The role of an unarmed civilian protection (UCP) approach and practices by civil society organizations (CSOs) in the Philippines, with the support of international organizations, is not well-researched and documented (one exception being Furnari, 2016b). Yet the application of UCP in enhancing safe, peaceful and resilient communities through strengthening civilian capacities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has resulted in rich experiences for learning and reflection. This chapter aims to give a better understanding of how the UCP approach used by CSOs has reduced violence. By highlighting the support of international organizations during the pre-Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) period or at the height of war, this chapter discusses its challenges and opportunities. Importantly, it identifies sources of inspiration in capturing local CSOs’ synergy to address the continued violence towards unarmed civilians. Also, it explores the possibilities of the expansion of UCP's extended role in supporting Bangsamoro's transition from a violent to a peaceful landscape, by strengthening the progress of the current normalization process in the BARMM. Overall, the Philippine experience is a unique example of UCP as part of an official ceasefire monitoring programme, initiated by local groups, and mutually supported by internationals.

Background to the conflict

Mindanao includes the Bangsamoro Region in Muslim Mindanao, a traditional ‘homeland’ for Moros, as well as Indigenous peoples of the Islamized and the Lumads, and the ‘promised land’ for Christian settlers. Mindanao has many faces of injustice. Social exclusion and marginalization over many generations has resulted in multiple armed conflicts caused by the dispossession of land and natural resources. The area is impacted by extreme poverty (61 per cent of the population), deprivation of essential amenities, clan wars mainly in Moro-dominated areas, the proliferation of small arms, and inter-tribal and inter-ethnic armed conflicts. In the Bangsamoro area, 48 per cent of the population in areas affected by land conflict is poor, compared to 44 per cent in areas with no reported land conflict cases. The World Bank and an International Organization for Migration study state that land is the main issue for peace and development in Mindanao. Injustice and the unjust dispossession of land, combined with confusing and overlapping legal and institutional frameworks for land administration and management, are major triggers of violent conflict (World Bank, 2016) in the past and the present.