I, for one, grew up in Cagayan de Oro (Northern Mindanao) and we have always co-existed with the Muslim population because of its proximity to us. The Lanao provinces are only some 90kms going northwest of us, accessible via a very good cemented highway. As a matter of fact, many of us who are present-day Christians can point to some Muslim family roots in our past lineage.

Even today, where the Muslim population in the city has grown exponentially, I still doubt whether the collective population itself is sophisticated enough to understand or is fully cognizant of the full meaning and ramifications of religious/racial profiling.

To illustrate, the typical teens in our city, of all ethnic backgrounds, are practically indistinguishable from one another, except for the different languages sometimes used in their conversation. Though Tagalog or Bisayan becomes the common language used to link across ethnic boundaries. Of course, a good many of the older Muslims, especially the women, still retain their traditional garb which cultural practice they try to hand down to their daughters.

But in another vein, Christians and Muslims continue to be quietly and subtly wary of each other, trying to keep as much distance in places where they live and worship. With the Christians being more aggressive and assertive in choosing not to live close to Muslim families. Though Muslim families, being still the minority, will live where they can find available housing, regardless of the area’s ethnic composition. And especially in subdivisions that are considered desirable by Christians.

And this wariness and reticence have been there for as long as we can remember. Racial/religious profiling is of course, a new term that became more pronounced world-wide after 9/11.

Just my perspectives.

Thanks for your comments! Don’t worry, we live a safe life here, and do things to ensure the safest lifestyle we can have here. Overall, though, the area where we live is quite safe, I would have to say.

Peter… I don’t necessarily think that religious profiling would be effective here.
The problem is that not all of these terrorists are Muslim, and also most Muslims are not terrorists. The population of Muslims in Mindanao is fairly large, and only a small percentage of those are involved in any kind of terrorism, so profiling Muslims would probably not be effective.