Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in the context of "Sulu"

Bangsamoro, officially the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM; Filipino: Rehiyong Awtonomo ng Bangsamoro sa Muslim Mindanao; Arabic: منطقة بانجسامورو ذاتية الحكم في مينداناو المسلمة‎, romanized: Minṭaqah Banjisāmūrū dhātiyyah al-ḥukm fī Mīndānāw al-muslimah), is an autonomous region in the Philippines, located in the southwestern portion of the island of Mindanao.

Replacing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the BARMM was formed with the ratification of its basic law, the Bangsamoro Organic Law, following a two-part legally binding plebiscite in Western Mindanao held on January 21 and February 6, 2019. The ratification was confirmed a few days later on January 25 by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC).

The Lumad are a group of Austronesian indigenous peoples in the southern Philippines. It is a Cebuano term meaning 'native' or 'indigenous'. The term is short for Katawhang Lumad (lit. 'indigenous people'), the autonym officially adopted by the delegates of the Lumad Mindanao Peoples Federation (LMPF) founding assembly on 26 June 1986 at the Guadalupe Formation Center, Balindog, Kidapawan, Cotabato. Usage of the term was accepted in Philippine jurisprudence when President Corazon Aquino signed into law Republic Act 6734, where the word was used in Art. XIII sec. 8(2) to distinguish Lumad ethnic communities from the islands of Mindanao.

Mindanao is home to a substantial part of the country's indigenous population, comprising around 15% of the Philippine population.

Regional Development Councils (RDCs) are the highest policy-making body governing the administrative regions of the Philippines. They serve as the subnational counterpart of the Economy and Development Council. All but two (Metro Manila and Bangsamoro) of the Philippines' 18 regions has a Regional Development Council although Metro Manila has a metropolitan body which serves the same function as an RDC. Bangsamoro, an autonomous region, also has its own equivalent to a RDC.

Metro Manila is recognized in law as a "special development and administrative region," and was thus given a metropolitan authority; the Metro Manila Council within the MMDA serves as the National Capital Region's RDC. The defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao's (ARMM) equivalent of an RDC was the Regional Economic and Development Planning Board.

The 2019 Bangsamoro autonomy plebiscite was a two-part plebiscite held in Mindanao, Philippines, that ratified the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) and replaced the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), as well as the scope of the said region.

Under the organic law, the government would have to hold the plebiscite not more than 150 days from the signing of the BOL into law (July 26, 2018) but not earlier than 90 days from the law's signing. The first part of the plebiscite was held on January 21, 2019, where voters from the ARMM voted regarding the BOL's ratification and residents of Cotabato City and Isabela City voted for or against their cities' inclusion into the then-proposed region. The second part was held on February 6 to potentially expand the BARMM; with voters from six municipalities in Lanao del Norte and 67 barangays in Cotabato province voting for or against their localities' inclusion into the BARMM.