This is a brief history of Islam in what is now called the Phillipines.
“WE, BANGSAMOROS, WERE SOVEREIGN EVEN BEFORE THE ‘DISCOVERY’ OF THE PHILIPPINES. THE SPANIARDS, AMERICANS AND FILIPINOS WERE COLONIZERS AND HAVE NO RIGHT TO GOVERN US!” Moro National Liberation Front
From: A Nation Under Endless Tyranny
By Salah Jubair
That Islam came to the Philippine islands by the trade route at the end of the fourteenth century is generally accepted by historians. It followed the route that originated from Arabia overland through Central Asia and then overseas to India, China and thence to Southeast Asia and Africa.
As in the Malayan peninsula, Indonesia and Borneo, the first to become Muslims in Mindanao and Sulu were those living in or near trading posts or along the trade routes. This is why most historians, if not all, believe that the early missionaries of Islam were traders.
In Sulu, an Arab known locally as Tuan Mashaika was credited with having founded the first Muslim community. He married a local maiden and raised his children as Muslims. Later, in 1380, another Arab, Karimul Makhdum, reverently called Sharif Awliya, arrived and converted a large number of inhabitants to Islam. Makhdum was responsible for the founding of the first mosque in the Philippines at Tubig-Indangan on Simunul Island.
In 1390, Rajah Baguinda arrived and continued the works of Makhdum. By this time, a flourishing Muslim community in Sulu evolved and by the middle of the following century the Sulu sultanate was established. The first crowned sultan was Syed Abubakar, an Arab from South Arabia, who was said to be a direct descendant of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). Upon his ascension to the throne, Abubakar used the regnal name Sharif Hashim.
In Mindanao, Sharif Muhammad Kabungsuan, also claiming to be of Hashimite descent, is credited as being mostly instrumental in the propagation of the new faith in the island. But before the coming of Sharif Kabungsuan, local genealogies or tarsilas of Maguindanao speak of a certain Sharif Awliya, also from Johore, who is said to have introduced Islam to the people of Mindanao around 1460.
Before the advent of Islam, the people of Mindanao and Sulu were animists. There was no community ever reported orally or in writing to be monotheist. They worshipped stones, stars, moons and other inanimate objects. Diwata and anito were essential features of their belief system. Conversion to Islam was generally regarded as easy and unconstrained except in some isolated cases where clashes preceded it. With a vastly superior knowledge, usually associated with “magical powers,” the newcomers easily got past the local opposition. Rendering the task much easier was the Arabian blood. running in their veins which hastened rather than hindered acceptance not only by the masses of the people but even by the old ruling classes. And with Islam came the new world outlook, power structure and the cleansing force in weeding out pagan rituals and ceremonies. It gave way to the uncompromising belief in one single Supreme Being called Allah, on the equality and brotherhood of the faithfuls, on the establishment of goodwill and prosperity to all. and revolutionized the lifestyles of the faithfuls in all spheres of existence. As proof of its persuasiveness, Islam gained new adherents who proved to be among its ablest and bravest defenders.
In many instances, global politics affected directly or indirectly the turn of events even in faraway places. Had not the Moors been defeated by the Spaniards in 1492. the Spaniards could not have come in 1521 and conquered the Philippines. Or had the Spaniards delayed their coming to the Philippines for just half a century there would be no such thing as the “only Christian country” in Asia. There could have been an entirely different story to tell regarding the spread of Islam in Luzon and the Visayas.
There is evidence that as early as the last years of the fifteenth century, Islam was already gaining headway in many places in the Philippines. It was carried directly from or via Sulu or Mindanao by preachers, traders or voyagers from Borneo who settled among the inhabitants of the islands.
Aside from Manila, then known as Selurong, Islam had already gained ground in Batangas, Pampanga, Cagayan, Mindoro, Palawan, Catanduanes, Bonbon, Cebu, Oton, Laguna and other districts. Preachers of Islam, all reportedly coming from Borneo, came to teach the natives the rudiments of the new religion. Such Islamic practices as circumcision, reading the Qur’an, avoidance of pork, and the use of Muslim names were already noted among the natives of these districts.
What is Metropolitan Manila today was formerly the bastion of Islam. Manila was ruled by Rajah Sulaiman Mahmud, jointly or assisted by Rajah Matanda, his uncle and Tondo under the rule of Rajah Lakandula. Manila was not only the commercial center but a powerful fort (cotta) was built near the mouth of the Pasig River in defense of the realm.
It was to the islamized natives of Manila that the word Moro was first applied by the Spaniards in 1570 to denote those who professed Islam. Indio first denoted the pagan natives, but was later to include even the christianized. It was only in later years, more specifically in 1578 and after, that the name Moro was generally applied to the Muslims of Mindanao and Sulu.
All the monickers assigned to the natives, Indio, Moro and Filipino were given by the Spaniards. History should credit them for giving us all these names, either out of hatred or by reasons of similarities, or by force of circumstances, or by all of the above.
As earlier mentioned, the word Moro is not a new name. It was derived from the ancient Mauri or Mauritania and was later on applied on the Berbers of North Africa and those who came and conquered Spain. The name, therefore, did not exclude the Arabs themselves especially the Umayyad princes who founded the Umayyad kingdom of Spain. In a larger context, the name is not confined to refer to a group of people, or a nationality, but applied rather to a religious affiliation, transcending the barriers of geography, race and time.
By a confluence of circumstances, the Spaniards were correct as far as the issue of religious identification is concerned, but on the aspect of nationality they probably had erred for there was no Moro nation to speak of at the time but rather the same racial group of people, the Indo-Malayan race, who happened to inhabit certain parts of the archipelago that they claimed for the King of Spain. The only distinction was that one group was Islamized and the other was still pagan, and had not the Spaniards come at that time there would have been at least three or four kingdoms, one in Manila, two in Mindanao and one in Sulu, and all or most of the inhabitants, like in nearby Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunie, would have become all Muslims.
But destiny had it - and irreversibly - that the Moro had always been so called since he crossed path with the Spaniards in 1578. It was a tag that was chosen for him by his enemy, not by himself. But unlike Filipino which signifies allegiance, nay subservience, to Spain, his name was the result of animosity and warfare - and resistance to foreign pressure. If Filipino was the child of colonialism, Moro was the offspring of anti-colonialism. Moreover, even before the arrival of the Spaniards, the Moro had already perfected the art of governance, a well-set code of laws, songs and poetry, such as the Darangan, Indarapatra, Solaiman and the adat or customary laws. He already had trade and diplomatic relations with the other states of Southeast Asia, Arabia, India, Japan, and China. Sulu and Maguindanaon were already emporia while the United States was still a wilderness.
However, nationalism, per se, was not an end itself among the Moros, but rather a cognition of what the Almighty Allah ordained for mankind in the Holy Qur’an, Chapter 49, Verse 13, such as follows:
0 mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! the noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct.
It is very clear in this verse that the Almighty created tribes and nations distinctly to differentiate one from the other and not to boast or, claim superiority over others.
If the Moros fought for anything related to his perceived racial distinctness, it was no doubt a peripheral issue; the main issue always was over the point of religion. In this era of alcoholism, materialism and worldliness, even a drunken Moro will react challengingly, either in deed or in words, once he is accused to be a heathen or an unbeliever. The distaste for unbelief is so internalized in the Moro psyche that even in. his seemingly unconscious state he will react positively for his religion. A Moro has so developed in himself that defense mechanism for Islam that he freely, consciously or unconsciously, resurges forward whenever dared.
The town of Manila was ruled by Rajah Sulaiman Mahmud and Rajah Matanda (jointly or assisted by the latter) and Tondo by Rajah Lakandula. All supremos were of Bornean origin and in fact were closely related to the Brunei sultan.
At this juncture, it is necessary to clarify, contrary to popular perception, two important points in history. First, the first group of people whom the Spaniards in 1570 called Moros were those in Manila and environs and not the islamized natives in Mindanao and Sulu; and second, the first Moro-Spanish War was not fought in the soils of Mindanao and Sulu but right in what is now Metropolitan Manila.
For the first time after the fall of Granada in 1492, the Spaniards and the Moros, nay Muslims, came face-to-face, each circling half the earth in opposite directions. Each was already seething with anger for the other. They had a big score to settle. The Spaniards hated the Muslims for they ruled Spain for about 800 years, while the Muslims could not forgive the Spaniards for the massacre of more than three million Muslims when the Christians recaptured Spain.
Now the hour of reckoning was at hand. Commanding the Spanish troops was Captain Martin de Goiti while Rajah Sulaiman was leading the native defenders. In a threatening voice, the fearless Sulaiman made his stand clear:
We wish to be the friends of all nations. But they must understand that we cannot tolerate any abuse. On the contrary, we will repay with death the least thing that touches our honor.
In effect, this represented the first expression of patriotic sentiments by a native chief against an alien power. Bold and piercing, this was a foreign policy declaration.
True to his words, reminiscent of the Islamic slogan of all ages, “Victory or Martyrdom Rajah Sulaiman, the last Muslim ruler of Manila, preferred martyrdom than to submit to the Spaniards. At the famous Battle of Bangkusay, off Tondo’s shore, on June 3, 1571, Rajah Sulaiman perished - but his memory and example remained.
After the fall of Manila, all resistance to Spanish rule, except those fought in Mindoro in 1574 and the so-called aborted Magat Salamat Conspiracy in 1587, had died down entirely in Luzon and the Visayas within a brief span of just eleven years. The Spaniards now became the new masters, not just for one barangay or confederation of barangays but for the entire islands of Luzon and Visayas. This was to last for 327 years.
After formally integrating all the conquered islands into the Spanish Empire with Manila as the colony’s capital in 1571, now dubbed as “New Spain,” the next tasks were to secure the new territory from external threat and to push further the Crown’s colonial designs. Spain came to conquer and acquired gold - usually in the name or aid of the Cross. She was prepared to move heaven and earth, so to speak, and to risk everything if only to monopolize the ultra-profitable spice trade. So huge and rewarding was this trade that the survivors of the Mactan and later the Cebu carriages, who barely made their escape home, managed to procure spice along the way, sold the commodity and were still left with considerable gains even after defraying the cost of the four wrecked ships and paying for the 232 dead, including Magellan. And owing to the severe rivalries between the Dutch and the Portuguese for the control of the spice trade, Spain fitted a large expedition in 1578 to attack the Brunei sultanate believing that it was in alliance with the Portuguese, or that it lay within her sphere of influence. Initial good luck was on the side of the Spaniards for they defeated the sultanate, albeit temporarily.
Indeed, the defeat of Rajah Sulaiman in Manila represented the first chapter in the long years of Moro-Spanish confrontations in the Philippines. The next and final chapter is what we are now about to start.
After the Brunei expedition, Spanish eyes focused on the Sulu sultanate, which was suspected to be in alliance with Brunei. In fact, the two royal houses were related by a series of intermarriages. In the same year, Spain put up a large expedition under the command of Capt. Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa, who also commanded the
Brunei campaign, to attack Sulu. Sultan Buddiman Pangiran, then the reigning sultan, resisted the invasion and although the attack was partly successful on the part of the Spaniards but its implication was far-reaching. This was the virtual declaration of war by Spain against the Moros of Mindanao and Sulu. As a matter of fact, this was the official beginning of the Moro-Spanish War which was to drag on and remain undecided for 320 long years or until the Spaniards were ejected from the Philippines by the Americans in 1898.
For the Spanish Crown, the war was to subdue a pagan people, to curb “Piracy,” to stop the Moros from sealing alliances with other foreign European powers, and to forestall the entry of rivals into the field of the spice trade. Conversion to Catholicism was evidently not in the priority list, knowing too well that the Moros would prefer death to conversion. For the Moros, the war was in defense of Islam, people and homeland. It was a sacred obligation, with an assured place in heaven as a recompense.
The instructions of Gov. Gen. Francisco de Sande to Capt. Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa on the siege of Sulu in June 1578 and Mindanao in April 1596 were the following:
You shall order them Moros] that there be not among them anymore preachers of the doctrines of Mahoma (Muhammad) since it is evil and false and that of the Christian alone is good. And because we have been in these islands so short a time, the lord of Bindanao: [sic] has been deceived by the preachers of Borney, and the people have become Moros. You shall tell that our object is that he be converted to Christianity; and that he must allow us freely to preach the law of the Christian, and the natives must beallowed to go to hear the preaching and be converted, without receiving harm from the chiefs. And you shall try to ascertain who are the preachers of the sect of Mahoma, and shall burn or destroy the house where that accursed doctrine has been preached, and you shall see that it be not rebuilt.
Gov. Gen. Francisco de Sande gave similar instructions to Captain Gabriel de Rivera earlier on January 15, 1579.
Both the Figueroa and Rivera missions ‘to Sulu and Maguindanao, respectively, did not accomplish significant successes. Figueroa merely made the Sulu sultan sue for temporary peace, while Rivera failed to establish contact with the chief of the Pulangi (River).
In the meantime, the Spanish government in Manila adopted an official policy to colonize Mindanao. For the purpose, the colonial government and Capt. Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa signed an agreement whereby the latter, in exchange for enormous material benefits and a position to be inherited by a son or heir, would pacify the island of Mindanao and establish a colony in the Pulangi at his own expense.
Accordingly, on April 1, 1596 Figueroa left for Mindanao with fifty war vessels, 214 Spaniards and 1,500 native allies. After three weeks of sea voyage, the fleet reached the mouth of the Pulangi or what the Spaniards called Rio Grande de Mindanao and they started cruising upstream which was tough and exhausting. The river current was swift. They landed at Tampakan, and immediately Figueroa lined up his troops in battle array and delivered a stirring speech:
Soldiers of Felipe! We stand upon the newest soil of Spain. To subdue this dark forest and rid the soil of the infidel Moslem is our aim. They submit as vassals and converts or fall before the Spanish blades. Forward to our duty for King and country.”
Few moments later, the jungle shook with the fierce battle that followed. Leading the Maguindanao warriors were the brothers, Rajah Silongan and Datu Ubal. On the Spanish side was Figueroa, aided by Juan de Lara. Clad in body armor, Figueroa sallied forth and barely hat] he taken a few steps when his head was cleft in two by a kampilan, a long and straight-edged Moro cutlass, wielded by Datu Ubal. The loss of their leader demoralized the Spaniards and more so when Juan de Lara, the next in command, hurriedly left for Manila “to report.”
The news spread like a prairie fire in Manila. The Spaniards were furious over the death of Figueroa, but the Jesuits were the most aggrieved for they had varied interests in the conquest of Mindanao. They branded the Moros “traitors.”
In 1599, the Moros, aware that defensive war was the beginning of defeat, decided to bring the war over into the enemy territory and staged counterattacks. This was what hostile writers fondly called “Moro piracy.” The reprisal scheme was to cripple the enemy power base, exact tribute, and to take advantage of the critical situation faced by Spain due to the threat posed by the Dutch.
Quite absurd was the charge of piracy. If there had been incidents of piracy against the natives prior to the start of the Moro-Spanish War in 1578, those were so small in number as to be negligible. However, whatever may have been said on this subject, the truth stands that it was Spain that started the confrontation and it was natural for the Moros to defend themselves and hit back, if and when possible. On the issue of piracy, the Spanish double-standard was bared: If she attacked the Moros she called it “holy war,” but if the latter hit back it was “piracy.”
The year-round raids conducted by the Moros engulfed the natives in the Spanish-held territories with fear, despair and anxiety. The raiders netted tens of thousands of prisoners, jewelry, precious ornaments, cannons, and other valuable materials. By this time, the Spaniards were already beginning to realize the high price of the bloody venture they had indulged in and if ever they thought of backing out, it was already too late. But the losses of the masters were easily dwarfed by those of the subjects, who were caught between oppression from their masters and attacks by their masters’ foes. They were simply sandwiched between two evils.
In one of these raids, where a Jesuit priest, Melchor Hurtado, was captured in 1603 by Datu Buisan of Maguindanao, a very interesting dialogue took place between him and the datus of Leyte. Buisan asked the datus whether they and their people as well as. those of Panay, Mindoro, and Batangas, all Spanish subjects, had been protected by the Spaniards. Of course, the Leyte datus did not need to confirm what was obvious. He urged them that if they joined hands with the Maguindanaos, it would be easy to thwart off the Spanish yoke. As a result, Buisan and the datus entered into a blood compact and they became “ritual brothers.”
In another raid in 1627, a Sulu fleet of more than thirty boats of various sizes and about 2,000 men personally led by Sultan Bungsu attacked the Spanish shipyard in Camarines. The garrison was overrun and the raiders captured artillery, guns, ammunition, iron and brass pieces, and 300 prisoners, including a Spanish lady named Dona Lucia. 11 The raiders, after divesting the garrison of all valuables, burned the shipyard.
When the Americans first appeared in the northern horizon in 1898, the Filipino revolution was in full swing.
As a young and emerging world power, the United States had to find “excuses” to realize her vast interests in Cuba, which was then under Spain.
The sinking of the American warship Marine at Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898 resulting in the death of 246 men provided the U.S. government the necessary pretext to declare war on Spain on February 25 and in the course of which Admiral George Dewey was ordered to proceed to Manila to attack the Spanish Squadron under Admiral Patricio Montojo.
This was the May 1 Battle of Manila Bay, pitting a modern navy versus “veritable leaking tubs.”
With the Filipino revolutionaries allied with the Americans, the former won victory after victory against the Spanish forces, until on June 12, 1898, after the last Spanish soldier had surrendered, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, unmindful of or notwithstanding the American mindset, proceeded to declare Philippine Independence at Kawit, Cavite.
If Aguinaldo did not really misread the American intention, but deliberately played a calculated game, then he had blundered. The Americans never had the slightest intention of recognizing his declaration of independence.
As a matter of fact, American troops began to occupy strategic areas vacated or surrendered to them by the retreating Spaniards, to the exclusion of the Filipino revolutionaries.
As soon as they had gained enough strategic grounds, the Americans intentionally provoked the Filipinos into a shooting war which setoff the start of the Filipino-American War.
At the outset, the Filipinos were made to believe that the Americans came to help to liberate their lands from the Spaniards, after which they would become an independent nation.
Untrue to their words, the Americans did not really come to liberate the Philippines for the Filipinos but to acquire a colony in the furtherance of her own imperialist scheme.
In the meantime, the interval between the Spanish evacuation of the Philippines and the arrival of American troops in Mindanao and Sulu was, in a sense, ruled by anarchy.
Moro warriors began to attack the Spanish garrisons in Cotabato, Zamboanga, Sulu and Lanao and sometimes wiped out the defenders to the last man.
In Cotabato, Moro warriors began to assault the Spanish garrisons in Pikit, Reina Regente, Tumbao, Cotabato and Tamontaka.
One by one, they captured these garrisons. Leading the Moros were Datu Utto, Datu Piang (Amai Mingka), former Minister of Datu Utto; Datu Ali, Piang’s son-in-law and Rajahmuda of Salunayan; Datu Ampatuan or Bapa ni Mangacop, and Datu Inok or Amani Giday.
The situation in Sulu, although not as extensive, was even worse. The Spanish garrisons suffered terribly and many were decimated to the last soldier, as in the case of the garrison in Tataim in Tay.
Harassments were also severe in the other islands like Bongao and Siasi. The Moro warriors were clearing every island of Spanish troops. Only in Jolo did the Spaniards have a strong garrison.
In Lanao, a similar scenario was unfolding, although_ in a lesser scale. Spanish garrisons, especially in Marahui, were in a state of siege and sporadic attacks and ambuscades became the rule. As a matter of fact, these garrisons were among the first to be evacuated to escape the wrath of the lake Moros.
Let us go back to what had transpired before the final decision to acquire the Philippines as a colony was made. For a full six months, debates on what to do with the Philippines had been going on in Washington.
The choice was whether to grant it immediate self-rule or to make it a colony. In the end, a compromise was sealed.
The imperialist Republicans and the so-called anti-imperialist Democrats met halfway, and the result, to colonize the Philippines but grant her self-rule at the “earliest feasible time,” which took the United States forty eight years to fulfill, or on July 4, 1946 when the Philippine independence was granted.
If there was indeed a mandate - from the god of President McKinley and from the politician-capitalists- this would have applied only to the Filipinas, then comprising only Luzon and the Visayas.
The territory of the Moros or ”Moroland” should have been excluded. As the facts of history showed, Mindanao and Sulu had always been a foreign territory for Spain had never really acquired these islands either by conquest, purchase or any other means.
Her sovereignty was never enforced, except inside the confines of her garrisons and fortifications. How on earth could a nation sell a territory she never owned or conquered? One renowned writer, Dr. Onofre Corpuz, had this to say on this point:
By the time the treaty negotiators were parleying in Paris there was no longer any vestige Of Spanish control, possession, or government in Filipinas (that is to say, the Christian part of the archipelago).
And Spain never had control, government, nor possession of the Moro territory. It did not have any “suspended sovereignty” because its sovereignty had been terminated.’
On the eve of the signing of the Kiram-Bates Agreement, there were three hard postulates that were molesting the minds of the Americans.
First, there were still 34,000 armed Moros in the Moro country and the various islands were in such a dangerous condition that no place could be safe for outsiders.
The swish of the kris, said an American author, Victor Hurley, was unrestrained. Second, the American occupation forces had a hard time containing the onslaught of the Filipino revolutionaries led by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo when the Filipino-American War flared up in Luzon and some parts of the Visayas. And the Americans feared any strategical or tactical tie-up between the northern insurgents and the southern (Moro) warriors.
Such an eventuality would have been too hot to handle, even for the best of the American generals. And third, even President McKinley had entertained serious skepticism over the sovereignty of Spain over the Moro country, particularly the Sulu sultanate.
Under the given situation, the Americans had very limited leeway. To ignore the reality of the situation is to court new disasters, prolong and escalate the fighting not only in the northern islands but right in the Moro country.
Finally, the Americans chose a political approach by sending Brig. Gen. John C. Bates to Sulu to negotiate a treaty with Sultan Jamalul Kiram II. On August 20, 1899, General John C. Bates, representing the United States, and Sultan Jamalul Kiram 11 signed the Kiram-Bates Treaty.
Similar but informal agreements were also made with the Moros of Mindanao. Among the Mindanao leaders who were provided with the same pledge, especially on due recognition of the Moro religion, custom and traditions, were Datu Mandi of Zamboanga, Datu Piang of Cotabato, and Sultan Mangigin of Maguindanao.
The negotiation, with the Sulu sultan was no easy job for the Americans. Right from the start the sailing was delicate, fraught with risks. The American negotiators had to use earnest and tactful diplomacy in order not to antagonize the sultan, who was expecting the surrender of the Spanish garrison, but not to the Americans.
He never understood how the Americans had any claim of his realm which was never conquered by the Spaniards. After over a month of unnerving bargaining, the Sultan finally submitted a proposal which expectedly did not fit well with the American wish. However, after some mutual refinements the document was signed.
Beyond any tint of doubt, the United States did not come to the Philippines in 1898 for the islands of Luzon and Visayas alone but to claim more territories.’ Fired by imperialist agenda, her intention to include the Moro country was never suspect.
However, the war with the northerners was still raging and any mishandling of the Moros could be disastrous. Even a sort of modus vivendi was in order; and, therefore, as earlier said, the signing of the Kiram-Bates Treaty, more than any other reasons, was a dilatory tactic to neutralize the Moros while the pacification campaign in the northern areas was still underway.
Moreover, even before American troops landed in Moro country, the United States already had a comprehensive plan on how to handle the Moros. This involved a wide-ranging strategy with military, political, social, economic, and educational components.
1. Military Occupation - The Americans did not act passively in the face of a possible alliance between the Filipino revolutionaries and the Moros. The decision to occupy Sulu and Mindanao and take over the Spanish garrisons were the first orders: “Relieve the Spanish forces; gradually extend American jurisdiction …. and do this in such a manner as to cause a minimum of friction with the people, for no reinforcements could be expected for a long time.”‘ In May 1899, American
troops landed in Jolo, and on October 30 the Military District of Mindanao, Jolo and Palawan (until 1905 was still known as Paragua) was constituted.
On November 16, Zamboanga was occupied, and from December 1899 to January 1900, the southern coasts of Mindanao, including Cotabato, Davao, Mati, Polloc, Parang, and Banganga were garrisoned.
In charge of this command was Brig. Gen. John C. Bates, but on March 20,1900, Brig. Gen. William Kobbe took over. Afterwards, the status of the command was elevated to the Department of Mindanao and Jolo.
In 1902, Brig. Gen. William Kobbe was replaced by Brig. Gen. George Davis, who in October 1, 1902 was succeeded, after a few adjustments in the structure which was renamed the Department of Mindanao, by Brig. Gen. Samuel Sumner on July 10, 1902.
A year later, General Sumner was followed by Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood, later to become the first Governor of the Moro Province.
At this point, it is worthwhile to state that many of the military officers assigned in the Moro country were veterans of the Indian wars and reservations duty.
It was, therefore, frequent that many of the methods in governing the Indians were also tried in the Department of Mindanao.
Usually, the authority of the military commander assigned in Mindanao and Sulu was the same as that of the commander at the Indian reservation west of the Mississippi River.
Under his command were some hundreds of Apaches, men, women and children, who were all restrained in their liberties and were virtually prisoners. Brig. Gen. George Davis, who succeeded Brig. Gen. William Kobbe, had earlier worked in the Indian territories before his stint here.
One such approach resembling the treatment of the Indians was the attitude that “treaties” made with them, who were considered ‘,savages,” were not binding and could be unilaterally abrogated as necessity arises. That action could be easily justified by simple misconduct on the part of the “natives”.
In the beginning, the Moros and the Americans were quite at ease with each other, in the way the Kiram-Bates Treaty defined their relations; i.e., there was no direct American interference in the affairs of the local population.
There was no aggressive effort to carry on the so-called White Men’s burden to develop, “civilize,” educate or to train the Moros in the way toward a democratic government.
The main concern of the occupation forces was to maintain peace and order in the Moro region. But as more troops poured in, an offshoot of the end of the Filipino-American War in 1901, frictions started to occur between the Moros and the Americans. Customs regulations were enforced, taxes were levied, and land surveys, mapping and exploring missions were increased.
Census was also conducted. Consequently, the shift from non-interference to direct rule shaped up with the creation of the Moro Province. The military occupation of Mindanao and Sulu lasted from 1899 to 1903.
2. Direct Rule - The main reason given for the change of approach from non-interference to direct intervention with the creation of the Moro Province was to prepare the Moros for integration into the body politic of the colonial government.
The insistence of the Filipino leaders and the American acquiescence was predicated on one point: the importance of the rich natural resources in the Moro country.
The direct rule scheme, the Americans alleged, was also to protect the common people from the “tyranny” of the sultans and datus, from the depredations of bandits, to introduce the American concept of justice, to stop the unscrupulous practices of native traders, and finally to implement public projects such as schools, hospitals and wharfs or ports. Slavery was also made illegal.
In brief, the direct rule policy, overtly, was to implement the so-called American mandate in Moroland to develop, to civilize, to educate, to train the Moros in the art of democratic governance. But covertly the main motivation was the immediate exploration and finally the exploitation of the vast natural resources in the Moro country.
The Kiram-Bates Treaty was singularly the main obstacle to the implementation of the direct U.S. rule The treaty clearly laid down the guiding principles of non-interference in the local affairs of the Moros. But the Americans had to get rid of this obstruction if they had to succeed in their grand plan for the Moro country. On March 2, 1904 ‘ they did exactly what they were expected to do.
Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, without the slightest conjunction or any moral or ethical consideration, unilaterally declared the treaty null and void. On March 21, Gov. Leonard Wood notified the Sultan of the decision and, naturally.
he was displeased, especially when the decision was relayed through someone (Wood) who for years had been teaching them that we must each do exactly what we promise to do.
He could not imagine how a government claiming to have come on a “pious mission” could suddenly act so unscrupulously in abrogating the treaty contained in a formal agreement signed by both sides.
Thus, in essence, U.S. policy vis-a-vis the Moros was in line with the treatment of the American Indians whereby agreements made with them were set aside as convenience dictated, without the least hesitation or the slightest compunction.
These agreements carried no weight and no binding effects on the Americans on the malicious pretext that the Moros, like the Red Indians, were savages. With the “might is right” credo forming the guiding thrust of the U.S. colonial expansion, this supercilious attitude was more than expected.
However, even before this formal unilateral abrogation, the Kiram-Bates Treaty had practically ceased to exist already, when the Moro Province was created on June 1, 1903. If the Kiram-Bates Treaty was the instrument of indirect rule, the Moro Province was the nail to drive down and establish direct rule in Moro country.
As first governor of the Moro Province, Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood had the primary task of organizing the province along the rationale of direct interference in the affairs of the Moros.
Already prejudiced to the absolute correctness of the American outlook and ways and the rightness of the mandate over the “good-for-nothing” Moro laws, General Wood proceeded to discharge his official responsibilities though, in fairness, firmly and with enthusiasm -with much predilection against the general welfare of the Moros.
He introduced laws which were not only unpopular but exacerbated resistance to the American presence in Mindanao and Sulu. In his characteristic 11 arrogant” ways, he bluntly told the Sulu Sultan on the eve of the abrogation of the treaty:
I am going to be frank with you. At present, your rights as a nation are nothing … I believe we are here forever, unless some greater country comes and drives us away; we do not know of any such country.
The policy of direct rule, if one may gloss over the narration thus given, may well be seen that, as far as their viewpoint was concerned, the Americans had done the best they could under the circumstances.
They did not and would not have satisfied the Moros because they disagreed with the Moros in almost everything except perhaps “to fight” - but as far as their self-styled mandate was concerned, they had delivered it well.
Before 1920, the Americans I lad made all decisions in the affairs of the Moro country, but after this time the Moros and the pagans were left completely at the “mercy or tyranny” of the Christian Filipinos.
3. Scorch-Earth Policy - As discussed earlier, the American occupation forces had a clear policy on the Moros: neutralize them while the Filipino-American War was still raging in the northern provinces and, after that, extend American control and sovereignty over the Moro country by all means and at all cost.
This “scorch earth” policy was shown in their military campaigns against recalcitrant datus and sultans all over Mindanao and Sulu.
In the 1903 official census, a distinction was made between the “civilized” and “uncivilized” and the Moros were placed under the latter category together with the wild tribes or pagans.
In describing the Moros, General Wood, in a letter to Gov. William Taft on October 9, 1903, said:
The people of this island are Mohammedans. Their faith teaches them that it is no sin to kill Christians and they are taught by the priests to believe it is commendable. They are nothing more or less than an unimportant collection Of pirates and highwaymen, living under laws which are intolerable ….
Earlier in 1902, Brig. Gen. George Davis in his official report to Gen. William Kobbe said: It is useless to discuss a plan of government that is not based on force, might, and power.”" In 1903, Capt. John Pershing also referred to the Moros as ’savage”. Impressions like these had greatly helped shape the early policy of the United States in relation to the Moros.
We shall endeavor to discuss this policy in this section where brute force was used in what otherwise was a simple pocket military problem. The fights that constituted what we refer to as the MoroAmerican War will be discussed in another section.
There is nothing more bloody, if only to show how this policy of brute force was carried out to the hilt, than to recall what transpired in Bud Dajo in 1906, Bud Bagsak in 1913, and to the Alangkat Movement in Cotabato in 1926-1927. All three were essentially not military confrontations but simple cases of massacres.
Bud Dajo is an extinct volcano six miles from Jolo. It is covered by dense tropical jungle and is 2,100 feet above sea level. Ensconced in the crater were over a thousand Moro men, women, children armed only with krises, spears, aging rifles, and a few cannons.
Laksamana Usap, the leader, and his followers were up in arms on issues they believed wrongly imposed on them. One was the payment of the cedula tax, which resembled the “tribute” of yore and which the Moros were not accustomed to give.
The defenders occupied a very strategic position, probably the “strongest” ever defended against the occupation forces in the Philippines. Most important of all, they were making a defense “unto death.” The American assault forces, numbering 790, were under the command of Col. Joseph Duncan, and consisted of infantry and cavalry, an artillery battery, constabulary troops, sailors, and a gunboat anchored offshore.
Before the actual combat. the Moros - women already dressed in men’s clothes and in full battle gear - were asked to “surrender” or at least send down the non-combatants. The reply was a complete defiance. The Moros were seething with hatred and rearing to fight.
That early morning of March 6, 1906, General Wood was in Jolo to get things done personally. He had no other plan to settle the issue than to use force against poorly-equipped but gallant warriors. The battle started. It continued on the following day where the major phase of the fighting was fought.
There was bloody hand-to-hand fighting and after two days of combat, on March 8, the slaughter. as expected, was terrible. Of the more than 1,000 defenders, only six survived, while the Americans suffered 21 slain and 73 wounded, including Colonel Duncan.
General Wood was severely criticized for the carnage, where even women and children were not spared. Critics pictured him as “blood-thirsty monster difficult to parallel in history.”
But as expected, his boss in Washington, Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, cabled his congratulations: “Upon the brilliant feat of arms wherein you and they [his men] so well upheld the honor of the American flag.
Seven years after, American hands were again dripping with Moro blood in Bud Bagsak. The central issue was the disarmament policy of Brig. Gen. John Pershing, who succeeded General Wood as Governor of the Moro Province.
The Moros resisted this vigorously. After some extended negotiations, the Moros led by Naqib Amil, Datu Jami and Datu Sahipa declared that they would never surrender their firearms. General Pershing would settle for no less and branded the Moros “outlaws” and “desperados.”
Bud Bagsak is another extinct volcano not far from Jolo. Five hundred Moro warriors were encamped in the crater and swore to die rather than submit. Before the battle began, the crater was subjected to “murderous” bombardment, and soon on June 11, 1913, the action commenced.
Five days of combat action, mostly hand-to-hand, ensued, and on the final day, June 15, the record of the fighting was made and the result, again, as anticipated, was that nearly all of the 500 Moros were killed or wounded versus 14 killed and 13 wounded on the American side. One report said 2,000 Moros were killed, including 196 women and 340 children.”
The defenders of Bud Bagsak were completely routed like their counterparts in Bud Dajo, but the spirit of the Moros to resist did not die with them.
It is noteworthy to relate here the introduction of two new ingredients in the fighting. First, the Moros devised a new weapon in their last-ditch desire to fight the Americans in every way.
This was the use of logs fastened to the slope of the volcano and let loose on the advancing enemy. According to a local tradition attached to the alleged military exploits of Sansawi, a member of the Moro Company or Scouts fighting on the side of the Americans, this caused many injuries even death to the attacking American soldiers.
Another was the participation of this newly-formed 52nd Company of the Philippine Scouts, otherwise known as the “Moro Company.” Members of the unit were required to wear the red fez (a Turkish cap) with either a gold or black tassel.
On March 23, 1927, the final assault was mounted on the members of the Alangkat Movement or what the Americans called “Dance craze.”
The movement was largely a Manobo affair under Datu Mampurok of the Arumanon Manobo and crudely devised against the influx of Christian settlers into Mindanao.
The contingent under the command of Major Gutierrez and Colonel Stevens came to the Manobo settlement (located at present-day Midsayap, North Cotabato) and started shooting indiscriminately. The result was a massacre. Datu Mampuroc, and 29 other Manobos, including women and children, were killed en masse.
Datu Mampuroc had many followers in Lebak, Talayan, Dulawan and other areas in Cotabato. According to their belief, Datu Mampuroc was Datu Ali reincarnated, who came back to earth to continue the war against outsiders who were out to drive out the natives.
4. Creation of Colonies - The next scheme to contain the Moros was the creation of colonies. The first formal plan to settle Mindanao with Christian settlers, as noted earlier, started in 1912 during the time of Brig. Gen. John C. Pershing as Governor of the Moro Province.
The main reason for the resettlement plan was the alleged overpopulation in the northern areas. Other eason given was that the Cotabato Valley needed settlers if it was to produce rice in larger or commercial quantities.
In the same year, the first Christian rice colony, consisting of 100 families from Cebu, was relocated in Cotabato. They were promised to own the land eventually.
Pershing emphasized that a well managed Filipino colony in the heart of the Moro country, as an example, should act as a stimulus to Moro agriculture.` They were practically provided with everything. free of charge, and there were other incentives to lure others.
However well-intentioned General Pershing was, but all his theories, save the production of rice in a wider scale, were a farce. There was no over-population in Luzon and the Visayas and the Moros were not encouraged to be productive, at least not as it was supposed to be in Pershing’s mind.
On the contrary, with the influx of wave after wave of settlers, the Moros were forced back to the wall and, not long afterwards, violence erupted. Similar to the 1899 “holy mission,” the arbitrary settlement of these “alien” people had a direct disastrous consequence on the native inhabitants whose priority rights were not considered or attended to. This policy was reminiscent of that unscrupulous and amoral political theorist of the 15th century, Nicollo Machiavelli (1469-1527).
Machiavelli was an advocate of trickery, treachery, and dishonesty in statescraft, and at one time was “identified with Satan.” He declared that a country can be effectively colonized by settling there people of the colonizing power.
This bit of advice was apparently heeded by the Americans in Mindanao and Sulu as it was by the British in Ireland. The Americans settled alien Filipino elements in Mindanao and Sulu just as the British Crown planted Protestant outsiders in Ireland.
Before 1913, the Americans had no fixed plan for creating settlements in Moro country. Although the lure of lands in the Moro country, tagged as another “Wild West” and inhabited by wild savages, was intense, there were many obstacles on the way.
First, serious fighting was still going on and things were in a precarious condition. Second, there was no consensus as to which group of people, Italians, Negroes, Greeks or Filipinos to settle. Adding to this difficulty was the hot and humid climate prevailing in the region.
In the successful migration and settlement of outsiders in the Moro region resulted in the dislocation, dispossession, containment and “minoritization” of the Moros. They became virtual strangers in their own lands.
5. Policy of Attraction - There was one clear-cut aspect of the American policy vis-a-vis the Moros which contributed largely to the general atmosphere of peace in Mindanao and Sulu; i.e., the policy of attraction.
History has proved that the Moro psyche would respond to love with love - and to force with force - which was not always natural to man. Other people would submit if force were applied. The Moro would not. His amor propio, his dignity, his maratabat would urge him to resist for it was dishonorable to surrender.
The policy was formally inaugurated after the termination of the military rule from 1899 to 1913. It was one of the cornerstones of the administration of Frank C. Carpenter when he became the Governor of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu.
In essence, it was nothing but an appeal directly to people’s natural interests or aesthetic sense. In practice, it involved the extending of scholarships, building of schools, hospitals, construction of roads, bridges, and artesian wells.
The Americans also resorted to “dollar diplomacy” or doleouts, giving posts in the government, arranging pleasure trips and the excessive use of praise or flattery.
In the end, this policy mesmerized the minds of the Moros, which were the final target; it gradually penetrated into their society as a whole, benumbing their sense of national identity.
The hands that firmly grasped the deadly krises and spilled so much blood were now trained to seize the pens and indite encomium eulogizing the erstwhile enemy-and-now masters. Exactly as it had been planned, those who were enamored of this policy or those who had availed of the pensionado program and studied in American schools, by and large, became the foremost exponents of the American system and colonial interest.
These elements, fawning on their masters, went to the length of despising their own people and institutions, and in many ways, religious zeal was snapped out for worldly pleasures and other mundane matters. As a result, the epoch marked the fashion of naming Moro children after American monickers, such as Mcnutt, Pershing, Carpenter-etc. It also gave birth to the self-defeating attitude popularly referred to as “colonial mentality of preferring everything of foreign, nay American, origin.
For the sultans, datus and other chiefs, the power of praise and flattery, doles and donations were masterly utilized to neutralize and finally to win them over to the side of the Americans. On several instances, datus or groups of datus and other chiefs, particularly those seething with deep-seated antipathy to the American rule, were brought to Manila and other provinces and in some instances even to America on “educational tour” or as guests of the government.
The purpose of these trips were no less than to convert them into government spokesmen upon their return home. Two of those invited were Datu Alamada (Amani Boliok) and Datu Ampatuan of Cotabato, who both figured prominently in the early wars with the American occupation forces.
The number of public schools increased and attendance was made compulsory. Sons and daughters of Moros were sent to Manila or Washington on scholarship grants or as pensionados.
Upon their return, they carried with them new world outlooks based on the American value system and beliefs. Public works expanded and field dispensaries and hospitals were made available.
Moros were appointed, though in a small scale, to offices and their lands began to be titled in their names. Moros also “participated” in agricultural colonies.
In all these efforts, the net result was not “moroizing” the Moros but “filipinizing” them in order to pave the way for the integration of the various islands into one unified state once independence is granted.
We have stated that the presence of the Americans in Mindanao and Sulu was a direct challenge to the independence and authority of the still “unconquered” Moros, numbering about 335,000 by modest estimate.
They viewed the move toward integration the White Men’s renewed attempt to subjugate and christianize them. This move. they could not tolerate or allow to happen, even if they had to go to war, as what their forebears had done for many centuries.
The Moros took the threat seriously. As they were not trained to bow down in shame, it was now the American’s turn to decide whether to back off or take the square dare they had hurled forward.
Very soon, serious military confrontations flared up in various parts of the Moro country. These events led one American writer, J. Ralston Hayden, to comment that never during the entire continental expansion of the United States had armed encounters been so frequent and serious as that between the Moros and American troops.` The Moros’ bold display of heroism, bravery and determination, even against formidable odds, spoke of their undying spirits to fight for their religion, people and lands.
the Philippine Commonwealth Government was established on November 15, 1935 with Manuel L. Quezon as the first President. Barely six months after, in June 1936, the most serious armed rebellion took place in Lanao.
It was spearheaded by Hadji Abdulhamid Bongabong, a religious leader of Unayan, Lanao. The fighting lasted for many years and took place around the lake, where a chain of Moro cottas were erected in defiance.
This is recorded in history as the great “cotta fight.” The grievances were contained in a petition letter addressed to the President of the United States. Succinctly put, the issues raised were:
1. Moros had become second class citizens;
2. The Moro Province be segregated once independence is given, to the Filipinos;
3. Acquisition of lands in the Moro Province be reserved for the Moros; and
4. Islam must not be curtailed in any manner.
The uprising lasted up to 1941, just a few months before the invasion of the Japanese Imperial Army.
The listing of the names of Moro resistance leaders and their engagements with the occupation forces, first against the Americans and then against the Filipinos, cannot be made complete here.
What we have is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. One fact of history is that even after the exit of Spain, hardly months or a year passed without one Moro leader or another taking the field to resist whoever was in power.
But a great many passed into oblivion and their exploits have not been properly recorded, if they were not, in fact, systematically omitted or ignored.
Even the greatest, like Panglima Hassan, Datu Ali, Datu Ampuan Agaus, and Jikiri, whose names are classics in Moro history, had been villainously blackened by the Americans and their puppets, because these Moro heroes had been regarded as the villains.
They have ceased to exist now, yes! - as have their tormentors, who are gone - but the cause they had fought for is still very much within us; and certainly, others will pick up the flag of resistance exactly, where they had halted, as thousands upon thousands now are marching forward, following their footsteps, until final victory shall be achieved!
The disintegration of the traditional socio-political order and the ever-tightening imposition of the secular-materialistic concept of life bequeathed by the Americans have created an extremely difficult situation for the Moros.
In 1927, an American observer in the New York Post wrote the following:
The outstanding mistake of the U.S. in its Philippine dealings has been their assumption that the native inhabitants constitute a homogeneous Filipino people; instead there are numerous peoples, the widely scattered population of the archipelago … speaking many dialects and radically if different character, in development and government needs. This is particularly true of the Mohammedan people inhabiting the great southern islands of the Philippines, who are altogether distinct in religion, physical type and mental outlook.
Before the turn of the 20th century, ninety eight percent of the lands in Mindanao and Sulu belonged to the Moros.` Except in areas garrisoned by Spain particularly in the northern part of Mindanao, the Moros lorded over these vast islands and the various indigenous natives like the Manobos, Bagobos, Tagakaolos, and others numbering about 23 ethnic tribes were largely under their sphere of influence.
But as soon as the Americans stepped into the Moro country, even before the indirect rule was discarded, they decreed a law called the Land Registration Act, also known as Act No. 496. requiring the registration of all lands occupied by any person, group or corporation in writing, signed and sworn to by the claimant.
In such an early stage, when fighting was still widespread in the various islands, the Moro may not have heard of this law or, if they had, they would not have been willing to comply, for apparent reasons. The payment for staying in one’s land or the cedula tax was one of the reasons why many Moros resisted the American occupation.
On April 4, 1903, the Philippine Commission enacted Public Land Act No. 718. The law declared null and void all lands granted by Moro sultans, datus or chiefs of any of the non-Christian tribes without authority of the state.
This law dispossessed the Moros of their landholdings which, in most instances, they occupied since time immemorial. The Moro sultans were not excluded from the operation of this law and their failure to comply with it meant they would be squatters and face automatic ejection.
On October 7, 1903, the Public Act 926 was enacted into law which provided, among other stipulations, that all lands not registered under Act No. 496 were deemed public lands, and therefore available for homesteading, sale or lease by individual or corporation.
One can imagine that in less than a year, by reasons of opposition to, default or ignorance of the American bureaucratic system, the Moros could be deprived of their lands. These were shallow alibis leading to the systematic dispossession of the Moros of their landholdings.
The Mining Law of 1905 further confiscated Moro lands. The law declared all public lands as free, open for exploration, occupation and purchase even by Americans. Such a law opened the gates for American dollars to come, particularly in Mindanao, where wide tracts of lands were still available.
The influx of American capitalists led to several conflicts which at one time caused the death of Lt. Edward C. Bolton, District Governor of Davao, on June 6, 1906.
The Cadastral Act of 1907 facilitated the acquisition of new landholdings. The law virtually favored the educated natives, moneyed bureaucrats and American speculators who were more familiar with the bureaucratic process to legalize claims usurped through fraudulent surveys.
In 1913, the Philippine Commission passed Acts 2254 and 2280 creating agricultural colonies. The two laws aimed at encouraging Filipino migrants from the northern areas to the so-called “public lands” in Mindanao and Sulu. The purpose of the colonies was as follows: 1) to increase food production especially rice; 2) to equalize the distribution of population in the Philippines; 3) to bring under cultivation extensive wild public lands; and 4) to afford an opportunity for the colonists to become land proprietors M The earliest colonies were planted right in the middle of Moro communities with the aim of integrating Moros and Christian native population into a “homogeneous Filipino people 1,41 Of the ten colonies created between 1913 and 1917 in the entire Philippines, seven were established in Cotabato, one in Lanao and one in Basilan. The sites selected in Cotabato were Silik, Peidu Pulangi. Ginatilan, Pagalungan, Pikit, Talitay and Clan. all populated by Moros.
Of special interest was Philippine Commission Act No. 2254. Again, it showed the glaring instance of injustices. While this law awarded Filipino settlers with a 16 hectare lot, the Moro was permitted to own only eight hectares, despite his prior birthright to the place. Such was the consequence of the previous enactments that already deprived him of his ancestral landholdings.
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In 1919, the Public Land Act No. 2874 was enacted which provided for the manner of acquiring land ownership, especially in the Moro country. Under this law. a Filipino was entitled to apply and possess a 24-hectare parcel of land. while a Moro only ten hectares.
The discrimination did not end there. In many instances, even before the Christian could come to Mindanao, his land had been titled already, while that of the Moro remained untitled for years. Or the Moro may not have moved to title his at all.
He may have been personally responsible for some of the reasons for this failure, but that certainly was no sufficient moral ground to deprive him of his landholdings. One noted American writer had this to say on this predicament:
The government officials they turned to for counsel were often ‘too busy’ to help. And when some did manage to file their registration papers. they were disheartened by the uncertainty and delay in getting them approved .
Aside from the inherent discriminations in such laws, there were at least two or more reasons for this pathetic situation. Firstly, the Moros continued to resist the registration of the lands they owned, occupied and tilled since time past under a government that they considered to be a “foreign authority.”
The second cause was the specious pretext raised apologetically that the Moros were not only poor but ignorant, little realizing that it was one of the fundamental duties of government to attend to the needs particularly of the marginalized and depressed sections of the population.
Next inshaAllah I will post on the Formation of the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
