Bangsamoro Juridical Entity

The Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) was a proposed subdivision in the Philippines spanning portions of Mindanao and Palawan. Conceptualized during the peace talks between the government of the Philippines during the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the BJE was the proposed expanded successor to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). A memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD) was to be signed between the Philippine government and the MILF on August 4, 2008, but the Supreme Court stopped the signing over concerns of the deal's constitutionality. The high court would rule the MOA-AD unconstitutional on October 4, 2008, which led to the collapse of the peace talks between the two parties. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had been fighting for the secession of Bangsamoro territory from the Philippines. Peace talks, which had been on-and-off, between the MILF and the Philippine government began in 1997. President Joseph Estrada launched a military campaign or an "all out war" against the MILF in 2000 in a bid to resolve the Moro conflict. In contrast, His successor Gloria Macapagal Arroyo pursued negotiation with the MILF although the Philippine military engaged the rebel group in 2003 in Buliok. Peace talks gained traction in 2003 when Malaysia became involved as a mediator. As a compromise, the MILF and the Philippine national government had agreed to set up the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE), a subdivision that would be potentially bigger and have more autonomy than the then-extant Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). By November 2007, the two parties have agreed upon the geographical scope of the BJE and projects that a deal could be signed by August 2008. On July 16, 2008, the MILF and the Philippine government announced that they had finalized a deal and was set to sign a memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD) on August 5, 2008, in Kuala Lumpur, which would set the framework for the establishment of the BJE.