For decades the people of Mindanao have been suffering the effects of violent conflict at a cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and the displacement of millions of residents. There have been peace agreements, like the agreement between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front in 1996, but these accords failed to secure a lasting peace.
The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was created three years ago with the ratification of its basic law, the Bangsamoro Organic Law following a two-part legally binding plebiscite in Western Mindanao. For smooth local governance, the Ministry of Local Government was also created, which is the regional executive department of the BARMM. With the new system, hopes were high that peace will finally reign and the region can now focus on its economic development.
In the past weeks, Maguindanao, the nerve center of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, has recorded a spike in hostilities perpetrated by the province’s armed groups which should have been stopped, given the MILF officials’ promise years ago that creation of the BARMM would address Mindanao’s problems (Read, “The BARMM ‘tinderbox,’” in the BusinessMirror, April 10, 2022).
Reports said the flare-up of hostilities was brought by a confluence of events and was influenced by political, economic, territorial control and even administration issues.
International Alert Philippines (IAP), a conflict monitoring group that maintains a strong presence in Mindanao, raised the alarming situation in BARMM in its security brief issued in February dubbed, “Internal Ruptures Within the Bangsamoro.” IAP noted that the “run-up to the 2022 elections has seen a remarkable escalation in violence between and among actors least expected to be the source of uncertainty, instability and crisis in a region transitioning from conflict to peace.” It added that “the rupture is occurring within the ranks of armed groups that have entered into peace agreements with the government but not with their rivals.”
The report said the “intra and intergroup” violence is pitting the clans and armed followers of MILF commanders, “decommissioned or otherwise,” against each other. “Not a week passes where there is no news about an MILF commander fighting or squaring off with the rival Moro National Liberation Front or the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters,” the conflict-monitoring group said.
The IAP cited the ambush-killing of MILF-Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) Inner Guard Commander Peges Lentagi Mamasainged and eight of his men in Guindulungan, Maguindanao on February 12. Mamasainged’s cousin, Jordan Mama Lintang alias Commander Jordan of MNLF, reportedly led the suspects. The ambush site was located within the perimeter area of Camp Bader, a known camp of the MILF that straddles the towns of Guindulungan, Talayan and Datu Unsay.
“These camps are supposed to be the beacons of the peaceful transition from conflict where massive infrastructure and development investments are being poured by development banks and bilateral and multilateral aid agencies,” the IAP said.
“Ruptures between kinship networks and former comrades-in-arms are often propelled by enduring land conflicts between MILF commanders, between MILF and MNLF commanders, and between MILF and other armed groups of indigenous peoples and settlers,” IAP said, adding that the violence involving armed groups in the province was aggravated by political feuds involving politicians in Maguindanao, notably in Guindulungan, Datu Piang, Shariff Aguak, Datu Paglas and Cotabato City.
It said another battle in Talitay, Maguindanao concerned control over political office in the town and the province of Maguindanao, as well as control over the “illicit trade and distribution of illicit drugs.”
The conflict-monitoring group warned that these clashes erupting in BARMM should be watched keenly as rivalries intensify between “armed groups at various levels.”
“It is important to understand that these tensions are partly the outcome of a twist in the political posturing of the MILF leadership regarding local elections,” IAP said. It added that tensions and conflicts are not only limited to the politicians and members of armed groups in Bangsamoro, but also include non-Moro indigenous communities who were allegedly bullied by the MILF, MNLF and another armed group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
The BARMM runs the risk of being labeled a failed experiment, unless its leadership made up mostly of former MILF commanders will act fast to stop the violence and conflict gripping Central Mindanao. It is about time for the region to unlock its full economic potential, but only good leaders can do this. Leadership in Islam is rooted in belief and willing submission to the Creator, Allah. In their quest for peace and economic prosperity, BARMM leaders should realize that success comes from only one powerful source.