ABSTRACT
The Philippines occupies a unique regional position in the global war on terrorism. The Philippines is the only predominantly Catholic nation among the sizable states in Southeast Asia. This demographic reality combined with disparities in political power has historically pitted the dominant Christian majority against the disenfranchised Muslim minority. In addition, the sources of Manila’s strategic outlook, including its colonial past under the Spanish and then, later, American rule coupled with a strong contemporary political and sociocultural identification with the United States, and a treaty-based alliance with Washington, make the Philippines a distinctly Western-oriented country in the region. Together these factors have sharpened the ideological and cultural divides between the largely secular Christian political center and the Muslim minority in pursuit of Islamist autonomy operating on the periphery.
