REMEMBERING: The March 1906 Bud Dajo Massacre

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (MindaNews / 06 March) — Imagine yourself living in Sulu in 1901 and the Spaniards who never penetrated the area have just packed up and left their tiny forts in the various islands and, in Jolo the Walled City area after occupying it for several years.

Imagine too, that you are a fisherman or a small farmer selling your fish or vegetables in the main market in the center of Jolo.  Here comes a strange looking man with blond hair and blue eyes asking you to pay a head tax – cedula in those days.  What would you do?

For years you never had to pay for anything except for a tribute to the datu of your community or the Sultan.  You’ve never heard the word before.  Even the Spaniards never asked you to pay anything to them.

This is the scenario after America defeated the Spaniards in the Spanish American War of 1898 and won Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines and paid $20 million for the rights to these countries.

The United States of America’s (USA) entry to the Philippines was not easy.  The Filipinos in the north were on the cusp of winning their independence from Spain.  The only territory the USA was able to occupy was a small swath of Manila.   A conflict occurred which expanded to a full fledge war between the USA and Filipino revolutionaries that lasted over three years, from February 4, 1899, to around July 2, 1902 known as the Philippine-American War.

Meantime, the Americans had signed a treaty with the Sulu Sultanate, a sovereign nation under Sultan Jamalul Kiram on August 20, 1899 supposedly for support, aid and protection.  A mistranslation of the treaty to English was interpreted as the cession of Sulu by the Sultan of his nation’s sovereignty to the US.  There was relative peace until around 1902, when the US started to assert its rule in Sulu.  Spain never penetrated Mindanao and Sulu except for a few forts in a few islands so the American occupying forces were a different matter for the Tausug population.

On the other side of the world, Americans opposed to the annexation of the Philippines formed a group called the Anti-Imperialist League. Foremost was the famous writer, Mark Twain.  It was founded on June 15, 1898 a few months after the US took over the Philippines.  By February 1899, its membership rose to 25,000 and had 100 chapters throughout the US by November 1899.  Apart from Twain, prominent Americans like Moorfield Storey, who was a lawyer and president and one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, former US president Grover Cleveland and labor leader Samuel Gompers.

The Americans imposed a number of rules that they wanted the Tausug to follow. One of them was to give up their arms, give up slavery, register their land, mark their cattle, send their children to school and to start paying the cedula. The Sultan on advice from his council agreed to comply with the American demands because of its military superiority. The Sultanate at this point was already waning, weakened by internal conflicts.  He ordered the datus to implement these conditions to his subjects. Most complied except for seven datus.

These seven datus refused to comply stating that this was their land and why should they submit to a foreign entity?   They were not happy with American presence in their territory.  They were Datu Adam from Maimbung, Datu Agil, Datu Sanuddin, Datu Harib, Datu Imlam, Datu Acku and Datu Hassan of Luuk.

The Americans set May 31, 1905, as the deadline for paying the cedula.  The seven datus and their followers went up to Bud Dajo in defiance.  Some followers of Maharaja Indanan of Parang refused to pay the cedula despite the Maharaja’s order joined the seven datus.

Datu Jolkanain, Datu Kalbi and Panglima Bandahala of Patikul were asked by the Americans to convince the datus and their followers to come down from the mountain.  They stayed for three days and three nights to convince them.  But their efforts failed.  They told the Americans, the people on Dajo went up to die meaning, they would rather die fighting than succumb to American rule.

The American policies were so harsh that even Datu Jolkanairn complained that the Americans should compensate them for the loss of their slaves and pearling rights.

The poll tax or cedula was a sore point for the Datus and their followers.  It was not so much because of the money they had to pay but they saw it as a form of tribute and symbol of submission to a foreign government.  The registration of land and branding of cattle threatened informal hereditary claims of ownership which they felt would eventually cause families to fight each other.

Their resistance to American rule was so strong that they would rather die than give in.  The Americans, in turn, wanted to show the rest of the population what would happen to them if they failed to honor American sovereignty.

^{Trench at Bud Dajo, Sulu, March 1906. Photo from the Library of Congress website}

In the end, the Americans with their superior firepower and help from their local allies climbed up the mountain and slaughtered those who were holed up in the cotta with their women and children.  A total of 900 met their death needlessly.  No one was spared.  

The US press immediately broadcasted the atrocious massacre.  However, what were printed in the American press were the stories of the surviving American soldiers and their bravery in quelling a rebellion by the Moros.

At a press conference on the Bud Dajo massacre, a reporter coined “The Charge of the Wood Brigade” a parody of “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Tennyson. We learned the latter but not the former in school. Here are a few stanzas:

Chased them from everywhere
Chased them all onward,
Into the crater of death
Drove them all six hundred!
“Forward the Wood brigade,
Spare not one,” he said;
“Shoot all six hundred.”

Cannon to the right of them,
Cannon to the left of them,
Cannon in front of them,
Volleyed and thundered.
Stormed at with shot and shell.
While child and mother fell.
They that had loved so well!
Thrust into jaws of death,
Trapped into mouth of hell,
Not a babe left of them –
Left of the six hundred.

The Americans called this a rebellion. For the Moros, they were simply  protecting themselves from American intrusion into their homeland.

When I was growing up in the 1950s, we lived in a place facing the east. We could see the sun rise against the backdrop of a mountain. That was Bud Dajo. My mother told us that there was something about that mountain that went horribly wrong.  She did not know the details just that there was a bad incident that took place there.  I was too young to understand. I never heard of the Massacre until I read a book edited by Jim Zwick in the early 1990s called Mark Twain’s Weapons of Satire. Anti-Imperialist Writings on the Philippine American War.

I wished this was taught in our schools then.  This should be incorporated into Philippine history books. Very few people know about the heroism of these datus and the atrocities committed against the Tausug people.   I hope schools in Sulu will provide information to their students and some type of information about this event can be shared with the local residents.   

In 2006, I was able to attend a Centennial Commemoration of the Bud Dajo Massacre organized the Mindanao Peace Weavers.  The event was a march up to the Bud Dajo Massacre area in the morning and an afternoon program at the Notre Dame of Jolo Gymnasium.

In 2023, according to Fatmawati Salapuddin, the Armed Forces of the Philippines installed markers at the three battle sites.  One of the markers state: “ . . . This historic clash represents one of the most dramatic and notable defiance of, and armed resistance against, American rule . . .  To the very end, the undaunted defenders of Bud Dahu chose honorable death over the cowardice of surrender and condemnation of servitude of their children — a trait that the Bangsa Sug of today has cherished and preserved for their land, nation and religion.”

According to Dr. Bara, prior to the 1974 bombing of Jolo, a Battle of Bud Dajo  kissa was played each weekend on the local radio station.  But unfortunately, the tape was lost after the bombing. Hopefully, this practice can be revived in Jolo again.  A kissa, in Tausug tradition, is a narrative of events that is rhythmic and sung as a way of telling stories.

We were able to retrieve this kissa from the Ateneo de Manila after paying an outrageous fee of P1100.  We were told the University has the copyrights to it.  Really?