Michael Yon on the Philippines:

In Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Philippines, motivations and fighting styles swing widely. Disgruntlement flows from many wells. The fight in the Philippines is constructed with all the care and organization as a plate of spaghetti. The wise use of money can be a great antidote for some of the Philippine ills, but not all. Between money and justice, the perception of justice is always King.
Thinking about what is possible to actually accomplish in the Philippines requires a long time frame, as in Afghanistan. It will take decades, perhaps a century, to guide and nudge these insurgencies and tendencies to civility, by means of subtle cultural persuasion, and ensuring that groups with grievances share in the benefits of economic prosperity. Just as the violent cultures of headhunting Iban on nearby Borneo are no longer headhunting, the primitive (yet cell phone-toting) feudal clans of the southern Philippines are clashing between themselves and others.
Insofar as our folks go, morale of American troops appears to be high. I’ve talked with dozens of them on three islands—Luzon, Mindanao and Sulu. The soldiers are well cared for, and in some areas they have freedom of movement even on Mindanao. Attacks on our people are very uncommon compared to Afghanistan.
The U.S. team in the Philippines is in the experienced hands of Colonel Bill Coultrup, who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, including being in the middle of the “Blackhawk Down” fight in Mogadishu. He was involved in the hunt for bin Laden, and it was actually Coultrup’s folks who captured Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Admiral Timothy Keating recently told me in Singapore that Colonel Coultrup is a national treasure.