Persecution of Muslims
The Philippines is predominantly a Christian society with a complicated history of relations between Islam and Christianity. Despite historic evidence of Islamization spreading throughout the islands in the 13th–16th centuries, the archipelago came under Spanish rule in the 16th century. The Spanish proselytized many natives, and labelled those who remained Muslims as "Moro", a derogatory term recalling the Moors, an Islamic people of North Africa who occupied parts of Spain for several centuries. Today, this term "Moro" is used to refer to the indigenous Muslim tribes and ethnic groups of the country. When the Spanish came to the Philippine islands, most of the natives in Luzon and Visayas were pagans with Muslim minorities, and while Spanish proselytized many natives, many Muslims in Luzon and Visayas were not exempted by the Spaniards from the Spanish Inquisition, wherein Muslims to become Catholics or die for their faith. Those who remained Muslims are only the natives of Mindanao and Sulu which the Spaniards did not invade or had control of only briefly and partially.
Mampirao
During the Spanish invasion of the Philippines, stories from old folks revealed that the Spaniards are exploring every place to study, learn and try to understand the different Filipino cultures. They would frequently asked questions about something that caught their keen interests. An anecdote was told that one of the incidences that occurred during those times was about a group of Spaniards who lost their way. The place of Mampirao today was then thickly covered by forest. As they trekked along a very small path and reached at a crossroad, the Spaniards saw a native indio and consequently asked about the name of place. The indio without knowledge of the Spanish language, hence, he did not understand what the Spaniards were asking, and instead sensing that he was asked about what he was doing, he immediately responded that he was just "nagpipirao" which means "sleeping". Accordingly, the Spaniards understood that the name of the place was "Mampirao" as they have difficulty in pronouncing the world "nagpipirao".