Remembering Bud Dajo Massacre

Batanes to Tawi-Tawi

with Julmunir I. Jannaral

This Batanes To Tawi-Tawi Column would like to congratulate Member of Parliament Don Mustapha Loong from Jolo, Sulu for filing the Bangsamoro Bill Nos. 173 and 174. 

MP Loong filed Bangsamoro Bill No. 173 to declare the tomb of Sultan Sharieful Hashim located in Indanan, Sulu as a heritage site. 

Sultan Sharieful Hashim was the founder of the Sultanate of Sulu.

In like manner, MP Loong also filed Bangsamoro Bill No. 174 to declare the Kutawato Cave also as another heritage site.

What could be the significance of making Kutawato Cave as a heritage site. Based on the explanatory note of Bill No. 174, Kutawato Cave became the refuge of the Moros to avoid forcible conversion to Christianity during the Spanish regime. 

Thus BTA Bill No. 173 “will enhance and promote Tausug culture and will contribute to the prestige of Sulu as the cradle of Bangsamoro government.”

Now with the passage of Bangsamoro Bill Nos. 173 and 174 into law, I hope MP Loong and other Members of Parliament from the Province of Sulu will take cognizance the memorable data of the First Battle of Bud Dajo, also known as the Moro Crater Massacre, which was a counterinsurgency action fought by the  the United State Army against Moros in March 5-8, 1906, during the Moro Rebellion in the southwestern Philippines.

Whether the occupants of Bud Dajo were hostile to U.S. forces is disputed, as inhabitants of Jolo Island had previously used the crater, which they considered sacred, as a place of refuge during Spanish assaults. 

Major Hugh Scott, the District Governor of Sulu Province, where the incident occurred, recounted that those who fled to the crater “declared they had no intention of fighting, – ran up there only in fright, had some crops planted and desired to cultivate them.

Now I hope MP Loong will take time to remember Bud Dajo in Patikul, Sulu and will file separate Bangsamoro bill making it another heritage site.  It is an extinct volcano and located in Patikul around 8 kilometers southeast from the capital town of Jolo in Sulu province.

For your Comments or Suggestions, please send an email to: julmunir1845@gmail.com. You may call or send text message to Cellphone No. +639778430218.