For the most part of
Philippines' history, the region and most of
Mindanao have been a separate territory, which enabled it to develop its own culture and identity. The region has been the traditional homeland of
Muslim Filipinos since the 15th century, even before the arrival of the
Spanish, who began to colonize most of the Philippines in 1565.
Muslim missionaries arrived in
Tawi-Tawi in 1380 and started living in the area and the conversion of the native population to
Islam. In 1457, the
Sultanate of Sulu was founded, and not long after that, the sultanates of
Maguindanao and
Buayan were also established. At the time when most of the Philippines was under
Spanish rule, these
sultanates maintained their independence and regularly challenged Spanish domination of the Philippines by conducting raids on Spanish coastal towns in the north and repulsing repeated Spanish incursions in their territory. It was not until the last quarter of the 19th century that the Sultanate of Sulu formally recognized Spanish
suzerainty, but these areas remained loosely controlled by the Spanish as their sovereignty was limited to military stations and garrisons and pockets of civilian settlements in Zamboanga and
Cotabato, until they had to abandon the region as a consequence of their defeat in the
Spanish–American War. The Moros had a history of resistance against Spanish, American, and Japanese rule for over 400 years. The violent armed struggle against the
Japanese,
Filipinos,
Spanish, and
Americans is considered by current Moro Muslim leaders as part of the four centuries long "national liberation movement" of the Bangsamoro (Moro Nation). The 400-year-long resistance against the Japanese, Americans, and Spanish by the Moro Muslims persisted and morphed into their current war for independence against the Philippine state. In 1942, during the early stages of the
Pacific War of the
Second World War, troops of the Japanese Imperial Forces invaded and overran Mindanao, and the native
Moro Muslims waged an insurgency against the Japanese. Three years later, in 1945, combined
United States and
Philippine Commonwealth Army troops liberated Mindanao, and with the help of local guerrilla units, ultimately defeated the Japanese forces occupying the region.
Precursors In the 1970s, escalating hostilities between government forces and the
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) prompted President
Ferdinand Marcos to issue a proclamation forming an Autonomous Region in the Southern Philippines. This was, however, turned down by a
plebiscite. In 1979, Batas Pambansa No. 20 created a Regional Autonomous Government in the Western and Central Mindanao regions.
Establishment of the ARMM The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao region was first created on August 1, 1989, through
Republic Act No. 6734 (otherwise known as the Organic Act), primarily authored by
Aquilino Pimentel Jr., in pursuance with a constitutional mandate to provide for an autonomous area in Muslim Mindanao. A plebiscite was held in the provinces of
Basilan,
Cotabato,
Davao del Sur,
Davao Occidental,
Lanao del Norte,
Lanao del Sur,
Maguindanao,
Palawan,
Sarangani,
South Cotabato,
Sultan Kudarat,
Sulu,
Tawi-Tawi,
Zamboanga del Norte,
Zamboanga del Sur and
Zamboanga Sibugay; and in the
cities of
Cotabato,
Dapitan,
Dipolog,
General Santos,
Isabela,
Koronadal,
Iligan,
Marawi,
Pagadian,
Puerto Princesa, and
Zamboanga to determine if their residents wished to be part of the ARMM. Of these areas, only six provinces — Basilan (including Isabela City), Lanao del Sur (including Marawi City), Maguindanao (including Cotabato City), Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi — voted in favor of inclusion in the new autonomous region. The ARMM was officially inaugurated on November 6, 1990 in Cotabato City, which was designated as its provisional capital. Muslim Mindanao Autonomy Act No. 42, enacted on September 22, 1995, sought to permanently fix the seat of regional government at
Parang in Maguindanao (now in
Maguindanao del Norte), pending the completion of required buildings and infrastructure. RA 9054 lapsed into law on March 31, 2001, without the signature of President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. However, on July 16, 2008, the
Supreme Court of the Philippines voided the creation of Shariff Kabunsuan, declaring unconstitutional Section 19 in RA 9054 which granted the ARMM Regional Assembly the power to create provinces and cities. The Supreme Court held that only Congress was empowered to create provinces and cities because the creation of such necessarily included the power to create
legislative districts, which explicitly under the
Philippine Constitution was within the sole prerogative of Congress to establish.
Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain On July 18, 2008,
Hermogenes Esperon, peace advisor to then President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, in his talks with
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in
Malaysia, revealed the planned expansion of the region. Massive protests, however, greeted the move of the Philippine government and MILF panels in signing a Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain as a majority of the local government units where these barangays are connected have already opted not to join the ARMM in two instances, 1989 and 2001. On August 4, 2008, after local officials from
Cotabato asked the Supreme Court to block the signing of the agreement between the Philippine government and MILF, the Court issued a temporary restraining order against the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) between the Philippine government and the MILF rebels in Malaysia. Several lawmakers had filed petitions with the Supreme Court to stop the Philippine government from concluding the MOA-AD due to lack of transparency and for MILF's failure to cut ties with the
al-Qaeda-linked terrorist network
Jemaah Islamiyah, which aims to establish a pan-Islamic state in
Southeast Asia using MILF camps in southwestern Mindanao as training grounds and staging points for attacks. On October 14, 2008, the Supreme Court of the Philippines, by a vote of 8–7, declared “contrary to law and the Constitution” the Ancestral Domain Aspect (MOA-AD) of the Tripoli Agreement on Peace of 2001 between the Philippine government and the MILF. The 89-page
decision, written by
Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales ruled: “In sum, the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process committed grave abuse of discretion when he failed to carry out the pertinent consultation process, as mandated by EO No. 3, RA 7160, and RA 8371. The furtive process by which the MOA-AD was designed and crafted runs contrary to and in excess of the legal authority, and amounts to a whimsical, capricious, oppressive, arbitrary and despotic exercise thereof. It illustrates a gross evasion of positive duty and a virtual refusal to perform the duty enjoined.”
Bangsamoro state Due to the challenges in establishing the
Bangsamoro entity in the previous administrations, then
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of
Davao City announced his intent to establish a federal form of government which would replace the unitary form of government in his campaign speeches for the
2016 Philippine presidential election, which he subsequently won. In his plan, ARMM, along with the areas that voted to be included in ARMM in 2001, plus Isabela City and Cotabato City, will become part of a federal state.
Aquilino Pimentel Jr., a Duterte ally and advocate for
federalism, said in an interview that
Isabela City,
Basilan,
Lamitan,
Sulu, and
Tawi-tawi may become a single federal state, while
Lanao del Sur,
Marawi,
Cotabato City, and
Maguindanao may become a single federal state as well because the Muslims of the Sulu archipelago have a different heritage from the Muslims in mainland Mindanao.
Creation of Bangsamoro during the January 21 BOL plebiscite. Under the presidency of Aquino's successor,
Rodrigo Duterte, a new draft for the BBL was made and became legislated into law as the
Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) in 2018. A
plebiscite to ratify the BOL was held on January 21, 2019, with a majority of ARMM voters deciding for the ratification of the law. Voters in
Cotabato City voted to join the new autonomous region, while voters in
Isabela City voted against inclusion. The
Commission on Elections proclaimed that the BOL was "deemed ratified" on January 25, 2019. The provincial government of
Sulu, where majority voted against inclusion, was also not in favor of the law, with its governor challenging the
constitutionality of the law before the
Supreme Court. Despite voting against inclusion, Sulu was still included in the Bangsamoro region due to rules stated in the BOL, sparking outrage from residents. In February 2019, the second round of the plebiscite was held in the province of
Lanao del Norte and some towns in
Cotabato. The plebiscite resulted in the inclusion of 63 of 67
barangays in Cotabato that participated. It also resulted in the rejection from the province of Lanao del Norte against the bid of six of its Muslim-majority towns to join the Bangsamoro, despite the six towns (
Balo-i,
Munai,
Nunungan,
Pantar,
Tagoloan and
Tangcal) opting to join the Bangsamoro by a sheer majority, with one town even voting for inclusion by 100%. A major camp of the MILF was within the Muslim areas of Lanao del Norte.
Transition process sounds the
agung during the inauguration of Bangsamoro. He is joined by Chief Minister
Murad Ebrahim. With the ratification of the BOL following the plebiscite on January 21, 2019, the abolition process of the ARMM began, paving way for the setting up of the Bangsamoro autonomous region. Under the BOL, a transitional body, the
Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), was organized pending the election of the new region's government officials in 2022. The second part of the plebiscite held on February 6, 2019, expanded the scope of the future Bangsamoro region to include 63 barangays in Cotabato. The members of the BTA took their oaths on February 22, 2019, along with the ceremonial confirmation of the plebiscite results of both the January 21, and February 6, 2019, votes. The official turnover from the ARMM to BARMM took place on February 26, 2019, which meant the full abolition of the former. ==Demographics==