The Raiders of Sulu Sea

The Fort Pilar in Zamboanga City of the year 1720 was attack by what we call
raiders, it is a noun used to call the seafaring Filipino Muslim. They are what we call
pirate or bandits who are an expert sailors and they were the masters of Sulu Sea. This
historical occurrence made a huge gap between Christian and Muslim that until now is
still not quite resolved yet. We can’t deny the fact that when Christians hears something
about Muslims some may react negatively. In the film called The Raiders of Sulu Sea,
they reenacted and consulted different historians about the happenings that occurred on
1720. The documentary was about how these raiders were actually plying their trade
during and after the Spaniard colonization of the Philippines. Its focus was in
Zamboanga City depicting how the Spaniards defended the city with the Fort Pilar as
their last defense for economics expansion in the South of the Philippines.
In the beginning of the film you could really tell that during those times slave
raiding was very evident and also legal. Slave raiding was used to retaliate when the
Spaniards wanted to control as well as to colonize and Christianize. In the film they
were described as brutal savages, can build impressive ships that was believed were
faster than the Spaniards galleons and deadly weapons that can cut off Spaniards
weapons. Zamboanga was colonized in the 16 th century and in order to protect within
their sovereignty, the Spanish colonists build forts to discourage invaders. At the front
line is what we call the Fort Del Pilar. The most celebrated attack in Fort Pilar was in
1720, it was led by Maguindanao King Dalasi, he planned the attack with the forces of
the Sulu Sultunate. It was hard to take down the fort as it was structured to withstand
even the destructive force of cannon balls. But even with the superior defenses and
weaponry, the Spaniards were outnumbered. Raid after raiders attacked the fort until
they finally reached the outer walls. The Spanish soldiers had to result to desperate
measures, throwing rocks and boiling water at the Dalasi’s men. The Spanish referred
to the slave raiders as Moro’s, but they were actually from three different tribes. The
Balangini tribe or Samal and the Illanuns was both longstanding seafaring communities
and would often join forces with the Tausug, a tribe known for its fierce warriors and
widespread political power. Some historians questions if these raiders were actually
pirates or just people who acted on behalf of their state. These Filipino Moro’s that
attacks Spanish forces were actually acts of retaliation against the foreign occupiers. It
can be depicted that the colonizers were trying to avoid the increase of Islam
community to the Christians and continue to spread Christianity. Butuan is