The event kicked off with a caravan on the Basilan Circumferential Road culminating at the Basilan Government Center, Lamitan City.

Mayor Turabin-Hataman was one of the local chief executives and local legislators from the two component cities and eleven municipalities of the province along with members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan who graced the occasion. The team from the City Government of Isabela included Councilor Karel Anjaiza Sakkalahul representing Vice Mayor Jhul Kifli Salliman, City Administrator and concurrent City Legal Officer Atty. Adzlan Imran, City Tourism Officer Claudio Ramos, PESO Manager Aradelria Belleng, LEDIPO Chief Jaime Juanito Rivera, and Assistant CHRMO Mojahed Cosain, along with select LGU employees.

The activity was also participated by representatives from the security sector, national government agencies, civil society groups, and other stakeholders. Held in-person for the first time after three years due to the coronavirus pandemic, Governor Jim Salliman and Vice Governor Yusop Alano and the entire provincial administration hosted the gathering as Basilan looks forward to its 50th Founding Anniversary next year —a milestone in its history.

Harking on the theme “Confronting Challenges: Weaving Successes, Enriching Nature, Culture, and Economy,” Governor Salliman in his keynote invoked the many challenges the island province has faced and the changes it has embraced toward the path of lasting peace and prosperity that rewards all Basileños.

Tennun Pakaradjaan Basilan is the annual province-wide celebration of the conversion of the then Basilan City into a province —the only such instance in modern Philippine history—and the world-renown weaving heritage of the Yakan, which has become the most ubiquitous symbol of the Province of Basilan and its most visible cultural icon. (Words by M. Guerrero/Photos by M. Santos, CIO).