Muslim-Christian Relations in the Philippines: Redefining the Conflict

About a couple of months ago, relations between the Muslims and the Christians in the Philippines have once again been provoked into a confrontational stance with the problem over the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's (MILF) armed movement for an independent Islamic state in the South and the audacity of the Abu Sayyaf for hostage rampage. While these may seem to be a problem on peace and order, the side effects of an economy on a downturn, they nonetheless trigger an alarm that it is not "all quiet at the southern front" to borrow a line. This means, something of the disturbing part of the…