More than 200 peacemakers from various countries gathered in a Makati hotel for a conference on peace processes, sharing experiences from the Philippines' Bangsamoro, Indonesia's Aceh, Nepal, and Papua New Guinea's Bougainville. Comfort Ero of the International Crisis Group delivered a keynote on rising global conflicts and China's role in the Indo-Pacific. The Bangsamoro peace remains an ongoing process amid election delays and transition issues.
Last month, a two-day international conference on peace processes took place in a Makati hotel, organized by the Institute for Autonomy and Governance from Cotabato City, established 20 years ago. Over 200 participants, including former rebels, activists, academics, and researchers, shared lessons from cases like the Philippines' Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Indonesia's Aceh, Nepal, and Papua New Guinea's Bougainville.
Journalist Marites Dañguilan Vitug reconnected with Mohagher Iqbal, vice chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), now in his late ’70s but with a sharp mind. Drawing from her reporting on Mindanao's conflicts in the 1980s to 1990s and her 2000 co-authored book 'Under the Crescent Moon: Rebellion in Mindanao' with Glenda Gloria, Vitug emphasized that peace is not an event but an ongoing negotiation that can span leadership changes and political storms.
In BARMM, the first parliamentary elections remain in limbo, with tensions in a divided MILF and growing distrust of the government. Comfort Ero, president of the International Crisis Group (ICG) which tracks over 65 conflicts, highlighted in her keynote how conflicts are worsening due to intense power competition eroding the rule of law, external meddling, and a multilateral malaise leaving the UN Security Council unable to consensus on major issues. Southeast Asia expert Sidney Jones noted democratic backsliding as a key dynamic, stating 'authoritarians don’t like autonomy, they like control,' worsened by Trump.
On China, seen as part of the old order viewing the Indo-Pacific as its backyard, Ero advised in an interview: 'Don’t give up on the COC,' referring to the ASEAN-China Code of Conduct negotiations over the West Philippine Sea. The COC and defining maritime boundaries among claimants can proceed on parallel tracks, guided by ICG's principles of diplomacy and deterrence. For BARMM, transition issues like last-minute decommissioning and demilitarization are common; no one anticipates a return to past violent armed conflict. Ero also expressed concerns over climate threats and nuclear non-proliferation.