See here, for example. It's weird, the Phillipines is a place, despite its history of political unrest, that I don't really think of when thinking about unstable regions in the world. I think a large part of that is the large numbers of Filipinos I knew in high school. I don't know what their situations were at home, but I don't think anyone looked at them as refugees. It's strange the things that paint your picture of the world sometimes, especially when that picture is so inaccurate.

I think it doesn't help that the island is linked in my mind to places like Hawaii (and not without reason). Hawaii, Samoa, etc. are places where the overriding image is that people are just laid-back. Of course there couldn't be political unrest if everyone's just chillin', right? And that's exactly the problem with broad stereotypes.