It has been a long journey for the Bangsamoro.

Before the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) was signed by government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in March 2014 and the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) was passed in 2018 and ratified in early 2019, a long list of historical injustices against the Moro people has been recorded across the decades.

The BARMM did not come without a price. It was paid for by the blood of the martyrs and civilians, by those who were displaced and lost their livelihood several times in their lifetime.  In the last two decades alone, three major wars had occurred – in 2000, 2003 and 2008.

Residents in the conflict zones are optimistic that the BARMM will bring peace, that they will never again experience war.

March 21, 2019 is exactly 19 years to the day President Joseph Estrada declared “all-out war” against the MILF in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte, a few days after the rebel group, led by Abdullah Macapaar aka Kumander Bravo, occupied the Kauswagan municipal hall. The war then spread to Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and North Cotabato.

Macapaar is now a member of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), the 80-member body that will govern the BARMM until June 30, 2022. Its Chief Minister, Ahod Balawag Ebrahim (aka MILF chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim), was then Vice Chair for Military Affairs and Chief of Staff of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces.

Here are images from the 2000, 2003 and 2008 wars.