Time and Date: 4pm on October 24, 2018
Venue: Tonantei
Speaker: Prof. Rufa Cagoco-Guiam (Alternate Forum for Research in Mindanao)
(professor at the Mindanao State University-General Santos till Dec.2016)

Title: “The Armed Conflict in southern Philippines and the peace process under the Duterte Administration: Challenges and Opportunities”

Abstract:
Peace advocates in Mindanao saw a ray of hope upon the election of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016 because of his campaign promise of
addressing “historical injustices” against the Bangsamoro. But more than two years after he assumed office, Duterte has instead disappointed several peace advocates and workers in Mindanao, as one major incident after another continue to threaten Mindanao’s overall peace and security challenges. In this presentation, Prof. Rufa C. Guiam will provide some background information and analysis on the nature of the armed conflicts in southern Philippines especially in the Bangsamoro (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and related areas), and discusses continuing challenges to Mindanao’s peace and security situation. She closes the presentation with several opportunities that are currently in place in many institutions in Mindanao, and of the growing consciousness of the distinctiveness of the Bangsamoro identity vis-a-vis that of the Filipino national identity, as well as of some incremental gains achieved through the peace implementation panels of both the Philippine government (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Works by Prof. Rufa Cagoco-Guiam:
“A Deadly Cocktail? Illicit Drugs, Politics and Violent Conflict in Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao,” co-written with Steven Schoofs,
in Out of the Shadows: Violent Conflict and the Real Economy in Mindanao (Quezon City: International Alert, 2013)

Gender and Livelihoods for Internally Displaced Persons in Mindanao (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution and the London School of
Economics Internal Displacement Project, July 2013)