They did, but the fight is still on. The communist/islamic Moros are still a serious issue on some of the islands, and the US is helping the Philippine government in fighting them. Unfortunately, puerile minds on this forum prevent rational discussion of this almost forgotten front in the ongoing war against islamic terrorism.
Exactly right. Do you remember why the Colt .45 was invented?
From this article (which might be of interest to you also, Pyro)
Q. It has been argued extensively elsewhere that development policies as they are currently constituted in much of the Third World cannot but amplify people’s increasingly besieged sense of identity, thus creating the conditions for identity-based conflict (ethnic, sectarian, religious, etc.). Do you think that the kind of development policies implemented by the post-colonial state in the Philippines may have exacerbated relations between Muslims and Christians in Mindanao?
A. They could have, but the Muslim rebellion against central authority predates the independent Philippine government. It existed against the Americans, against General Pershing, who had the Colt .45 automatic pistol invented precisely to stop a Moro Juramentado running after his own personal or clan enemies; the .45 was invented to stop the guy in his tracks.
Before that the Spaniards were never able to pacify the Muslims…
http://www.asiasource.org/news/special_reports/pascua.cfm