From the Manila Times (Sep 30): Why Muslim Filipinos stay calm

....Aleem Said Ahmad Basher, who has the distinction of being one of the few Muslim Filipinos who have graduated from Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, told this writer the biggest single reason why here in the Philippines there has been no outbreak of violence related to the anti-Islam movie “The Innocence of Muslims.” He said this reason is the different character of the Muslim Filipinos in comparison to their brethren in the Middle East....“There are more moderate Muslims [than extremists] in the Philippines and most of all there are many Muslim Filipinos who are Islamic-minded people,” Aleem Basher said. He stressed that “Islamic-minded” means peaceable. “Contrary to the perception, Muslim Filipinos are actually peace-minded people and they are not trouble makers but peacemakers and that is in accordance with the teachings of Islam,” he emphasized. Aleem Basher, who is also the chairman of the Imam Council of the Philippines, Inc. (ICPI), is one of the most influential clerics and imams who issued calls over national television and major radio stations in Manila against holding anti-US demonstrations in reaction to the outrageous film. He made the call because of it was perceived that radical infiltrators might join the demonstrators and ignite trouble.

http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/news/headlines-mt/32180-why-muslim-filipinos-stay-calm