Raiders of the Sulu Sea

The film focuses on the Maritime slave-raiding that was about to start in the Southern
Philippines where the Spanish colonizers build a fort pillar in order to discourage the
potential invaders, especially the "pirates" not to reach the Northern Philippines for
taking people as slaves and how the Muslim fiercely fought the Spanish colonizers to
stop the dissemination of Christianity in the Southern regions of the Philippines. The
religious dimension was the main reason of the Pirate Moros to attacked the Spanish
soldiers.
Raiders of the Sulu Sea was directed by Idzwan Orthman, known as a prominent
director who was based at Singapore. In the year 2010, an event held at Singapore,
Orthman won the Best Documentary award at the 1st Singapore short film award.
The documentary film was produced by Zuzanita Zakaria, Lim Suat Yen, and Yeon-
Hwa Kim. It was published by Looking Glass International, at Australia and was
produced for Discovery Channel, Q channel, and National Geographic for
International release by Oakfims3 based on Singapore. The Documentary film was
Contributed by Prof. Barbara Watson Andaya who is a Professor of Asian Studies in
Hawaii with specialization in Southeast Asian History, and a Historian at National
University of Singapore, Dr. Samuel Kong Tan who is a Sama-Tausug-Chinese
Filipino, an authority on the issues of Raiders history, and a Historian at National
Historical Institute, Icelle Gloria B. Estrada, a direct descendants of Vicente Avarez,
one of the Zamboaga City's premiere artist and painter, and does research in field
the arts and culture of Zamboaga City, Dr. Margarita Cojuangco, author of Kris of
Valor, and a researcher of the history of Sama in Sulu archipelago, Dr. Julius
Bautista, a Historian at Asia Research Institute and National University of Singapore,
and Halman Abubakar, a Tausug descendant from Sulu, a trained and expert of the
martial of silat, he is also a City councilor in Jolo. This documentary of raiders of the
Sulu Sea is a triumphant effort on Idzwan Othman's part and team in making viewers
weep with learnings about the history of the Philippines.
"Raiders of the Sulu Sea" is a historical documentary that tells on what happened in
Sulu Sea. It depicts how useful the Fort Pilar was for the Spanish soldiers in order to
protect and defend the city and its people against the foreign enemies and to the
"pirates". The raiders were illustrated as barbaric "pirates". They came from different
tribes within Southern Philippines, specifically the tribes of Sulu and Maguindanao
who launched a bloody and barbaric attack on Spanish soldiers in the Fort Pilar.
They were also known as savages as they put holes on the palms and insert strings
on the people that they've captured. The pirates were anything but innocuous. They
pretend as fishermen as they reach the shore where the Spanish soldiers can see
them. Meanwhile, in the point of view of the Raiders, they are the indigenous tribes
fighting and defending themselves and the people in the Southern parts of the
Philippines against the Spaniards for converting souls into Christianity. The different
raiders are the Samal Balangigi, Illanun, and the Tausug warriors, they were
considered savages, brutal, bandits, and freedom pirates, and they were also called
"pirate moros" by Spaniards. They are also knowledgeable tumultuous monsoon
winds of the area, builders of the greatest and superior maritime vessels during their
period. he vessels or warships that they used in reading are the ancient warship that
 was three time faster and greater than the Spanish warships and it is historically
made for sea raids. When the Moros attacked in the Fort Pilar, the Spanish soldiers
was totally outnumbered.
The documentary film have the corroborated with the book "Pirates of Empire,
Colonisation and Maritime Violence in Southeast Asian" published by the Cambridge
University and Zamboaga City's history by Wikipedia. They give support that it's the
Zamboaga City served as a military outpost, protecting the region against the
invaders of the pirates in which they built a Fort Pilar.
References:
(Ebalin, Sandrino, Tabangay, 2022)
(Borja, 2011)
(Cambridge University, 2019)
(Wikipedia, 2009)