 The causes for the failure are many and complex: structural (lack of funding, weak bureaucracy, corruption, and unclear relationship with the national government) and attitudinal (leadership’s subservience to the national government, lack of vision, and unbridled struggle for personal power). But the stakes for making autonomy an effective instrument for peace and development in Mindanao are high. Its failure can cause a resurgence in insurgency and terrorism, posing security problems for the whole country and the Southeast Asian region.
The IAG views autonomy as a broad and evolving concept that encompasses any political structure that is less than an independent state. It sees the promotion of autonomy in the southern Philippines as strategic. Whatever is in store for the country’s Muslim minority in the future, whether a federal, autonomous or independent state, institutional capacities for political and economic governance must be developed now to ensure that evolving structures can effectively address the root causes of armed conflicts.
Since 2001, IAG has conducted research, forums, roundtable discussions and conferences on the ARMM. It has published policy papers on political, economic and security issues that defined the much needed measures to be undertaken for meaningful autonomy in the region. IAG has been engaging the ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly in capacity-building, focusing on legislative technology and processes and policy formulation and legislation. It has provided technical assistance in the crafting of priority laws in the region and published two books on the ARMM: The ARMM Organic Law Annotated and Beyond Paper Autonomy: Challenge in Southern Philippines.
IAG is affiliated with Notre Dame University and an institutional partner of the Konrad- Adenauer-Stiftung in the Philippines.
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