FPRRD ICC "kidnapping" detention marks 110 years of unfulfilled U.S. promise

The 11th day of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s “kidnapping” and detention at the ICC “Hilton prison” to face trial for alleged crimes against humanity also marks 115 years of the United States’ unfulfilled promise under the Carpenter-Kiram Treaty. That treaty declared Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan under U.S. protectorate status, the Mindanao Sulu Unification Movement (MSUM) declared on Saturday.

Abrajahan Idjirani, MSUM co-convenor, told the DAILY TRIBUNE that it is ironic that after 110 years, the U.S.—now under the administration of President Donald Trump—has yet to fulfill its “sacred duty” to protect the people of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan.

The treaty provided that:

• The U.S. government recognized the authority of the Sultan of Sulu, particularly his ecclesiastical power;

• It agreed and committed to place the Sultanate of Sulu under its protectorate and flag;

• It promised to provide the Sultan with full protection should any dispute over North Borneo arise; and

• It declared that the termination of the Sultanate’s temporal sovereignty over certain territories did not end its sovereignty over other areas outside U.S. jurisdiction.

The Carpenter-Kiram Agreement was signed on 22 March 1915.

Idjirani said the core issue today is whether the U.S. government's incorporation of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan into the Philippine Commonwealth in 1935 was legal, as it was done without formally abrogating the 1915 Carpenter-Kiram Agreement through a U.S. Congressional Act.

In the introductory statement of the 1915 Carpenter-Kiram Agreement, the U.S. acknowledged that the Sultanate of Sulu had been an independent sovereignty for over 400 years before American occupation.

Earlier, proponents of the Movement for the Independence of Mindanao (MIM) said they plan to appeal to the U.S. Congress to restore Mindanao and Sulu’s status as a U.S. protectorate as provided for under the Carpenter-Kiram Treaty.

“Mindanao was never part of the territory ceded by Spain to the U.S., and the 1898 Treaty of Paris did not bind the Sultanate of Sulu or other Mindanao sultanates and indigenous peoples,” Idjirani said.

The group argues that Spain’s claims over the Sultanate of Sulu were based merely on treaties of friendship and commerce—not on actual sovereign control, as Spain never established even a de facto government in Mindanao and Sulu.

Because of this, the U.S. was compelled to negotiate peace with the Sultan of Sulu. In August 1899, after General Bates and U.S. forces landed in Jolo and saw that the Spaniards controlled only a small walled settlement, an agreement was made recognizing the continued sovereignty of the Sultanate.

This led to the signing of the Bates-Kiram Treaty on 20 August 1899.

However, the treaty was abrogated in 1904 when U.S. authorities saw it as an obstacle to implementing the full sovereignty they claimed under the 20 December 1898 Treaty of Paris.

“In fact, Spain continued to claim de facto control over Sibutu and Cagayan de Sulu (now Mapun municipality) even after the Treaty of Paris. This only ended when the U.S. and Spain signed the Cession of Sulu and Its Underlying Islands on November 7, 1900, for which the U.S. paid Spain $100,000,” Idjirani said.

Article 1, Section 1 of the Philippine Constitution references the Treaty of Paris and its subsequent agreements, stating: “By virtue of the December 10, 1898 Treaty of Paris… and the Cessions of Sulu and Its Underlying Islands… modified by the Convention Treaty of January 2, 1930…”

From that point, the U.S. began enforcing its rule over the region, which met armed resistance from 1904 to 1913, particularly from the Sultanate of Sulu in a series of major battles.

The four major confrontations were:

• The Battle of Bud Dajo (Mount Dahu)

• The Battle of Sinumaan

• The Battle of Patian

• The Battle of Bud Bagsak

These were accompanied by other smaller skirmishes involving groups that opposed American occupation and rule.