From Four Nodes of History: The Human Rights Challenge in the Philippine Security Sector T he Moro legacy encompasses the period of struggle against Spanish and American colonialism. It is a period of time when the Philippine military also acquired a Moro tradition, aside from the Spanish, revolutionary (i.e., Philippine Revolution of 1896, and the Philippine-American War) and the American military traditions. 1. How did Islam reach the Philippine Islands? Islamic penetration into Maritime Southeast Asia emerged during Islam’s Golden Age (750 CE - c. 1257 CE). During this period, Muslims of different nationalities united and took over many lands controlled by the Roman and Persian empires and placed them under the control of Muslim caliphates (ie., Umayyad and Ottoman empires). They were able to take control of the international ports that Indian merchants had relied upon for centuries for dominance. Arab traders were able to take control of the strategic Indian port of Malabar in the Southwestern Coast of India. From Malabar, Muslim traders and missionaries fanned out to Maritime Southeast Asia that included the islands of what is now the Philippines. They used the same trading routes Indian traders used from Malabar. 12 Islam was able to take root in Malaysia and Indonesia during the 12th century when the King of Kedah renounced his Hindu religion and converted to Islam. Other Muslim conversions followed, starting with the royal families in Malacca in 1267, and Sumatra in 1267. From here, Islam spread to Brunei and Sulu and mainland Mindanao, converting the Indianized population to Islam. At about 1500, when Brunei took over the Islamic leadership in Maritime Southeast Asia, Muslim influence and conversions had reached coastal areas in Luzon. Conversion to Islam was peaceful and brought inhabitants prosperity, for at this point, world trade using the “Silk Road” was controlled by Arab Muslims. 2. What exactly are Moros? The term Moros, from the word Moors, was coined by the people of the Iberian Peninsula to describe the Muslims who conquered and subjugated them for over 700 years during the ascendancy of the Umayyad Caliphate. (Moors were also called “Saracens” by the papacies who were leading the holy crusades.) The term Moors has no ethnological value1 because the Muslim armies that took and subjugated the Spaniards came from the Berber people of North Africa, Black Afri-