The U.S.A. Province began sending missionaries to the Philippines in 1946 and were joined four years later by Claretian missionaries from other provinces who had been expelled from China. In 1969, the U.S. Western Province began staffing the mission at Lamitan on Basilan Island which included a church, school, and medical clinic. Tensions between the indigenous Yakan people, Christians, and Filipino government led to civil unrest, making the area unsafe for the Claretians who withdrew from the area in 1975.