Hashim Salamat founded the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 1978, when the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) made its first attempt at peace talks and potential ceasefire agreements with the Philippine government.[1] The peace accord between the government and MNLF, which was signed in 1989, created the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).[2] However, MILF believed that the ARMM local government was not autonomous enough, as it continued to defer all issues and matters to the national Philippine government.[3]

From the 1980s to 1990s, MILF gained power militarily and socially, due to the secluded mountainous geography in the southern region of the Philippines.[4] In its areas of control, MILF created Islamic communities that reported to MILF’s own Islamic governing and judicial system, thus in effect establishing a de facto Islamic community under the weak rule of MNLF’s ARMM.[5] MILF became the strongest representative for the Moros who were disappointed with the weak conditions of ARMM.[6]

In 2001, following years of violent conflict between MILF and the Filipino armed forces, the newly elected President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, fearing a MILF jihad against the Philippines, reversed former President Estrada’s war policy on MILF.[7] A ceasefire agreement was signed in 2003 to develop peace talks between MILF and the Philippine government.[8] However, this ceasefire was dismissed when the Memorandum of Agreement establishing the autonomous Muslim state, Bangsamoro, was deemed unconstitutional by the Philippine Supreme Court on October 14, 2008.[9] Fighting erupted following the court’s decision, [10] resulting in the displacement of an estimated 600,000 people and dozens killed, as "rogue" MILF cells attacked Christian villages.[11] In July 2009, MILF and the Philippine government once again declared a ceasefire to allow new negotiations for a reshaped Memorandum of Understanding.[12] On October 7, 2012, the Philippine government signed off on the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) which would establish further rounds of dialogue between MILF officials and the government in establishing a Muslim autonomous polity in the Philippines.[13] After nearly 17 years of peace negotiations, the Philippine government signed off on the fourth and last annex to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) on January 25, 2014.[14] View full narrative