Philippine Facilitation Project

About the Project

Executive Director Eugene Martin and Senior Research Associate Astrid Tuminez join practioners Terry Fenge and Edward Wolfers for discussons on ancestral domain issues with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Ghazali Jaafar and peace panel Chairman Mohagher Iqbal at MILF Camp Darapanan, Philippines . (Photo by Atty. Benedicto Bacani, member of the team and former Institute Senior Fellow.)

USIP was engaged for four years in facilitating negotiations toward a peace agreement to end a decades-long conflict between the government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a Muslim insurgent group operating in the southern island of Mindanao. Acting on a mid-2003 request from the U.S. State Department, the Institute worked to help create an “equitable and durable peace agreement” to foster reconciliation and stability in the Philippines and surrounding areas of Southeast Asia.

America’s interest in ending the intercommunal conflict is both strategic and humanitarian. Persistent warfare and a lack of economic development has made Mindanao one of the most impoverished regions of the Philippines, providing a haven for corruption and criminality. More recently, separatist movements have established links with foreign extremist groups for funding and weapons, providing, in return, training facilities for Southeast Asian terrorist groups linked to al Qaeda, including Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah. These groups are believed to be responsible for the October 2002 Bali bombing and subsequent deadly bombings in several Philippine cities.

Activities

USIP’s Philippine initiative had diverse components. First, drawing upon USIP’s experience in other conflict situations, the initiative conducted extensive historical, cultural, and political research on the conflict’s underlying issues and formulas for resolving the conflict. Workshops put experienced practitioners from other conflict countries together with government and minority representatives from the Philippines to explore alternate methods of addressing critical issues of land claims, natural resources, and governance.

Second, working with Philippine public institutions, media, religious groups, academia, and civil society, the Institute was actively engaged in building public support for the peace process. Workshops with media suggest alternative, more impartial ways to cover the conflict and report on the views of the protagonists so as to reduce historical prejudices and communal friction. Policymakers and opinion leaders were consulted on how to strengthen public awareness of the issues and build constituencies for a peace agreement.

Third, the Philippine project drew upon other USIP programs, including Education; Rule of Law; Training, and Religion and Peacemaking, to provide in depth expertise and insights into conflict management and resolution; interfaith-dialogue; legal and governance systems; and curricula development for religious and government schools. Once an agreement is reached, the ground work USIP has laid could help both parties implement and sustain a durable peace settlement through a combination of economic and social development projects for conflict-affected areas of Mindanao. USIP conducted research and analysis to inform U.S. policy as it related to the conflict in the Philippines.

Project Staff

USIP staffs have frequently played consultative roles in peace processes around the world. The Philippine Facilitation Project was one of the first times that the Institute was designated an “on-the-ground” facilitator. To advance the peace process, the Institute assembled an advisory group of retired senior diplomats and a military officer to oversee the negotiations. It also drew upon the diverse expertise of its staff, whose experience includes helping to stabilize the Dayton Peace Accords in the Balkans, reinstate the Afghan legal codes, and foster civil society development and inter-ethnic reconciliation in Iraq. In the Philippines, the Institute worked in an unofficial capacity in support of the government of Malaysia, which continues to have the lead role in the negotiations.

USIP delegations visited the Philippines numerous times over the four year project to assess the situation and establish dialogues with leaders on both sides of the conflict. They met on several occasions with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and other senior Philippine government officials as well as the Chairman and vice chairmen of the MILF. Members of the congressional Philippine-U.S. Friendship Caucus and other interested congressional staffs were briefed periodically as were Philippine delegations to the United States. Institute representatives met periodically with government, religious, and civil society representatives (Muslim and non-Muslim) to explore priorities and objectives. 0.