 Mursalun worked for the material progress of Basilan, and sought ways to fight banditry and piracy in the area.Politically, Basilan became a part of the Moro Province (1899–1914, encompassing most of Mindanao Island).Basilan was then included in the Department of Mindanao and Sulu (1914–1920), a district of Zamboanga Province (1920–1936), and then of the Chartered City of Zamboanga (1936–1948), before it became a Chartered City on its own right at the beginning of the Philippine Republic.