About the Author

SOLIMAN M. SANTOS, JR. is retired RTC Judge of Naga City, Camarines Sur;  a long-time human rights and international humanitarian lawyer;  legislative consultant and legal scholar;  peace advocate, researcher and writer on both the Moro and Communist fronts of war and peace; author or co-author of a number of books, including The Moro Islamic Challenge:  Constitutional Rethinking for the Mindanao Peace Process (UP Press, 2001, 2nd printing 2009);   Dynamics and Directions of the GRP-MILF Peace Negotiations (Alternate Forum for Research in Mindanao, 2005);  Referendum on Political Options for the Bangsamoro (Mindanao Peoples' Peace Movement, 2010),  In Defense of and Thinking Beyond the GRP-MILF MOA-AD (AFRIM, 2011); and Federalism and Cha-Cha for Peace (Institute for Autonomy and Governance, 2016).

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Given the urgency surrounding the proposed BARMM IP Code (Bangsamoro Indigenous Peoples Development Act of 2024) and the ongoing violence affecting the Teduray-Lambangian tribe and other non-Moro IPs in Maguindanao, I’m sharing my previously confidential 9-page memo from January 7, 2015. The memo advises selected MILF leaders on the importance of accommodating IPRA (Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act) within the Bangsamoro framework to address Lumad concerns about ancestral lands and conflicting domain claims.