CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – The war that once consumed parts of Mindanao has long ended, but the machineries that sustained violence have proved far more difficult to dismantle.
In the Bangsamoro region, the old conflict has given way to a more diffused and persistent disorder, with clan feuds, political rivalries and criminal networks continuing to flourish where the institutions meant to keep the peace remain weak.
Twelve years after a landmark peace agreement, the International Crisis Group said in a report released on Thursday, September 3, that the region’s fragile security system remains heavily dependent on the military.
Weak policing and justice institutions have left soldiers carrying much of the burden of maintaining order in the seven-year-old Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, even as the government seeks to move the military away from counterinsurgency and toward external defense.
The International Crisis Group report was released barely two weeks ahead of the Muslim-majority region’s first regional parliamentary elections since it replaced the now-defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
