Moro Islamic Liberation Front
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is an Islamist group based in Mindanao seeking an autonomous region of the Moro people from the central government. The group has a presence in the Bangsamoro region of Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, Palawan, Basilan, and other neighbouring islands. The armed wing of the group was the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), although the name of its parent organization, the MILF, was often used to refer to the BIAF. In July, 2018, the Philippine government passed the Bangsamoro Organic Law, giving more autonomy to Muslims. In return, MILF announced that it would disarm its 30,000 fighters.
A Bangsamoro fighter trains with an M60 machine gun.
Mindanao is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of the same name that also includes its adjacent islands, notably the Sulu Archipelago. According to the 2020 census, Mindanao has a population of 26,252,442 people, while the entire island group has an estimated population of 27,021,036 according to the 2021 census.
Composite satellite image of Mindanao captured by Sentinel-2 in 2019
The Agusan image statue (900–950 CE) discovered in 1917 on the banks of the Wawa River near Esperanza, Agusan del Sur
Christian Filipinos, who served under the Spanish Army, searching for Moro rebels during the Spanish–Moro conflict, c. 1887. The insurgency in Mindanao can be traced to the early 16th century.
Two Spanish missionaries baptizing a Moro convert to Catholicism, circa 1890.
