Opening the gates of the past

By Ramesh A. Dataya
(with excerpts from bangsamoro.org and tausug.net)

The planned deployment of US soldiers in Sulu under Balikatan 03-1 was supposed to open the flood gates of peace and development in the Island. Instead, it opened the gates to the past. A haunted past that continues to haunt the Tausug people until now.

As it turns out, the main issue isn't whether the American troops will be in Sulu merely for Balikatan exercises or for combat purposes. With the American troops back on Sulu soil, the past will haunt the heart of every Tausug -- re-living the agony that their previous generation had to deal with.

"The past re-visited"

It all began during the American colonization over a century ago.

The Americans found the settlers of Sulu (mostly Tausugs) extremely difficult to contain and manage during their several years of occupation in the Philippines. Unlike the Filipinos from Luzon and Visayas, the Tausugs were perceived as "born warriors" -- and instilled fear into every American soldier's hearts.

Thus, for several years, the American occupation in Sulu was hardly successful. Even when they started to bribe the Sultanate and Datus in exchange for their cooperation, the Tausug situation was hardly in control. And for a simple reason: The Tausugs were disenchanted with the Americans and their man made laws. They were not going to give in to their perceived enemy: the Americans.

Bud (Mt.) Dajo is a lava cone of an extinct volcano at an altitude of 2100 feet. The crater in the summit has a circumference of 1800 yards. The crater was a natural fortress; hence, a favorite shelter or hide-away for Moro "tax evaders", who were mostly poor people. Soon, Tausug families were staying in the crater.

Bodies of Tausug people are piled around inside the crater of Bud Daho almost a century ago.

By March 1906, more than a thousand Moros -- men, women and children, made their way to the crater. Gen. Wood would not have any of their nonsense. He ordered his officers to gather in Jolo. Col. Duncan with about 800 officers and men from the 6th and 19th infantry, the 4th Cavalry, the 28th Artillery Battery, the Sulu Constabulary and sailors from the gunboat Pampanga, with mountain guns, rifles, bayonets, fast-firing pistols and grenades launched the assault on March 5. The thousand or so Moro men, women and children were armed with kris, barungs and spears. By March 7, the smoke of battle has cleared. The people in the crater fought bravely, to the last Moro. There were no survivors. The Americans lost two dozen men and some seventy wounded. It was a complete massacre.

Gen. Wood reported to the Secretary of War the success of his mission -- the Moros losing 600 men, women and children while the US lost only 18 men and 52 wounded. President Roosevelt immediately sent a note to Wood: "I congratulate you and the officers and men of your command upon the brave feat of arms wherein you and they so well upheld the honor of the American flag." But there were protests. The New Orleans Times-Democrat called the event "a frightful atrocity". The Boston Post exclaimed: "..if this is imperial expansion….heaven save us from anymore!" The Democrats called the affair a "horrible massacre" and "an assassination."

"Fast forward to the future"

On February 21, 2003, Pentagon officials disclosed that the United States was sending combat troops to Sulu not just for the Balikatan Exercise, but also to fight the Abu Sayyaf.

Days later, the deputy secretary general for military affairs of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Executive Council of 15 warned that "Once US soldiers set foot on Sulu, any distinction between armed groups there will be erased".

Abuamri Taddik said the thousands of Tausug were killed during the Filipino-American war, and that today's Tausug were always reminded of the number and names of the dead. He said that as a Tausug and an MNLF officer formerly active in the fight for self-determination, he knew that "the grudge is something that lives from generation to generation."

The Bud Daho massacre is just one of the numerous documented incidents involving American atrocities in Sulu over a century ago.

Some 30,000 illegal, unlicensed firearms are believed to be in the hands of various armed groups in Sulu. These groups include the Abu Sayyaf, MNLF-(Nur) Misuari faction, MNLF Executive Council faction, armed men maintained by local politicians, even ordinary farmers, Taddik said.

He warned that a Tausug with no alliance to any armed rebel group in the area could sacrifice his life just to kill one US soldier. "For the Tausug, even if he is not a rebel, killing just one American soldier would make him a hero," he said, adding: "If that happens, we expect that the US will retaliate, and what will happen next is unimaginable. As a Tausug, I do not wish to see my people displaced again by a war involving foreigners.

"The government should have considered the local culture and historical facts before allowing the presence of US troops in Sulu."

Col. Alexander Aleo, who last year hosted US Green Berets on Basilan and now heads an Army brigade on Sulu's capital Jolo, said the unlicensed firearms there were a key concern.

"The majority of the people here have firearms," he said.

Many of the guns are in the hands of an Abu Sayyaf faction, which two years ago raked in millions of dollars in ransom by kidnapping 21 Western tourists and Asian workers from Malaysia's Sipadan dive resort.

The bandit group used the cash to strengthen its arsenal with M-203 rocket-propelled grenades and 57mm and 90mm shoulder-fired recoilless rifles, which can blow up armored tanks, Aleo said.

Tales of how US occupation forces tried to quell Moro resistance bloodily in the early 1900s are becoming fodder for emerging opposition to a US military presence.

"The wounds over the massacre of our forefathers by the American colonialists have not been healed," said Temojin Tulawie, leader of a new group opposing the Americans' arrival.

(For more information about the Bud Dajo massacre, please visit bangsamoro.org and tausug.net)

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