By the year 1750, the dissension among the Moros has reached an acute and dangerous stage. Alimud Din I, the reigning Sultan, was a weakling, and that was a thing not to be tolerated among the Moros. The signing of the abortive treaty with Spain in 1737 has aligned many malcontents against him and the powerful Sultanate was disrupted by internal plottings.

Bantilan, the brother of Alimud Din I, planned the assassination of the Sultan and the seizure of power. He was supported by a majority of the iron-souled Moros who opposed bitterly any compromise with the detested Spaniards.

Details of the plot becoming known to Alimud din, he fled to Zamboanga where he asked aid from Governor Abando, the Spanish commander. Abando, seeing a chance to eliminate Bantilan and restore the weakling Alimud Din to the throne, sent a powerful armada to Jolo and the Moro capital fell again into Spanish hands. Alimud Din proceeded to Manila for an audience with the Spanish Governor-General.

In Manila, Alimud Din was received with great pomp. The Governor-General showered him with presents, and he was received as honor guest at solemn enclaves of the Catholic Church, in an effort to persuade him to accept the Christian religion. After several months of persuasion, the indecisive Sultan yielded and announced his intention to accept baptism.

The Spanish in Manila were crazed with joy. They saw in this act an end to the fighting in Sulu. With solemn ceremony, Alimud Din received baptism, assuming the title of Ferdinand II of Sulu. Attendant to the ceremonies, he was invested with the rank of Lieutenant-General in the Spanish army.

Great fiestas followed. At length it was decided to return the new ruler to Sulu to replace the usurper Bantilan. The "Catholic" Sultan sailed on the Spanish frigate ship San Fernando and after an unfortunate trip attended by shipwreck, he arrived in Zamboanga on July 12, 1751.

Before leaving Manila, Alimud Din (or Ferdinand), at the insistence of the Governor-General, wrote a letter to the Sultan of Mindanao, who at the time was Muhamed Amirubdin. The original was in Arabic script with a translation in Spanish.

When these documents reached Zamboanga, they were translated for the Governor. Alimud Din had written:

"I shall be glad to know that the Sultan Muhamed Amirubdin and all his chiefs, male and female, are well. I do not write a lengthy letter, as I intended, because I simply wish to give you to understand, in case the Sultan or his chiefs or others should be aggrieved at my writing this letter in this manner., that I do so under pressure, being under foreign domination, and I am compelled to obey whatever they tell me to do, and I have to say what they tell me to say. Thus the Governor has ordered me to write to you in our style and language; therefore do not understand that I am writing you on my own behalf, but because I am ordered to do so, and I have nothing more to add. Written in the year 1166¹ on the ninth day of the Rabilajer Moon, Ferdinand I, King of Sulu, who seals it with his own seal. "²

The translation of this letter was accompanied by great excitement in Zamboanga. The note was pronounced treasonable and Alimud Din I was arrested and thrown into prison.

Included in the retinue of the Sultan were his four small sons, his brother Prince Asin, his sister Princess Panguian, four daughters, seven Mohammedan priests, numerous Datus, one hundred sixty retainers and thirty female concubines. All were confined within the damp recesses of Fort Pilar. A Spanish Lieutenant hurried to Manila to advise the Governor-General of the facts.

The Spanish mills began to grind and a decree of the Governor-General set forth the following accusations against the captives:

1. That the Prince Asin had not surrendered Christian captives held in Sulu.
2. That while the Sultan was in manila new captives had been made by the powers usurping his throne in Jolo.
3. That the letter to the Sultan of Mindanao insinuated asking for help against Spain.
4. That Mohammedan but no Christian books were found in the Sultan's luggage.
5. That the Sultan had only attended Mass twice.
6. That the Sultan had cohabited with his female concubines.
7. That during the journey to Zamboanga, he had refused to pray in Christian manner, and had sacrificed a goat with Mohammedan rites.

An impartial reading of history makes it appear that the Spaniards deliberately falsified charges against Alimud Din with the intention of holding him in captivity. He was detained in Zamboanga for more than a fortnight for no apparent reason before the charges of the falsified letter were brought against him. For the imprisonment of the Sultan's retinue, there was no justification, as the female concubines and small children of the Sultan were not implicated in any crime against Spain.

The Sultan and his followers were transferred to the fortress of Santiago in Manila, where the proud Prince Asin soon died of grief. The Spaniards now displayed their reasons for detaining the personnel of the Sultan's retinue. The Governor-General proposed to Alimud Din that the liberty of each noble be secured by remitting to Manila of 500 captives for each Datu released. Prince Asin, who died while the negotiations were in process, was held with seven Mohammedan priests to be exchanged for all of the remaining captives held by the Moros in Sulu.

As Alimud Din was himself a captive, with his throne in the hands of a usurper, it was obviously impossible for him to accede to these demands, and the party languished in captivity in Manila.

In 1753 Alimud din requested the Spanish Governor-General to allow his daughter, Princess Faatima, to proceed to Jolo to attend to personal affairs of the Sultan. This was granted on the condition that the Princess forward at once from Jolo fifty captives, or have her father reduced to the grade of a common prisoner and placed at an oar in the galleys. To this condition Princess Faatima agreed and upon her arrival in Jolo she forwarded fifty captives and one more --- a Spaniard named Jose de Montesisos.

Upon the return of the Princess to Manila she brought with her an emissary from the Sultan Bantilan, who after consulting with Alimud Din, signed a treaty with Spain which provided:

1. An offensive and defensive alliance.
2. All captives within the kingdom of Sulu to be released within a period of one year.
3. All objects looted from churches to be returned within one year.
4. On the fulfillment of these, conditions, the Sultan and his party to be set free.

The treaty was obviously an impotent gesture, as, with Alimud Din a captive in Manila, he had no authority to see that the provisions were carried out and furthermore, he was not the actual ruler of Sulu. In view of the perfidy displayed by the Spaniards, the subsequent action of Bantilan, on the throne of Sulu, is excusable.

Bantilan ignored the treaty and hell was let loose in Jolo. The krismen were ordered by Bantilan to harry the coasts of all of the islands held by Spain. Pirate raids assumed proportions never before witnessed. From the strongholds on Balnguingue and Tonquil, pirate fleets went forth for systematic plundering raids.

In 1754 the pirates infested all of the waters of the Philippine Archipelago. They besieged Fort Iligan and did not withdraw until a powerful Spanish fleet came from Cavite. Moros attacked Tagoloan, Imponana, Surigao and Butuan and killed or enslaved most of the inhabitants. Raids were carried into the very heart of the Spanish territory. Hastily the Sultan Alimud Din was released from the prison of Santiago and carried again before the Governor-General. There he was given orders that the raids must stop. Unable, however, to prevent the expeditions of the maddened Moros, the unfortunate Sultan was returned to the confines of his cell in Manila.

The next year the most terrible raid of all took place. In retaliation, a large Spanish expedition was sent to Jolo, but the routed Spaniards returned to Manila without accomplishing the reduction of the Moro capital.

This expedition, consisting of 1,900 men and several ships, anchored off the town of Jolo and displayed red and white flags, giving the Moros a choice of peace or war. When the Moros approached under a white flag to ask news of the imprisoned Sultan Alimud din, they were treacherously fired upon by the Spanish fleet. No good resulted form this bombardment, for the Moros attacked so viciously that the expedition withdrew after sustaining a considerable loss.

In order to save face, the Spanish commander, one Valdez, sailed on south to the island of Tawi-Tawi to make an assault. A captain was sent ashore with a landing party, which was attacked by the Moros and slain to a man. Returning to Zamboanga, Valdez resigned his command.

Pedro Gastombide then took over the direction of the Spanish operations, and after fruitlessly attacking the Kingdom of Basilan he also withdrew, with great loss, to Zamboanga.

During all of the year 1754 the Spaniards waged a series of bloody wars against the Moros, using the fortress at Zamboanga as a base. Extremely cruel measures were employed in an attempt to bring the Moros to submission. The year was a blank failure for the Spanish arms and irate Moros organized a guerilla warfare by land and sea to which Spain responded but feebly. Spanish priests were made an object special search by the Moros and many were captured or slain.

In 1754 the Maestro de Campo³ of Zamboanga seized a Chinese junk bearing goods to the Sultan of Mindanao. After a long delay the ship was finally released, but the Maestro de Campo appropriated certain of the Sultan's goods for his own use. So enraged was the Sultan of Mindanao that he declared a jihad upon the Spaniards, hunting down the Spanish priests for ransom.

The militant Jesuit priest, Father Jose Ducos, headed an expedition to the island of Jolo in 1754 and accomplished the only success for the year. This valiant Father, laying aside his rosary for the moment, captured 150 pirate ships and laid waste three cities of Sulu.

Through all this bitter conflict, the unfortunate Alimud din remained a captive in manila. In 1755 he was placed on a Spanish retaining fee of $50 per month against the day when his services would be useful.

It was not until 1763 that Alimud Din was restored to the throne of Sulu by the British who captured Manila. When peace was signed between Spain and England, the British forces evacuated the city, taking Alimud Din with them.

Twelve years of captivity at the hands of the Spaniards had so embittered Alimud Din that one of his first acts as Sultan was to proclaim a Holy War against the Spaniards. If he had been weak at the time of his imprisonment by the Spaniards, the years of adversity had strengthened him, for he plunged into warfare in a manner that delighted the hearts of his followers, and the hated Catholic religion fell from him like a disused cloak.

In the capture by treachery of the Moro ruler, Spain had made use of one of their favorite methods of subduing a savage antagonist. Pizarro used the method in Peru and Cortez was very successful with the same perfidy in Mexico. The imprisonment of Alimud Din bears a striking resemblance to the treatment meted out to Montezuma. Both came to the Spaniards with good intentions; both were basely used.

The failure of this subterfuge in the Philippines can only be accounted for only by the differences in character between the Aztecs and the Moros. The Moros were not a simple people to be easily duped by Spanish duplicity, for they were as well versed in treachery as were the conquistadores.

The Moro ruler was not a god, reverenced by the people, whatever his shortcomings. A Moro Sultan held his position through strength of character and by virtue of a strong right arm. There was no place for a weakling on the throne of the Sultanate of Sulu.

Filipiniana Reprint Series © 1985 Cacho Hermanos, Inc.

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