A Story of Mindanao and Sulu

in Question and Answer

Mary Glydel P. Florin

Which portions of Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan are traditionally

considered the ancestral homeland of the Islamized people, and the

Lumads?

Ancestral Homeland

Ancestral domain or ancestral lands refers to the lands, territories and

resources traditionally occupied by a tribe or community of people that is bound by ties of common interests.

This does not only refer to the land itself but also including the rivers,

mountains, forests, airspace above and all natural wealth contained therein.

Nature of Occupancy

“Prior and uninterrupted occupancy”

It means that the tribe or community that lives and uses a certain

land premises which has no owner will not be questioned for staying.

INDIGENOUS CHRISTIANS

nine provinces and four cities

ISLAMIZED PEOPLEfifteen

provinces and seven cities

LUMADseventeen

provinces and fourteen cities

1596-1896

Which portions are generally considered to be the traditional territorial jurisdiction of the Sulu

Sultanate?

Southern Palawan

Basilan

Sulu Archipela

go North Borneo

(present Sabah)

Samboangan

Tawi-Tawi

Sulu Sultinate 1450 A.D

Which portion belonged to the traditional territorial jurisdiction of

the Maguindanao Sultanate?

1978- Sulu signed the treaty with reduced the sultanate to the

status of a Spanish protectorate.

- To modern political scientists, both the Sulu, and Maguindanao

Sultanates lost their de jure status but seemed to have retained their

de facto status.

Treaty of Paris, 1898

- Spain ceded the entire archipelago including the

sultanates of Maguindanao and Sulu.

 

Which portions are generally regarded as the ancestral land

of the Lumad peoples of Mindanao and Sulu?

Determining the exact boundaries of Lumad tribal territories at present has

become extremely difficult because:

 

Censuses1903- does not have comparative figures at the municipal level of Muslims, Lumads, and Christian

populations.1948- unavailable in most libraries

in Manila

1960- “Pagan” was eliminated as one of the classifications which is nearest to determining the Lumad

population

1975,1980, 1990- no longer have any classification that will lead us to most accurate figures on the indigenous cultural communities.