Why is there a Filipino peace-keeping force in Haiti?

Why is there a Filipino peace-keeping force in Haiti, which is halfway across the world from the Philippines? The answer is a complex one, deeply rooted in Haiti’s history and its interaction with the international community, especially with its powerful American neighbor. Here we can only provide a brief summary. 1. Haiti, mostly populated by African slaves and remnants of the indigenous peoples, was a French colony in the 18th century. The Haiti revolution of 1791-1804 liberated the country, but did not result in a strong civilian government and economy. The country soon fell into a long period of military rule and insurgency. 2. The U.S. Marines intervened, and occupied the country as a virtual US colony from 1915-1934, supporting a series of local strongmen. 3. From 1935 to 1971, Haiti was ruled by the Francois Duvalier dictatorship, which was succeeded by the dictatorship of his son Jean-Claude “Baby Doc" Duvalier (1971-1986). Both dictatorships were supported by the US. 4. In February 1986, the unpopular Duvalier regime was overthrown by a combined military-civilian uprising similar to our own February 1986 EDSA revolt. 5. From 1986 to 2004, Haiti was rocked by political instability, and ruled by an alternate succession of elected and coup-installed governments, both civilian and military. The Haitian military was itself weak and factionalized, and opened up the country to various forms of internal warfare and foreign intervention. 6. In February 2004, a paramilitary rebellion ousted the Aristide government, which gave way to a US-sponsored leadership. Boniface Alexandre, the interim president, petitioned the UN Security Council for the intervention of an international peacekeeping force. Within the same day, foreign troops led by 1,000 US Marines arrived as vanguard of the official UN force. 7. On June 1, 2004, the peacekeeping force was passed to United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), currently comprising 7,000-strength force led by Brazil and backed up by Argentina, Chile, Jordan, Morocco, Nepal, Peru, Philippines, Spain, Sri Lanka and Uruguay. 8. As part of the Philippine government's UN commitments, Filipino peacekeepers were first deployed in Haiti in 2005 to help prevent the country from plunging into chaos. Since then, more than 1,500 Filipino troops have served there as members of the Force Headquarters Security Unit of the MINUSTAH. Sources: Wikipedia, GMANews.Tv - Jun Verzola, GMANews.TV