PERSPECTIVES Will Addressing the Socioeconomic Concerns of the Mindanao People Put an End to Conflict in Southern Philippines?

Addressing socioeconomic concern without putting up appropriate political structure for Muslim Mindanao is like pouring water into a bottomless container. The proposition, Will addressing the socioeconomic concerns of the Mindanao people put an end to conflict in southern Philippines? raises a timely question. It poses a pungent inquiry on the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of such an overly trumpeted approach by the government. It also evokes what may be termed as “Mindanao fatigue ” considering that despite all the approaches (e.g., militarization, peace negotiation, social service, economic development) pursued in Mindanao for the past several decades, conflict has remained and continued to spark every now and then. This question should have been raised a few years ago as many people are wondering why the Mindanao conflict persists despite huge amount of economic assistance and development poured to Mindanao since the 1970s. Recently, questions must also be asked as to what happened t