THE peace negotiations between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Government of the Philippines (GPH) emerged out of a situation of war. It had become clear: the military solution was a non-solution. Some 120,000 Filipinos were killed killing Filipinos, huge amounts of money were pulverized in vicious actions of war, opportunities for education, development and prosperity were lost forever. Instead of this senseless killing for ongoing war, why not negotiate for peace?

That question was raised 17 years ago; the peace process began. The negotiations involved the principals in the armed conflict, the MILF, and the GPH, and therefore not every interest group in the Muslim or Philippine world. The negotiations had to advance and evaluate the reasons why the MILF had been driven to war. Ultimately, they jointly sought to right the long history of injustices brought on the Filipino Muslim communities in the past: the illegitimate sale of the sovereign sultanates by Spain to America while they were not Spain’s to sell (1898) since Spain had never conquered the Muslims, the massacre and conquest of the Muslim communities by American troops with the help of Filipinos in such as the battles of Bud Dajo (1904) and Bud Bagsak (1913), the deep and hurtful (and ongoing) discrimination against them because of their fidelity to their Islamic faith by a nation that practically defines itself as “Christian,” their exclusion from the benefits of the mainstream economic and political development of the Philippines, their loss of lands and local political influence due to the Colonization Act (1935) and land registration policies of the north, their local government and traditional authority undermined by central government its own system of law, deaths and killings due to such as the Jabidah massacre (1968), the Manili massacre, the battle of Buldon (1986), the Marcos manipulation of the barbaric Ilagas to weaken the Muslims, the failure of government to deliver on promises and commitments such as the Tripoli Agreement (1976) and the mandate of the Philippine Constitution (1987) to establish an autonomous region for Filipino Muslims.

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