Philippines
The Philippines — an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands that was once a U.S. colony and is now a U.S. treaty ally — faces challenges to internal stability and sits at the crosshairs of geopolitical contestation in the Western Pacific. With decades of experience in the Philippines, USIP programming has expanded rapidly since 2022 along three lines: ground-level support to the Bangsamoro peace process, which is the greatest opportunity for sustainable peace in Mindanao in generations; bolstering the U.S.-Philippines alliance and coordination with like-minded nations to promote regional peace and stability; and advancing peace education efforts.
Learn more in USIP's fact sheet on The Current Situation in the Philippines.
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The Current Situation in the Philippines
Once a U.S. colony and now a U.S. treaty ally, the Philippines sits at the heart of geopolitical contestation in East Asia. It is also home to a half-century old internal conflict that has long spawned transnational threats to global security.
What Delaying Bangsamoro’s Election Would Mean for Peace in the Southern Philippines
It’s been a decade since the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Philippines government signed the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which ended nearly 50 years of conflict in the southern Philippines. Despite setbacks and tensions along the way, implementation of the agreement has yielded notable successes in recent years — most notably the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in 2019 and, with it, an unprecedented period of relative peace and stability. However, the final months of 2024 have brought yet another twist in this long-standing struggle for peace in the Bangsamoro region.
The Latest on Southeast Asia’s Transnational Cybercrime Crisis
Increasing scrutiny and exposure of global internet scams based in Southeast Asia has sparked fast-moving developments to quash the schemes and countermoves by the organized gangs behind them. Recent months have seen crackdowns, arrests and internet cutoffs by law enforcement agencies and regional governments. Meanwhile, Cambodia and Myanmar continue to be the most egregious havens for criminal operations, while Laos seems to be demonstrating early signs of concern for the impact of organized crime on its sovereignty.