The Philippines: A peace deal signed but challenges lie ahead

By signing a peace deal with the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Philippine government has taken a large step toward neutralizing one of the country’s most resilient rebel insurgencies—but it has hardly stabilized the country entirely. On March 27, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Murad Ibrahim witnessed their lead negotiators ink the agreement, as did Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose country helped broker the negotiations over the past decade.

And yet uncertainty remains. The country still faces the challenge of legalizing and then sustaining the deal, maintaining relative security in the region, developing the economy of the to-be-created Bangsamoro administrative region and pacifying the country’s remaining insurgents and criminal groups.