Duterte urges peace in unveiling Muslim autonomy law

President Rodrigo Duterte unveiled a law yesterday granting greater autonomy to the Philippines’ Muslim south, as he expressed hope the measure will at last end decades of bloody separatist conflict. He delivered his words after handing a symbolic copy of the new law, which he signed last month, to the leader of the country’s largest Muslim rebel group. It was the culmination of a ceremony at the presidential palace in Manila marking the passage of legislation that is a key step to ending one of Asia’s longest and deadliest conflicts.

The measure has been a crucial missing element to a languishing peace pact with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which, along with other groups, has waged a rebellion that has claimed about 150,000 lives in the Mindanao region since the 1970s. “I hope (the law) will finally end the decades-old conflict that is rooted in the Bangsamoro’s fight for self-determination and the recognition of their unique identity,” Duterte said, referencing the region where much of the conflict has raged.