Philippine Pre-Colonial Headhunting
The practice of headhunting played a significant role in the pre-colonial history of the Philippines, with various ethnic groups engaging in this tradition for a multitude of reasons. In northern Luzon, ethnic groups such as the Ifugao, Bontoc, Ilongot, Sagada Igorot, Kalingas, and Apayaos practiced headhunting as a cultural custom. This practice involved the taking of an enemy's head as an act of revenge or to bring glory and good luck to a warrior and their village.
https://sinaunangpanahon.com/philippine-pre-colonial-headhunting/#google_vignette
“I’m sure there were even some Russians helping other Europeans to bring civilization to that dark corner of the world.”
Strangely enough I don’t recall a single case of a Russian pre the 1920’s - 30’s. There were a fair number of “White Russians” who showed up then, refugees who had fetched up in the Philippines from Shanghai or elsewhere in China. We knew several of their descendants. But that all was centuries after the times of settlement and Christianization.
There certainly were pagans and savages in the islands, and worse, Muslims. In the very first volumes of dispatches from the Legaspi expedition (Its all online in English, look for Blair & Robertson, the translators) there are accounts of depredations of these pirates, and of skirmishes against them. It was indeed the Spanish and the Church that brought civilization there. Among the Spanish, military, officials, and clergy, there were a good number of Frenchmen and Italians and even a few Belgians (or what we today would call Belgians), as well as natives and mestizos (mixed race) from what is now Mexico and Peru.
Those "cannibal savages" who fought, and the many endured the Bataan Death March, including the thousands who died, are far better men than you can ever hope to be.
Take your bigotry and stick it where the sun don't shine.