Peace Update: Local Politics In The Sulu Archipelago And The Peace Process

Philippines: Local Politics In The Sulu Archipelago And The Peace Process: "The Aquino government’s peace strategy brings three components together: reform of the dysfunctional government of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which includes the three island provinces plus Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur in Central Mindanao; a review of the 1996 peace agreement with another Muslim insurgent group, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF); and a peace agreement with the MILF.

The last component is what unsettles the governors of the archipelagic provinces. They and the clan-based networks that support them benefit from the status quo: a political system historically rooted in Manila’s patronage of Muslim elite. They fear that a peace agreement would overhaul governance in Muslim areas, disrupt their access to money and power, and boost the Central Mindanao-based MILF, whom they distrust, at the expense of the islands. Their scepticism towards the peace process undermines its objective: to grant the Muslims of the south, known as the Bangsamoro, true autonomy once and for all."

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