Given its popularity among the Moros of central and western Mindanao, the MILF has increasingly positioned itself as an antidote to the mix of money, violence, and clan power that has saddled development in the region and led to the 23 November 2009 massacre of 57 civilians in Maguindanao province. The autonomy sought by the MILF not only returns to the Moros their ancestral homeland, but also enables them to transition away from the region's broken political culture.