Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on March 25, 2015.

Different studies have shown that one of the root causes of Mindanao's under development is the decades-old conflict in South Central Mindanao and Western Mindanao, including the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi.

Before the PNoy administration took over in 2010, the following are the data showing the status of Mindanao as a whole. According to the Mindanao 2020, Peace and Development Framework Plan, "Poverty and deprivation remain the single most important human challenge in Mindanao. Most of its provinces have a human development index (HDI) below the national figure, with ARMM provinces, especially Tawi-Tawi and Sulu, having the lowest". The study has also shown that, about half of Mindanawons have lived below the poverty line, beyond the national average of 33 percent.

It also mentioned that, in 2009, six of the country’s 10 poorest provinces were in Mindanao, with Zamboanga del Norte being at the bottom with 52.9 percent poor families.

What is also alarming is that life expectancy is shorter at an average of 65 years against the national average of 70 in 2006. Five of the 10 provinces with the lowest life expectancies nationwide are in the ARMM, with Sulu registering the lowest at 55.5 years.

In terms of education, the Net Participation Rate (NPR) in the elementary level stood at 78.5 percent in 2006-2007, well below the national NPR of 83.2 percent. Mindanao accounted for six out of 10 provinces with the lowest high school completion ratio in 2006, with Sulu again at the bottom with a ratio of 23.1 percent.

In another study, Mindanao Strategic Development Framework 2010-2020, conducted by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) says Mindanao’s provinces are among the poorest in the country. The poverty incidence increased to 45.5 percent in 2006, higher than the national average of 32.9 percent (Figure 1). The 2006 Human Development Index (HDI) shows that seven of the 10 poorest provinces are in Mindanao and five of the poorest seven provinces are in ARMM, namely Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao, Basilan and Lanao del Sur. The provinces of Sarangani (SOCCSKSARGEN) and Zamboanga del Norte (Zamboanga Peninsula) complete the list of Mindanao provinces at the bottom 10 of the HDI ranking.

The conflict in Mindanao has become a smokescreen of showing the real situation on the ground. How can we approach the problem in Mindanao? As a student of anthropology, I have learned to study the political economy of Mindanao.

Encyclopedia Britannica defines political economy as a branch of social science that studies the relationships between individuals and society and between markets and the state, using a diverse set of tools and methods drawn largely from economics, political science, and sociology.

The term political economy is derived from the Greek polis, meaning “city” or “state,” and oikonomos, meaning “one who manages a household or estate.” Political economy, thus can be understood as the study of how a country-the public’s household-is managed or governed, taking into account both political and economic factors.

In applying this field, we can trace that conflict in Mindanao can benefit certain sectors of society, thus creating vested interests in perpetuating conflict and impeding peace. The political economy of conflict is thus an important consideration for our people to understand the value of the peace process within the Bangsamoro.

Studies have also shown that the conflict in Mindanao is understood to have its origin in an unaddressed “grievance”, like for example, ethnic or religious discrimination, horizontally unequal distribution of resources and dramatic increases in unemployment.

Who benefits in the conflict in Mindanao? Who are the actors and power players in the conflict affected areas? Answering these questions draw our attention to the benefits that accrue from participation in conflict - employment in the armed forces, access to scarce resources, and the power players political games.

Applying political economy, it shows that conflict clearly delineated the relationship of “greed” and “grievance”. These two terms often, one can observe a shift over time from “grievance” to “greed”.

For example, Abu Sayyaf Group and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters need funds for their operations, for food and supplies, which they often have to raise by illegal commercial activity or “revolutionary taxes” or “permit to campaign”. At the start, this fundraising is a means to an end, but eventually becomes an end in itself.

For several decades, violent conflict in Mindanao encourages the emergence of a war economy dominated by politicians, commanders and fighters, whose interests are to generate new forms of profit, power and protection. The conflict hides the real situation of narco-politics, graft and corruption, human trafficking, and excessive abuse of our natural resources. A World Bank study stated that “a shadow economy emerges to make high profits at the margin of the conflict. Political and other entrepreneurs benefit from the general insecurity and lack of rule of law to extract precious natural resources, to trade in illicit goods (e.g. drugs), and to smuggle high value commodities.

People outside Mindanao do not see the underlying dynamics and intricacies as to why we support the peace process. The Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is not a perfect document. It aims to address the conflict so that the smoke clears and we all can see the real situation in Mindanao. It simply aims to help us see where concentrations of power and wealth, the destruction of economic assets, and impoverishment of vulnerable groups are situated.

Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan is the director of Al Qalam Institute for Islamic Identities and Dialogue in Southeast Asia based in Ateneo de Davao University.