ABSTRACT
This chapter adopts an historical approach in examining the Bangsamoro struggle and following the introduction it provides a brief historical background of the Bangsamoro movement and reviews the events that led to the genesis of the Moro nationalist movement. It then analyzes the problems that emerged in the course of advancing the Bangsamoro struggle and teases out the complexities of contested Bangsamoro identity. The chapter also examines attempts by the Philippine government to cope with this evolving contestation. It provides a striking example of the results that occur when identity and ethno-religious differences become the defining characteristic of insurgency. The chapter aims to revisit the quest for the Bangsamoro since the beginning of its most recent articulations in the 1960s. Finally, it concludes by raising some tentative observations on the prospects for the realization of the Bangsamoro homeland given the unsettled questions about the nature of the Moro identity.
