Philippine Federalism and the Moro Insurgency

[arandomperson5000]

Currently of right now the Philippines are quite interesting to play as in the 1946 bookmark however at the 1992 bookmark there is literally no events for the Philippines after 1992 which is a shame really as it so many interesting events have happened since 1992 such as the rise of Duterte and the Moro Insurgency I will several points below which could make the Philippines more interesting to play as on the 1992 start date.

1. Ever since independence the idea of federalism in the Philippines has been floated around in a few social circles. However in recent years the idea has been gaining traction with the leading politicians of the country for several reasons. The idea is basically about increasing decentralisation, greater local power sharing resources between the regions especially outside of Metro Manilla which has been long dubbed as imperial. The decades long Moro insurgency is largely responsible for this recent increase of support as many will think it will appease the Moro insurgents, the idea appears to be taking as in 2014 Duterte then mayor of Davao City supported the idea claiming it will boost the economy, with Duterte as president of the Philippines now he will hold a plebiscite on whether the Philippines should remain a unitary state or be replaced by a federal one within two years.

2. The Moro people have a long history of independence fighting against the encroachments of colonial powers like Spain and the US. However the current conflict only started in 1969 when it was triggered by along history of marginalisation by the Philippine government and the the Jabidah massacre, which saw the killing of 60 Filipino Muslim commandos on a planned operation to takeover the eastern part of the Malaysian state of Sabah for the Philippines. What happened next was the formation of groups like the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and later the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that wanted either autonomy or the independence of Bangasmoro from the Philippines. After 1991 Islamist rebel groups have made a presence in the state and are currently fighting the government forces in the area, the Islamic State is one of these groups. In 1996 the MNLF signed a peace agreement with thr Philippine government however in 2013 the former leader of the MNLF Nur Misuari declared the independence of the Bangasmoro Republic which took control over some parts of Zamboanga City in an attempt to raise its flag in the city and take over it prompting the Philippine government to retake the areas by force. In 2014 with a peace agreement with the MILF the Philippine government announced the idea of replacing the autonomous area of Muslim Mindanao widely regarded as a failure with Bangasmoro autonomous region but this idea has been shelved for now.

3. There were two failed plebiscites held in the region of Cordrillera in 1990 and in 1998 on whether to give the region autonomy or not as it has a unique culture that are largely distinct from the rest of the Philippines called the Igorot and is landlocked. Also having looked at the 1998 plebiscite both sides were quite even with the yes side getting around 40 percent with the no votes getting around 50 percent of the vote.

4. I think there should be an event chain for the rise of populism in the Philippines and Duterte as Duterte's policies seem quite interesting as for example it appears he wants the Philippines to break off from the US sphere of influence and develop independently.

Sources
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-17038024
http://www.c-r.org/where-we-work/southeast-asia/history-mindanao-conflict-and-moro-islamic-liberation-front
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moro_conflict
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangsamoro_Republik
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/05/31/1588742/federalism-what-filipinos-need-know
http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/139345-philippines-states-federalism
http://cnnphilippines.com/business/2016/08/03/advocates-federalism-will-help-solve-poverty.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalism_in_the_Philippines
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordillera_Autonomous_Region_creation_plebiscite,_1998
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordillera_Administrative_Region
https://www.google.ie/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2016/05/10/opinions/duterte-us-philippines/index.html