ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the integration of ex-combatants into the state's security infrastructure produced positive effects on the ability of the Philippine state to extend its administrative reach and strengthen its military position in Muslim Mindanao. The 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA) between the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) in the southern island of Mindanao is often assessed within the framework of DDR, though none of the key documents and transcripts of the negotiations referred to this framework. The absence of a disarmament and demobilization agreement can be understood in the broader context of the negotiation process and the principles that guided the FPA. This signifies that the absence, rather than the presence, of disarmament and demobilization was critical to concluding a political settlement with the MNLF.
