Introduction: The Road from Conflict to Peace

Some geographies carry borders not only on maps, but also in people's memories. Seas, mountains and islands may separate countries from one another; yet memories, identities and senses of belonging accumulated over the course of history often continue to live far beyond drawn borders. Mindanao and Sulu, in the southern Philippines, are such a geography. For centuries, these lands have borne the imprint of different cultures, faiths and political structures. The story of the Moro Muslims is therefore not merely a story of wars and agreements; it is also a story of preserving identity, remembering the past, and seeking a place for oneself in the future.

This story reaches far beyond the modern Republic of the Philippines. Muslim communities in Mindanao and Sulu developed their own political and social structures before the colonial period. Spanish and American colonial rule, followed by the establishment of the independent Philippine Republic, brought profound political, demographic and social changes. Land arrangements, population movements and the strengthening of central state structures gradually widened the distance between historical memory and the new political reality.

Some conflicts do not begin one morning with the firing of guns. They first accumulate in memory. The grievance of one generation becomes the narrative of the next; narratives gradually become part of identity. As unresolved political questions deepen, words may give way to weapons. The modern history of the Moro question developed to a considerable extent in this way, with Moro movements emerging from the late 1960s and becoming part of one of Southeast Asia's longest and most complex armed conflicts.

Yet what makes the Moro experience particularly significant is not simply the length of the conflict. It is the possibility that a political struggle that began through armed confrontation could, over time, move towards negotiation, accommodation and the construction of new institutions. The journey was neither short nor linear. Ceasefires collapsed, negotiations were interrupted, and hopes repeatedly turned into disappointment; yet the parties continued to search for ways back to the table.

The signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) on 27 March 2014 marked one of the most important turning points in this long journey. After seventeen years of negotiations, the agreement between the Government of the Philippines and the MILF established a framework for moving from armed conflict to political accommodation and, ultimately, institutional peace. For me, however, this date was more than a diplomatic development to be studied. It was a historic moment to which I personally bore witness.

This article briefly traces the transformation from the historical roots of the Moro question and the emergence of the MNLF and MILF, through the long years of negotiation and the 2012 Framework Agreement and 2014 Comprehensive Agreement, to the establishment of the BARMM. The deeper question is this: under what conditions can people who once pointed weapons at one another begin to discuss a shared future around the same table? Perhaps the most important lesson of the Moro experience lies here: peace is not built by forgetting the past, but by creating a shared will that does not allow the past to hold the future hostage.

I. The Historical Roots of the Moro Question and the Emergence of the MILF

To understand the Moro question, one must begin with the history of Mindanao. The conflict is not simply a confrontation between a modern state and an armed movement. At a deeper level lies the tension between the historical memory of Moro communities, which had developed their own political and social structures before colonial rule, and the modern state structures that evolved over time.

Muslim communities in Mindanao and Sulu developed political structures and regional trading relationships with neighbouring Islamic centres. Spanish and American colonial rule, followed by the establishment of the independent Philippine Republic, transformed this environment. In particular, land arrangements and population movements contributed to the growing vulnerability of Moro communities in areas where they had historically lived. Questions of identity, land, political representation and the right to shape their own future consequently became increasingly prominent.

In this environment, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), under Nur Misuari, emerged. Turning to armed struggle in the early 1970s, the movement sought recognition of the political rights of the Moro people and a greater say over their future. As the conflict intensified, the parties were gradually drawn towards negotiations. Through the initiatives of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Government of the Philippines and the MNLF signed the Tripoli Agreement on 23 December 1976. It placed the question of autonomy for Moro communities in the southern Philippines at the centre of the search for a political settlement.

Yet disagreements soon emerged over the scope and implementation of the agreement. Following divisions within the MNLF, a new movement associated with Hashim Salamat gradually took shape and became known as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), formally established in 1984. The Moro movement had thus developed two major actors with distinct political and ideological approaches.

The central lesson of this early period was becoming clear: armed struggle could make a political demand visible, but the language that would determine its future was increasingly the language of negotiation.

II. The First Search for Peace: From Tripoli to the 1996 Final Peace Agreement

The negotiating table opened in Tripoli in 1976 marked the beginning of a new political language in the Moro question. In a region where weapons had spoken for years, the parties were, for the first time, accepting the possibility that the future could be shaped not only on the battlefield but also at the negotiating table. Yet disagreements over the scope and implementation of the agreement deepened the problem of trust.

The 1987 Philippine Constitution provided for an autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao, and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was established in 1989. These developments gave the search for a political settlement an institutional dimension, but they did not satisfy all Moro expectations. The 1980s and 1990s therefore remained a period moving between war and peace.

After this long search, the Government of the Philippines and the MNLF signed the Final Peace Agreement (FPA) on 2 September 1996. The agreement brought together the integration of former combatants into security institutions, transitional arrangements, and peace and development programmes in the southern Philippines. Peace was thus understood as more than the end of armed confrontation; political restructuring, economic........

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