The Tausug Moros lived in the Sulu archipelago, which was traditionally ruled by the Sulu Sultanate. The Maguindanaon Moros lived on Mindanao, which was traditionally ruled by the Maguindanao Sultanate. The Maranao Moros lived around Lake Lanao, which was traditionally ruled by the Confederation of Sultanates in Lanao (Pat a Pangampong a Ranao). They were invaded by the Americans during the Moro Rebellion and annexed into the Philippines. Among the anti-Japanese resistance the Tausug leader was Sulu Sultan Jainal Abirin II [1] and the Chinese-Maguindanaon leader Datu Gumbay Pia. A few of the Maranao leaders were Datu Busran Kalaw, Salipada Pendatun, Sultan Alonto, and Sultan Dimaporo. Salipada Pendatun's brother-in-law, Major Datu Udtug, also fought against the Japanese, and in Cotabato, the focal area of the anti-Japanese resistance was Papalungan. [2]
The Moro juramentados performed suicide attacks against Japanese troops, [3] as they had against the Spanish & Americans. An American prisoner-of-war, Herbert Zincke, recalled in his secret diary that the Japanese guarding him and other prisoners were scared of the Moro warriors and tried to keep as far away from them as possible to avoid getting attacked. [4] US First Lieutenant Mel Amler recalled that some of the Moros would sometimes attack and stab Japanese, Filipino, and Americans and fight all of them at once. [5] [6] [7] Neither the Moros nor the Japanese respected the Geneva Convention in regards to not attacking medics, the Moros out of ignorance and the Japanese since they had not signed the treaty. [8] US General Robert L. Eichelberger saw a Japanese soldier who was captured by the Moros and feared being tortured at their hands, and he wanted Eichelberger to kill him to stop that from happening. [9] A US prisoner-of-war, Victor L. Mapes, saw Japanese troops getting ambushed and slaughtered by Moro fighters with kris blades. [10] [11] The Moros are skilled at the sucker punch, and some Moros deliberately grabbed their own shoulder on Japanese bayonets to make it stay in place while they killed a Japanese soldier by using a bayonet or bolo with their other hand. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]
Bladed weapons like the spear, tabar, campilan, barong, and kris were used by the Moro Lanao against the Japanese, according to Sa Ramain, to compensate for their lack of guns. [18] [19]
Anti-Japanese Moro units like the Maranao Militia were led by Salipada Pendatun. [3] Another anti-Japanese Moro unit, the Moro-Bolo Battalion was led by Datu Gumbay Piang and had about 20,000 men. [20] [21] [22] Gumbay Piang's Cotabato Moros used Bolo knives to fight the Japanese, [23] [24] [25] and swore that they would "fight to the last". [26] [27] An oath was sworn by Alonto, the Sultan of Ramain, and 10,000 other Moros in Lanao that they would fight to drive the Japanese out, and they sent a message that said, "We have prepared our bladed weapons because we lack firearms, and with sharp kris, barong, campilan, tabas and spear we will attack or defend as ordered." [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] "and no mercy asked." [34] Alonto said that "all fighting men of Lanao would like to sign their names, but they are too many." [35] They promised to fight to the death against the Japanese and "swore upon the Koran". [36] The Japanese demanded all natives in the Philippines to hand over anything that was a weapon or could be used as one, including Bolo knives. The order may have been because of the Moro pledge to fight the Japanese since the Moros were skilled with bladed weapons. [37] [38] [39] US Captain Edward Kraus recommended Moro fighters for a suggested plan to capture an airbase in Lake Lanao for eventually driving the Japanese occupiers from the Philippines. [40]
The Moro Datu Pino sliced the ears of Japanese and cashed them in with the US guerilla leader Colonel Wendell Fertig at the exchange rate of a pair of ears for one bullet and 20 centavos. [41] [42] [43]
The Moro Maranao Datu Busran Kalaw was xenophobic toward all foreigners, [44] and "fought both the Americans and the Japanese." [45] Japanese Major Hiramatsu, a propaganda officer, tried to convince Kalaw that Japan was bombing the American mainland. [46] The Japanese tried to convince Kalaw to join their side as "brother Orientals." [47] Kalaw sent a response, which goaded Major Hiramatsu into sending a force of Japanese soldiers to attack him. Kalaw butchered it completely with no survivors. [48] [49] Kalaw's response also said, "Our ambushes will at least teach you respect for the Moros." [50] Amer Manalao Mindalano, Datu Busran Kalaw, and Sultan Mohamad Ali Dimaporo were all Maranao Moro Muslim guerilla leaders who fought against the Japanese. [51] Mohamad AH Dimaporo, Domocao Alonto, and Busran Kalaw commanded the largest resistance forces in the region. [52] As a famous guerilla leader whose assaults were a "thorn in the side of the Japanese," Kalaw's anti-Japanese speech in Tamparan, which galvanized the people there in the struggle. [53] Kalaw objected to the decision to surrender to the Japanese by US General Guy O. Fort, the commander of the USAFFE forces in Lanao in 1942. [54] After the USAFFE had surrendered, Kalaw and other Maranao Moro leaders like Naguib Juanday, Manalao Mindalano and others organized their own resistance movements to fight the Japanese. [55] Kalaw claimed that after the USAFFE surrender to the Japanese, General Guy Fort had let the Maranaos claim the USAFFE rifles. [56] In the anti-Japanese resistance, the "strong leaders" had Kalaw among their number. [57]
The Maranao Moros fought the Japanese 108th Division almost every week from 1943 to October 1944 in Lanao (southern Mindanao), and 130 Japanese troops were slaughtered at towns around Lake Lanao on September 12, 1942. That led the Japanese to avoid the area, which freed Manalao Mindalano and Busran Kalaw's Maranao forces to fight the Japanese in the coastal northern region. [58]
The Cotabato and Lanao based anti-Japanese Maranao Muslim guerilla leaders included "Manalao Mindalano, Busran Kalaw of Momungan, Datu Laguindas of Ganasi, Joseph Sanguilla of Mumay and Madalum and Datu Buntalis of Masiu." [59] Busran Kalaw had berny a teacher before the war and he became a major in the MMF anti-Japanese guerilla force. [60] Kalaw had also been the town of Momungan's municipal treasurer. [61] The resistance leader Kalaw's wife was a Christian Visayan, and he was a Muslim Maranao. [62] The Pangampong also provided other Datus and Sultans, who commanded along with Busran Kalaw's resistance forces. [63] [64] [65]
Japanese Captain Taka Ichi was goaded by the Moro Datu Lacub and Datu Dimalaung of Basak into attacking them, and the Datus slaughtered all of the 125 Japanese soldiers. [66]
Davao, in Mindanao, had a large population of Japanese immigrants who acted as a fifth column by welcoming the Japanese invaders during the war. The Japanese were hated by the Moros and disliked by the Chinese. [67] [68] The Moros were judged as "fully capable of dealing with Japanese fifth columnists and invaders alike." [69] The Moros were to fight the Japanese invaders when they landed at Davao on Mindanao. [70] [71] [72] [73] [74] [75] The Japanese went back to their ships at night to sleep since the Moros struck so much fear into them even though the Moro were outnumbered by the Japanese. [76] [77] [78] [79] [80] [81] [82]
It was reported that most of Mindanao was dominated by Moro, Filipino, and American guerilla forces during the Japanese occupation. [83] The Moros had cleared the Japanese from the Muslim areas of Mindanao six months before the Americans returned to liberate the Philippines at the Battle of Leyte. [84] [85] The Moros then joined in on the battle to liberate the rest of Mindanao from the Japanese in 1945. [86] [87] [88] The Moro Muslims had nearly exterminated the occupying Japanese soldiers in Sulu before the Americans returned, and the Japanese were constantly attacked by Muslim guerillas. [89]
Nur Misuari's Moro National Liberation Front faction stated that the Japanese "exhibited tyranny, cruelty and inhumanity at its lowest level" and "had to suffer their worst defeat and highest death mortality at the hands of the Bangsamoro freedom fighters." [90] It wrote that compared to the Japanese casualty rate in the Visayas and Luzon, the number of Japanese imperialists slaughtered by the Moro freedom fighters was greater by the thousands and that there was no capitulation like the fall of Bataan to the Japanese by the Moros although the Luzon Filipinos has surrendered. [91] The MNLF said that the Japanese, American, and Spanish cruelty has been continued by Filipino rule. [92]
A Muslim cleric from the Sulu in the Philippines, Imam Marajukim, helped supply Chinese and Suluk Muslim guerillas under Albert Kwok on British Borneo who were fighting the Japanese. [93] [94] [95] [96] [97] Suluks were described as "strongly disposed to be anti-Japanese." [98] [99] Imam Marajukim helped the Chinese secure the indigenous participation in the uprising by Panglima Ali's Suluks, the Mantanni and Danawan (Dinawan) Islands Binadan inhabitants, and Oudar Islanders under Orang Tuah Arshad. [100]
The Imperial Japanese Navy medic Akira Makino revealed that while he was stationed on Mindanao, at Zamboanga, from December 1944 to February 1945, he and other Japanese troops in Unit 731 had killed Moro Muslim prisoners by beheading or performed vivisections on them by cutting them open while they were alive to study their internal organs, [101] and the Japanese had also forced the Moros to dig their own graves. [102] [103] [104]
Some of the weapons that were used by the Moros against the Japanese were reused by the Moro insurgency in the Philippines. [105]
Lanao del Sur, officially the Province of Lanao del Sur, is a province in the Philippines located in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). The capital is the city of Marawi, and it borders Lanao del Norte to the north, Bukidnon to the east, and Maguindanao del Norte and Cotabato to the south. To the southwest lies Illana Bay, an arm of the Moro Gulf.
The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was an autonomous region of the Philippines, located in the Mindanao island group of the Philippines, that consisted of five predominantly Muslim provinces: Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi. It was the only region that had its own government. The region's de facto seat of government was Cotabato City, although this self-governing city was outside its jurisdiction.
The Moro Rebellion (1902–1913) was an armed conflict between the Moro people and the United States military during the Philippine–American War. The rebellion occurred after the conclusion of the conflict between the United States and First Philippine Republic, and saw the US move to impose its authority over the Muslim states in Mindanao, Jolo and the neighboring Sulu Archipelago.
The Tausūg, are an ethnic group of the Philippines and Malaysia. A small population can also be found in the northern part of North Kalimantan, Indonesia. The Tausūg are part of the wider political identity of Muslim Filipinos of western Mindanao, the Sulu archipelago, and southern Palawan, collectively referred to as the Moro people. The Tausugs originally had an independent state known as the Sultanate of Sulu, which once exercised sovereignty over the present day provinces of Basilan, Palawan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga City, eastern part of Sabah and eastern part of North Kalimantan. They are also known in the Malay language as Suluk.
The Maranao people, also spelled Meranao, Maranaw, and Mëranaw, is a predominantly Muslim Filipino ethnic group native to the region around Lanao Lake in the island of Mindanao. They are known for their artwork, weaving, wood, plastic and metal crafts and epic literature, the Darangen. They are ethnically and culturally closely related to the Iranun, and Maguindanaon, all three groups being denoted as speaking Danao languages and giving name to the island of Mindanao. They are grouped with other Moro people due to their shared religion.
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The Moro people or Bangsamoro people are the 13 Muslim-majority ethnolinguistic Austronesian groups of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan, native to the region known as the Bangsamoro. As Muslim-majority ethnic groups, they form the largest non-Christian population in the Philippines, and comprise about 5% of the country's total population, or 5 million people.
The Iranun are an Austronesian ethnic group native to southwestern Mindanao, Philippines. They are ethnically and culturally closely related to the Maranao, and Maguindanaon, all three groups being denoted as speaking Danao languages and giving name to the island of Mindanao. The Iranun were traditionally sailors and were renowned for their ship-building skills. Iranun communities can also be found in Malaysia and Philippines.
The Maguindanaon people are an Austronesian ethnic group from the Philippines. The Maguindanaon are part of wider political identity of Muslims known as Moro, who constitute the third largest ethnic group of Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan. The Maguindanaons constitute the ninth largest Filipino ethnic group and are known for being distinguished in the realm of visual art. They have been renowned as metalworkers, producing the wavy-bladed keris ceremonial swords and other weapons, as well as gongs. The Maguindanaons historically had an independent sultanate known as the Sultanate of Maguindanao which comprises modern day Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Zamboanga Peninsula, Davao Region and Soccsksargen. The name "Maguindanao/Magindanaw" itself was corrupted by Spanish sources into "Mindanao", which became the name for the entire island of Mindanao.
Haroun al-Rashid Lucman was a Filipino legislator, journalist, World War II guerilla hero, and an early proponent of Moro independence or autonomy.
During the Japanese occupation of the islands in World War II, there was an extensive Philippine resistance movement, which opposed the Japanese and their collaborators with active underground and guerrilla activity that increased over the years. Fighting the guerrillas – apart from the Japanese regular forces – were a Japanese-formed Bureau of Constabulary, the Kenpeitai, and the Makapili. Postwar studies estimate that around 260,000 people were organized under guerrilla groups and that members of anti-Japanese underground organizations were more numerous. Such was their effectiveness that by the end of World War II, Japan controlled only twelve of the forty-eight provinces.
Bangsamoro, officially the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, is an autonomous region in the Philippines, located in the southwestern portion of the island of Mindanao.
Saidamen Balt Pangarungan is a Filipino businessman, lawyer and politician who previously served as the ad interim Chairman of the Commission on Elections from March–June 2022. He previously served as the secretary of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos in the Duterte administration, and was the governor of Lanao del Sur from 1988 to 1992.
The Battle of Bayang was the first major engagement of the Moro Rebellion. It was a punitive expedition led by Colonel Frank D. Baldwin in retaliation for murders committed by Moros in Malabang and Parang on the island of Mindanao. Col. Baldwin led seven companies of the 27th Infantry and the 25th Battery Light Artillery against the Moros on the south shore of Lake Lanao, the village of Bayang in particular. The Americans took Fort Pandapatan and the fort of Datu of Binadayan, killing the Sultan of Bayang in the process.
Datu Abul Khayr Dangcal Alonto was a Filipino businessman and politician. He was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte in September 2016 as the chairperson of the Mindanao Development Authority, serving as its first Muslim chair until his death in May 2019.
The 81st Infantry Division was a reserve division of the Philippine Army under the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE). It was established in the prewar period and fought 1941–1942. Its troops are from Cebu, Bohol, and Leyte but most of its troops are Americans and junior officers are Filipinos coming mostly from Luzon. The division served in defense of Mindanao but it never commanded the 4 of its maneuver regiments but was supplemented with 61st Infantry from Panay and 73rd Infantry from Negros. Also, 2nd Regular Regiment was transferred to its command in the early part of Japanese invasion of Mindanao.
Guy O. Fort was a brigadier general in the Philippine Army under the control of the United States Army Forces in the Far East. Fort led the 81st Division (Philippines) during the initial Battle of the Philippines and the Japanese invasion of Malabang. After fighting a last-ditch stand, Fort was ordered by his higher command to surrender and be taken prisoner by Japanese forces. His captors demanded Fort help persuade his former soldiers engaged in guerrilla warfare to stop resisting the occupation. Fort refused and was executed by firing squad. Fort is the only American-born general officer to be executed by enemy forces.
Basher Dimalaang Manalao or known to be Mostaqbal, a Maranao people, Islamic preacher and was elected vice-governor then succeeded by law the governor of Lanao del Sur in the Philippines following the death of former governor Mamintal Adiong Sr. in 2004. He took his Islamic degree at King Saud University.
Ahmad Domocao "Domie" Alangadi Alonto Sr. was a Filipino Muslim lawyer, educator, author, traditional leader, and Islamic figure from Lanao del Sur.
Princess Tarhata Alonto-Lucman was a Filipino politician and Maranao royalty who was the first female governor of the province of Lanao del Sur.