Chinese observer: Bangsamoro deal will fail

MANILA, Philippines — The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), forged after 17 years of negotiations, cannot sustain peace in the region due to existing social inequality, a Chinese commentator said.

Wang Wei, writing for China state-run Global Times, stressed that the Philippines' grant of political autonomy to a new region is just a temporary solution to what he calls are the "root causes of chaos."

"The historic agreement will not necessarily produce a long-lasting peace for the country. Its effect will probably be limited by the pre-existing structural problems that haunt the country," Wang said.

He said issues in development do not only nag the conflicted region, but the whole country.

Impoverishment alongside striking wealth will necessarily lead to extreme ideals, such as pursued by the Moro separatists in the past decades, he said.

"Poverty and social inequality are always a hotbed of turmoil," Wang noted.

The Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front signed the agreement on March 27, which marks the start of the transition process to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to a new Bangsamoro entity.

The government hopes it will bring stability and peace in the country's poorest provinces handicapped by the decades-long armed conflict.

Although Wang gives credit to the Philippines for its rising economic growth in recent years, he said the real problem is the income gap.

He pointed out government reports saying that a third of the population is below the poverty line living on less than a dollar daily.

The rich, meanwhile, can boast household income accounting for a third of the whole country's--a condition straight out from the colonial era, Wang said.

"Even after the Philippines gained independence and established democracy in 1946, the governance structure inherited from the colonial era was kept in place. Powerful families in the Philippines keep a firm hand on the country's economic resources, especially the land," he said. - Camille Diola