International Crisis Group

Report Part Title: The Bangsamoro’s Diversity

Report Title: Southern Philippines:

Report Subtitle: Fostering an Inclusive Bangsamoro
Report Author(s): International Crisis Group
Published by: International Crisis Group (2022)
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep39653.6

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Southern Philippines: Fostering an Inclusive Bangsamoro
Crisis Group Asia Report N°322, 18 February 2022 Page 6

III. The Bangsamoro’s Diversity

From the start, Mindanao’s peace process was rather innovative in emphasising the
need for inclusivity, be it in terms of respecting ethnic and religious minorities’ rights
or ensuring women’s active participation.31 Observers have lauded the 2014 peace
agreement as being generally sensitive to gender issues: women were present at the
negotiation table and the final texts promised Bangsamoro women a stronger voice
in regional politics and economic development.32 The Organic Law, which enabled
the region’s autonomy, then defined Bangsamoro identity broadly, encompassing
both Islamised ethno-linguistic groups and those who are not Muslim but still identify
as Bangsamoro.33 It also gave indigenous peoples the freedom to “retain their distinct
indigenous and ethnic identity” and aimed to “ensure” the rights of Bangsamoro’s
Christians, reflecting the region’s demographic complexity.34

A. Moro Muslims

The region’s thirteen Islamised ethno-linguistic groups distinguish themselves from

one another through customs, traditions and languages. There are three broad clusters
of Moro Muslims, spread over three different geographic areas. First, several major
groups live in central Mindanao, namely the Maguindanaons, Maranaos and Iranun,
with the former two making up most of the BARMM’s population.35 Secondly, the Tau-
sug, Yakan and Sama live in the Sulu archipelago, south west of Mindanao Island.36
Thirdly, other ethno-linguistic Moro groups live outside the BARMM, such as the Sangil
and Kalagan in the Davao region and Sarangani province, the Kalibugan in the Zam-
boanga peninsula, and the Jama Mapun, Molbog and Palawani people in the northern
part of the Sulu archipelago and neighbouring Palawan province.37 Many Moros, of
all ethnic origins, also live in Philippine metropolitan centres such as Manila, Cebu
and Davao.38

31
Crisis Group Asia Report N°281, The Philippines: Renewing Prospects for Peace in Mindanao, 6 July
2016, pp. ii, 5.
32
“Assessing Gender Perspectives in Peace Processes with Application to the Cases of Colombia
and Mindanao”, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, November 2018.
33
The Organic Law defines Bangsamoro people as “those who at the advent of the Spanish coloni-
sation were considered native or original inhabitants of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago and its
adjacent islands, whether of mixed or of full blood”, as well as “their spouses and descendants”. Bang-
samoro Organic Law, Article II, Section 1.
34
Bangsamoro Organic Law, Article IV, Section 10, and Article IX, Section 15.
35
Maguindanaons are the majority ethnic group in Maguindanao province and the 63 villages of
the Special Geographic Area in former Cotabato province. Maranaos live in Lanao del Sur. The Iranun
live at the boundary of the two provinces.
36
The Tausug are the dominant group in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. The Yakan people live in Basilan. The
Sama, an umbrella term for several sea-dwelling communities, both sedentary and nomadic, live mostly
in Tawi-Tawi but are spread across the whole Sulu archipelago, even reaching Malaysia.
37
At the height of the war in the 1970s, Palawan also saw combat, primarily in its Muslim-dominated
south. A few MILF and MNLF members still live there. Crisis Group analyst’s interviews in a previous
capacity, 13 April 2018.
38
Article VI, Section 12 of the Organic Law envisioned an office (yet to be created) that would deal
with areas outside the BARMM’s core territory.

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 Southern Philippines: Fostering an Inclusive Bangsamoro
Crisis Group Asia Report N°322, 18 February 2022 Page 7

In a region as diverse and fractured as the Bangsamoro, building institutions that

properly represent and cater equally to all these groups is bound to be difficult. His-
torically, liberation movements in the region emphasised “Morohood” by invoking a
common past shaped by resistance to colonial conquest, with Islam as the unifier.39
But regional fissures lingered from the Moro self-determination struggle’s begin-
nings in the colonial era to the present.40 The protracted and meandering violence in
Mindanao that escalated to a full-blown separatist insurgency in the early 1970s has
exacerbated political fragmentation by shaking up traditional sources of authority
and diffusing power among the national government, local politicians and insurgents.
Differences between the Bangsamoro sub-regions continue to shape the region’s
political life. One fault line lies between central Mindanao – now home to the regional
capital – and the Sulu archipelago, on the BARMM’s western’s fringes. The Tausug
people have a strong historical identification with Sulu province’s political ancestor,
the Sulu Sultanate.41 Although locals on the islands may belong to different ethnici-
ties and even speak different languages, they often highlight their “common predic-
ament” of dealing with the Cotabato-based regional government run by Maguinda-
naons or Maranaos.42 Meanwhile, the provinces of Lanao and Maguindanao, although
next to each other, also developed along different trajectories with distinct languages,
political cultures and social norms.43 Regional fissures have also fed into the Moro
separatist movements. The MILF, which is strongest in central Mindanao, mostly
comprises Iranun, Maguindanaon and Maranao fighters.44 The Tausug, on the other
hand, dominate the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the first Moro rebel
movement, which has a strong presence in the islands.45
Kinship and class further feed into the Bangsamoro’s social complexity. Family
ties are a staple of Bangsamoro governance, with clans exerting power by dominating
entire towns or provinces and the local governments.46 Loyalties to both political
leaders and armed groups are often bred at home.47 Class relations also matter: a

39
Moro intellectuals, for example, talked about “a nation under endless tyranny”. Salah Jubair, Bang-
samoro: A Nation under Endless Tyranny (Kuala Lumpur, 1999).
40
The core areas of the Bangsamoro’s three largest ethno-linguistic groups, the Maguindanaons,
Tausug and Maranaos, roughly correspond to the three major sultanates of the pre-colonial and colo-
nial eras, namely the Maguindanao and Sulu Sultanates and the Lanao Confederation. Crisis Group
interview, historian, 4 November 2019.
41
Crisis Group interview, Tausug scholar and historian, 4 November 2019.
42
Crisis Group interviews, civil society representatives, Zamboanga City, 22 December 2019. Prom-
inent Tausug have often expressed dissatisfaction with the concept of “Bangsamoro”, preferring the
term “Bangsa Sug” (“land of the current”) as a marker of Tausug identity.
43
At times, Moro political leaders have used identity narratives for their own agendas. Crisis Group
online interview, former peace process official, 20 November 2021.
44
Maguindanaons make up the majority of the MILF’s Central Committee and most of its military
leadership.
45
The MNLF has undergone a series of splits and now consists of two factions. The Front’s founder,
Nur Misuari, a Tausug, heads one. A Maguindanaon, Muslimin Sema, leads the other. Only the Sema
faction is represented in the Bangsamoro parliament. Misuari and his followers are directly engaged
by the Duterte government via political outreach and development interventions.
46
Crisis Group Report, Tackling Clan Politics in the Bangsamoro, op. cit.
47
Crisis Group interview, member of local government and clan, Maguindanao, 25 November 2019.

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Southern Philippines: Fostering an Inclusive Bangsamoro
Crisis Group Asia Report N°322, 18 February 2022 Page 8

handful of actors dominate each province’s political economy.48 Smaller Moro com-
munities such as the Sama Badjao, living around the Sulu archipelago, are often eco-
nomically and politically on the fringe.49 Meanwhile, members of Bangsamoro’s aris-
tocratic class, men and women alike, still have prestige with the population. While
most members of this traditional aristocracy do not wield power per se, they can still
be important in resolving local conflicts or subtly influencing politics.50

B. Minorities

Apart from the Muslim ethno-linguistic groups, two other communities live in Bang-
samoro territory.

The indigenous peoples (also known as Lumads). There are five non-Moro
indigenous groups in the BARMM, the largest of which is the Teduray-Lambangian
in Maguindanao.51 Some of these groups, which insist on a unique political identity,
have a fraught history with Moro Muslims.52 Supportive of the peace process, as they
felt caught in the crossfire between Moro rebels and the state, several indigenous groups
expressed fear of being ostracised once Moro autonomy became a reality, leading
them to lobby hard for recognition as a distinct group. While the Organic Law officially
acceded to that demand, many indigenous communities, such as the Teduray, are still
concerned about their future in the BARMM, demanding recognition of non-Moro
indigenous identity that goes beyond formal assurances, including through legisla-

48
Crisis Group online interviews, long-time peace process observers, 20 and 23 November 2021.
49
Crisis Group telephone interview, civil society leader from Tawi-Tawi, 10 November 2021. Tausug
elites run the majority of Tawi-Tawi towns, while the Sama control only a handful of municipalities.
50
But traditional power can also be ambiguous. For example, in its zeal to stay politically relevant
during Manila’s negotiations with the Maguindanaon-dominated MILF, one of the claimants to the
Sulu Sultanate’s throne, Jamalul Kiram III, contributed to conflict. In 2013, his followers raised a
Royal Army of Sulu and launched a starry-eyed incursion into Lahad Datu town in Malaysia, causing a
six-week standoff with Malaysian security forces that ended in the group’s defeat. The incursion
reverberated years later, as allegations emerged in late 2021 that Sulu politicians would stage a sim-
ilar operation in March 2022. Crisis Group telephone interviews, Philippine and Malaysian sources,
9-11 December 2021.
51
The others are the Dulangan-Manobo (Maguindanao), B’laan (Maguindanao), Higaonon (Lanao)
and Erumanen Manobo (Special Geographic Area). Their total population is estimated at around
130,000. Some Moro groups are also considered indigenous peoples, such as the Yakan (Basilan) or
Sama (Sulu archipelago) who also practice Islam.
52
The best illustration is the case of Maguindanao, where Moro traditional elites, known as datus,
exerted political control for centuries over the population, including the Teduray. Interpretations of
this era differ, with some indigenous historians looking back at communal life as cohabitation,
while others feel that power relations were highly unequal. During the armed conflict in the 1960s
and 1970s, some indigenous villagers joined Moro self-defence militias and rebel fronts. Others,
however, including some Tedurays in Maguindanao, joined Christian militias and paramilitaries.
These divisions have led to varying understandings of the Moro-indigenous relationship. Some Moro
leaders and rebels considered the indigenous to be collaborators with the Christian state. Some Tedur-
ays, however, justified violence as self-defence, arguing that Maguindanaon politicians and rebels had
a history of exploiting non-Muslim indigenous peoples. Nevertheless, in some villages Moros and
Tedurays lived in peace throughout the conflict. For more information, see Crisis Group Asia Report
N°213, The Philippines: Indigenous Rights and the MILF Peace Process, 22 November 2011.

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 Southern Philippines: Fostering an Inclusive Bangsamoro
Crisis Group Asia Report N°322, 18 February 2022 Page 9

tion.53 Another central demand focuses on the need to respect the practice of collec-
tive ownership of land known as ancestral domain.54

The Christians. Also called “settlers”, most of the Bangsamoro’s Christians live
in Cotabato City and nearby towns.55 While intercommunal conflict pitting them
against Moros was common in the past, particularly over land-related disputes, the
peace process has eased tensions.56 Discussions about the peace agreement in Chris-
tian and mixed communities in the lead-up to the BARMM’s creation, the trust be-
tween Moro and Christian elites, and the inclusion in the BARMM of 63 Moro-majority
villages carved out of Cotabato province, a former hotspot of inter-ethnic conflict, all
contributed to the equilibrium.57 Former political adversaries in majority-Christian
areas adjacent to the BARMM now support the transition, and local flashpoints for
communal strife, such as Pikit, Midsayap or Aleosan towns, have calmed.58

C. Women

In addition to realising the aspirations of the majority-Muslim population while

respecting the rights of religious and ethnic minorities, the Bangsamoro peace process
set out to ensure women’s “meaningful” participation in political life and to protect
women from violence.59 The peace agreements and their implementing legislation,
the Organic Law, introduced three goals for the peace process in this regard: first,

53
Crisis Group interviews, indigenous community leader, South Upi, 28 November 2021; Crisis
Group online interview, indigenous official, 6 December 2021. Interlocutors highlight, for example,
the need for legislation to safeguard indigenous rights through the indigenous peoples’ code, and
the need to respect customs and traditions, including “indigenous political structures” that lie outside
the formal government system. The desire to live in peace permeates all demands.
54
Crisis Group interview, indigenous community leader, South Upi, 28 November 2021. Both the
Bangsamoro Organic Law and the (national) Indigenous Peoples Rights Act formally guarantee in-
digenous rights. The law came into force on 22 January 1997. Enforcement has been erratic, however.
55
For example, Upi and South Upi towns in Maguindanao. Christians also constitute the majority
of Wao town in Lanao del Sur and a sizeable part of Lamitan in Basilan. Many also live in smaller
villages in Maguindanao and the Special Geographic Area. Their total population in the BARMM,
according to Crisis Group estimates, is at least 200,000.
56
There are occasional glimpses of the Mindanao conflict’s past sectarian undertones. In early 2021,
for example, unknown perpetrators beheaded Catholic statues in Lamitan City in Basilan province.
David Santos, “Basilan governor slams vandalism on Catholic churches in the province”, CNN Phil-
ippines, 18 February 2021. Most Christians in the BARMM, however, feel safer than they did at the
war’s height. Crisis Group analyst’s interviews in previous capacity, Maguindanao and Cotabato,
2017-2019.
57
The 63 villages joined the autonomous region following a plebiscite in February 2019.
58
Simmering disputes in Cotabato City between the MILF-led interim government and the mayor,
Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, who is popular among Christians, are more about political power than
about religion. Crisis Group interview, Christian representative, Cotabato City, 29 November 2021.
59
These provisions were included as early as 2012 in a first roadmap for negotiations, the GPH-MILF
Decision Points on Principles. The term “meaningful” came up during discussions about rights in
the new political entity that would be established. This qualifier was not fully defined, as the Philip-
pine government and the MILF had different interpretations of it. For more details, see remarks by
Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, “Reverend Dr. Richard L. Pearson Lecture”, The Pearson Institute (webi-
nar), 22 April 2021. The MILF peace process also stands in contrast to the 1996 peace agreement
between government and its predecessor group that for the most part lacked gender considerations.

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Southern Philippines: Fostering an Inclusive Bangsamoro
Crisis Group Asia Report N°322, 18 February 2022 Page 10

women’s participation in the Bangsamoro parliament and government; secondly, an

interim government that would “uphold and protect” women’s fundamental rights;
and thirdly, women’s participation in development, including the normalisation pro-
gram.60 While the 2014 peace treaty itself was abstract regarding these objectives, the
Organic Law was more concrete, for example contemplating that at least one woman
would sit in the Bangsamoro cabinet and one woman in the parliament. Other provi-
sions remained more general, however, leaving room for interpretation as to the exact
scope of women’s participation.
The backdrop to these promises is that Moro and indigenous women have not only
borne much of the human cost of conflict in Mindanao, including violence, displace-
ment and economic hardship, but also actively participated in conflict in varied ways,
be it as part of rebel forces, as members of civil society organisations or as part of the
region’s past bureaucracies.61 As the Mindanao fighting went on, women took up dif-
ferent roles, including as community leaders in areas affected by militant attacks, local
officials dealing with clan conflict or advocates for indigenous rights.
Bangsamoro’s cultural and religious diversity means that there is no single, homo-
geneous set of expectations as to women’s roles. Overall, however, prevailing patri-
archal norms have traditionally limited women’s political participation in the region.62
While violent conflict and the peace processes set up in response have at times run
counter to or even undermined existing gender roles, the norms have on the whole
endured.63
What women’s “meaningful political participation” means in practice is still subject
to debate in the Bangsamoro. While many educated women are aware of the peace
deal’s intricacies and the possibilities it opens up for women, others appear to be less
optimistic given the “realities on the ground”.64 An activist who works closely with
MILF women said: “For most, peace means food on the table, security on the street
and access to public health”.65

60
For the respective provisions, see: 1) Annex on Power-Sharing, Part 2, Section 2, and Organic
Law, Art. 7, Sections 7 c, 9 and 11; 2) Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, Art. 6 g, Organic
Law, Art. 9, Section 12, and Annex on Power-Sharing, Part 3, Art. 56; and 3) Annex on Normalisation,
Section G, and Organic Law, Art. 13, Section 5.
61
See Eliseo Huesca Jr., “Brokering ‘Women, Peace, and Security’ in Mindanao, Philippines”, Peace
Review, vol. 33, no. 3 (2021).
62
Women who play a role in the Bangsamoro’s traditional political class, as mayors and governors,
are almost all part of influential political families. On many occasions, women take up political offices
occupied by male relatives when terms expire, as term limits are common throughout the Philippines.
Crisis Group telephone interview, female clan member from Maguindanao, 24 November 2021.
63
Both women and men repeatedly told Crisis Group that culture and religion in Moro society,
while separated by a “thin line”, are not synonymous, resulting in different understandings of gender
relations and varying perceptions of women’s roles. Crisis Group online interview, civil society organ-
iser, 20 December 2021; Crisis Group interview, source close to MILF, Cotabato City, 9 December
2021.
64
Crisis Group telephone interview, Lanao-based activist, 20 November 2021; Crisis Group online
interviews, 12 and 13 January 2022.
65
Crisis Group telephone interview, 20 November 2021.

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