Sultan Qudarat Speech (1639)

Sultan Qudarat speech to the Peolple of the Lake (Maranao's)

You men of the lake, forgetting your ancient liberties,

       have submitted to the Castillans. 

Sheer idiocy!

Do you realize what subjection would reduce you to?

A toilsome slavery under the Spaniards!

Turn your eyes to what the subject nations have been reduced to.

Behold the Tagalogs and the Visayans, whose chiefs are trampled

       upon by the lowliest Castillan!

Do you think you are better than them?

Do you think the Spaniards consider you of better stuff?

You, like them, will row the galleys, toil at the shipyards and ceaselessly

       labor on the other public works.

Just as they do.

Would you allow anyone with a little Spanish blood  to beat you up and 

       grasp the fruits of your labor?

Become subjects today and tomorrow you will be at the oars! 

I, at least, will be pilot -- the biggest favor they will allow a sultan.

Let not their sweet words deceive you;

      their promises facilitate their deceits.

Little by little, they will control everything!

Reflect on how even the minor promises to the chiefs of other nations

      were not honored.

And now the Spaniards have become masters of them all.

Be men!

Let me aid you to resist. 

All the strength of my Sultanate, I promise you, shall be in your defense.

What matters if the Castillans are at first successful? 

That means only the loss of a year's harvest.

Do you think that is too dear a price for Liberty?
 
 

(In 1637, the Lake area was promised to the Jesuits as soon as it was conquered. The conquest was assigned to Capt. Francisco Atienza, the alcalde-mayor of Caraga. Atienza reached the Lake in April 1639. Qudarat, who was related by blood and marriage to the Iranun / M'ranaos, took matters in his own hands and personally led the Lake dwellers. The Spanish attempts to conquer Lanao in 1639 and 1640 both failed. The M'ranaos lost two harvests. The Spanish came back to the Lake (Lanao) in 1891 and 1895, two and a half centuries later. Again, the Spaniards failed.)

 

Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan comprise the Land of the Moros since the 13th century. The lands north of it like the Kingdom of Manila were invaded and colonized by Spain. The Moro sultanates -- Sulu, Maguindanao, Buayan and the Maranao confederacy -- however fought and maintained their independence until the coming of the Americans in the beginning of the 20th century.

The 16th century European map below (click image to enlarge) proves that Mindanao was already known to the world even before the so-called "discovery" of the Philippines by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan.

When Ferdinand Magellan arrived in Cebu in 1521, an island north of Mindanao, he met with the Cebu King, Rajah Humabon. The Spaniard immediately introduced his religion, Roman Catholicism to the natives, and planted a wooden cross to commemorate the arrival of Christianity in Asia. This angered the Muslim religious leader Cali Pulacu (known to the Filipinos as Lapu-Lapu), who protested the presence of the foreigners. Magellan, in typical European arrogance, led his men to the neighboring island, Mactan, where the Cali (meaning judge) lived. Magellan met his death at the hands of the Muslim Cali, thus depriving him the honor of being the first man to circumnavigate the globe. However, his flagship, the Trinidad, was the first ship to circumnavigate the globe (at least according to Western sources).

In 1571, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi arrived in Manila, in Luzon Island, north of Cebu. Manila at the time was ruled by Muslim Malays from Borneo. Rajah Matanda ruled Manila together with his teenage nephew, Rajah Suleiman, the Rajah Muda. Suleiman's elders, including his other uncle, Lakan-Dula of Tondo welcomed the foreigners. But the young prince realized that Legazpi had devious intentions. He declared war against the Spanish. Without the help of his elders,  Rajah Suleiman fell in battle. Rajah Muda literally means Young King but Malay sultanates use this title to denote Crown Prince. But the Filipinos, who are excellent historians, celebrate Rajah Suleiman as the last king of Manila.

The Spanish conquistadors could not believe their eyes. It was not too long ago when they revolted and drove away the Moros (Moors) from Spain. And now, halfway around the globe, they met them again.

 The Spanish differentiated the two natives of the archipelago into Moros (Muslims) and Indios or Naturales (pagans). They then formulated their simple policy regarding the natives -- convert the Indios to Christianity and kill the Moros.

And so, for about three hundred and fifty years, the Spaniards tried their best to christianize the Indios and annihilate the Moros. They succeeded in the former but failed in the latter.

In 1898, the Spanish left and the Americans came. Again the Moros fought. In 1946, the Indios became masters of the Philippine Islands. In 1972, the Moros resumed their fight.

Arguably, the Moros of Mindanao and Sulu hold the distinction of enduring the world's longest fight for Freedom, Faith, and Homeland. From 1521 until now.
 

        "The territories of a Homeland is not subject to the will of illegal occupants."

Contributed by : Datu Jamal Ashley Yahya Abbas