resiliency, shadow economy, Terrorism, local politicians, Maguindanao Province 

This study employing phenomenology aimed at determining the sources of survivability of the terrorist group in the Province of Maguindanao through the shadow economy. It was anchored on the premise of Collective Action Theory by Olson (1985). The analysis of the data revealed the following findings. In terms of its structure, the terrorist organization is headed by radical Islamic personalities. Local politicians such as mayors and barangay captains are some few of the personalities that have direct support to the BIFF that operates in the Liguasan Marsh. Monetary help for the procurement of arms is the incentive that terrorist groups got from the actors. In the same vein, their support can be attributed to the kinship which is strong among the Maguindanaons and the monetary support from the local politicians. In exchange, the politicians’ interests are protected by the latter. The shadow economy in the Province of Maguindanao remained to be resilient because of the support given by their respective families, foreign funding, and support of the local politicians. Generally, the shadow economy has been the source of living among the leaders and the members. It was proposed that in order to stop this, program on poverty alleviation must be strengthened and the root causes of terrorism must be determined. It was concluded that the terrorist organization in the Province of Maguindanao is headed by radical Islamic personalities supported by local politicians, international funding, as well as from their families who worked as OFWs. Maguindanaons have strong family ties which clearly manifested their strong support to all causes of the organization. Politicians who supported the terror group got the same protection especially on their illegal activities like drugs. Generally, the shadow economy helped individuals in the Province of Maguindanao to survive because of poverty.