Battle of Jolo (1974)

Battle of Jolo
Part of the Moro conflict
DateFebruary 4, 1974 (1974-02-04) - February 11, 1974; 50 years ago (1974-02-11)
Location
Jolo, Sulu, Philippines[1]
Result

Philippine government victory

Belligerents
Moro National Liberation Front

 Philippines

Commanders and leaders
Nur Misuari – MNLF Leader

Philippines Ferdinand Marcos – Commander-in-Chief

Philippines Col. Salvador M. Mison – 14th Infantry Battalion leader

The battle of Jolo, also referred to as the burning of Jolo or the siege of Jolo,[3] was a military confrontation between the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the government of the Philippines[1][4] in February 1974 in the municipality of Jolo, in the southern Philippines.[5][2]

It is considered one of the key early incidents of the Moro insurgency in the Philippines, and led numerous Moro leaders to resist martial law under Ferdinand Marcos.[4]

MNLF forces initially managed to control the municipality, except the airport and an adjacent military camp. Government forces led by the 14th Infantry Battalion managed to regain control of the town.[2][6] The United States military also reportedly participated according to both government and MNLF officials.[7]

Jolo had a population divided into three groups, Muslim (Moro), Chinese and Christian. The Philippine military which burned Jolo in 7-8 February 1974 killed 20,000 civilians.[8][9]

Mixed Chinese-Tausug people (Lanang) engaged in business and moved to Jolo since the Sulu Sultanate. One man named Mario who survived in 1974 Jolo burning identified as a Christian Tausug and was of Chinese descent. He said "We have a Chinese community, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. My father was a member of the Chinese Chamber. The Chinese community [in Jolo] had a Chinese School … that was the Sulu Tong Jin school. My grandfather was one of the pioneers of that school. He came from China. So, he went to Jolo and married my grandmother, who was a Muslim. But I’m not a Muslim. I’m a Catholic." Tausug in Jolo denied there was any religious sectarianism or hatred before the 1974 burning of the city by the Philippines. MNLF member Khalifa used to have the rosary in his house along with images of Catholic saints and in elementary school he went to church services. They prayed the Lord is with thee, Hail Mary full of Grace and the Rosary. Another Muslim Tausug said “ Jolo was very beautiful. The relationship between Muslims and Christian was extraordinary … there ’ s no discrimi-nation. There ’ s no religious disparity. There were intermarriages among Muslims and Christians, ”. Since there was a large Chinese community in Jolo, it was called "Little Hong Kong" by a Tausug named Muhammad. Omar, another Tausug Muslim said “ The Chinese sold products from Malaysia and Indonesia. If they saw something that is pro 󿬁 table, they would make it their business. ”[10]

In Jolo politics, the pure Muslims, Chinese and Christians serving as councilors in Jolo were categorised according to Muslim, Chinese or Christian identity but the Chinese-Moro mestizo Tuchay Tan's group identification was left unclear.[11]

An MNLF member named Khalifa who lived in Jolo said that before the war "The Christians and Muslims had a good relationship with each other. As a matter of fact, my friends were mostly Christians. I also attended church services when I was an elementary student. We had so many santos and santas (images of saints) in our house. We prayedthe rosary, the Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. “ Blessed is thy among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. ” We prayed like that before their image,what the Muslims called idols."[12]

Samuel Kong Tan wrote that he was familiar with MNLF members and their ideology and he reprimanded G. Carter Bentley's review of Samuel Kong Tan's work in "Historical Perspective on the Muslim Armed Struggle? (Critical Review of Samuel Tan's The Filipino Muslim Armed Struggle, 1900-1972), G. Carter Bentley. Bentley had assumed that all Moros practiced sharia and prohibited intermarriage of non-Muslim men with Muslim women and that MNLF was an Islamic movement. Samuel Kong Tan, who was a mixed Chinese-Moro mestizo himself, reprimanded Bentley for his errors, reminding him that Moros practiced folk Islam and sharia was not applied in Moro lands and that Moros allowed intermarriage of non-Muslim men with Muslim women, with his own grandparents being a non-Muslim Chinese trader, Kong Bu Wa who married a Moro Muslim woman Latia Jaham.[13] Samuel Kong Tan also said he had personal knowledge of MNLF leaders and that MNLF was not "purely Islamic" unlike what Bentley said.[14]

Samuel Kong Tan mentioned the use of "jihad", Marxist-Leninist program by the MNLF, Nur Misuari, the Sulu movement and the Corregidor Massacre in "The Filipino Muslim Armed Struggle, 1900-1972".[15]

  1. ^ a b c Aliman, Agnes (May 8, 2017). "Lesson from '70s Jolo: War and martial law won't solve the problem". Rappler. Archived from the original on September 23, 2017. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Lelyveld, Joseph (February 23, 1974). "Fight in Philippine Town Leaves Rubble and Death". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 6, 2019. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  3. ^ de Santos, Jonathan (August 26, 2018). "No moving on from Marcos-era massacres and abuse, Bangsamoro group says". The Philippine Star. Archived from the original on August 26, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  4. ^ a b "ARMM gov: Martial Law killings a 'painful part of our history as Moros'". The Philippine Star. September 24, 2018. Archived from the original on September 24, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  5. ^ Mercado, Fr. Jun, OMI (September 20, 2012). "Remembering Martial Law—a Mindanao perspective". The Philippine Star. Archived from the original on October 6, 2019. Retrieved October 6, 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Cal, Ben (September 11, 2013). "MNLF's first try to raise flag was 39 years ago". Manila Bulletin. Philippine News Agency. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  7. ^ Molly, Ivan (2001). Rolling Back Revolution: The Emergence of Low Intensity Conflict. Pluto Press. p. 216. ISBN 978-0745317069.
  8. ^ "Revisiting the February 7-8, 1974 Burning of Jolo". MNLF. Moro National Liberation Front. February 7, 2013.
  9. ^ "Philippine and Malaysian Colonialism: Afraid of Bangsamoro Freedom?". MNLF. Moro National Liberation Front. December 19, 2012.
  10. ^ Salomon, Elgin Glenn R. (2022). "The 1974 Battle of Jolo: testimonial narratives of survivors and intra-Tausug relations". Critical Asian Studies: 8. doi:10.1080/14672715.2022.2099438.
  11. ^ Arce, Wilfredo F. (1983). Before the Secessionist Storm: Muslim-Christian Politics in Jolo, Sulu, Philippines, 1961-62. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Singapore: ISEAS occasional paper. Vol. 73. Maruzen Asia. p. 27. ISBN 9789971954079. ISSN 0073-9731. ... Muslim ) and vice - mayor ( Segundo Canizares , Christian ) are chosen leaders . The councilors consist of four Christians ( Oswalda Cabel , Manuel Obsequio , Benjamin Gonzales , Pacifico Yanga ) , two Muslims ( Jayari Hawari , Hassan Hasiman ) , a Chinese by local category ( Lu Yong Beng ) and one individual whose group identification is not clear ( Tuchay Tan ) . All the councilors except the Chinese were chosen leaders . Among the barrio officials , three of the lieutenants
  12. ^ Salomon, Elgin Glenn R. (2022). "The 1974 Battle of Jolo: testimonial narratives of survivors and intra-Tausug relations". Critical Asian Studies: 8. doi:10.1080/14672715.2022.2099438.
  13. ^ Tan, Samuel Kong (1978). Mindanao Journal, Volume 5, Issue 1 - Volume 6, Issue 4. University Research Center, Mindanao State University. p. 107, 108. have contributed a lot! In a similar manner, Bentley's reference to my radical statements, which he took as proofs to belittle Christianity and Islam, is again suspect . He failed to note that I was talking of " the radi- cal of nationalism , " not nationalism per se . Bentley's comment that migration of non - Muslims should have been mentioned with reference to my statements on the population table ( 1903-1960 ) is not necessary since the title of the table embodies that and since the paragraph merely seeks to stress the pressure in the Muslim Provinces , not necessarily the Muslim pressure . Bentley is correct in pointing out the confusion because of the use of " Muslim po- pulation " instead of " population of Muslim Provinces . " But it should have been sufficient for a reader without colored glasses to see that the paragraph clearly meant pressure in a general sense . Bentley also pointed out , as a sort of strong argument , that my view of Muslim culture is rather reckless , that my suggestion to encou- rage intermarriage is contrary to Islamic law under which , according to him , " a Muslim man may marry a non - Muslim woman , but not the re- verse . " This suggests that Bentley has the impression that Islamic law is the law established through the Muslim communities in the Philippines . He failed to realize that what we have in the Philippines is " folk islamic . " Since he is an Anthropologist , this fact should have been easy for him to perceive . His statement applies , perhaps , to some countries of the Islamic world or to Maranao society where he does research at present and where indeed a Maranao woman is prohibited from contracting marriage outside her own culture . But it does not apply elsewhere, particularly in Sulu where intermarriages between Muslims and non-Muslims of both sexes have been going on for centuries. I would not have been born had my grandmother, Latia Jaham (a pure bred native), not married a Chinese trader. Or, the Schucks of Jolo, who have become a part of the Sulu leading elite, would not have risen to such a position if ...
  14. ^ Tan, Samuel Kong (1978). Mindanao Journal, Volume 5, Issue 1 - Volume 6, Issue 4. University Research Center, Mindanao State University. p. 108. misleading . He should have known that " Sulu Movement " may not exist in sources . It does not , however , necessarily follow that it did not exist or that a historian or writer cannot create a terminology for some- thing he is writing about . I cannot see his objection to something which abounds in books , articles , essays of all sorts , historical and non - histori- cal . American authors are very fond of creating new terminologies . In fact , the anthropologists are notorious for this ! Hence , when Bentley brought out the issue , does he mean that only Americans have the abso- lute right to initiate a term and all others just repeat them? My ideas on the MNLF are mine and do not have to be docu-mented. I had enough associations with those involved to be able to say something in print without depending on some secondary footnotes. My own personal knowledge of the movement being discussed provides me with a good basis for my opinion . If others do not agree with my view , it is natural . But I do not have to document something that I am an eyewitness to . This is recognized in historiography . Besides , if I can give credibility to a person who is an eyewitness , why can't I give myself the same ? But I can understand Bentley's objection that I did not say so in a footnote that I was a witness to the Sulu Movement . If this is what he meant , then he is correct . Moreover , to regard the MNLF as purely Islamic and secessionist , as Bentley did , is at best superficial and subversive . Finally , Bentley's observation that to emphasize ethnicity is divi- sive and , therefore , not integrative is rather questionable . On the con- trary , it is integrative , because the pluralistic approach along ethnic lines ultimately leads to the " base culture , " as I said earlier , which is the foundation of our Filipino heritage . Bentley may not agree with this , but he does not have the right to pontificate . Conversely , the introduction of Islam and Christianity , between which only about two centuries or so exist , precisely polarized the ethnic communities along religious lines which are divisive . In the ultimate analysis , Islam and Christianity are irreconciliable in doctrines and practice . Christians and Muslims are just practical not to admit it . Thus , national integration can best be achieved if the two opposing systems are not very much stressed ( not eradicated as Bentley intimates ) , but are subordinated to a secular orientation . This is the substance of my view on pluralism . Bentley may not believe this ( it does not disturb me ) 108 / MINDANAO JOURNAL / VOL . VI , NO . 1. ...
  15. ^ Mindanao Journal, Volume 5, Issue 1 - Volume 6, Issue 4. University Research Center, Mindanao State University. 1978. p. 144. mentation almost entirely. He refers to the "Corregidor Massacre," dif-ficult living conditions, ineffective and unimplemented reforms, indif-ference of Muslim leaders, the Sulu movement, Nur Misuari's "easy" assumption of leadership in this movement, a hidden Marxist-Leninist program for the MNLF, use of jihad for revolutionary activities, MNLF