A community radio in Mindanao, Philippines continues to give voice to the residents of its town for twelve years now. Find out how it started, how it operates, and what this community radio station’s future plans are.

For twelve years now, the community radio station DXLM-FM 102.5 MHz continues to empower the residents of Maragusan, the farthest town of Compostela Valley, a province situated in Southeastern Mindanao, Philippines. 

The Maragusan community radio fosters unity in the community while respecting diversities in terms of class, ethnicity, religion, and lifestyles. It covers programmes on women, agriculture, environment, youth, senior citizens and religion

This community radio started broadcasting in 1995, using loud speakers to deliver news to town residents. It ran for two years using this modality until the local government unit (LGU) of Maragusan pushed for the use of a transmitter.

The local government has stayed committed in supporting the community radio by providing funds for its operations. According to the town’s mayor Arsenio Yanong, “This has become a project of the people. This is not my radio station that I could manoeuvre to push my political ambitions. Instead, this is owned by the community and the LGU only remains at the back, making sure that it would continue serving the people.”

Run by volunteers, the community radio is comprised of broadcasters from the different sectors, including teachers and religious leaders, who then formed the Kapisanan ng Brodkasters ng Maragusan (Association of Maragusan Broadcasters). The association provides avenues for further development including trainings and other capacity building activities for the radio broadcasters.

With the community radio in place, residents have found a means to easily report complaints, share suggestions and other concerns, while getting immediate response from the authorities, said Cesar Escuadro, chair of the Maragusan Community Media Council.

“We hope and we are planning to further strengthen the power capacity of the radio so we could reach more beneficiaries,” Yanong said.

Source:
“Philippines: Community Radio Empowers Comval Town” from Davao Today, posted on April 12, 2007, <http://davaotoday.com/2007/04/12/philippines-community-radio-empowers-comval-town/>.