HISTORICAL ASCENDANCY OF 'FILIPINOS', 'INDIOS' AND 'MOROS'
Historically, Philippine colonialism took ugly roots in Mindanao from the beginning of the Spanish invaders in 1521, using the castilian blade and doctrine of Christian Catholicism in forcing and deceiving the native inhabitants of Visayas and gradually Luzon and Mindanao, to abandon their freedom and indigenous religion, thus, serving solely the colonial interests of the foreign invaders.
Nonetheless, the Spanish conquerors, headed by Ferdinand Magellan, encountered stiff resistance from the Visayan natives under Rajah Kulafu ('Lapu-Lapu), who coincidentally was sent to Mactan by the Mindanao-based Sultan of Sulu in securing the tributary tax from the native Visayans being protectorate of the Sultanate of Sulu ('Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo later in 1798'). In the epic battle of Mactan, Rajah Lapu-Lapu killed Magellan, leading the Spanish marauders to hurriedly retreat back to Spain.
From 1540 to 1560, the second and third wave Spanish invaders pursued their colonial evangelical conquests, naming the occupied islands of Visayas (later to include Luzon) 'Islas del Felipe' ('Filipinas') in honour of the immoral and racial bigot King Philip II of Spain. The aggressive Spanish colonizers further succeeded in Christianizing the Animist natives in Luzon called 'Indios', who adopted in 1872 to be addressed 'Filipinos'. Originally, the so-called Filipinos were the Luzon-born sons and daughters of the Spanish soldiers and friars, who together with the Christianized native Indios consented to become subjects of King Philip II and simply colonial slaves of Spain for about three centuries.
Thus, on this context, the original Muslim settlers of Manila and their co-religionist Muslims in Mindanao can never be identified or considered 'Filipinos' similar to the Catholic Spanish children and Christianized Indios in Luzon and Visayas. It is initially recalled that the Spanish invaders found the big group of native settlers under Rajah Matanda and Rajah Sulayman of Manila and Rajah Lakandula of Tondo to practice the same religion and culture similar to the 'Moors' or 'Maurus' of Mauretania of Iberian peninsula that conquered with Arab support and ruled Spain for 781 from July 19, 711 up to January 2, 1493.
After more than three centuries of colonial campaigns by the Manila-based Spanish invaders, who also utilized the Christianized Indios-converted-Filipinos as servant foot-soldiers, and continued series war resistance by the Moro freedom fighters in Mindanao, it is quite surprising why the Spanish colonizers were able to deceive the American invaders in 1898 to purchase to the tune of $20,000,000 the unconquered Bangsamoro (Moro Nation) domain together with Cuba highlighted in history by the so-called Treaty of Paris. Be that as it may, the injustice most profound was perpetrated against the oppressed Bangsamoro people by foreign powers relying only in the 'law of the jungle' that 'might is right', thus, merely justifying the ugliness of piratical land-grabbing and colonial slavery.