Iran and the Philippines: In the Pursuit of Constructive Engagement

Abstract The importance of maritime silk route which connects the ancient Persian Gulf waterways to the Indian Ocean and leads towards the Pacific has made this fluidity of trade and missionary movements reach the southern Philippine shores. This early century interaction offered an opportunity to synthesise and acculturate Persian and Arab ideas and cultural values and practices into the construction of the pre-colonial Filipino identity, culture and traditions as expressed in religious, commercial, linguistic and socio-cultural dynamics which until the present time have still remained visible yet ‘underappreciated’ in Philippine society. This article will look at how colonisation and decolonisation theories shape modern Filipino identity by marginalising pre-colonial foreign influences of Persians, Arabs and Indians including other early indigenous values in favour of ‘superior values’ as introduced by colonisers: the Spaniards and the Americans. In advancing the arguments, the article explains how ‘imagined community’ as an alternative discourse aided in constructing modern Filipino culture and identity today. To give emphasis on the formation of the Philippine-Iran relations, this paper also focuses on the historical and contemporary variables that help shape the cordial bilateral relations, along with a presentation of issues, challenges and opportunities on how the two countries – the Philippines and Iran – could advance more in their relations. Finally, the research suggests that constant but salient variables presented in the relations such as the presence of new generation of Iranian-Filipinos living both in the Philippines and Iran, Iranian businessmen, and the larger pool of Iranian students in the Philippines could be utilised by both governments to help in advancing Philippine-Iran relations in various fronts including but not limited to cultural and community engagements but also in educational cooperation, trade transactions and political engagements.