground, again and again and again,” the Chief Executive said.

“They never ceded their communities, never surrendered their future to an ideology that clashes with the values they hold dear,” he said.

“This is the kind of peace that we are witnessing in Basilan, of various faiths working together, because people chose not to let diversity be a cause of division, but used it as a source of strength and solidarity,” he added.

Marcos Jr. marked his visit in Basilan by witnessing the destruction of some 400 loose firearms, and distributing several motorcycles to former rebels and gun owners.