page_title: Basilan
section_title: Politics
hierarchical_section_title: Basilan / Politics
caption_attribution_description: English: Isabela City Plaza — in Basilan, of the Mindanao region in the southern Philippines.
context_page_description: The Province of Basilan is an island province of the Philippines in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. Basilan Island is the largest and northernmost of the major islands of the Sulu Archipelago. It is just off the southern coast of the geographic Zamboanga Peninsula.
  Isabela, the former capital, is a component city under the provincial government of Basilan but is administered as part of the Zamboanga Peninsula Region and is listed statistically independent. The provincial capital has since been transferred to Lamitan.
  Basilan is home to three main ethnolingusitic groups: the indigenous Yakans, and the later-arriving Tausugs and Chavacanos. The Yakans and Tausugs are predominantly Muslim, while the Chavacano are mainly Christian. There are also a number of smaller ethnic groups. Although the official languages are Tagalog and English, the main native language is Yakan and lingua franca is Chavacano. Other languages include Tausug, Cebuano, and Sama.
  Basilan, although classified as a 3rd-class province in terms of gross provincial income, has one of the lowest incidences of poverty in the Philippines, ranked 20 among the Philippines' 80 provinces.
context_section_description: Basilan's politics has been dictated by its economics. Whereas only 33% of the island's residents originate from Christian tribes in the Visayas and Luzon, this group owns 70% of the island's developed arable agricultural land (private ownership or cooperatives as farmer beneficiaries). The Yakan tribe, comprising 41% of the island's population, has full control of local governments outside of Isabela and Lamitan. The Tausugs, Samals and Bajaus, forming 25% of the population, control nearly 90% of the island's aquatic harvest, while the minuscule Chinese segment of the population controls nearly 100% of all commodity trading and commerce activities, especially in the bigger cities.
  This volatile mix of ethnic and religious groups have defined political realignments in the island for most of its history. The Christian tribes, traditionally allied with the Tausugs, controlled Basilan politics until the 1980s, when the Yakans, aided by their almost absolute control of the hinterlands and the disappearance of the multi-national plantations, scored upset victories in electoral contests starting in 1988.
  This political combine has since seen some in-fighting from two of the most formidable power blocks to have formed since the 2004 general elections. Both blocks went head-to-head in the 2007, 2010 and 2013 local elections with mixed results.
  The Akbar block (Liberal Party - Atienza Wing & Lakas-CMD/Kampi) was led by the late Wahab Akbar, three-term Basilan governor and clan patriarch, together with his wives, and his nephews and nieces, all of whom won mayoral posts in all the municipalities as well as Isabela City, which is under his second wife Cherrylyn Santos-Akbar.  Hja. Jum Jainuddin-Akbar, the incumbent three-term Governor of Basilan assumed the leadership of the block after Wahab Akbar himself, who was elected congressman in 2007, was assassinated in November 13 of that year. Cases were filed against Gerry Salapuddin ang Mujiv Hataman, having been accused of having master-minded the assassination. The 2013 Elections proved the staying power of the Akbars as the clan, celebrating the twin victories of both Governor Jum and Mayor Cherry, heralded the election of Alfiya Akbar-Fernandez, eldest daughter of Gov. Akbar, as the top-notcher Provincial Board Member for District 1, and Al Qaid Akbar, eldest son, who won as Isabela City Councilor. The Akbars won all of their electoral contests since 1998. Gov. Jum Akbar won in all Cities and Municipalities in Basilan, except Hdji. Muhtamad (Pilas) in the last election, with an electoral landslide of over 60,000 votes against her only opponent. This is her third and final term as governor. Mayor Cherry Santos-Akbar likewise won handily in Isabela for a third and final term in that City.
  The Hataman block (Liberal Party) - Roxas/Aquino Wing) is led by Mujiv Hataman, elected Regional Governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in 2013, a close friend and ally of Philippine President Benigno Simeon Aquino III. He is joined by his brother, Rep. Hajiman Hataman-Salliman, Congressman of the Lone District of Basilan, and his wife, Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman who won a seat as a Party-list representative in Congress, representing Anak Mindanao Party-list. They are joined by a number of clan members who likewise won local positions, especially in their bailiwick of Sumisip  Municipality in Basilan. The Hatamans can boast of a mixed bag of electoral victories and defeats since 2004. Mujiv Hataman is in his first term as Regional Governor of ARMM, Cong. Jim Salliman is on his second term as Representative, and Cong. Sitti Djalia Hataman is on her first.
  The Salapuddin block (Lakas-CMD/Kampi) is led by Abdulgani "Gerry" Salapuddin, three-term governor, three-term congressman and two-term Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. To him, the 2007, 2010 and 2013 elections proved to be a débâcle, as he and his daughter - Rabia Salapuddin (who ran for governor in 2013) lost on all fronts. The Salapuddins have lost all elections since 2007.
  The Akbars and Hatamans forged a p
caption: Present-day Isabela City Plaza (formerly Plaza Misericordia; note the Rizal monument and Plaza Rizal in the background)
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