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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Towards a Bangsamoro in Mindanao?

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Mindanao was already settled by Muslims when the Spanish colonization began. Today, the western part of the island and the Sulu archipelago are territories with a majority Muslim population, whereas the rest of the Philippines is predominantly Christian. Since the sixteenth century, the “Moros” of Mindanao have fought outsiders, Spaniards first, then the Americans, and throughout history the other Filipinos. The settlement migration policy of the Philippine government in the middle of the twentieth century has transformed the human landscape of the central and eastern parts of Mindanao, now predominantly Christian, and created a major area of commercial plantations. Political opposition to the Philippine government is splintered between several movements, the secular Moro National Liberation Front, the more religious Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which are the main political negotiation partners of the government for more autonomy of the “Bangsamoro” (Moro nation), while small groups like Abu Sayyaf use terrorism to disrupt the grip of Manila in Muslim areas. The region is also a political thorn due to the quest for revival of a Sulu sultanate extending on Sabah, a Malaysian province of Borneo. These Mindanao struggles are an invitation to revisit the Philippine national identity.