Introduction:

 The Bud Dajo Event is one of the historical events in

the Philippines being unknown to most of its people.
Despite the happenings in the Battle of Bud Dajo and
number of casualties involved it remained blurry in
the eyes of common people. Until the September 09,
2016 when Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte brought up the
topic during the meeting of ASEAN leaders in Laos.
Hence, this issue was used to show the United Nation
and United States what really is human-rights, due to
the continues intervention of the United States and
UN in the issue of Extra-judicial Killings that
degrades “human-rights” (based from ABS-CBN
 Continuation…
The Battle of Bud Dajo , also known as the Moro Crater
Massacre, was a counter insurgency action fought by the United
States Army against Moros. Moros are the muslim tribes who
have resisted the longest against authority, specially Christian
authority that threatens to change the way of life. Under the
supervision of their datus and sultans, they are the people who
refuse to be forced to change their faith and culture. The Spanish
were the first to fight them, unable to convert them and so began
constant war and insurrection. The Americans inherited the
conflict, especially as baptist missionaries aggressively pushed
their faith in the people of the Philippines. In this event many
suffers from slavery, and many people died just because they are
 Discussion

 During the peak of the U.S. pacification campaign for Moros to

follow their ideal governance, hundreds of Moros travelled 6
miles away from Jolo to reach Bud Dajo and became refugees.
Bud Dajo is one of the extinct volcano present in Jolo, Sulu’s
capital. With it’s enormous crater it provides an ideal hiding
place for almost 900 Tausugs, which consist mostly women and
children who neglected the idea of American’s to control and
rule their lives. The Tausugs uses the features of the volcano as a
way of protecting and securing their community with the
presence of steep slopes and thick forest. Thus, sites of bountiful
vegetation provides enough nutrients and food for hundreds of
families who lived in the crater.
 Bud Dajo Event as a Battle
 Moro Wars is a series of scattered campaigns involving American troops and Muslim bands on
Mindanao, Philippines. Their actions were unconnected with those of the Filipino
revolutionaries who conducted the Philippine-American War, it is that the Moro fought for their
religious beliefs rather than political reasons. At the point when power over the Philippines
went to the United States in 1898 after the Spanish-American War, the United States initiated a
policy intended to assimilate the Moro into the Philippine nation and to control some fuedal
practices such as slave trading…
 Likewise as stated by Llanes (2016) in his article in Inquirer. Net, Three columns of American
troops moved up Bud Dajo from different sides and encountered fierce resistance from
barricades blocking the approach to the crater. When overwhelmed with heavy
bombardment and sniper fire, the Moros “sallied forth into the open with kris and spear.”
 On the second day, in the approach taken by a certain Major Bundy, “200 Mohammedans
died here before the quick-firing guns and the rifles of the attackers.”
 In continuation, He writes: “A large band of Moros fortified Bud Dajo and defied the authorities
to subject them to any law. The American garrison at Jolo was reinforced by the addition of
two battalions of infantry and preparations were made for a decisive assault on the Moros...
 As supported by a statement given by Prof. Michael Charleston ‘Xiao’ Chua (2016) in an
Interview in ABS-CBN, “they are considered as civilian, but were forced to fight for their sake.
Some of them have the weaponry to fight which makes it look like stand at the cloud”.
 Bud Dajo Event as Massacre
 According to Robert Fulton in 2011 the Battle of Bud Dajo occurred March 5-8, 1906. It set the U.S.
Armed force. U.S. Naval force, and the Philippine Constabulary against 800-1,000 nonconformist
Muslims who had fortified the highest point of a tough, 2,175 feet high dormant volcano on the
island of Jolo in the southern Philippine Islands. Although it started as an genuine military challenge, it
finished as an awful and horrendous, one-sided massacre, without a small Muslims left alive...
 In connection, "Slaughter is a good word," American author Mark Twain wrote in 1906 to describe
the Bud Dajo massacre, after anti-imperialist media outfits in the U.S. published the anecdotes of the
successful, at least on the part of the colonial government in the archipelago, military operation...
 As stated by Llanes (2016), “After the engagement the crater was a shambles. Moros were piled
five deep in the trenches where they had been mowed down by the artillery and rifle fire. The
American attack had been supported by two quick-firing guns from the gunboat Pampanga and
examination of the dead showed that many of the Moros had as many as 50 wounds. Of the 1,000
Moros who opened the battle two days previously, only six men survived the carnage.”
 In continuation, Hurley’s judgment of the event is significant. He states: “By no stretch of the
imagination could Bud Dajo be termed a ‘battle.’ Certainly the engaging of 1,000 Moros armed
with krises, spears and a few rifles by a force of 800 Americans armed with every modern weapon
was not a matter for publicity. The American troops stormed a high mountain peak crowned by
fortifications to kill 1,000 Moros with a loss to themselves of 21 killed and 73 wounded! The casualty
reflects the unequal nature of the battle.
 Synthesis
 The Bud Dajo Event is typically a battle that leads to a massive killings of Moros. The
Moros based from the events doesn’t want to fight the American Colonizers. Their
act of moving towards the mountain doesn’t mean they are going to create a
rebellious act against the Americans but rather they are just bounded by their
religion and belief. All throughout their journey to Bud Dajo they only want peace
and independence for their people. As stated earlier they believe that paying the
cedula for the Americans only means that they are offering and accepting them as
the source of their sovereignty and not the gift of sovereignty offered by their God
Allah. On the other hand, the Americans misunderstood the concept of the Moros
and treat it as a act of disobedience and force them to attack the village in Bud
Dajo.
 This event can’t be blamed only on the American side only, the leaders of the tribes
which are the datus and sultan has their own mistake. Thus, their people think that
they are not good leaders and being paid by the American Colonizers. The act of
Moros is an act of defending themselves and their independence to live.
Americans use so much force just to prove that their own agenda of Pacification
was contradicted. Hence, leading their motion to a one sided battle and
massacre.
 Conclusion
Philippine History is a prestigious thing that the Filipino people have because it allows us
to gain valuable perspectives on the problems of our society. History imparts information on
what happened in the past that we need to learned the importance and significance of it
and used as inspiration in the future.
Massacre is an indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of people. The best known of the
American-Moro battles occurred in March 1906 at the top of Mount Dajo on the island of
Jolo was an example of a massacre. It was started with prodigious energy on both sides
during a day and half, American Arms ended with a complete victory while in the Moros
nothing was left alive. It was one of the bloodiest incidents in the History of the Philippines
wherein 900 Moro killed including children and women by the troops under General
Leonard Wood, fighting ceased thereafter. The massacre in the Bud Dajo put a greater
impact and significance on the Filipino Muslim.
The history of massacre in the Philippines was an unforgettable event because it gives
dramatic preview of past that happened in our country. History might not repeat itself in the
Philippines because Southeast Asia is home to most of the world’s Muslims.
The Bud Dajo Event doesn’t want us to focus to the notion whether it is a battle or a
massacre, but rather it opens a greater challenge to the future generation. It opens the
idea of having equal human rights to every being in this world; rights to live what they
believe and rights to have their own independence.