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.
Spanish–Moro conflict
Koxinga's threat to invade the Philippines and expel the Spanish resulted in the Spanish failure to conquer the Islamic Moro people in Mindanao. The threat of Chinese invasion forced the Spanish to stop their conquest of the Moros and withdraw their garrisons to Manila. Koxinga's death resulted in the invasion being cancelled. The Spanish retreated occurred in 1663. Zamboanga and Mindanao became devoid of Spanish soldiers after the Chinese threat against Manila. The Chinese threat effectively destroyed the Spanish plan to conquer and colonize the Moros in Zamboanga. Governor Bobadilla was the one who conducted the evacuation. Mindanao was just about to be colonised by Christians before Koxinga's planned conquest of the Philippines destroyed the entire Spanish plan to conquer Mindanao. Iligan and Zamboanga were given up by the Spanish.