[A]uthority, full and free permission to invade, search out, capture, and subjugate the Saracens and pagans and any other unbelievers and enemies of Christ wherever they may be, as well as their kingdoms, duchies, counties, principalities, and other property [...] and to reduce their persons into perpetual slavery. It was during this period that the Philippine security sector was created and utilized by foreign powers against its own people and the non-Christian peoples of the world. It served as an armed instrument to seize the lands of the colonized people, reconcentrate the populace in village and town settlements, and enslave farmers under the encomienda system. Filipinos were also recruited as soldiers of Spanish military expeditionary units that invaded Formosa, Vietnam, Cambodia, Brunei and the Spice Islands under the Spanish flag. Today, this dark period in history has been recognized and described by the United Nations Economic and Social Council’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues as the period of the “Doctrine of Discovery” which, it concludes, was the foundation of the violation of human rights. It is a doctrine that viii has been institutionalized in law and policy, on national and international levels, and lies at the root of violations of indigenous peoples human rights, both individual and collective. This has resulted in state claims to and the mass appropriation of lands, territories and resources of indigenous peoples. Both the Doctrine of Discovery and a holistic structure that we term the Framework of Dominance have resulted in centuries of virtually unlimited resource extraction from the traditional territories of indigenous peoples. This, in turn has resulted in the dispossession and impoverishment of indigenous peoples, and the host of problems that they face today on a daily basis.2 On September 13, 2007, the United Nations adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples during the 62nd Session of the UN General Assembly, with a majority vote of 143. Four members voted against the Declaration (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States).3 But there is another part of Philippine military history that is associated with the country’s long process of struggle for nationhood and independence.