History of the conflict in Mindanao the Philippines: an overview

A brief look at the decades of conflict that have been present in Mindanao and the whole of the Philippines.

There have been two guerrilla wars going on for several decades. The armed conflict in the North began already in 1946 when an already existing communist army started to fight the Philippine government until 1954. Ca. 1970 the NPA (New People’s Army), the armed body of the newly founded Communist Party, took up the fighting again with the goal to enforce a socialist system with just land distribution. After 1986 the movement split over the issue of strategy. The NPA is also active in Christian areas of Mindanao. The main armed groups in Mindanao however have been Muslim guerrillas who fight for self-determination of the ‘Muslim Nation’ (=’Bangsamoro’) in Mindanao.