Philippines signs a peace accord with the largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, ending decades of conflict.
The Moro conflict is an insurgency in the Mindanao region of the Philippines, which has involved multiple armed groups, and has been ongoing since March 1968. Peace deals have been signed between the [Government of the Philippines|Philippine government]] and two major armed groups - the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) - but other, smaller armed groups continue to exist.
The Moro conflict is rooted in a long history of resistance by the Bangsamoro people against foreign rule, including the American annexation of the Philippines in 1898; Moro resistance against the Philippine government has persisted ever since. During the administration of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, political tensions and open hostilities developed between the Philippine government and Moro Muslim rebel groups. The Moro insurgency was triggered by the Jabidah massacre on March 18, 1968, during which 60 Filipino Muslim commandos on a planned operation to reclaim the eastern part of the Malaysian state of Sabah were killed.
Various organizations pushing for Moro self rule, either through autonomy or independence, were almost immediately formed in response, although these generally did not last long until University of the Philippines professor Nur Misuari established the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), an armed insurgent group committed to establishing an independent Mindanao, in 1972. In the following years, the MNLF splintered into several different groups including the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which sought to establish an Islamic state within the Philippines. When the MILF modified its demands from independence to autonomy in the late 2008, a faction led by Ameril Umbra Kato disagreed, eventually forming the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in 2010.Casualty statistics vary for the conflict, though the conservative estimates of the Uppsala Conflict Data Program indicate that at least 6,015 people were killed in armed conflict between the government of the Philippines and the Abu Sayyaf (ASG), BIFF, MILF, and MNLF factions between 1989 and 2012.
The Government of the Philippines (Filipino: Pamahalaan ng Pilipinas) is the national government of the Philippines. It is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative and democratic and a constitutional republic in which the president functions as both the head of state and the head of government of the country within a pluriform multi-party system.
The government has three interdependent branches: the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch. The powers of the branches are vested by the Constitution of the Philippines in the following: Legislative power is vested in the two-chamber Congress of the Philippines—the Senate is the upper chamber and the House of Representatives is the lower chamber.Executive power is exercised by the government under the leadership of the president. Judicial power is vested in the courts with the Supreme Court of the Philippines as the highest judicial body.