Another group that operates in Mindanao is called the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The MILF is a group wich broke away from the MNLF in 1987. In general, the goals of the MILF are identical to what the MNLF was struggling for in it’s earlier days. However, when the MNLF made peace with the […]
New People’s Army
The militant wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) is called the New People’s Army (NPA). While most of the armed groups that we are discussing this week are Mindanao based, the NPA operates throughout the Philippines, and actually is more active in Luzon and the Visayas than it is in Mindanao. The […]
Moro National Liberation Front
The Moro National Liberation Front, MNLF, is a Muslim Group that operates in Mindanao. The MNLF was involved in war with the Philippine Government from the 1970’s until 1996. The whole idea of the MNLF, however, got started in 1968 when 299 Muslim Filipino military trainees were killed by the Philippine Government of Ferdinand Marcos. […]
The dangers that lurk
Whenever you start talking about the Philippines, inevitably the talk will turn to “how dangerous it is” to come here. Frankly, I don’t believe it to be very dangerous at all. In fact, I feel it is safer here in Davao City than it is in many major US Cities, so honestly, I don’t get […]
Is Mindanao ablaze?
Remember, a couple of weeks ago I posted a column about the agreement between the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) and the Government of the Philippines (GRP) concerning Ancestral Domain? Well, a lot has happened since then. It all started last week when a “mini-war” broke out in North Cotabato. A group of MILF combatents […]
Safety for females
Last week, I got an e-mail from a long-time reader of this site. I won’t give her name because I’m not sure she wants me to do that, but I will give a little information about her anonymously. For the sake of this column, let’s say that her name is Penny. Among my readers, Penny […]