1

Module 1

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.1

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

1
Madge Kho. “A Conflict that won’t go away.” http://www.philippineupdate.com/Conflict.htm.
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assault, 5,000 ground troops 2 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.3

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.4

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 1963.5 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.”6
2
According to the 4th Infantry Division’s history, approximately 10,000 soldiers were involved in the Kamlon
campaign. Below is the 4th ID’s account: “During this period, more military units were sent to and involved in the
Jolo Island campaign against the group of KAMLON, namely; 9th BCT of IVMA, followed by 5th BCT from Luzon, 23rd
BCT, 26th BCT, 27th BCT under Col VALERIANO, 19th BCT, 10th BCT Artillery unit, 15th BCT from Visayas, Marine
Recon Company (MRC), the Local base PC in Jolo and the Scout Rangers under LT ILETO. Total strength of all units
involved in this campaign, accounting to more or less 10,000 personnel”. See http://www.diamond
troopers.com.ph/history2.html.
3
A. Ricarte. “Composite History: Kamlon Campaign.” http://www.timawa.net/forum/index.php?topic=6263.0
4
The Times-News, August 1, 1955.
5
In “People of the Philippines vs. Hadji Kamlon,” the Supreme Court stated “…this Court affirms in full the findings
and judgment of the lower court. The crime committed is kidnapping complexed with murder. We find the death
penalty as well as the indemnity in the amount of P3, 000.00 imposed in accordance with law and affirm the same
with costs against the defendant.” http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1963/oct1963/gr_l-12686_1963.html.
6
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Kamlon.
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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. 7 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.8

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. 9 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

7
That, perhaps, explains why no civilian would help the military capture Kamlon.
8
Salah Jubair. Bangsamoro: A Nation Under Endless Tyranny. IQ Marin SDN BHD (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: 1999),
p.124.
9
Salah Jubair. p.124.
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University (MSU), created on September 1, 1961 through RA 1387.10 Mindanao State

University was the brainchild of the late Senator Domocao A. Alonto. It was the
government response to the “Mindanao Problem.”11 Integration, according to its first
president, Dr. Antonio Isidro, was the heart of MSU, which would serve as a social
laboratory.12

As a crucial mandate, integration is stated on the University’s official 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. 13

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].14

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

10
Established in 1961, the University began to operate on June 13, 1962, with an initial batch of 282 freshmen,
who passed the scholarship examination administered by the National Science Development Board. They had 12
regular Filipino faculty members and a number of volunteers from the British Voluntary Service Overseas,
Volunteers in Asia, Ford Foundation and Fulbright Foundation. With only two colleges, the College of Liberal Arts
and the College of Education and Community Development, it offered only two baccalaureate courses. In
subsequent school years, more colleges were added and MSU grew into a multi-campus university system, with
nearly 3,100 faculty members serving over 53,000 students in all levels. Today, MSU has campuses in Marawi City
(MSU-Marawi, Main), Iligan City (MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology), General Santos City (MSU-General Santos),
Maguindanao (MSU-Maguindanao), Sulu (MSU-Sulu), Tawi-tawi (MSU-Tawi-tawi), Zamboanga Sibugay (MSU-
Buug), Misamis Oriental (MSU-Naawan), Lanao del Norte (MSU-Maigo), Lanao del Sur (MSU-LNAC), Marawi City
(MSU-LNCAT), Misamis Occidental (MSU-Lopes Jaena).
11
The Special House Committee used the term “Mindanao Problem” in referring to the unrest caused by the
Moros and IP’s general feeling of not belonging to the Philippine nation. Other scholars and critics argue that the
term is inappropriate, as it is too sweeping to include the entire Mindanao in the problem. Moro scholars also
refuse to call it the “Moro problem” since the Moros did not cause it but had been merely reacting to a situation
created by poor governance, discrimination and the uneven distribution of development.
12
Antonio Isidro. The Moro Problem: An Approach Through Education. Marawi City: Mindanao State University,
1968.
13
http://www.msumain.edu.ph/details.php?sectid=28
14
R.A. 1387. See http://www.msumain.edu.ph/details.php?catid=38&sectid=28
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friendships after their stay. 15 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 of
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 group’s – the Christians’. Secondly, integration, says Jubair, “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.16

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.17 (emphasis added)

15
It is interesting to share the results of a study conducted by Jimmy Balacuit in 1974. Using a pre-test/post-test
design, Balacuit surveyed the attitudes of Muslim and Christian dorm residents before and after their stay in the
dormitories. Results show that the semester’s stay of the students created a positive change in their respective
attitudes towards each other. If at the outset, both Muslims and Christians did not welcome the idea of being
made to share rooms, mess halls and other facilities in the dorm, all these positively changed after their stay. See
Jimmy Balacuit. “Muslim-Christian Integrated Student Housing at the Mindanao State University.” MA Thesis,
University of the Philippines. 1974.
16
Salah Jubair p. 125.
17
http://www.msumain.edu.ph/details.php?catid=38&sectid=28.
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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,” “national” 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 country’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 improving 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
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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 the 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. Lessons Learned and Peace Message

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
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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 & Recommended Readings

4th Infantry Division’s history. Available at http://www.diamond

troopers.com.ph/history2.html.

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

Jimmy Balacuit. “Muslim-Christian Integrated Student Housing at the Mindanao State

University.” MA Thesis, University of the Philippines. 1974.

Madge Kho. “A Conflict that won’t go away.” Accessed at

http://www.philippineupdate.com/Conflict.htm.

Mindanao State University website available at

http://www.msumain.edu.ph/details.php?catid=38&sectid=28.

Ricarte, A. “Composite History: Kamlon Campaign.”

http://www.timawa.net/forum/index.php?topic=6263.0

Salah Jubair. Bangsamoro: A Nation Under Endless Tyranny. IQ Marin SDN BHD (Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia: 1999).