01 December 2016 — Philippine Ambassador to Mexico Eduardo Jose A. de Vega conducted a lecture on The Bangsamoro Peace Process at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) on November 22.

The lecture was organized by the University Seminar of Asian Studies (SUEA) of UNAM within the framework of the second edition of the diploma course on studies about Asia. 

This academic activity is supported by the Ministry for Institutional Development (SDI) of UNAM and attended by the faculty and students of Political Science at UNAM.   The seminar covered the following main topics:  East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Ambassador de Vega started with a brief overview of the Philippines - its location, religion and the territory of the Bangsamoro.  He discussed about the 3 separatist Muslim groups namely, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Abu Sayaff and described each group´s role in the peace process.

He also gave a historical account of the Mindanao conflict, its underlying causes, as well as the obstacles and challenges in moving the peace process forward.

Ambassador de Vega informed the participants that under the current administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, the MILF and the MNLF have expressed their commitment to peace and to finally ending their 47-year old insurgency.

He further informed them that there have been no incidents of armed hostilities between the Philippine Armed Forces and both groups since President Duterte´s assumption of office.

UNAM is the largest public university in Mexico with around 342,542 students.   It is one of the most highly regarded universities in Latin America and the Spanish-speaking world in general.  It was founded in September 1910 and was granted autonomy in 1929, which gave it the freedom to define its own curriculum and manage its own budget without interference from the government. END