Mindanao: The "backyard" of the Philippines that catches fire from time to time, why is the second largest island separated? What is Mindanao? The promised land with blood flowing, Duterte, unwilling to dialogue, direct suppression of three close to the United States or other countries? The Philippines has always been wavering

Philippines

On July 31, 2020, in a village in Paticul, Sulu Province, west of mindanao, philippines, Philippine government forces exchanged fire with Abu Sayyaf, killing 6 militants and 3 government soldiers.

Previously, on April 17, 25 Philippine government troops were killed and wounded; on May 15, 15 people were killed in the "New People's Army"; on June 5, 4 philippine government troops in Sulu Province were killed and 17 wounded, and 2 Abu Sayyaf armed forces were killed and wounded.

Fast forward, and in 2017, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who had been in office for less than a year, chose to take a tough approach. He declared martial law after deploying his troops, not just in Malawi City, but on the entire island of Mindanao (Mindanae), inhabited by 22 million people, the second largest archipelago in the Philippines.

Location map

Why is the Philippines imposing martial law in Mindanao? What's going on here? Why is there a separation movement in Mindanao?

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<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >What is Mindanao? A promised land with blood flowing</h1>

Since the late 1960s, the government and Islamist militant groups have clashed with islamist groups in mindanao in the southern Philippines, signing a peace agreement in March 2014, only to erupt again in May 2017 as the Philippines and The Mawud group confronted each other.

Diagram

The Philippines has declared martial law on this southern island, but it is clear that it will not be able to resolve the many unrest, which clearly shows that it is far from peace.

Habilan (1966-2017) was a representative figure in the Philippines as the leader of Abu Sayyaf, one of the rebels in the southern Philippines.

Abu Sayyaf

The Philippines' action in May 2017, aimed at arresting him, sparked a veritable street fight in downtown Malawi. This city, located in northwestern Mindanao, turned into a bloody battlefield.

Habilan

As of July 2017, about 500 people had died and more than 360,000 people had been displaced, most of them fleeing to relatives' homes in nearby cities.

Mindanao

Located at the southern tip of the Philippines, Mindanao is the second largest island after Luzon and is known as the "Promised Land", with fertile soils that produce delicious tropical fruits and are rich in mineral deposits.

Mindanao is a major producer of rubber and gold, with a significant impact on the Philippine economy. However, it has also been written in the history of blood spatter, but the scars have never been recovered, and they are sometimes set off by ethnic conflicts.

After the Spanish colonial period, Catholics emigrated south.

Spice trade

The Islamic "Moro" people on the island of Mindanao have gradually become a minority in their land, and the other non-Christian indigenous people on the island, the Lumads, are facing a crisis of territoriality, autonomy and ethnic extinction, and the former is more inclined to resist by force.

Moro people

In 1968, the Jabidian massacre took place. At that time, the Philippines recruited 200 young Moro soldiers for secret training, with the ultimate goal of sending them to attack Sabah and take the land from Malaysia.

Spain

After discovering that they were tasked with killing their comrades and loved ones, the group revolted, and the Philippines ordered soldiers to carry out a mass killing, and the only survivors revealed the entire incident, which was only admitted in 2013 after many years.

Location map of Mindanao

This event led to the formation of the present-day Moloch Liberation Front, which hopes to achieve Autonomy for the Moro people. After the Philippines declared martial law in 1972, 75% of the country's military strength was placed on Mindanao, which occupies only 1/3 of the country's area, which intensified the local conflict and caused casualties.

The massacre of 1974 was the largest number of people killed in a single day in Philippine history. 1,500 men, young and old, were imprisoned in mosques and killed in batches over several days, countless women and even little girls were raped on naval vessels and 300 houses were destroyed. A movie released in 2016, "The Secret of Silence", described this tragedy.

Lullaby of The Secret of Sorrow

Although the lifting of the stricter regimen in 1981, habeas corpus was not reinstated in central and western Mindanao. This means that the police and the military can arrest people arbitrarily on the street without a warrant. To this day, Mindanao still has more than 60% of the country's garrisons.

Southeast Asia

According to statistics, since 1960, more than 120,000 people have died in the war between the Philippines and the Moro. Different Moro organizations have connections in history or family, manipulating the grey areas between the organizations.

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Less than a year after taking office, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte chose to take a tough approach, declaring martial law not only in Malawi city, but in mindanao.

Local people waiting to receive relief at the Emergency Shelter in Malawi City, May 31, 2017.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is known for his iron fist, especially in the fight against drug trafficking, and he knows the region well, as he was mayor of Mindanao's most important city of Nadi from 1988 to 2016.

Martial law is a big bet because the risk of a stalemate cannot be ruled out, and Filipino soldiers are more accustomed to fighting in the jungle and less training in street fighting, not to mention the most radical armed groups involved. Founded in 2012, Maud opposes any negotiations with the Philippine government with the goal of independence in the southern Philippines.

The group launched an attack in the city of Nagao in September 2016, in violation of a March 2014 peace agreement when the Moro Liberation Front promised a ceasefire in exchange for autonomy in Mindanao. The crisis that erupted in May 2017 is a reminder of the complexity of the situation, as so many armed actions not only have different demands, but may also diverge from each other.

In February 2013, the Sultan of Sulu attacked Sabah

On the other hand, this is not the first time that militant groups have challenged the peace process. For example, on September 9, 2013, fighters of the Moro National Liberation Front, which signed a peace agreement with the Government of the Philippines in 1996, attempted to occupy the city of Zamboanga. The standoff lasted for 20 days, and the morale of the rebels was severely damaged.

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Geography of Southeast Asia

In addition to fighting militant groups, Duterte is also known for criticizing former U.S. President Barack Obama. Following Spanish colonization (1521-1898), the United States ruled the Philippine Islands for a time (1898-1942) and has enjoyed privileges ever since.

Spanish-American War

Even though the U.S. base in Subic (northwest of Manila) closed in 1992, the two countries remained bound by the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Joint Defense Treaty. Yet, despite the tensions, Duterte moved closer to his number one economic partner.

Subic

It wasn't until later, when Mr. Trump, who was investing in Manila (who planned to build a skyscraper named after his own name) who was elected president of the United States, was fascinated by populism and finally reassured the United States.

Islamic

The United States has also helped in this crisis in Malawi, particularly using spy drones to locate the enemy.

The unrest in Malawi is a reminder of the political turmoil in Mindanao and the many obstacles to peace. The United States is concerned about the spread of power in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia in Southeast Asia, and the three countries met in June 2017 to plan to strengthen maritime cooperation and patrolling in the Sulu Sea, where pirates and arms smuggling are frequent.

What is the future of Mindanao? Who knows?