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*Francisco J. Lara Jr. is Research Associate at the LSE Crisis States Research Center, London, U.K.
An unintended consequence of the Maguindanao massacre was to draw attention to a huge underground economy that undergirds the political authority and legitimacy of Mindanao’s political entrepreneurs. The revelation by US authorities over the palpable impact of “narcopolitics’ in the May 10 2010 elections, and the recent busting of small-scale drug labs in Metro-Manila, Cotabato City, and in several towns of Lanao del Sur underscore this reality, alongside the discovery of a huge cache of arms and ammunition controlled by violent clans.
Yet to confine the dynamics of power at the subnational and national level neglects a new source of politico-economic power which explains the resilience of warlord clans – their links to supra-national criminal networks engaged in the lucrative arms and drug trade in Southeast Asia, and their increased access to considerable amounts of foreign aid and reconstruction assistance in conflict-affected areas. These have enabled warlords to embellish their legitimacy and tap into new sources of wealth and power that corrodes and transcends the nation-state.
Click link to download full article: Rust never sleeps – Francisco J. Lara Jr.
