Secularism in the Philippines

Officially the Philippines is a secular state, but religious institutions and religion play a significant role in the country's political affairs.

Due to the distance of the Philippines from the Iberian Peninsula, Spain had to rely on network of parishes and monastic orders for governance of the archipelago.

[4] As a result of the intertwined relations of the secular colonial government and the Catholic Church, the Philippine Revolution which started in 1896 were both based on anti-colonial and anti-clerical grievances.

[6] Spain agreed to cede the Philippines and its other colonies to the United States in the 1898 Treaty of Paris following the aftermath of the Spanish-American War.

The U.S. Congress enacted several "organic acts" for the Philippines which consistently had provisions apt for a secular state largely based on the American Bill of Rights.

The doctrine "recognizes the religious nature of the Filipino people and the elevating influence of religion in society; at the same time, it acknowledges that [the] government must pursue its secular goals" and that the policy "incorporates the Constitutional principle of separation of the Church and the State while recognizing the people’s right to express their belief or nonbelief of a Supreme Being"[2] Religious observances are recognized as public holidays namely the Christian holidays of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, All Saints Day, and Christmas and the Muslim observance of Eid al-Fitr.

[9] Despite the mandate of separation of church and state by the constitution, public schools are allowed to hold religion classes if the students' guardians request it.

Due to most public school teachers being Roman Catholic, in some classrooms the image of the Virgin Mary is displayed and the practice of conducting prayers before classes is largely tolerated.

It allows the Congress to enact "special courts with personal, family, and property law" for an autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao.

[12] The Code of Muslim Personal Laws in 1977 was enacted by President Ferdinand Marcos as an appeasement to the Moro independence movement which emerged in the late 1960s.