“EVEN TODAY, AMERICAN SOLDIERS ARE STILL PRESENT IN MINDANAO, CONDUCTING SECRET MISSIONS RELATED TO COUNTER-TERRORISM” At the edge of the Pacific Ocean, spread over Asia’s doorstep, lies the Philippines. This chaotic archipelago, with a population racing past 100 million people, has three main geographic areas. There’s the imposing landmass of Luzon – where the Spanish established a colonial regime lasting 333 years. Beneath Luzon are the colourful Visayas, which form a path to Mindanao, the large, southern most island that would almost connect with Borneo were it not for the emerald waters of the Sulu Sea.
For the past 50 years, Mindanao’s Muslim population, which forms a disparate selection of rural communities inhabiting eastern regions, have fought the government in the capital city of the Philippines, Manilla. The origins of…