THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, is an easy half hour’s drive after you’ve past the normal traffic congestion in Cotabato City.

At the junction, market stalls obscure a sharp turn leading to a two-lane dirt road that takes you inside what the rebel group describes as their administrative headquarters and the showcase of what they can achieve in a peaceful environment.

Rice fields border both sides of the road that, depending on the time of year, are either bursting with green or golden stalks of grain. There were times when these fields were barren although I haven’t seen an untended patch of land in a while.

The 70-hectare Darapanan is where the MILF leadership usually hosts foreign dignitaries and other guests.

Checkpoints dot the road leading to the center of camp. Sentries garbed in full military uniform—long firearms and RPGs included—stand looking grim and alert by the roadside.

When the group of guests is important enough, a platoon of rebels would showcase the MILF’s military preparedness. The drills are meant to emphasize that the MILF is still the largest organized armed group in the country next to state security forces.

The MILF has the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) but much of their armed strength lies in local forces or what could be likened to reservists—armed men who, when not in combat duty, revert to farming or some other livelihood.

MILF camps have a dual nature. They are rebel camps at the same time civilian enclaves.

Darapanan is home to MILF families. The center looks like any other rural village with huts, food stalls and other stores and a multi-purpose center. It has livelihood programs and small businesses.

An enterprising businessman eggs on visitors to buy MILF patches or shirts from his shop while the women encourage guests to try native fare like seaweed noodles, the delectable pastil, rice cookies and squash pudding.

Farmers toil in the rice fields in the morning before the punishing sun forces them to retreat under the shade, swapping stories and swatting insects away.

Young children run about unmindful of the display of firearms because weapons are for territorial defense against the military as much as for settling—or fuelling—a blood feud with another family.

MILF units are known to have engaged fellow MILF units in rido; recently, they seem to be engaged in fighting among themselves than with state forces.

Blood feuds are not uncommon in this part of Mindanao. That is why there is sporadic violence. There have been 17 recorded cases of rido since the start of the year and hundreds of families have evacuated as a result.

It’s easy to be lulled into a false sense of security in this part of Mindanao. Everything looks as normal as any other rural community until gunfire erupts or a roadside bomb explodes.

MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim is certain that the security environment will improve once the Bangsamoro is allowed to govern over the areas identified as part of their ancestral domain. In fact, Murad and others who speak for the organization consistently say they are preparing for a civilian government to take over the Bangsamoro homeland.

Government says they are eager to see this happen.

The question is how far-reaching this homeland would be and what relationship it will have to the national government. Neither side has been able to answer the question satisfactorily in a decade and a half.

Nor has either side been able to fully and successfully sell the idea of Bangsamoro homeland to non-MILF who reside in the area that this new government is meant to be established. It is difficult to make people accept a disruption in the life they are accustomed to.

Peace negotiations between government and the MILF are now stalled on how to reconcile dissimilar paths taken toward a peace agreement.

So far, the ceasefire agreement has held even while the peace process hit several snags over the years. But, considering the fickle peace and security situation and vacillating loyalties, we shouldn’t take the ceasefire for granted.

It would be a pity if rice fields are again abandoned in favor of evacuation centers or are planted with dud mortars instead of crops.

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