When the Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrilla movement took up arms in the Philippines in the 1960s, Ferdinand Marcos had yet to become the president — let alone dictator. Despite the country's many political transformations in the last half-century, the MILF's campaign to achieve independence for the Bangsamoro nation — whose territory, they claim, covers the islands of Sulu, Mindanao, Palawan and Sabah — remained constant, until President Benigno Aquino III resolved to change it.
The MILF was not deterred by the popular overthrow of Marcos' 20-year dictatorship in 1986, following the assassination of the opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr.
Nor did the establishment of democracy — now deeply entrenched — inspire the group's leaders to reconsider their approach. The MILF remained engaged in a brutal campaign of beheadings, assassination, kidnappings and indiscriminate butchery.