| Agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and Moro National Liberation Front with the Participation of the Quadripartite Ministerial Commission Members of the Islamic Conference and the Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference | |
|---|---|
 The former territory of ARMM is shown in red. Shown in yellow are other areas intended to be part of it in accordance with the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, but opposed inclusion via plebiscite | |
| Context | Part of a series of peace agreements between theGovernment of the Philippines and theMoro National Liberation Front seeking resolution to theMoro conflict |
| Drafted | December 15, 1976 (1976-12-15) |
| Signed | December 23, 1976 (1976-12-23) |
| Location | Tripoli,Libya |
| Effective | December 23, 1976 (1976-12-23) |
| Condition | Following date of its signature |
| Signatories |  Carmelo Z. Barbero Nur Misuari Ali Abdussalam Treki Amadou Karim Gaye |
| Parties | PhilippinesMoro National Liberation Front |
| Language | Arabic,English,French |
The1976 Tripoli Agreement was signed on December 23, 1976, inTripoli,Libya by Carmelo Z. Barbero, representing theGovernment of the Philippines andNur Misuari of theMoro National Liberation Front.[1] The agreement definedautonomous administrative divisions forMuslims in the southernPhilippines, the establishment of an autonomous government, judicial system forSharia law and special security forces, and the observance of aceasefire.[2] The autonomous region was to have its owneconomic system, including anIslamic bank.[3]
Facilitators of the agreement included members of the Quadripartite Ministerial Commission of theOrganization of Islamic Conference, headed byAli Abdussalam Treki, representingMuammar Gaddafi, leader of the host country, and theOIC Secretary General,Amadou Karim Gaye.[4] The other members of the Quadripartite Ministerial Commission aside from Treki included representatives fromSaudi Arabia,Senegal andSomalia.[1]
Thedeclaration of martial law byPresidentFerdinand Marcos in September 1972 contributed to the ongoingMoro conflict,[2] with Abul Khayr Alonto and Jallaludin Santos establishing theMoro National Liberation Front withNur Misuari aschairman a month later that same year.[5]
With the MNLF receiving support fromMalaysia andLibya,[5][6] Marcos offeredMuammar Gaddafi, a lucrative oil deal in exchange for his withdrawal of support for the MNLF through Malaysia; this brought Misuari to the negotiation table in 1976.[7]
Marcos sent his wife,Imelda Marcos, to meet with Gaddafi in Libya in November 1976. Accompanying theFirst Lady was a 60-person entourage that included Industry SecretaryVicente Paterno. Imelda Marcos' duty was "to charm Col. Kadaffi [sic] into finally terminating aid and support for Nur Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front".[8] Her efforts bore fruit; representatives of the Philippine government and the MNLF met at the negotiating table in December 1976.
The following thirteenprovinces in the southern Philippines were agreed upon by the parties involved to be included for autonomy:Basilan,Sultan Kudarat,Sulu,Lanao del Norte,Tawi-tawi,Lanao del Sur,Zamboanga del Sur,Davao del Sur,Zamboanga del Norte,South Cotabato,North Cotabato,Palawan andMaguindanao.[1]
During the negotiations, Marcos noted in hisdiary that Misuari and the Libyan diplomatAli Treki kept insisting that "all ofMindanao,Sulu andPalawan be organized into one region. But they are willing to submit this to a referendum."[8] Marcos was inclined to agree since he was of the opinion that "Palawan, the three Davaos, the two Surigaos, the two Agusans, Southern Cotabato, Bukidnon, the two Misamis, possibly Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Norte and others"[8] would not want to be included in the Muslim autonomous region. A day before the agreement was signed, negotiations stalled and Gaddafi asked for Imelda Marcos to return to Libya to hasten the talks. Imelda was able to convince the Libyan leader via telephone to accept the Philippine President's proposal, which was to "submit the question of autonomy to the constitutional process of the Philippines"[9] for the thirteen provinces. The agreement was signed the following day.
Ferdinand Marcos would later implement the agreement by creating two autonomous regions (instead of one) consisting of ten (instead of thirteen) provinces. This led to the collapse of the peace pact and the resumption of hostilities between the MNLF and Philippine government forces.[10][11]
A year after Marcos was ousted from power during thePeople Power Revolution, the government underCorazon Aquino signed the 1987Jeddah Accord inSaudi Arabia with the MNLF, agreeing to hold further discussions on the proposal for autonomy to the entirety ofMindanao and not just the thirteen provinces stated in the 1976 Tripoli Agreement. In 1989, however, an act establishing theAutonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was passed. The MNLF demanded that the thirteen Tripoli Agreement provinces be included in the ARMM, but the government refused; eight of those provinces were predominantlyChristian. Shortly thereafter, the government held a plebiscite in the thirteen provinces. Four provinces;Lanao del Sur,Maguindanao,Sulu andTawi-tawi voted to be included in the ARMM. The MNLFboycotted the plebiscite and refused to recognize the ARMM.[11]
Under the administration ofFidel V. Ramos, the government and the MNLF signed the1996 Final Peace Agreement inJakarta,Indonesia.[11] It enabled qualified MNLF members to enter the ranks of theArmed Forces of the Philippines and thePhilippine National Police, and created the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development, which was dominated by the MNLF. Misuari then ran unopposed as governor of the ARMM.[12] The peace agreement earned Ramos and Misuari the 1997Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize.[13]
That same year, theMoro Islamic Liberation Front, which had broken away from the MNLF in 1977, began informal talks with the Ramos-led government. These, however, were not pursued and the MILF began recruiting and establishing camps, becoming the dominant Muslim rebel group. The administration ofJoseph Estrada advocated ahardline stance against the MILF; that ofGloria Macapagal Arroyo tried to sign a peace agreement with it, but it was declaredunconstitutional by theSupreme Court of the Philippines.[12]
Shortly afterBenigno Aquino III assumed the Presidency in 2010, he met with MILF chairmanMurad Ebrahim inTokyo,Japan. In 2012, the Philippine government and the MILF signed theFramework Agreement on the Bangsamoro,[12] which calls for the creation of theBangsamoro, an autonomous political entity which will replace theAutonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which Aquino describes as a "failed experiment".[14]