NAME: Poquita, Evelyn R.

TOPIC OUTLINE

THE MORO WARS: THE FIFTH STAGE

 1718 – Spaniards occupied Zamboanga
 1720-1721 - Sulu and Iranun attacked the fort but failed despite the use of
hundreds
Of war vessels and thousands of warriors.
 December 1720 – Sulu and Maguindanao sultanate made a new offensive in
Zamboanga
 December 8, 1726 – The arrival of the Chinese ship captain named Ki Kua
 December 11, 1726 – A peace treaty was signed between the Sulu sultanate and
the Spanish colonial government in Manila.
 1726 - Sultan Badar ud-Din, sent an embassy to the Chinese emperor tortoise
products that were obviously meant as trade items.
 1730 - Sultan Badar ud-Din had difficulties with Datu Sabdula, a nephew aspiring to
the throne.
 1733 - Sultan Badar ud-Din sent an ambassador to China.
 1734 - Sultan Badar ud-Din attempted to capture Zamboanga.
 1735 – Spaniards invaded Jolo and drove out the sultanate court
 1736 – Sultan Hamza had to ask the Spaniard’s aid to be able to resist.
 1737 – Another peace treaty was signed.
 In this phase of the war:
• Hundreds of Muslims were carried into captivity
• Hundreds of Christian natives were captured and sold as slaves in
Makassar and Java
• Muslim raids in the Visayas were fierce
• The Muslims remained unconquered and began to accelerate their
commercial activities with the British.
 WRITTEN REPORT

THE MORO WARS: THE FIFTH STAGE

 1718 – Spaniards occupied Zamboanga
 The Spanish King issued various royal orders for the occupation and
refortification of Zamboanga.
The return of the Spaniards to Zamboanga and its refortification in 1718
resulted in new power realignments among the Philippines' sultanates.
This was in response to what they perceived as a revival of the old threat
and danger. The Spaniards fortified Labo in Palawan, anticipating a
resumption of hostilities as a result of their relocation and at the request
of the Recollects. All of this culminated in the start of the fifth stage of the
Moro Wars.
The intense but unsuccessful attempt of the Muslims to remove the
Spanish forces from Zamboanga was met with Spanish protectionism in
this fifth stage of the Moro Wars, which was initiated by the Spanish
provocative act of refortifying Zamboanga. However, Spanish political
tactics to Christianize and colonize Muslims changed after two decades.
Instead of imposing Christianity on Muslims through conquest, the Spanish
King asked the sultans to allow Christian missionaries into their areas in
exchange for commercial relations and a Spanish alliance.
However, Spanish efforts in this direction created the opposite of the
desired results. During this period, wars on both sides reached epic
proportions in terms of human lives lost and property destroyed. After the
British invasion, there was a short break, but the wars resumed with the
British withdrawal and lasted until the middle of the nineteenth century.
In order to conceal their intentions and appease the sultans who might
have been upset by the return of the Spaniards to Zamboanga, the
Spanish authorities deployed an embassy led by Antonio Perez Gil to the
new Sulu Sultan, Badar ud-Din, in 1719. Bringing Sultan's gifts, the Spanish
Ambassador’s part of his mission was to have the Sultan accept the
cession of Balabak to the Spaniards which the Sultan's predecessor,
Shahab ud-Din, made in 1705.
 Antonio Perez Gil

Shahab ud-Din
The Sultan responded that he was aware of the cession, intended to
honor it, and wished to establish intensive commercial relations with the
Spaniards.

 A huge military base known as Fort Pillar was built, and thus provoked the
Sultanate of Sulu.
 The Real Fuerte de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza (Royal Fort of
Our Lady of the Pillar of Saragossa), also Fort Pillar, is a 17th-century
military defense fortress built by the Spanish colonial government in
Zamboanga City, Philippines.

The Spaniards were dislodged despite immediate retaliation. The Sulu

Sultanate, led by Sultan Badar-uddin asked for the support of the
Maguindanao sultanate and the Dutch at Batavia.

 Sultan Badar ud-Din - was the seventeenth sultan of Sulu, in the present-
day Philippines. Badar ud-Din took over the rule of the Sulu and Tawi-tawi
islands, Mindanao, and northern Borneo. Local sources portrayed him as
“a champion of land and sea”.

Sultan Badar ud-Din

Despite his sincere interest in Sulu's commercial prosperity, the Sulu

Sultan ensured that his realm's defenses were strengthened. He also sent
an embassy to the Dutch Governor General of Batavia in 1719 led by Datu
Bendahara and accompanied by the Nakhoda, a leader of the Sulu fleet,
who carried a letter and personal gifts to the Dutch Governor. It also
carried trade items such as turtle shells, wax, cowries, pearls, mother of
pearl, and birds' nests. Another reason why Sultan Badar-uddin sent his
Datu Bandahara and the Nakhuda to Batavia, was in order to appeal for
military assistance as well as to strengthen the relationship which was
established in 1644.
 Badar ud-Din, addressing the Dutch Governor as a brother, made a strong request for
firearms, bullets, nails for his artillery, and other types of ammunition.
 The Sultan sought aid from China and the Ottoman Empire to protect Jolo
from Spanish forces.

Finally, the Sultanates of Sulu and Maguindanao agreed to field 104 paraws with a
combined force of 3,000 warriors to launch a new offensive on Zamboanga at the end of
December 1720.

 December 1720 – Sulu and Maguindanao sultanate made a new offensive in

Zamboanga.
This offensive however did not succeed. But, the Sulu sultanate was still firm
in its struggle to push out the Spaniards from Zamboanga. Both powers adopted
a mixed policy of diplomacy and military. This showed that neither of them can be
easily extinguished.
 December 8, 1726 – The arrival of the Chinese ship captain named Ki Kua
A second envoy, a Chinese ship captain named Ki Kua, was able to reach
Manila and declare the Sultan's desire for a peace treaty. The Spaniards
responded by sending an envoy to Jolo, who was well received and honored
when he arrived on December 8, 1726
 December 11, 1726 – A peace treaty was signed between the Sulu sultanate and
the Spanish colonial government in Manila.
It was through exchanges of envoys, despite the existence of war, that a
peace treaty was signed in December 11, 1726 between the Sulu sultanate and the
 Spanish colonial government in Manila. A peace treaty which was entered into
with the Sultan provided the means for stimulating commerce between Sulus and
Spaniards, the return of Christian captives, and mutual aid against their common
enemies.
 1726 - Sultan Badar ud-Din, sent an embassy to the Chinese emperor tortoise
products which were obviously meant as trade items but for which something
sought in exchange were still called “tribute”.

 1730 - Sultan Badar ud-Din had difficulties with Datu Sabdula, a nephew aspiring to
the throne.
 1733 - Sultan Badar ud-Din sent an ambassador to China.
 1734 - Sultan Badar ud-Din attempted to capture Zamboanga.
The peace treaty deteriorated when Sultan Badar-uddin attempted to capture
Zamboanga in December 6, 1734 while some Sulu warriors attacked Taytay in
northern Palawan.
 1735 – Spaniards invaded Jolo and drove out the sultanate court
In response, the Spaniards invaded Jolo in 1735 and drove out the sultanate
court for second time, which then transferred to Dungun, Tawi-Tawi. The war
came to stop when the two powers signed another peace treaty in February 1,
1737.
 1736 – Sultan Hamza had to ask for the Spaniard’s aid to be able to resist.
 1737 – Another peace treaty was signed.
While the power of the Sulu sultanate and Maguindanao approached a steady
decline, the military power of the Spaniards grew faster when the steam boat
was introduced to the Spanish naval force. The Muslim fleets were no longer a
match with the Spanish modern fleets. The Spaniards had already foreseen a
major invasion when the right time comes.They assured themselves that the final
conquest of Mindanao and Sulu is just a matter of time.
 In this phase of the war:
• Hundreds of Muslims were carried into captivity

• Hundreds of Christian natives were captured and sold as slaves in

Makassar and Java
• Muslim raids in the Visayas were fierce

• The Muslims remained unconquered and began to accelerate their

commercial activities with the British.
Reference:
Alexander Spoehr (1973). Zamboanga and Sulu: an archaeological approach to ethnic
diversity

Bara, Hannbal. “The History of the Muslim in the Philippines.” National Commission for
Culture and the Arts. http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/articles-on-c-n-
a/article.php?i=232&igm=4

Daniel George Edward Hall (1981). A history of South-East Asia

Joo-Jock Lim; Vani Shanmugaratnam (1984). Joo-Jock Lim; Vani Shanmugaratnam (eds.).
Armed separatism in Southeast Asia

Majūl Cesar Adīb. (2006). Muslims in the Philippines. Univ. of the Philippines Press.

Nasser A. Marohomsalic (2001). Aristocrats of the Malay race: a history of the bangsa Moro
in the Philippines

Reyes, Portia L., “Badar ud-Din”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE, Edited by: Kate Fleet,
Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. Consulted online on
26 September 2022 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_23112>