Islamic Moro Liberation Front

Arab merchants and Muslim preachers brought Islam to the Philippines as early as 1210 . By the beginning of Spanish colonization, the population of the Philippines on the coast of the main islands was Islam. The Spaniards, seeking to get colonies, rich in natural resources and located on busy trade routes, faced fierce resistance from Muslims . The Spaniards called the Filipino Muslims Moro , which is in tune with the Moors . The rising anti-colonial uprising continued until 1898, when Spain was defeated in the war with the United States . According to the Paris Treaty of 1898 , the Philippines came under the jurisdiction of the United States , which caused outrage from Moro. In the early 20th century, Moro Muslims fought with the Americans, and during the Second World War , with the Japanese invaders . Many compare the Philippines' Muslim policies with those of the Israeli occupied Palestinian territories. ^[1]

Mindanao is the second largest island in the Philippines, with the country's least developed provinces. Thus, in the Autonomous Region of Mindanao , for example, the country 's highest child mortality rate (64%) and the lowest literacy rate (60%). The population of Mindanao is Muslim, but since the colonial rule of Spain in the Philippines, which began in the middle of the sixteenth century, the goal of all governments was to achieve political domination in Mindanao by moving the Filipino Christians to the south, as well as converting its inhabitants to Catholicism ^[1] .

Such a policy has led Muslims to become a minority from the majority in Mindanao and the islands of the Suli archipelago and make up only 17% of the region’s population. In addition, as a result of the purposeful distribution of land, for example, on the small island of Basilan, where Muslims make up 71% of the population, Christians own 75% of the land, and 75% of the turnover of local trade is concentrated in the hands of local Chinese ^[1] .

As a result of the migration of Catholics from the north, Moro Muslims have become a minority on their land. With the help of local officials and police, Catholics continued to seize vast tracts of land in Mindanao. As a result of this, Muslims have become the most poor and illiterate group of the population ^[1] .

The island has the richest oil and gas deposits on the island of Mindanao, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front accuses the Philippine government of striving to take these fields into its own hands without worrying about the local population ^[1] .

The Moro National Liberation Front has for many years been the largest armed rebel group in the south of the Philippines. The Front is fighting to preserve the historical, religious and cultural identity of the Moro people, as well as its right to determine its own future. Front leaders have always argued that the duty of the Moro people is jihad against the Philippine government. The violence perpetrated by extremists on behalf of the Christian community against Muslims led to the formation of the organization and the replenishment of its ranks with new fighters. The organization’s leadership advocates the creation of a federal republic and calls its ideology “Islamic and democratic” ^[1] .

In addition to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the organization Abu Sayyaf operates in the south of the country. Initially, the Front believed that the problems of Mindanao could not be solved without creating a Sharia state on the island. Today, she considers it possible to create autonomy, within the framework of federal Philippines ^[1] .

In 2000, Philippine President Joseph Estrada declared a “general war” on the rebels in Mindanao. After the defeat of the headquarters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, in July 2000, Secretary of Defense Orlando Mercado hastily announced that "the long and meaningless war has finally ended" ^[1] .

In July 2007, Filipino Marines were ambushed by MILF; 14 marines were captured and executed (most were beheaded) ^[2] . Also, despite the agreement, in 2003, MILF detonated bombs at the airport in Davao twice; In total, 40 people died, more than 150 were injured ^[3] .

At the end of January 2015, more than 43 people died as a result of clashes in Mindanao between police and organization representatives. According to DPA , 37 police officers and six rebels died in a shootout ^[4] .

The first attempt to achieve peace since the beginning of the armed conflict in 1971 was made in 1976. On December 23, 1976, the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front signed the Tripoli Agreement. The initiator of this agreement was the Organization of the Islamic Conference . The then President of the Philippines, Marcos, established two separate regional governments, calling it the “constitutional process." Accusing the president of violating the terms of the peace agreement, the National Liberation Front withdrew from the treaty and resumed hostilities ^[1] .

In 1996, during the reign of Fidel Ramos, a second peace treaty was signed with the National Liberation Front. However, three years later, bloody clashes broke out between government forces and Muslim partisans ^[1] .

In December 2013, the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front signed an agreement according to which an autonomous Muslim region appeared in the south of the country - Bangsamoro . The agreement stipulates "the conditions for the delineation and division of power between the central government and the government of Bangsamoro (Filipino Muslims)" within the framework of the future autonomous region. The joint agreement also stipulated the conditions for the establishment of the “Bangsamoro Assembly”. Under the control of the national government, issues of foreign, monetary policy, defense, immigration and international trade remained, and the Bangsamoro authorities will regulate the labor market, urban development, agriculture, public works and environmental protection ^[5] .

In March 2014, the Government of the Philippines and the leadership of the Islamic Moro Liberation Front entered into a peace agreement. The negotiations, which lasted 13 years, led to the agreement that the Muslim south of the island of Mindanao will become an autonomous region, and the militants will lay down their arms. However, other rebel groups expressed their intention to continue the struggle with the government ^[6] .

Despite the fact that in four decades, about 100 thousand people died and about half a million people became refugees, the civil war in the Philippines never attracted much attention from the world media. Journalists covering the conflict in Mindanao simplify the demands of the rebels, and in order to give what is happening a common phenomenon, they use the cliche “ Islamic fundamentalism ”, “ terrorism ” and “ extremism ” ^[1] .

• Moreau (peoples) - Filipino Muslims
• Philippines internal armed conflict
• Other rebel and partisan groups in the Philippines:
  • Abu Sayyaf - Salafi Islamist, associated with ISIS
  • Jemaa Islamia - Islamic, associated with al-Qaeda
  • Bangsamoro Islamic Liberation Fighters - Islamic, Separated from Front
  • Raja Suleiman - an organization of Christians converted to Islam
  • Communist Party of the Philippines (1968) / New People's Army - Maoist
  • Mindanao Revolutionary Workers Party - Trotskyist

• Mukhametov, Abdullah Rinat The Filipino War and Peace (Neopr.) .