Bangsamoro peace process

Formal peace negotiations between the Government of the Philippines and the various armed groups involved in the Moro conflict^[1][2][3] began in 1976 when the Government of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front first met to negotiate towards the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, and most recently reached a major milestone in the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) through a plebiscite in 2018, leading to the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. However, conflicts with other smaller armed groups continue to exist.^[4][5]

The peace process as outlined in the Comprehensive Agreement which led to the creation of the Bangsamoro involved two tracks - the political-legislative track and the normalization track.^[6] Under the Political track, the government would work towards the creation of a new politidal entity known as the Bangsamoro,^[6] to take the place of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) which had been created in 1989.^[7] Under the normalization track, the MILF would turn over their firearms to a third party, which would be selected by the rebels and the Philippine government. The MILF agreed to decommission its armed wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF).^[6]