The strong resistance against the American invaders occurred not only in Jolo Island but was also felt in the other domain of the Moro natives in mainland Mindanao. The 'Battle of Bayan in Lanao' on May 1902 registered to be one of the most significant Bangsamoro armed struggles against American colonialism. This was followed by the series of fierce battles in Taraca in 1904, Sisiman in 1921, Tugaya and Garassi in 1923 up to 1935 until 1941. The American-Moro hostilities were characterized by the 'cota wars' around Lake Lanao when the first creeping shade of Philippine colonialism took shape in the American-installed Philippine Commonwealth regime under the anti-Muslim President Manuel L. Quezon.
In other areas of Mindanao, particularly Cotabato and Palawan, the Moro natives led by Datu Ali, Datu Santiago, Acbara and Imam Mahdi also fought the American invaders. Similar to the Spanish invaders before them, the American colonizers also utilized Filipino colonial slaves as foot soldiers in their ugly war of depredations in Mindanao. Unable to subdue the More freedom fighters with the sham 'benevolent assimilation' policy and various 'carrot and stick' colonial stratagem, the American invaders conducted the worst genocide war during their colonial conquest campaigns against the Muslim and other indigenous natives of Mindanao. The American war of extermination in Moroland was characterized by repeated massacres of both Moro combatants and non-combatants, including the aged, women and children.
Amongst the worst genocidal war of extermination against the Moro natives perpetrated by the American occupation soldiers in Jolo island was in the 'battle of Bud Dajo' on March, 1906 and the 'Battle of Bud Bagsak' on June 11-15, 1913. Both encounters were literally a massacre of the heinous kind.
The ugliness of the 'battle of Bud Dajo' even led the famous American writer, Mark Twain, to consciously protest in 1910. This was to immortalize the cruelty, savagery and barbarism of American colonial conquest in Moroland. He wrote the following few lines obituary:
"Mark Twain, A Pen Warmed-up in Hell, Mark Twain in Protest 97 (1910)"
"A tribe of Moros, dark skinned savages, had fortified themselves in the bowl of an extinct crater not many miles from Jolo; and as they were hostile, and bitter against us because we have been trying for eight years to take their liberties away from them...General Wood's order had been to 'kill or capture those savages'...The enemy numbered six hundred - including women and children - and we abolished them utterly, leaving not even a baby alive to cry for his dead mother."
Thus, to this very day, the short chronicle of the other historically known 'battle in the clouds' highlighted in "Mark Twain, Grief and Mourning for the Night", hence, is always commemorated by the Bangsamoro students, researchers and professionals in universities and colleges as one of Tausugs' darkest days under American colonialism.
In the 'Battle of Bud Bagsak' on June 11-15, which lasted for five days, more than 2,000 Moro freedom fighters died that included helpless women and children.
The American-Moro war event in Jolo island is clearly described in the book, "THE BANGSAMORO PERSPECTIVE: Search For A Peaceful Mindanao", authored by Ibrahim S. Omar, who wrote:
"The Mount Bagsak battle was literally a 'massacre.' Arrayed against the gruesome U.S. military terror machine, more than 2,000 Moro resistant fighters and civilian family members died, including 196 women and 360 children"
"The 5-day 'battle' was personally led by U.S. Brig. Gen. John 'Black Jack' J. Pershing of the 8th Infantry and Philippine Scouts against Moro freedom fighters armed mostly with kris, barung, budjak (spear) and few guns. In many other battles in Moroland, the courageous free-loving Moro fighters were proven to be unstoppable by the 0.38 caliber pistol and other rifles which led the American colonizers to invent the more powerful 0.45 caliber pistol."
In short, the colonial American war of conquest against the Bangsamoro people of Mindanao never did contribute success to the U.S. government to cage the Muslim and Lumad natives into settlements befallen the sovereign aboriginal Indian natives of North America.
Unlike the original Spanish-born Christian Filipinos and the Christianized Indios-converted-Filipinos, who wholeheartedly embraced a mixture of Hispanic-American culture and attitude, the Moros maintained the preservation of their rich and colourful culture because of their deep affiliation to the universal community of Islam (Dar al-Islam). This perhaps is one basic reason why the Christian-conscious American leadership decided in designing Moroland to be colonized in turn by the Christian Catholic Filipinos.
Thus, no matter how hard the American colonizers tried to change the Moros' way of life to conform to the outlandish western outlook and attitude, they never succeeded. The Bangsamoro people to the very end of American colonialism refused to become subservient colonial slaves of Filipino stooges, registering both both formal and violent protest.
For more than forty years, the Bangsamoro masses tied down the combined American and hired Filipino invaders in a protracted and bloody war in Mindanao. Thus, amongst the Moro freedom fighters deserving distinct honour in the history of the Bangsamoro people's resistance to American invasion are the likes of Datu Ampuan Aguas of Lanao, Datu Ali of Cotabato and Panglima Hassan of Sulu.
eportations of Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians
