Moro Insurgency(1969-2014)

The Moro Insurgency, also known as Moro Conflict or Southern Philippines Insurgency, was a war fought between  Philippinesball with support from other countries, mainly  USAball and Muslim Moro rebel groups, such as  Moro National Liberation Front(MNLF) and  Moro Islamic Liberation Front(MILF). The insurgency officially ended on 2019, with the ratification of Bangsamoro Organic Law(BOL), which pave way for the establishment of the autonomous political entity known as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, replacing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Origins
The Moro people have had a history of resistance against foreign rule for more than 400 years. During the Spanish–Moro conflict, Spain repeatedly tried to conquer the Moro Sultanate of Sulu, Sultanate of Maguindanao, and the Confederation of sultanates in Lanao. The armed struggle against the Spanish, Americans, Japanese, and Christian Filipinos is considered by current Moro Muslim leaders to be part of a four-century-long "national liberation movement" of the Bangsamoro (Moro Nation).

After the Spanish-American War, the Americans took over the Spanish local governments stationed across Mindanao. Brigadier General John C. Bates was dispatched to negotiate with the Moros, resulting with the Bates Treaty, which ensured Moro neutrality during the Philippine-American War. The Bates Treaty did ensure the neutrality of the Muslims in the south, but it was actually set up to buy time for the Americans until the war in the north ended. On March 20, 1900, Bates was replaced by Brigadier General William August Kobbé and the District of Mindanao-Jolo was upgraded to a full department. American forces in Mindanao were reinforced and hostilities with the Moro people lessened, although there are accounts of Americans and other civilians being attacked and slain by Moros.

The American invasion began in 1904 and ended at the term of Major General John J. Pershing, the third and final military governor of Moro Province, although major resistance continued in Mount Bagsak and Bud Dajo in Jolo; in the latter, the United States military killed hundreds of Moro in the Moro Crater massacre. After the war, in 1915, the Americans imposed the Carpenter Treaty on Sulu.

Repeated rebellions by the Moros against American rule continued to break out even after the main Moro Rebellion ended, right up to the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II. During the Japanese invasion, the Moros waged [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moros_during_World_War_II#:~:text=The%20Moro%20Muslims%20of%20Mindanao,the%20new%20invaders%20as%20well. an insurgency] against the Japanese on Mindanao and Sulu until Japan surrendered in 1945. Moro Juramentados attacked the Spanish, Americans, Philippine Constabulary, and the Japanese.

Background
The American colonial government and subsequently the Philippine government pursued a policy of intra-ethnic migration by resettling significant numbers of Christian Filipino settlers from the Visayas and Luzon onto tracts of land in Mindanao, beginning in the 1920s. This policy allowed Christian Filipinos to outnumber both the Moro and Lumad populations by the 1970s, which was a contributing factor in aggravating grievances between the Moro and Filipino Christian settlers as disputes over land increased. Another grievance by the Moro people is the extraction of Mindanao's natural resources by the central government whilst many Moros continued to live in poverty.

Due to the policy, Christian Filipinos was able to take control of key areas such as roads and railways and also it disrupted the Moro administrative structures and resource control. The Americans preferred Christians to become administrators of newly defined townships instead of Lumad and Moro, with environmental degradation resulting from unsustainable population growth (due to the influx of settler migrants) and timber logging.

Marcos(1965-1986)
The predecessor of President Ferdinand Marcos, Diosdado Macapagal claimed that Sabah was a part of Philippines, despite the region is integrated unto Malaysia. Macapagal's efforts were futile and Marcos became president. He began planning a secret operation to infiltrate Sabah. The plan was for trained commandos to infiltrate Sabah and destabilize the state by sabotage which would then legitimize the Philippines' military intervention in the territory and claiming the state which many Filipinos felt was rightfully theirs.

In 1967, President Ferdinand Marcos secretly authorized Major Eduardo "Abdul Latif" Martelino, a Muslim convert, to take charge of the operations of a secret commando unit code-named "Jabidah" and embark on an operation called "Project Merdeka" (merdeka means "freedom" in Malay) to destabilize and take over Sabah. The alleged mastermind, however, included leading generals in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Defense Undersecretary Manuel Syquio, and Marcos himself.

However, the plan backfired when an alleged massacre happened. The basic narrative is either the 11 Muslim recruits refused to continue training further because of the bad working conditions and they mutinied due to late pay or they were massacred as they found out the real cause of their training and they felt fellow kinship to the Muslims in Sabah. To avoid the information being leaked further, they killed the 11 recruits.

Despite the massacre was disputed whether it actually happened or no, the said massacre made the Moro Muslims furious. Nur Misuari established the Moro National Liberation Front(MNLF) to condemn the said massacre and to seek the establishment of a Bangsamoro nation through the force of arms.

In 1969, the MNLF was established and commenced an armed struggle against the Philippine government. On February 1974, the MNLF attacked Jolo. Despite they managed to control the municipality, they failed to capture the adjacent military base and the airport. Government troops later recaptured the city and allegedly razed Jolo as part of their scorched-earth tactics and also massacred the civilians. The tragedy also galvanized Muslims around the world to pay much greater attention on the war. On September 24, 1974, the Philippine Army killed at least 1,000 Moro civilians who were praying in a mosque in what is known as the Malisbong massacre. Two years later, the Philippine government and the MNLF signed the Tripoli Agreement, declaring a ceasefire on both sides. The agreement provided that Mindanao would remain a part of the Philippines, but that 13 of its provinces would be governed by an autonomous government for the Bangsamoro people. President Marcos later reneged on the agreement, and violence ensued.

Marcos allegedly encouraged Christian Filipinos in Mindanao to form up militia groups. One notable militia group was the Ilaga. The Ilaga engaged in killings and human rights abuses and were responsible for the Manili massacre of 65 Moro Muslim civilians in a mosque in June 1971, including women and children. The Ilaga allegedly also engaged in cannibalism, cutting off the body parts of their victims to eat in rituals. To counter the Ilaga, Moros formed up their own militia group, named Barracudas and they later fought somewhere in Lanao del Norte, both sides suffered heavy casualties in the clash. The Ilaga also fought against the Philippine Constabulary, the law enforcement agency of the Philippines until 1991, when they were replaced by the Philippine National Police. Skirmishes continued until October and the Ilaga burnt alot of houses.

In 1977, 35 Filipino military officers were killed in Patikul, Sulu. The 36 officers, under the command of Gen. Teodulfo Bautista was suppose to negotiate with an MNLF unit under Usman Sali. However, Usman betrayed the men and massacred them. The bodies were later recovered and found out that they were hacked. Only one survived which is the group's radioman, he survived by playing dead. In 1978, Sheikh Salamat Hashim established the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a splinter group of the MNLF seeking to establish an Islamic state. In 1981, more than a hundred Filipino soldiers died in an encounter against MNLF rebels known as the Pata Island massacre. The incident called by retired Major General Delfin Castro as "the biggest number of casualties incurred by the Armed Forces of the Philippines in a single incident since the start of the conflict in Mindanao and had the dubious distinction of achieving the biggest losses in AFP firearms and equipment in a single incident." The Moros managed to surround the Filipino troops and unleashed automatic fire. Responding soldiers who later discovered the bodies of their dead comrades reported finding spent .30 caliber shell casings and links at the Moros' firing positions, indicating the use of machine guns. Accounts vary about the number of Filipinos soldiers killed, although it's between 119-124. In retaliation, the Philippine Navy and Philippine Air Force bombed the island for two months in support of Philippine Army search operations to capture the perpetrators. Because of the bombing, 3,000 Tausug civilians, including women and children were killed. Many more clashes erupted until the deposition of Marcos in 1986.

Aquino and Ramos(1986-1998)
Earlier in her term, President Corazon Aquino arranged a meeting with MNLF chairman Nur Misuari and several MNLF splinter groups rebel groups in Sulu, which paved the way for a series of negotiations. In 1989, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was created under Republic Act No. 6734 or the ARMM Organic Act, pursuant to the 1987 Constitution.

In 1991, Abdurajak Janjalani, a former teacher who had studied Islam in the Middle East, formed the Abu Sayyaf Group after reportedly meeting Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Janjalani recruited former members of the MNLF for the more radical and theocratic Abu Sayyaf.

Under the Presidency of Fidel V. Ramos, several negotiations and peace talks were held and the ARMM solidified and was to have its own geopolitical system. The MNLF finally surrendered on 1996, following peace talks and they were granted political autonomy and the ability to govern ARMM. However, the MILF refused to accept the peace terms and began recruiting more members, constructing camps, increasing their weapons and building their own government that operates independently from the Philippine government. They soon became the dominant group in leading the Moro people rise up against the {hilippine government.

Estrada(1998-2001)
New Filipino president Joseph Estrada declared an all-out war against the MILF. The MILF continued recruiting additional members, increasing its armaments and fortifying its camps. It also began assuming territories of its own within the Philippine Republic and took on the role of government in control of these territories. The MILF taxed the residents of these areas and an armed wing, which it called the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, secured the perimeter of its camps. Prior to April 2000, the MILF had been allowed to operate approximately 50 camps that were off limits to government soldiers. When the MILF finally broke off peace talks, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine Army in particular, began attacking and destroying these camps one after the other. The administration of Philippine President Joseph Estrada advocated a hardline stance against the MILF, directing the Armed Forces of the Philippines to "go all out" against the MILF on March 21, 2000, after the secessionist group invaded the town of Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte and took hundreds of residents hostage.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines(AFP) conducted 2 preliminary operations and 6 operations aiming to capture strategic points and capturing MILF bases. With 50,000-70,000 infantry against 15,000+ MILF infantry, the AFP managed to defeat the MILF consecutively and capture Camp Abubakar, the largest MILF base and its seat of Shariah government. In retaliation, the MILF and Jemaah Islamiyah bombed several civilian ships and also bombed the National Capital Region(NCR) and left 22 dead and hundreds of people injured. The PNP arrested affiliated terrorists and suspects.

Arroyo(2001-2010)
MILF activity stagnated due to Hashim Salamat's death in 2003. Many jihadist groups rose up in this period, such as Abu Sayyaf and Rajah Sulaiman Movement.

One thousand MILF rebels under the command of Umbra Kato have seized control of thirty-five villages in the North Cotabato province. Two thousand Philippine troops with helicopters and artillery were sent into the seized area on August 9 to liberate it from the rebels. The MILF had wanted North Cotabato to be included in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The government and MILF had been negotiating for the inclusion of the province in the Muslim Autonomous Region but the Supreme Court had struck down the proposal after hearing concerns from local Christian leaders in the region. The rebel troops were ordered to leave the area by their commanders, but the contingents under Kato refused to leave the villages they had occupied and instead dug in. The Philippine Army responded on August 9 by bombarding them. The next day, the government forces moved to retake the villages, recapturing two of them from the rebels.

Numerous clashes erupted between the Philippine Army and rebel groups, such as the clash on June 14, 2009 that killed 10 rebels.

Between 2002 and 2015, the Philippines and the United States were part of a joint military campaign against Islamist terrorism known as Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines. This was part of the War on Terror.

Aquino(2010-2016)
In 2013, two main camps of the Abu Sayyaf group were overrun by forces of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in its latest offensive in Patikul. According to MNLF leader Nur Misuari, the MNLF offensive against the Abu Sayyaf is because of the MNLF opposition to the Abu Sayyaf's human rights abuses, which go against Islam.

During the term of President Benigno Aquino III, a series of peace talks for the cessation of hostilities was held, including the meeting of MILF Chair Al Haj Murad Ibrahim in Tokyo, Japan which was lauded on both sides. Norway also joined the International Monitoring Team (IMT) in January 2011, overseeing the ceasefire agreement between the government and MILF on Mindanao. Despite the peace talks, a series of conflicts erupted. On September 10, 2011, Jal Idris, a hardcore member of Abu Sayyaf, was arrested by government forces after a crossfire between the Philippine Army and the rebel group. The Armed Forces of the Philippines also killed three Abu Sayyaf militants in a stand-off the day after the arrest of Jal Idris.

On October 20, 2011, the MILF was blamed for an attack on 40 government soldiers in the province of Basilan, which led to the deaths of 19 soldiers and six MILF fighters. This violated the ceasefire agreement between the government and MILF, which caused outrage in the government and led to the continuation of the war against terrorism in the country.

On September 9, 2013, rogue MNLF elements declared the Bangsamoro Republikball which was under the Sulu State Revolutionary Command (SSRC), led by Ustadz Habier Malik and Khaid Ajibon attempted to raise the flag of the Bangsamoro Republik at Zamboanga City Hall (which had earlier declared its independence on August 12, 2013 in Talipao, Sulu), and took civilians hostage. This armed incursion was met by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), which sought to free the hostages and expel the MNLF from the city. The standoff degenerated into urban warfare, and had brought parts of the city under a standstill for days. On September 28, the government declared the end of military operations in Zamboanga City after successfully defeating the MNLF and rescuing all the hostages.

On January 24, 2014, the Philippines government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer and MILF chief negotiator Murad Ebrahim signed a peace agreement in Kuala Lumpur. The agreement would pave the way for the creation of the new Muslim autonomous entity called "Bangsamoro" under a law to be approved by the Philippine Congress. The government aims to set up the region by 2016. The agreement calls for Muslim self-rule in parts of the southern Philippines in exchange for a deactivation of rebel forces by the MILF. MILF forces would turn over their firearms to a third party to be selected by the MILF and the Philippine government. A regional police force would be established, and the Philippine military would reduce the presence of troops and help disband private armies in the area. On March 27, 2014, the peace process concluded with the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

However, some MILF units still attack Filipino troops in Mindanao. One such case happened on January 25, 2015, where three platoons of the elite Special Action Force of the PNP attempted to arrest bomb-making expert Zulkifli Abdhir or Marwan. They engaged in a short skirmish with a man they believed to be Marwan and successfully killed him. However, the BIFF and MILF local 118th Command were alerted by the shooting and quickly surrounded the trapped SAF forces. The SAF suffered 44 casualties and this men became known as the "Fallen44". Private militias also participated in killing the trapped SAF platoons. They were later arrested by the PNP and were charged with murder.

In February 2015, the BIFF unsuccessfully fought for territory in the boundary of Maguindanao and North Cotabato provinces. Subsequently, the Philippine Army, along with the Philippine Marines, declared a state of all-out-war against the BIFF. MILF forces were pulled out to prevent them from falling victim to the fighting.

Duterte(2016-Present)
The MILF and MNLF have expressed their commitment to peace and in finally ending the 47-year-old insurgency while the offensive against Abu Sayyaf and other splinter groups have continued, with skirmishes in Jolo, Basilan and other parts of Mindanao. A bombing in Davao City in September 2016 killed 15 people. Elsewhere, on May 23, 2017, the Maute group attacked Marawi. President Rodrigo Duterte declared Proclamation No. 216, which placed the whole of Mindanao under a state of martial law and suspended the writ of habeas corpus. Clashes continued until October 2017 as the battle for Marawi City pitted Islamic militants against the Philippine government forces. Violence was severe. The government used heavy artillery and air strikes to shell Abu Sayyaf and Maute positions while the militant groups resorted to executing captured Christians. In 2018, two bombing incidents involving Abu Sayyaf and the BIFF occurred, one in Lamitan, Basilan and two separate incidents in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.

Philippines:

 * Philippinesball
 * USAball- the main supporter of Philippines by providing her training of her troops and donating her some equipment(such as small infantry arms, utility vehicles, communication sets, artillery pieces and night-vision equipment)
 * Russiaball- donated 5,000 AKM units
 * Chinaball- small arms donation
 * Israelcube- intelligence support
 * [[File:Indonesia-icon (Songkok).png]] Indonesiaball
 * Australiaball- air support

Moro rebels:

 * Moro National Liberation Front(MNLF)- the main rebel Moro group until 1996, when they surrendered
 * Moro Islamic Liberation Front(MILF)- became the dominant rebel group in Mindanao when the MNLF surrendered until 2014, when they deactivated their armed group and became a political party(much like the MNLF)
 * New People's Army- The NPA formed a limited tactical alliance with the MNLF during the Martial Law era, enabling them to build NPA bases in the mountains and forests in Mindanao
 * [[File:Gaddafi Libya-icon.png]] Gaddafiball(until 2011)- the main supporter of the MNLF and MILF, gave them funds, weapons, training and logistical support
 * Malaysiaball(until 1995)
 * Egyptball(1969-1981)
 * National Democratic Front of the Philippines(since 2005)