Mindanao’s pioneer Catholic newspaper marks 77th year

COTABATO CITY — Netizens, readers and news reporters over the weekend commemorated the 77th founding anniversary of Mindanao’s longest-running Catholic newspaper, the Mindanao Cross.

The first-ever copy of the Mindanao Cross was published in Cotabato City in 1948.

Since then, the weekly newspaper has been promoting interfaith and cultural solidarity among the Christian, Muslim, and non-Moro indigenous communities of Central Mindanao..

The Mindanao Cross, owned by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) congregation, is involved in both preaching through publications and humanitarian work in Cotabato City and the surrounding provinces, including Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

The OMI, whose pontifical base is in Rome, has also been operating the Notre Dame Broadcasting Corporation (NDBC) since the late 1950s.

The NDBC operates AM and FM stations in Koronadal City, the capital of Region 12, in Kidapawan City, Cotabato province, and in Cotabato City, the seat of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao

Besides covering events in the provinces of Region 12 and BARMM, including police, military, and local government activities, the Mindanao Cross also focuses on promoting good governance and fostering harmony among the culturally pluralistic communities in both regions.

Officials of the Moro National Liberation Front, including the chairman of its Central Mindanao chapter and Bangsamoro Labor and Employment Minister Muslimin Gampong Sema, told reporters on Monday, February 10, that they are grateful to the Mindanao Cross for extensively covering the government’s peace overtures with both the MNLF and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

“Now both Moro fronts have separate peace compacts, after negotiations with the national government started in 1976. Now both fronts are together overseeing the Bangsamoro regional government,  a product of the Mindanao peace process,” Sema said.

Some officials of BARMM, led by Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, the figurehead of the MILF, extended their greetings via text messages to the Mindanao Cross editorial team and reporters on the occasion of its 77th founding anniversary.

They separately expressed their appreciation for the Mindanao Cross's continued commitment to "peace and conflict-sensitive journalism" since 1948.