In 1900, Mindanao was a largely sparsely populated island in the Philippines especially in Davao Gulf and American companies had to recruit Japanese workers to done labor for banana and Manila hemp plantation due to scarcity of indigenous (Mandaya) population to do those and it was the impetus for the colonial government in 1920s to populate Mindanao with Visayans and some from Luzon with the process of making Mindanao majority populated by Christians. Japanese settlement in Davao Gulf was one of the reasons why Imperialist Japan conquered the Philippines to gain foothold in Southeast Asia archipelago.
What if they decided to recruit thousands of Southern Europeans (Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese, Greeks, Serbs, or Croats), Lebanese, Syrians, or Jews to populate Mindanao and assure future control of the island for the Philippines by having significant European minority in the periphery like in Santa Cruz province in Bolivia?