What is "ilaga"

The Ilaga ( Visayan: rat), allegedly meaning Ilonggo Land-Grabbers Association, is a ultra-right wing extremist, pro-government paramilitary group in the southern Philippines predominantly composed of Visayan groups (mostly Ilonggos) embracing a form of Philippine Folk Catholicism that utilizes amulets and violence and was operated, led and largely used by the Philippine Constabulary as a militia force during the 1970s in Southern Mindanao while battling against the Bangsa Moro Rebellion during the Moro insurgency in the Philippines.

Increased tensions in the Philippines since 2008 have since seen the reemergence of the armed vigilante group calling themselves the Bag-ong Ilaga (Visayan: New Ilaga). Since 2008, violence flared up with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Armed Forces of the Philippines after the Supreme Court of the Philippines overruled the proposed treaty for an Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The group committed its bloodiest act during the Manili massacre on June 1971 when it massacred 65 Moro Muslim civilians in a mosque.

Ilaga may refer to:

• Ilaga, a Christian militia that was active in the Philippines in the 1970s.
• Ilaga (Papua), a valley and town in Papua, Indonesia.