Early history lanong warship, used in
piracy and
slave raids in the 18th to 19th centuries Before the arrival of Islam, the territories of what is now Bangsamoro were ruled by leaders who held titles such as
rajah and
datu. The
Malay kingdoms interacted and traded with various tribes throughout the islands. In the 13th century, the arrival of
Muslim missionaries such as
Makhdum Karim in
Tawi-Tawi initiated the conversion of the native population to Islam. Trade with other sultanates in what are now Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia helped establish and entrench Islam in the southern Philippines. In 1457, the introduction of Islam led to the establishment of
sultanates. This included
Rajah Buayan, the
Sultanate of Maguindanao, and the
Sultanate of Sulu, which is considered the oldest Muslim government in the region, and was annexed by the
United States in 1898. Like the empire of the
Bruneian Sultanate, Sulu and other Muslim sultanates in the Philippines were introduced to Islam through
Chinese Muslims, Persians, and Arab traders. Chinese Muslim merchants participated in local commerce, and the Sultanate maintained diplomatic relations with the
Ming China. As it was involved in the tribute system, the Sulu leader Paduka Batara and his sons moved to China, where he died, and Chinese Muslims subsequently brought up his sons. The Muslim Makhdum and Sayyids from Zaytun (Quanzhou) who came in the 14th century to preach in the Philippines, and the later non-Muslim Han Chinese who settled among the Moros in the 15th-20th centuries, supplied weapons to the Moros against Spain and intermarried with them to form Han Chinese Moro mestizos, are two different communities. Arab merchants began trading in the Philippines, Borneo, Sulu, and Java, and settled in Kedah, Malaysia, in 878 after fleeing Huang Chao's revolt in Canton (Guangzhou). A Muslim merchant named P'u Ali led an embassy to China on behalf of Brunei (Pu-ni) in 977, as Muslim and Arab traders began trading between Borneo and China. Guangzhou (Canton) received a ship from Ma0i in the Philippines in 982 Various makhdum (masters) preaching Islam arrived in Sulu such as Sayyid un-nikab Amin-ullah in Bud Agad, Jolo and Karimul Makhdum Shurafa (Sayyids) and Makhdumun (Makhdums) came to the Philippine archipelago from Zatyun in China after the Ispah rebellion and from Brunei and Malacca.
Colonial period Spanish conquest Moro pirates in Balanguingui Island in 1848 In 1519, a Spanish
expedition to the East Indies began in search of a westward route to the
Maluku Islands (the "Spice Islands"), led by Portuguese explorer
Ferdinand Magellan. In March of 1521, the fleet reached the Philippine archipelago, where Magellan died in the
Battle of Mactan before the expedition's successful circumnavigation of the Earth and its return to Europe. There were several subsequent expeditions to the islands, including
Miguel López de Legazpi's in 1564, which marked the beginning of Spanish colonization in what would later become the Philippines. The local sultanates actively resisted the Spaniards. With intentions of pacifying the islands, the Spaniards made incursions into Moro territory, erecting military stations and garrisons with Catholic missions, which attracted Christianised natives of civilian settlements. The most notable of these are
Zamboanga and
Cotabato. Spain was in the midst of the
Inquisition, which required Jews and Muslims to convert to Roman Catholicism or leave or face the death penalty; thus, Spaniards tried to ban and suppress Islam in areas they conquered. In response, the Moros challenged the Spanish government, conducting raids on Catholic coastal towns. These Moro raids reached a fever pitch during the reign of Datu Bantilan in 1754. a Moro convert to
Catholicism, circa 1890. The
Spanish–Moro conflict began with the
Castilian War of 1578, fought between Spaniards and Moros in areas held by
Sultanate of Brunei. While the Castilian War itself lasted only two months, the conflict between Spain and the Moros continued for centuries thereafter. The string of coastal fortifications, military garrisons, and forts built by the Spaniards ensured that Moro raids, although destructive to the economies of the local settlements, were eventually stifled. The advent of steam-powered naval ships in the 1800s finally drove the antiquated Moro navy of colorful
proas and
vintas to their bases. It took at least two decades of Spanish presence in the Philippines for the extensive conquest of Mindanao to begin. The
Sultanate of Sulu, one of the last remaining sultanates, soon fell under a concerted naval and ground attack from Spanish forces. In the last quarter of the 19th century, Moros in the Sultanate of Sulu allowed the Spanish to build forts. Still, Spanish control over these areas remained loose as their sovereignty was limited to military stations, garrisons, and civilian settlements in Zamboanga and Cotabato (the latter under the
Sultanate of Maguindanao). Before that, to retain its independence, the Sultanate of Sulu had ceded Palawan to Spain in 1705 and Basilan in 1762; it also granted Spain partial rule over Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. on his birthday in the Moro town of Momungan (present-day
Lanao del Norte Province),
Mindanao on 17 May 1892. The presence of Spanish troops since the 16th century massively expanded on the island of Mindanao, threatening the Moros, especially with their
Christianization mission. In 1876, the Spaniards launched a campaign to placate Jolo and made a final bid to establish a government in the southern islands. On 21 February of that year, the Spaniards assembled the largest contingent in Jolo, consisting of 9,000 soldiers in 11 transports, 11 gunboats, and 11 steamboats. José Malcampo occupied Jolo and established a Spanish settlement, with Pascual Cervera appointed to set up a garrison and serve as military governor. He served from March 1876 to December 1876 and was followed by José Paulin (December 1876 – April 1877), Carlos Martínez (September 1877 – February 1880), Rafael de Rivera (1880–1881), Isidro G. Soto (1881–1882), Eduardo Bremon, (1882), Julian Parrrado (1882–1884), Francisco Castilla (1884–1886), Juan Arolas (1886–1893), Caésar Mattos (1893), Venancio Hernández (1893–1896) and Luis Huerta (1896–1899). and
rebellion (
Embadir), like this of an 18th or 19th-century brass
morion helmet. The Chinese sold small arms, such as the
Enfield and
Spencer rifles, to the Buayan Sultanate of Datu Uto. They were used to battle the Spanish invasion of the
Sultanate of Buayan. The Datu paid for the weapons with enslaved people. The Chinese population in Mindanao in the 1880s was 1,000. The Chinese ran guns across a Spanish blockade to sell them to the Moros of Mindanao. The Moros paid for the purchases of these weapons with enslaved people, in addition to other goods. The main group of people selling guns was the Chinese in Sulu. The Chinese took control of the economy and used steamers to ship goods for exporting and importing. Opium, ivory, textiles, and crockery were among the other goods that the Chinese sold. The Chinese in Maimbung sent the weapons to the Sulu Sultanate, which used them to fight the Spanish and resist their attacks. A
Chinese-Mestizo was one of the Sultan's brothers-in-law; the Sultan was married to his sister. He and the Sultan both owned shares in the ship (named the Far East), which was used to smuggle weapons. The Chinese merchant Tuya Tan of Amoy was the father of the Moro leader Datu Piang who was born to a Maguindanaon Moro woman. Filipino Christian settlers were massacred by Moros under Djimbanan, his brother Datu Ali, and Datu Piang in September and December 1899. Only the Chinese were not harmed. An Urdu speaking Afghan named Sharif Muhammad Afdal lived in Mindanao and helped advise Datu Piang. Sharif Muhammad Afdal helped the US try to convince Moros to cooperate during the US war against the Moros. Serial set (no.4001-4500) "The Moros then looted the town, although apparently the Chinese residents, with whom they were always friendly, were not molested - only the Filipinos" Datu Piang, as a Moro-Chinese mestizo, led Chinese and Moros to defeat and kill Filipino revolutionaries under Ramon Vilo who tried to seize control of Cotabato when the Spanish left in January 1899. At "the time of the Spanish evacuation [Piang] had become the richest Moro in Mindanao and the most influential chief in the island", according to Najeeb Saleeby. Cotabato-based Chinese merchants who had close links to Datu Piang bought 150,000 Mexican dollars' worth of gutta-percha, almaciga, coffee, beeswax, and rice in 1901.
American colonization by the Americans after the
First Battle of Bud Dajo. After the
Spanish–American War, Spain ceded the Philippine archipelago, which included Sulu and Mindanao, to the United States for administration under the 1898
Treaty of Paris. As their administration began, American officials began to suppress any remaining violence and resistance in the Moro areas. Attacks by
juramentados persisted in the early 20th century but were eventually stopped by the Americans.
Japanese occupation The Moros
fought against the
Japanese occupation of Mindanao and Sulu during
World War II and eventually drove them out. Moros also assisted the resistance against
the Japanese in North Borneo after the failed
Jesselton revolt, in retaliation for which atrocities were committed against local peoples by the Japanese. Both Americans and Japanese committed massacres against Moro
Maranaos. 400 Maranaos were massacred by US artillery bombardment by Captain
John J. Pershing in 1903. Japan invaded
Mindanao in 1942 and issued orders for the Maranaos to surrender bladed implements so that every 2 households would share one blade and give up all of their guns; anyone who did not obey the order was killed. The Japanese executions of Maranos who kept their firearms resulted in revenge attacks against the Japanese.
Manalao Mindalano was one of the Maranao insurgents fighting the Japanese. The Japanese at
Dansalan massacred and bayoneted 24 Maranao men and women civilians in
Watu village while searching for Manalao Mindalano, even though they had no relations to his guerrilla group. The Maranaos then destroyed a Japanese convoy by shooting at their tires and drivers, causing them to crash off bridges and roads. The Japanese then burned Maranao houses. Maranao villagers slaughtered a Japanese infantry company in September 1942 during the battle of
Tamparan. The battle started on the 1st day of
Ramadan on 12 September when Japanese forces, searching for a Maranao guerrilla leader in Tamparan, sent 90 foot soldiers there. They used mortars to fire on the Maranaos after they defied the Japanese patrol. Maranaos in and around Tamparan attacked the Japanese forces as they heard the mortar shells. Most of the Maranaos only had blades and charged the Japanese directly through their mortar and bullet fire, while armed Maranaos attacked the Japanese from the rear while crawling in the grass. Pinned down from three directions and having run out of ammunition, some Japanese soldiers under 1st Lieutenant
Atsuo Takeuchi tried to escape to a boat on the pier, but the
forced labourers on the boats had already escaped into the lake and left the Japanese soldiers stranded. Takeuchi tried to surrender and threw away his sword. Still, a Maranao hacked him to death and mocked him, saying, "No surrender Tekeuchi!" as he recalled that Takeuchi had previously boasted that the Japanese never surrendered. 85 Japanese were hacked to death on the lake near Tamparan. The Maranaos hacked and mutilated the Japanese corpses. The Japanese responded to the battle by bombarding Maranao villages, including Tamparan, from the air and artillery for 25 days, massacring Maranao civilian children and women. 80 Maranao civilians were killed in a
mosque by a Japanese bomb. Maranaos then blocked
culverts, cut down trees, and razed the road to impede Japanese movement, allowing the rain to destroy what was left of it. Maranao besieged a Japanese garrison at
Ganassi. At
Lake Lanao, the Maranao severed communications and contact between 3 Japanese garrisons in total by the conclusion of 1942. Before U.S. guerrillas even started their insurgency against Japan,
Lanao Plateau was liberated by the Maranao from Japanese control. Moros in other places, such as
Datu Udtug Matalam, fought the Japanese in the upper
Cotabato Valley and
Bukidnon. Japanese forces have avoided
Datu Udtug since 1942 because he constantly attacked their garrisons. Udtug Matalam's brother-in-law
Salipada Pendatun fought the Japanese in Bukidnon, expelling them from Malaybalay, the provincial capital, Del Monte airfield and garrisons in Bukidnon in a period of six months in 1942-1943 and winning a battle at a POW camp. 97% of the Japanese soldiers occupying
Jolo were slaughtered by Moro Muslim
Tausug guerrillas according to Japanese soldier
Fujioka Akiyoshi, who was one of the few who remained alive by the end of the war. These Moro Muslim guerrillas were headed by Sayyid
Capt. Kalingalan Caluang, of the fighting 21 of Sulu. Fujioka described the Moros as brutal and recalled how the Moros sliced the livers and gold teeth off Japanese soldiers, and in one month, slaughtered 1,000 Japanese after they came to the island. Fujioka and his fellow Japanese soldiers were overjoyed when they finally reached an American base to surrender to, since they knew their only other fates were to be butchered by Moro Muslims or starvation. Injured Japanese were slaughtered by Moros with their
kris daggers as the Moros constantly attacked and charged and butchered Japanese soldiers. Fujioka later published a diary of his war experiences on Jolo titled
Haisen no ki: Gyokusaichi Horo-tō no Kiroku along with a private account,
Uijin no Ki. The
Moro National Liberation Front has referred to Japan, America and Spain as historic enemies of the Moro people, along with the Philippines while praising China as a friend and ally of the Moros and
Sulu Sultanate. On 5 April 2019, MNLF member Abdul was interviewed by
Elgin Glenn Salomon and said about the battle of Jolo in 1974 between the Philippines and MNLF: Japanese forces used machine guns to massacre Muslim
Suluk children and women at a mosque in the aftermath of the
Jesselton revolt.
Modern days In the modern-day Philippines Philippine government policies After gaining independence from the United States, the Moro population experienced many grievances; exclusion from mainstream Philippine society, discrimination by the Philippine government (which they perceived as former foot soldiers of Spain), the loss of their
ancestral lands to settlers and corporations due to land-tenure laws, the formation of settlers-militias, and a government policy of "Filipinisation". These eventually gave rise to armed secession movements. Thus, the Moro struggle for independence has lasted for several centuries, starting with the Spanish colonization and continuing to the present day. During the 1960s, the Philippine government envisioned a new country in which Christians and Moros alike would be assimilated into a single culture. This vision, however, was generally rejected by both groups, as Christians recalled Spanish reports of fierce Moro resistance, and Moros remembered three centuries of subjugation by the Christian Spanish. These prejudices continue to this day. Because of this, the national government set up the Commission for National Integration (CNI) in the 1960s, which was later replaced by the Office of Muslim Affairs, and Cultural Communities (OMACC), now called the Office on Muslim Affairs (OMA). Concessions were made to the Moro after the creation of these agencies, with the Moro population receiving exemptions from national laws prohibiting polygamy and divorce. In 1977, the Philippine government made another palliative attempt to harmonize Moro customary law with national law. These achievements were seen as superficial. The Moro, still dissatisfied with the past Philippine governments' policies and misunderstanding established a first separatist group known as the
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) led by
Nur Misuari with the intention of creating an independent country. This initiated the modern Moro conflict in the Philippines, which persists, and has since deepened the fractures between Muslims, Christians, and people of other religions. The MNLF is the only recognized representative organization for the Muslims of the Philippines by the
Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC). By the 1970s, a paramilitary organization created by settler mayors in collusion with the
Philippine Constabulary, mainly of armed
Hiligaynon-speaking Christian settler residents of mainland Mindanao, called the
Ilagas began operating in Cotabato, originating from settler communities. In response, Moro volunteers with minimal weapons also group themselves with much old traditional weapons like the
kris, spears and
barong, such as the
Blackshirts of
Cotabato and the
Barracudas of
Lanao, began to appear and engage the
Ilagas. The
Armed Forces of the Philippines were also deployed; however, their presence only seemed to create more violence, and reports that the Army and the settler militia are helping each other. A Zamboangan
Chavacano version of the Ilagas, the
Mundo Oscuro (
Spanish for
Dark World), was also organized in Zamboanga and Basilan. Among the Peruvian and Mexican descendants of Chavacano Spanish-Creole language speakers. In 1981, internal divisions within the MNLF led to the formation of an Islamic paramilitary breakaway organization called the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The group continued the conflict when the MNLF signed a Peace Deal with the Philippine Government in 1994. It has now become the largest and best-organized Moro armed group in Mindanao and Sulu. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is now in the final stages of the required annex to the
Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which has a set time frame for full implementation in 2016.
Autonomy Although initiated in a 1976 ceasefire, by 1987, as a fallout of the
EDSA revolution, peace talks with the MNLF picked up pace with the intention of establishing an autonomous region for Muslims in Mindanao. On 1 August 1989, under Republic Act No. 6734, known as the Organic Act, a plebiscite was held in 18 provinces in Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, and Palawan, regardless of the ongoing migration of settlers from Luzón and the Visayas. This was said to determine if the residents would still want to be part of an Autonomous Region. Of all the Provinces and cities participating in the plebiscite, only four opted to join: Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi. Even its regional capital, Cotabato City, rejected joining the autonomous region, as settlers now greatly outnumber the Moro and Lumad. When they were a majority, they have now become a minority. This still led to the creation of the ARMM, however. A second plebiscite, held a year later in 2001, included Basilan (except its capital, Isabela City) and Marawi City in the autonomous region. Of the original 13 provinces that agreed to the Final Peace Agreement (FPA) with the MNLF, only 5 are now part of the present-day ARMM due to the continuous settler program of the Republic of the Philippines, which began in earnest in 1901. The ARMM is headed by a regional governor, the result of the Final Peace Agreement between the MNLF and the Philippine government in 1996 under President
Fidel Ramos. The regional governor, with the regional vice governor, serves as the head of the executive branch and is served by a Regional Cabinet composed of regional secretaries, mirroring the national government agencies of the Philippines. The ARMM has a
unicameral Regional Assembly headed by a speaker. This acts as the legislative branch for the region and is responsible for regional ordinances. It is composed of three members for every
congressional district. The current membership is twenty-four. The Supreme Court has since nullified some of the Regional Assembly's acts as "unconstitutional". An example is the nullification of the creation of the Province of
Shariff Kabunsuan by the Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA), as this will create an extra seat in the Philippines Congress' House of Representatives, a power reserved solely for the Philippine Congress — Senate and House jointly — to decide on. Some would say, that this proves in itself the fallacy of its Autonomy granted by the Central Government during the Peace Process.
Current situation , which destroyed large parts of
Marawi City in 2017 in a conflict between militants affiliated with the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the
Armed Forces of the Philippines The Moros had a history of resistance against Spanish, American, and Japanese rule for over 400 years. The armed struggle against the Spanish, Americans,
Japanese and Filipinos is considered by present Moro leaders as part of the four centuries long "sovereign based conflict" of the Bangsamoro (Moro Nation). The 400-year-long resistance against the Japanese, Americans, and Spanish by the Moro persisted and morphed into their current war for independence against the Philippine state. Some Moros have formed their own separatist organisations such as the MNLF, MILF and become a members of more
extreme groups such as the
Abu Sayyaf (ASG) and
Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and the latest formed is Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter ( BIFF). The
Moro Islamic Liberation Front boycotted the original referendum established by the
Organic Act and has continued its armed struggle to the present. However, it remains a partner to the peace process, with the Philippines unwilling to brand MILF as a "terrorist" group. Today, the Moro people have become a marginalised minority in Mindanao; they experience
discrimination and disadvantages compared to Christians in terms of employment and housing. This has resulted in the establishment of escalating tensions that have contributed to the ongoing conflict between the Philippine government and the Moro people. In addition, there has been a large exodus of Moro peoples comprising the
Tausūg,
Samal,
Bajau,
Illanun and
Maguindanao to
Malaysia (
Sabah) and
Indonesia (
North Kalimantan) since the 1970s due to the illegal annexation of their land by the Catholic majority (in certain regions) and armed settler militias such as the
Ilaga, which have destroyed the trust between Mindanao settlers and Moro communities. Land tenure laws have significantly altered the population statistics of the Bangsamoro and have gradually displaced the Moros from their traditional lands.
2014 Draft Bangsamoro Basic Law The office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process has posted a set of frequently asked questions about the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), the draft of which President Benigno Aquino III submitted to Congress leaders. The Bangsamoro Basic Law abolishes the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and establishes the new Bangsamoro political identity in its place. The law is based on the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed by the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in March 2014. It is still to be implemented by the Government by Congressional mandate.
In Malaysia in Sabah. Due to their conflict in the southern Philippines and the Sulu islands' proximity with the
Malaysian state of
Sabah, many Moros have emigrated to Sabah since the 1970s in search of better lives. Most of them have been reported to be illegal immigrants living in squalor, prompting the
Sabah state government to work on relocating them to proper dwellings to ease management.
Bangsa Sug and Bangsa Moro In 2018, a unification gathering of all the sultans of the Sulu archipelago and representatives from all ethnic communities in the archipelago commenced in
Zamboanga City, declaring themselves the
Bangsa Sug and separating them from the
Bangsa Moro of mainland central Mindanao. They cited the complete difference in cultures and customary ways of life they have with the central Mindanao Muslims as the primary reason for their separation. They also called the government to establish a separate Philippine state, called
Bangsa Sug, from mainland Bangsa Moro or to incorporate the Sulu archipelago to whatever state is formed in the Zamboanga peninsula, if ever federalism in the Philippines is approved in the coming years. == See also ==