1999 picture of Salamat Hashim, chairman and founder of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), at Camp Abubakar in the Southern Philippines.
The first peace deal between the Philippine state and the MNLF was brokered in Libya in 1976, but in the following the negotiations a splinter group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), was formed. Lead by the fierce ideologue Salamat Hashim, MILF refused to agree on a settlement based on the Philippine constitution. They also advocated for a smaller autonomous territory, which would only be comprised of areas currently inhabited by a majority of Muslims.