Development planning requires the management and mitigation of multiple conflicts, in its various dimensions. This is especially relevant in the proposed Bangsamoro region in the Southern Philippines, which has been plagued by identity- and resource-based conflict for more than four decades. A peace agreement signed in March 2014 between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) provides for intensified socio-economic development in support of the transition process. However, socio-economic development for conflict areas has largely been treated as merely complementary (and therefore secondary) to political and security-sector goals. This highlights a clear need for more rigorous inquiry into the technical discipline of planning for conflict-affected areas, including the design of processes and methodologies to ensure effective implementation and service delivery.
This thesis discusses existing knowledge and best practices related to development planning in the context of the Bangsamoro peace process, vis-a-vis other peace processes worldwide, including Indonesia, Thailand, and Afghanistan. A historical review shows that development policy in Maguindanao has often tended to exacerbate conflict, where the dominant paradigms are extraction, co-optation, and counter-insurgency, rather than a comprehensive human security-based approach. While there is a nascent practice of “conflict-sensitive and peace-promoting” (CSPP) planning in the Philippines, it tends to be limited by political timelines, and has yet to be mainstreamed into the Philippine local planning system. The study therefore identifies key technical gaps in current Philippine CSPP planning practice: it must be more spatial, integrative, ecological, cultural, and localized.