The government of the Philippines will grant amnesty to Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) members, after negotiators from both sides reached a deal on the matter last weekend, amid a peace process set to lead to Bangsamoro autonomy. According to the agreement -the core of which was signed in December-, the Philippine Parliament must approve a Bangsamoro Basic Law, which should begin immediately to be drafted and could be ready in May. A referendum to ratify the agreement could be held in 2015, and Bangsamoro's new autonomous status could then be implemented in 2016.

Bangsamoro is the predominantly Muslim territory on the island of Mindanao, in southern Philippines. MILF revolted against the Philippine Government in the 1960s, demanding self-determination for the Moro people. Since then, the conflict has caused some 120,000 deaths. The new Bangsamoro's autonomous institutions will replace those of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, which had been implemented in 1987 and were rejected by MILF.

According to the Philippines-MILF agreement, the Bangsamoro Government will have exclusive powers over 58 areas, including agriculture, industry, labor, tourism, culture, language , education, sports, traditional laws, environment and health. The Philippine Government will keep powers on defense, foreign policy, currency, citizenship, immigration, customs, and common market.

Some details had not been agreed in December, such as delimitation of the waters. Last weekend, negotiators reached an agreement on establishing a coordinating body between the governments of the Philippines and Bangsamoro on the use of natural resources under those waters and the sharing of revenues.

Other guerrillas not joining agreement

Overall peace in Mindanao, however, does not depend only on the Philippines-MILF process, since there are several other rebel groups that have not joined the agreement. One of those is the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), whose Spokesman Absalom Cerveza says that his group will continue fighting for the independence of the whole Mindanao. Cerveza argues that the island is "colonized" by the Philippines, and does not exclude the use of violent means in order to achieve MNLF's goals. Other armed groups, such as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF, former MILF dissidents) and Islamist Abu Sayyaf are also opposed to the agreement.

As this article on the Asian specialized blog Banyan highlights, peace between the Philippines and the MILF and overall peace in Mindanao are different scenarios. In order to achieve the second goal, the article argues, all those armed groups should join the peace process and, more generally, there should be general disarmament process. Apart from all these groups, several armed gangs without political profile operate in Mindanao, as do citizens' self-defense groups.