BENEDICTO R. BACANI is the founding executive director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG), a policy center based in Cotabato City that specializes in the study of autonomy and good governance as a solution to the Mindanao conflict. He was dean of the College of Law of Notre Dame University in Cotabato City. He has broad international experience in examining political solutions to conflicts and promoting the rights of minorities having been a senior fellow of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington DC, USA and a Hubert Humphrey fellow at the University of Minnesota where he specialized in federalism and conflict management. He was a short-term consultant on constitution-making in Nepal. He was a visiting lecturer at the European University Centre for Peace Studies in Austria. He was based in the Netherlands and Hong Kong for four (4) years as Asia director of an international funding agency that provided grants to programs on education and peace and reconciliation to 13 countries in the region. He has authored books and monographs on Mindanao autonomy, most notably, “Beyond Paper Autonomy: The Challenge in Southern Philippines”, a book published in 2004 that examined the causes of the failures and successes of Muslim Mindanao autonomy.

EDMUND TAYAO is a political analyst, political science professor, expert consultant and a key personality in good local governance in the Philippines. He is the executive director, concurrently serving as vice chairman of the board of trustees, of Local Government Development Foundation (LOGODEF). LOGODEF is one of the most recognized local civil society organizations in the Philippines with focus on strengthening local authorities and promoting local governance in the country. He has been in the forefront of institutional reforms for local governance, initiating collaborated efforts by both local governments and civil society organizations such as the founding of the Philippine Consortium on Good Local Governance (PCGLG) where he heads the secretariat and handles programs and projects. PCGLG is the country’s biggest institutional association of stakeholders in local governance working closely with the national government, policy-makers and development partners. He is also country partner in the Partnership for Democratic Local Governance in Southeast Asia – a project that is being implemented to emulate good practices among local governments in Southeast Asia. He is key expert consultant with the Senate, providing policy inputs to the chairman of and committee on local government.

CHETAN KUMAR is senior advisor with the Governance and Peacebuilding Pillar of the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). His current work focuses on the intersection of governance and peace-building, including questions of decentralization and autonomy; the building of national and local capacities, as part of development assistance, for the prevention and resolution of violent conflict or potentially violent tensions; and the constructive management of diversity or rapid change through national or local dialogue. He has provided significant assistance for the development and implementation of initiatives on these issues in nearly 15 countries over the past two decades in the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, South-and-South-East Asia, and the South Pacific, with results including the successful prevention of anticipated elections-related violence; the reduction of potentially violent tensions or the launch of sustained dialogue efforts; and the development of consensus around governance priorities.He joined the United Nations in 1999. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and has authored several publications on issues pertaining to conflict prevention, peace-building, and governance.

RASOL MITMUG is a lawyer, human rights and peace advocate, policymaker, and legal consultant. Prior to his appointment as chief of staff of the Office of ARMM Regional Governor, he was assistant executive secretary, managing and coordinating ARMM line departments. He was speaker of the ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA), and deputy executive director of Mindanao Human Rights Action Center (MINHRAC). At MINHRAC, he organized a region-wide human rights, humanitarian and peace process monitoring and advocacy on human rights protection and international humanitarian law. He was consultant for the ARMM with the Office of Senator Teofisto "TG" Guingona III on issues related to ARMM affairs and governance and the Mindanao peace process. As vice president for external affairs of the Muslim Legal Assistance Foundation, he provided pro bono legal services to the underprivileged, especially Muslims in Metro Manila.