New law for Philippines' restive south bodes well for regional peace

AT long last, there is a good chance of a sustainable peace settlement in the southern Philippines. When President Rodrigo Duterte ceremonially handed over a copy of a new law, which he signed last month, to the leader of the country's largest Muslim rebel group last week, the event symbolised the unveiling of a new political order in the Philippines' Muslim south.

Indeed, it was the pivotal missing element to a languishing peace pact with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The law finally gives substance to the fragile 2014 peace deal whereby the MILF promised to give up its quest for an independent homeland and lay down its weapons in return for self-rule. Along with other groups, the MILF had waged a rebellion that has claimed more than 150,000 lives in Mindanao since the 1970s.

That original peace deal was concluded by former president Benigno Aquino. Unfortunately, the Catholic-dominated legislature refused to pass enabling legislation. It took the horrendous events of last year when Islamic rebels attacked and occupied the city of Marawi, sparking a five-month battle that killed 1,200 people and flattened much of the town, to concentrate the minds of Filipino lawmakers.