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War and conflict · report
The Moro Conflict
Landlessness and Misdirected State Policies
Eric U. Gutierrez and Saturnino M. Borras Jr.
- Publisher
- East-West Center
- Year
- 2004
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 68
- ISBN
- 9781932728149
- Availability
- Free to read
Published free: the link opens the whole book.
About the book
The argument that land, not religion, is at the root of the Moro conflict: how colonial and Philippine land policy dispossessed the Moros and why the peace deals have not touched it. Free to read.
This East-West Center policy study offers a political and economic explanation of the conflict in the southern Philippines. It starts from 2 observations: Muslim areas have high poverty and social exclusion, and "entrepreneurs in violence" there enforce their own rules over property. The authors trace both to the very unequal ownership and control of land, rooted in colonial history.
The chapters cover settlement, migration and displacement, mass poverty, entrepreneurs in violence, and current land policies, followed by lessons. Tables give population trends from 1918 to 1970 and land distribution figures from the agrarian reform and environment departments.
The authors argue that redistributive land reform must be a central part of any lasting peace, joined to Moro and Lumad ancestral domain claims and to support services for poor farmers. They say neither successive governments nor the main Moro fronts have dealt with the land question.
The conflict in the southern Philippines is becoming increasingly complex, and untangling the knots for a greater understanding of the problem is no easy task. Yet underlying all these manifestations of a complex conflict is a straightforward political-economic explanation. This study argues that the continuing war, the persistence of poverty and landlessness, and the emergence of “entrepreneurs in violence” are mere symptoms of something that has not yet been sufficiently addressed by a succession of Philippine governments or even by mainstream Moro revolutionary organizations: the highly skewed distribution of ownership and control over land resources in the southern Philippines.
War and conflictEconomy and developmentPolitics and governance
Cover from Open Library, shown to identify the book; its rights stay with the publisher.
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