Fostering Community Reintegration and Peace in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao

“I can still remember that day. I saw my neighbours fleeing their homes. I was pregnant then with my first child,” recalled Myrna, reflecting on President Estrada’s declaration of an “all-out war” in the year 2000 against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Mindanao.

The military campaign aimed to quickly defeat the Moro Islamic Liberation Front but resulted in a prolonged conflict and a humanitarian crisis involving the loss of lives, widespread violence and the displacement of civilians.

Now a mother of four, Myrna works as a peace advocate and community leader in Pikit, North Cotabato, witnessing firsthand the lingering devastation of that violence. Since the 2014 peace agreement between the national government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in 2019, Myrna has hoped for lasting peace.

Since 2015, investments from the UN Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) implemented through various UN agencies and local partners, have accompanied the implementation of the peace agreement and provided support to communities and individuals like Myrna.

While conflict between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the government has ceased, early steps towards stability in BARMM remain hampered by ongoing armed clashes in certain areas between the security sector and armed groups that did not sign up to the peace agreement. The uneven implementation of the peace agreement’s Normalization track, which includes the disarmament, decommissioning and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants, as well as localized conflicts among various identity groups, clans and factions competing for political power further complicate the situation. This is particularly relevant as the inaugural regional elections in 2025 will end the transition under the Moro Islamic Liberation Front-led Bangsamoro Transitional Authority (BTA). 

In this fragile context, the UN Philippines’ joint programme, “Supporting Conflict Transformation Toward Effective Peacebuilding in the Bangsamoro Region” (STEP-BARMM), funded by the PBF and implemented by IOM, UNFPA and UN Women with a total budget of US$ 3 million from 2020 to 2022, and building on two previous PBF investments in Bangsamoro, has bolstered the peace process. The programme addressed key implementation gaps in protecting and empowering marginalized groups, especially women, in peacebuilding and livelihoods initiatives.

Supporting women’s reintegration and leadership

The project supported the development of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Regional Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security and the localization of Women, Peace and Security action plans in 17 municipalities. It helped with the establishment of Gender and Development focal points across BARMM ministries to ensure budget allocations for implementation of Women Peace and Security plans. These efforts would help sustain women’s active engagement in peacebuilding after the joint programme concludes.

The project helped with the reintegration of members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Women Auxiliary Brigade (BIWAB), an all-female group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. It offered sustainable livelihoods opportunities and conflict transformation capacity building to BIWAB members not included in the Normalization programme, enabling them to participate in socioeconomic affairs and expand their role in community protection and peacebuilding. 

Over 100 Bangsamoro Islamic Women Auxiliary Brigade members, including Myrna, trained as Women Peace Facilitators, raising awareness on peacebuilding and gender-based violence. They have been deployed to mediate in community disputes, preventing escalation into violent community confrontations. Several BIWAB members have also been recruited as community social workers by BARMM’s Ministry of Social Services and Development, reinforcing their roles as community leaders.

Thanks to the success of the pioneering batch, the Ministry has expanded the recruitment of women community social workers from Bangsamoro Islamic Women Auxiliary Brigade, supporting their transition to civilian life.

The PBF-funded joint programme has also helped transform 15 BIWAB cooperatives, comprising 2,000 members, into viable income-generating businesses. These businesses include small-scale grocery shops, dressmaking, bread and pastry stalls, agricultural product marketing, printing services and scrap metal crafting, providing sustainable livelihoods for their members and other marginalized groups. As a result, around 80 percent of Bangsamoro Islamic Women Auxiliary Brigade cooperative members engaged in the programme reported an improvement in their reintegration into society, according to the project’s endline assessment.

“After 50 years of struggles and hardships, I did not expect to receive this kind of support for our group. I never imagined we could start anew without worrying about war and conflict,” said Zenaida, chairperson of the Linandangan Bangsamoro Women’s Agriculture Cooperative in Maguindanao province.

The Bangsamoro Islamic Women Auxiliary Brigade cooperatives continue to thrive more than a year after the end of the project. The Linandangan Bangsamoro Women’s Agriculture Cooperative has expanded its operations by setting up a new branch to market agricultural products. The Bangsamoro Islamic Women Auxiliary Brigade Scrap Iron Marketing Cooperative based in Cotabato city has expanded into the catering business and increased its membership. 

Empowering minority indigenous groups

The programme’s inclusive peacebuilding approach also engaged minority non-Moro indigenous peoples communities in conflict hotspots in BARMM.

“With the help of the project, we were able to expand our community support from local humanitarian action to peacebuilding and conflict prevention as we became familiar with how we can work together with the local government and the security sector. Witnessing their sincerity, we have eventually developed a good relationship with these partners,” said Aileen, founder of the Women Organization of Rajah Mamalu Descendants (WORMD).

WORMD, formed by the indigenous Teduray people, represents members across 11 villages in Maguindanao province – four of which are affected by conflict, while the other seven are classified as geographically isolated areas. The Teduray, like many other minority non-Moro indigenous groups, have struggled to voice concerns about their rights, access to services, ancestral domain delineation, and land dispute violence during the peace process and the Bangsamoro transition.

Non-Moro indigenous peoples participated in regional consultations supported by the project, providing input on a new Indigenous People Code now under debate in the BARMM Parliament.

This article is a modified version of a story first published on UN.org.