The Spanish colonized the Philippines in the name of the king! This in the 16th century.
The Philippines is majority Roman Catholic.
Later the Americans colonized the Philippines.
U.S. President McKinley justified the annexation of the Philippines by saying that it was "a gift from the gods" and that since "they were unfit for self-government, … there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them". From wikipedia.
Protestant missionaries from the U.S. Episcopal church were not to be outdone. However, they found it tough going..but managed to reach Sagada, a city in North Luzon. And lo and behold it is the only city in the Philippines with a Protestant majority population.
But Malasia and I Indonesia are not far away! And the ' fishermen' from these places settled in Mindanao. Not only that they brought with them Islam.
Mindanao is the only province of the Philippines with a majority muslim population.
In Manila is China Town. The oldest and largest settlement of the Chinese in the Philippines. The Buddhist Temple is supposedly one of the oldest Temples of its kind outside of China.
During World War II, the Japanese landed in the Philippines.
The image I posted above is the area in North Luzon that was under Japanese domination. They were entrenched in that region. To regain it, the Philippine Army, with the assistance of the U.S, suffered heavy casualties. The terrain is treacherous. Easily defended.
This National flag of the Philippines has been erected at the Bessang Pass. The fall of this region hastened the end of the war, and led to the surrender of Japanese Imperial army General Tamoyuki Yamashita. This engagement is considered the most brutal and difficult of the entire war.
So much for history.