Across more than four decades, the conflict between the national government and Muslim liberation forces in the southern Philippines has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions. Two landmark agreements under the presidency of Benigno S Aquino III — the first in 2012 and the second in 2014 — raised high hopes that peace might finally be on the way. But the peace process stalled, and has yet to regain momentum, after a botched counterterrorism operation in early 2015.This volume provides both in-depth examination of the latest stage of a still-ongoing peace process as well as richly textured analysis of the historical, political, and economic context underlying one of the most enduring conflicts in the world. It is thus an extremely important foundational resource in the continuing quest for peace and prosperity in Mindanao.

The story takes place in the United States and the Mindanao Region in the Philippines where the Japanese were occupiers during WWII and used the region to bury diamonds, gems and gold that they looted and pillaged as invaders to finance their war efforts. It was the United States military who patrolled the Pacific Ocean preventing the Japanese ships from reaching Japan forcing them to find alternative ways to harbor their spoils. Seven United States Army elite specialists including, Jonathan Watkins Sr. recovered the booty the Japanese had buried. The men became the center of an intense search by Islamic separatists and other scavengers, a term used to identify treasure-hunters, to find the buried treasure that they believed they were entitled to. However, the story takes place around the Islamic Separatists Movement, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and its splinter groups who all seemed to be vying to recover the spoils to finance their separatist movements. They and other 'scavengers' were in pursuit of any information Jonathan Watkins Sr. shared with his eldest daughter, prior to his death. That is, about the location of the spoils while at the same time the drama was used as a backdrop for a conspiracy to frame the socialite-financier, Condolesa Escobar. Ms. Escobar just happened to be in a position to acquire her dead husband's empire only to be the target of her stepson who had vowed to destroy her, hence the conspiracy. It was Roland Cavalier, an award winning investigative journalist for the New York Daily News, who while covering the story of the signing of the accord between one of the splinter Islamic separatist groups, the MILN and the Philippine government, in Manila, had to also investigate the conspiracy. So he hooks up with two private detectives Jonathan Watkins Jr., an American, and Filipino Katrina Chavez to expose the culprits only to find out the person first suspected of being at the center of this conspiracy was being framed.

This book is predominately about the Japanese invasion, occupation, and eventual defeat in the Philippine island of Mindanao from 1941 to 1945. Mindanao is the largest of the three land masses in the Philippines. Although the struggle was essentially between the Japanese forces and a combination of Filipinos and a minority of United States forces in Mindanao, it brings into the historical account other battles in the War in the Pacific. All major players, on both sides, are researched and bought into this gruesome, genuine historical account. Their photographs, where possible, are included – as are their existences, although sometimes briefly. During the struggle against the Japanese invasion and eventual defeat in Mindanao, a very large force of resident Muslim guerillas (Moros) was involved. This side of the struggle is examined and researched thoroughly.

Since its inception in 1966, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been involved in the development of Mindanao, which accounts for a large slice of ADB operations in the Philippines. As of May 2010, ADB had approved 192 public sector/sovereign loans to the Philippines totaling $11.3 billion. Out of the 184 completed loans, 36 ($815.0 million) were exclusive to Mindanao while 30 ($1.2 billion) had national coverage but with subprojects in Mindanao. Out of the eight active loans, seven ($350 million) have subprojects in Mindanao. This report focuses on ADB's assistance to the Mindanao island group, particularly on how the project interventions may have made a difference in the lives of Mindanaoans.

When Pearl Harbor was attacked, Mel Amler was a sociable and motivated dental student completing his first semester at New York University. The following spring, the US Army commissioned him and thousands of his classmates nationwide in the Medical Administrative Corps (MAC) Reserve. Their coursework was accelerated to supply the armed forces with critically needed dental officers. Upon graduation, the newly minted dentists were whisked off to basic training and to combat zones worldwide. Armed with a .45 automatic and carbine, his newly gained profession, and a commission as a First Lieutenant, Mel found himself deep in the jungles of Mindanao, The Philippines. Standing watch duty in the pitch-black rain-flooded midnight, he wondered how this city boy who loved science and music had come to this.