WHY STUDY THE HISTORY OF THE FILIPINO MUSLIMS

AND OTHER INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF MINSUPALA?

Juvanni A. Caballero*
Department of History, CASS, MSU-IIT

I. Objectives

At the end of the module, the students should be able to answer the following questions:

1.) Why was the Mindanao State University System created?

2.) How did History 3 (i.e. “A History of the Filipino Muslims and Lumads of
Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan”) become a mandated course in the MSU System?
3.) What is the relevance of studying this history?

II. Introductory Activity: Listen to the Story of Kamlon

From 1948 to 1955, Hadji Kamlon, a WWII veteran and a well-known Tausug hero from
the town of Luuk, Sulu province, unexpectedly rebelled against the Philippine
government. He defied government authorities for eight years and successfully evaded
arrest despite the fact that the Philippine military had already concentrated its forces on
Jolo to capture him. To the government, Kamlon was not an ordinary criminal; he was
considered the biggest threat to national security after the Hukbalahap communists in
the 1950s.

Contrary to government’s view, many tausugs considered Kamlon as a legendary folk

hero. He was their Robin Hood, who stole from the rich to give to the poor. Kamlon’s
uprising reached its zenith in 1951 when he and about 100 of his armed followers
inflicted “heavy casualties” on patrolling government soldiers. According to one account:

By about 1951, armed clashes started to rage over wide areas of Sulu...
The most bloody was the one launched by Kamlon Hadji and 100
followers. Despite their inferior strength and crude weapons comprising
mostly of old rifles and krises and their being mainly restricted in the Luuk
area on Jolo island, Kamlon and his band made the government shake in
its shoes. They inflicted severe losses on lives, equipment and fund. For
almost 4 years the government engaged Kamlon and, during the final
assault, 5,000 ground troops were utilized along with naval, air and
mortar supports. Logistical expenditures, after the final inventory,
amounted to P185 million. Despite all this cost, Kamlon could not be
routed or captured. He finally gave up conditionally due to advancing age.

In another account on August 1955, Kamlon and 40 of his followers routed an entire
platoon of government troops in Sulu, killing 18 and wounding 19 others. This was the
“largest casualty figure in one engagement suffered by government troops” in pursuit of
Kamlon. His group incurred only 1 death and 5 wounded, according to the news report.
The cause of the Kamlon rebellion, according to several sources, had not been clearly
established. To the military, who tried to capture him, Kamlon was simply a Moro who
wanted to return to the life of a freebooter; some attributed his rebellion to conflict
among local leaders in Sulu; others say that Kamlon was irked by the land registration
law, which required him to register his land to make it his. Land registration was said to
have caused a clan feud between Kamlon and another Tausug (affiliated with the
government), who applied for land title to Kamlon’s ancestral land. When violence broke
out between Kamlon and his adversary, the government came in to pacify them - only to
find itself entangled in a web of confrontation and armed violence. Kamlon (and his
followers) suspected (or were convinced) that the government was supporting his local
enemies.

Perhaps unknown to many was the fact that Kamlon was charged with multiple murder
and kidnapping and sentenced to death by the court. The Supreme Court affirmed his
sentence in a ruling in 1963. However, it was not carried out.

Many Tausugs respected and loved Kamlon. The local people did not cooperate with
the military despite the huge rewards offered for his capture. According to one account,
“The only answer the troopers could get in their query (when looking for Kamlon) was
“diih” that means “no” or “bukon” that means “not him” or “not the one in the picture”.

Kamlon’s rebellion made the government wonder: Why could he not be captured
despite the inferior number and crude weapons of his followers? Why were the
government’s superior military force and its bountiful reward system for the capture of
Kamlon not effective? Or, why was it taking too long to capture a band of more or less
100 poorly armed individuals fighting on the small island of Jolo? What was really the
problem in Kamlon’s uprising?
Subsequently, the government decided to investigate the causes of the unrest.
Congress created a Special House Committee composed of Sen. Domocao Alonto of
Lanao, Cong. Luminog Mangelen of Cotabato and Cong. Ombra Amilbangsa of Sulu to
look into the problem.

The Committee’s investigation revealed that the problem of Kamlon’s long-lasting

rebellion was due neither to an inept military nor the talisman (anting-anting) of Kamlon.
The problem was created by the general feeling of the Moros that they were not
Filipinos; that the Philippine military was not their military and that the Philippine
government was a foreign government. The Special House Committee recommended
that if the government wanted to genuinely address the problem, it should adopt
measures to make the Moros feel that they were an integral part of the Philippine
nation. This aim, according to the committee, must be achieved through a
comprehensive approach covering economic, social, moral, political and educational
developments.

As a result of the recommendation, the government created several programs and

agencies that were supposed to effect the economic, social, political, moral and
educational integration of non-Christian Filipinos into the main body politic of the
Philippines. Foremost of the agencies charged with the above function were the
Commission on National Integration (1957) and Mindanao State University (1961).

III. Lesson Proper

1.) Why was the Mindanao State University System created?

The first agency charged with the integration of the non-Christian Filipinos was the
Commission on National Integration (CNI). However, because of its gigantic tasks,
limited funding and poor administration, the agency found itself unable to carry out its
mandate fully. More than 10 years later, the CNI would be abolished.

Chiefly, it was in education that CNI needed to carry out its special task. When this
agency was dissolved, the responsibility of educational integration and advancement (at
least for the Moros and other IPs of MinSuPala) was passed on to Mindanao State
University (MSU), created on September 1, 1961 through RA 1387. Mindanao State
University was the brainchild of the late Senator Domocao A. Alonto. It was the
government response to the “Mindanao Problem”. Integration, according to its first
president, Dr. Antonio Isidro, was the heart of MSU, which would serve as a social
laboratory.

As a crucial mandate, integration is stated on the University’s website as follows:

The 1954 congressional committee conceptualized it (i.e., MSU) as [a]

social laboratory for national integration... It is the only university (in the
country) directly charged by the government to advance the cause of
national unity and actively pursue integration through education.

According to its Charter, MSU is mandated to do the following: (1) Perform the
traditional functions of a university, namely: instruction, research and extension service;
(2) Provide trained manpower skills and technical know-how for the economic
development of the Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan (MINSUPALA) region; and (3) Help
accelerate the program of integration among the peoples of Southern Philippines,
particularly, the Muslims and other cultural minorities [emphasis by author].

As a “social laboratory”, MSU has taken steps to carry out its mandate. With the
studentry, for instance, university dormitories have the official policy that no students
coming from the same province could become roommates. That is why in the dorms of
MSU, one can see young people with different ethnic, religious and cultural
backgrounds knowing one another, exhibiting camaraderie and forging lifetime
friendships after their stay. Performing groups and cultural guilds with mixed
memberships also have been formed on campus (e.g., Darangen, Kambayoka, Kapariz
and other groups), in which Muslim, Christian and Lumad students learn from each
other’s traditional dances, music, language, poetry and values. Indeed, MSU’s mandate
for integration has been cogently captured in the dictum, “unity in diversity”.
 2.) How did History 3 (i.e., “History of the Filipino Muslims and Lumads
Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan”) become a mandated course in the MSU
System?

There has been some controversy in the use of the term “integration” as MSU’s special
mandate. Salah Jubair says that some Moros object to the term because it includes the
notion of assimilation, which would lead to the absorption of their belief and culture into
the dominant groups – the Christians’. Secondly, integration, says Juabair, “implied that
the Christians were not only superior in all spheres of life, but even in matters of
religion, they were spiritually or religiously correct”. Jubair believes that through
integration, there would come a time when “one could not distinguish Muslims from the
Christians and vice versa” anymore.

But apparently as far as MSU is concerned, integration does not entail assimilation (and
the extreme, “annihilation” of the local culture and the religious belief of the Moros and
IPs of MinSuPala. In fact, the mission statement of the University says:

Committed to the attainment of peace and sustainable development in the

MINSUPALA region, the MSU System will set the standards of excellence
in science, arts, technology, and other fields; accelerate the economic,
cultural, socio-political, and agro-industrial development of the Muslim and
other cultural groups, thereby facilitating their integration into the national
community, preserve and promote the cultural heritage of the region and
conserve its natural resources; and infuse moral and spiritual values. For
collaborative efforts, for diplomatic relations, and for international
recognition as a leading institution of higher learning, the MSU System will
pursue vigorously linkages with foreign agencies. (emphasis added)

The University mission stresses the phrase “preserve and promote the cultural heritage
of the region.” To MSU, integration does not stand for absorption and eventually
annihilation of the Moro and other IP heritages. In fact the University is tasked, as part
of its national integration effort, to preserve and promote Moro and other IP cultures. It
is apparent then that as a process, integration in the MSU view means enabling the
Moros and other IPs to recognize that they are indeed Filipinos, too, by enabling them
to appreciate the government’s efforts of advancing their heritage and cultures, counting
them as part of the general Filipino heritage and providing them with educational,
economic and other opportunities to move up on the social ladder. It seems hard to
believe that assimilation and annihilation of the Moro and other IP cultures was the
meaning of integration that the authors of the MSU Charter had in mind. After all, these
authors themselves were also proud Moros.

Integration, therefore, as conceived by them meant including the Moros and other IPs in
the development efforts of the national government. It simply meant taking them into
account in all things that the government would consider “central,” “nationa” and
“integral”. Thus, if there were such events as economic, socio-cultural, political,
educational and other developments, the Moros and other IPs, in the context of
integration, would be included in them. The same would apply when Moro and other IP
cultures would be no longer considered marginal, trivial or minor; rather, integration
would count them in as integral parts of the national cultural heritage of the Philippines.

The same may be said of the struggles and history of the Moros and Lumads of
MinSuPala. If the struggle of other peoples in the archipelago (e.g., Tagalog, Ilocano,
Bisaya, Igorot etc.) were to be considered part of the contry’s “national history, why
should it not include the struggle and history of the Moros and Lumads in the general
struggle of the Filipino people? In other words, even the idea of requiring History 3 in
the MSU curricula came out of the idea of integration, the rationale of which was: the
struggle and history of the Moros and Lumads are integral parts of the general struggle
and history of the Philippines. Thus, they should be included in the national (i.e.,
“mainstream” or “central”) not in any marginal or local history of the Philippines.

3.) What is the purpose of studying “A History of the Filipino Muslims and
Lumads of Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan”?

In general, studying history helps students see the Filipinos’ past “mistakes” as a
people. If they learned from these mistakes, they would be unlikely to repeat them.
Thus, history teachers hope to contribute to improve the nation’s future by helping to
recognize and point out past actions that may be considered as blunders and failures
and past “victories” and “successes” of preceding Filipinos!

Mindanao history has many lessons to offer. It is not by accident that the subject,
History 3, is a mandated course in the Mindanao State University system. The more
relevant reasons why there is the need to study the History of the Filipino Muslims and
Lumads of Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan may be:

First: Objectively studying the struggles of the Moros and Lumads would correct the
long distorted, incomplete and lop-sided “popular history” that had alienated them. In
Philippine History books of the last few decades, that in fact attitudinally hark back to
the spirit of Spanish records, the Moros and Lumads were either not mentioned or
depicted only as villains, bandits, pirates or “wild” people that needed to be tamed. For
that reason, the Moros and Lumads did not see Philippine history as their history.
Consequently, they felt that they were no part of the Filipino nation. By recognizing the
Moro and Lumad contribution to the making of the Filipino nation and by including their
perspectives in the study of the country’s past, one would hope to turn Philippine
history into EVERY FILIPINO’S STORY (i.e., Moros and Lumads included)!

Second: Studying the Moros and Lumads in the past would broaden Filipino
understanding of the country’s present situation. In particular, it would help that
understanding of the present dynamics of Muslim-Christian-Lumad relationships: what
had caused their divisions, their biases, their claims (ancestral and proprietary), their
marginalization, their predicaments and their protests (both peaceful and violent)? The
study would also broaden understanding of implications in government responses, such
as the impact of war on the lives, properties and relationships of all the peoples
involved. Moreover, the study may create a better picture of possibilities when the
parties involved express willingness and collective efforts to dialogue; to find common
grounds; to solve problems; to get back on their feet;; and to correct their own mistakes.
By redefining the violent past of Mindanao together with and in the context of the basic
desires and dreams of its tri-people, history would hope to broaden Philippine horizons!

Finally: By broadening such horizons, Filipinos hope to develop essential values needed
in genuine reconciliation, such as, empathy, respect, acceptance of other’s needs and
the culture of dialogue. When Filipinos together have learned the stories of their fellows,
they would understand, empathize and help each other look for acceptable
compromises and solutions to their predicaments. Through understanding, they learn
the method of dialogue, which is the beginning of genuine reconciliation. In the long run,
this process would eventually minimize, if not eradicate, the “culture of violence” and
bring about the eventual triumph of the “culture of peace” in the MinSuPala. The authors
of of the Charter must have believed (as the authors of this study guide do) that this
eventuality would be possible through the trickle-down and multiplier effects of the more
than 70,000 students of the MSU system.

IV. Peace Challenge

As pupils of Mindanao History, History 3 teachers and students may feel themselves
privileged but obligated to comprehend the past social experiences that shaped the
current realities of Mindanao and its peoples. Thus, ideally after their study of History 3,
they should be among the solution-providers and trouble-shooters of Mindanao. They
should be ready to translate their cognitive learning into affective maturity that would
push them to initiate actions for positive change.

They should not listen to pessimists who discourage them, saying, “You cannot change
the ugly situation of Mindanao, for you are just students!” They must remember that
while they are only students, they are not alone! One can just imagine how significant
they could become if all students at the Mindanao State University System were imbued
with the same attitude; aspiring for the same dream of peace and initiating positive
actions, no matter how small or simple they may be in their daily lives. Individually, one
may not feel his own impact, but collectively, they could prove to be an important key to
open more widely the door to the triumph of the culture of peace in this part of the world.

V. References and Recommended Readings

Isidro, Antonio. The Moro Problem: An Approach through Education. Marawi City:
Mindanao
State University, 1968.

Jubair, Salah. Bangsamoro: A Nation Under Endless Tyranny. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:
IQ Marin
SDN BHD, 1999.
Kho. Madge. “A Conflict that won’t go away.”
http://www.philippineupdate.com/Conflict.htm