Written by Normina Limbona, IDEALS
“Peace is not always loud, sometimes it is quietly built through stories that are finally ready to be heard.” — Ayesha A. Tale, S’bang Ka Marawi Patroller
In 2025, IDEALS in partnership with the Probe Media Foundation, Inc. (PMFI), and the International Media Support, supported by the European Union and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, held two-day journalism training for 20 core group members of the S’bang Ka Mindanao community media network. The training was an opportunity for the young journalists to revisit the basics of journalism, pitch story ideas, and identify avenues for the network’s visibility and sustainability. From the training, five of the network’s areas were selected and supported for story grants. Among them were Butig-based young journalists, Ayesha A. Tale (S’bang Ka Marawi Patroller), and Jalilah Acraman (S’bang Ka Mindanao Butig Patroller), who sought to amplify their own community’s stories.
In recent years, the municipality of Butig, Lanao del Sur, has been plagued with narratives of conflict and violent extremism. However, for Ayesha and Jalilah, the journey to Butig began only with curiosity and positive hope.
When PMFI approved their story pitch, “Lakbay Butig”, Ayesha and Jalilah initially thought pursuing a documentary film about Butig would be easy and simple to plan, as one of them was a resident herself. Yet in beginning their production, they soon came to realize that it was also a journey of transformation for storytellers like them, and the community itself.
Ayesha shared,
“As we started production, I realized that it was not going to be easy at all, because not everyone was willing to be interviewed. The places we had to go to were far and difficult to reach, I then understood why many people are afraid to visit Butig.”
When the patrollers started their shoot in Butig, they were met by a town still healing, quiet, slow-moving, and carefully rebuilding its sense of normalcy after years of conflict. Infrastructure was limited, and progress was not immediately apparent. This challenged their original story flow and forced them to confront a difficult decision: either force a narrative of visible transformation, or listen more closely to what the community itself was ready to share. They chose to listen.
Instead of focusing on infrastructure, the lens shifted to people, the resilience embedded in daily routines, the courage found in small acts, and the determination to move forward despite uncertainty. Through the “Lakbay Butig” documentary, youth patrollers like Jalilah, stepped into unfamiliar roles as interviewers and storytellers, documenting their own community’s journey.
At first, residents were hesitant to speak on camera. Questions were often met with short, cautious answers. Some interviews had to be rephrased, softened, or postponed altogether. Even local authorities were careful, and the patrollers faced limitations when a military interview request was declined.
“There were moments when we wanted to ask questions directly, but we first had to earn people’s trust because they might think that what we were doing could put them in danger,”Ayesha reflected.
During production, Jalilah recalled all the refreshers she and her fellow patrollers attended. Those sessions were not only meant to equip them with technical skills, but also soft skills that matter in practicing ethical storytelling. She witnessed how young people like them learned to listen deeply, read between silences, and respect boundaries. These are the skills that cannot be taught in classrooms alone.
Jalilah shared,
“That’s when I realized that the youth should not be mere collectors of stories—they are the stories of change themselves. Like us here in Butig, we never imagined that we would become among those telling the positive stories happening in our community. Many people were afraid before, but through making this documentary, we hope we were able to help others see Butig as a peaceful and quiet place in Lanao del Sur.”
When “Lakbay Butig: From Election Hotspot to Peaceful Election” was finally posted on the S’bang Ka Mindanao community media platforms, the response was immediate. Thousands engaged and became interested in the documentary online, showing a version of Butig rarely seen in mainstream media.
Ayesha, as a non-resident of Butig, expressed her appreciation for the opportunity to create the documentary. Through the process, she learned to rekindle value for community journalism. Moreover, the experience helped her counter negative perceptions of Butig. She learned the town’s fragile context, but also learned that upholding the truth means knowing when to pause, adapt, respect and protect the people behind the bigger picture of a story.
For Ayesha and Jalilah, as S’bang Ka Patrollers, Lakbay Butig is more than a succesful documentary. It became proof that peace is a long-term process. Butig and its people have made progress—through stories that amplified people’s unheard voices, through empowered youth peacebuilders.
Brick by brick, story by story, Butig and its people are slowly seeing themselves not as a place of violence or victims of conflict, but as a place and community of active, meaningful change. #