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From Bates Treaty to Bud Bagsak: The Movie
The following is a re-print of a message sent by the
undersigned to a fellow ZF2 member who is a screenwriter by profession and
has a degree in filmography from the University of California at Los
Angeles. While great care was taken to preserve the original flavor of the
message, substantial editing was made to this web version for enhancement
purposes and to remove superfluous lines that do not contribute to the
content of the message. - J.R.
an illustration of the battle of Bud
Bagsak
[top]
Tue.,
Feb. 27, 2001 5:18 PM
[ZambalesForum] From Bates Treaty to Bud Bagsak
Hi,
John D:
Thank
you for your interest in my proposal for an American-made movie about the
Muslims of Southern Philippines, whom the colonizing Spaniards called the
Moros, perhaps in painful remembrance of their experience with the Muslim
Moors whom they fought against for centuries on the Iberian peninsula. I
am really excited about this idea, John D. Allow me to whet your appetite
further. In addition to Vic Hurley's Swish of the Kris, I recommend the
following titles for further reading: Dr. Sixto Orosa's The Sulu
Archipelago and its People; Najeeb Saleeby's The History of Sulu; and
Cesar Adib Majul's Muslims in the Philippines. For primary source, I
recommend the United States Philippine Commission Report, 1904. There are
other sources worth looking into, but I do not wish to overwhelm you at
this time. When you are ready to tackle the project, I will be more than
happy to recommend others that you will find useful. Here is a brief
historical background about the Moros.
The
Moros are Muslim Filipinos who inhabit the southern regions of the
Philippines today. Their forbears were a Malay people who settled in what
was to become known as the Philippine islands hundreds of years before the
arrival of the Spanish and the introduction of Christianity to the
natives. Beginning in the 14th century, however, Islam had been steadily
spreading northward from Indonesia into the Philippine archipelago. By the
arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, the Muslims were already
firmly established on Mindanao and Sulu. They had outposts in Manila and
they possessed a highly integrated political culture that would have
unified (Islamized) the entire archipelago, had the Spanish arrival in the
Philippines been delayed for another fifty to a hundred years. Under
Miguel Lopez de Legaspi's leadership, the Spanish managed to drive the
Muslims back to the southern regions of the Philippines where they remain
entrenched to this day. An extremely proud and courageous people, the
Moros have since fought to preserve their religion and their way of life,
successfully resisting the Spanish colonial government's efforts to
subjugate them. With the elimination of Muslim presence in Luzon and the
Visayan islands, Spain's work in converting the rest of the Philippines to
Christianity was made easier.
In
1899, the day after Spanish garrisons moved out of Mindanao and Sulu in
defeat, the Americans came - a new foreign power to be resisted fiercely
by the Mohammedans, as they were then called by the Americans. This is
where I would like our movie to begin, John D. The main plot involves a
fictional love story between a Muslim princess and an American military
officer, set against the backdrop of the Moro Wars.
Muslim Princess
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As
I have stated earlier, the movie that I have in mind will not carry a lot
of political baggage, nor convey a distinct political statement. Let's
stay away from that. I envision an epic movie that is truly breathtaking
in scope and based loosely on historical events. I am almost positive that
the Moros would be ecstatic to have a movie made about them, but I am not
so sure whether the Philippine government - from which DreamWorks SKG and
Steven Spielberg must obtain permission - would be receptive to the idea
of a movie that could be seen in some quarters as somewhat glorifying or
romanticizing the Moros or their cause. The notion of an independent
Bangsamoro homeland that has the moral, financial, and logistical support
of several member countries of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC),
has been the thorn in the flesh of numerous peace initiatives between
militant Moro and the Philippine government for decades, for it goes
against the very grain of past and present official Philippine government
position on the subject. Even if the current administration of Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo has recently adopted a conciliatory stance toward the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) - the armed wing of the present Moro
struggle - this festering wound is not likely to heal anytime soon.
With
oblique references to the political aspects of the Moro struggle, you can
script a love story woven around a succession of battles, while
highlighting the culturally-unique Moro way of life. The panoramic view of
lush tropical jungles concealing Moro cottas and colorful vintas armed
with lantakans sailing on aquamarine waters would enhance the visual
quality of the movie. As each succeeding battle escalates in intensity
over a period of time, finally reaching its climax atop Bud Bagsak, the
Muslim princess and the American military officer would find themselves
increasingly at odds with their emotions, torn between a love for each
other and allegiance to their own people. True to Hollywood, there would
be a tragic ending to the love story, of course, but I will leave that up
to you.
General Bates with Tausugs
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I
have been visualizing the opening scenes in my mind since we last talked
about this subject. The scene is of an aerial shot of a Tausug village,
from a helicopter hovering in from the South China Sea, with the following
caption on the opening screen: "Somewhere in Sulu, Philippines,
1899." The camera would slowly settle to ground level to focus on a
group of American military officers and a Malay Sultan huddled around a
table under a nipa roof. Strategically positioned around the group are
heavily armed soldiers of the United States infantry holding at port arms
their Krag-Jorgenson rifles. The American officer in command - a tall and
handsome, rugged-looking Army officer in crisp khaki uniform with a silver
star on his shirt lapel is none other than Brigadier General John C.
Bates. He wears a pair of polished riding boots, a .38 caliber revolver
slung in a holster at his side. (The .45 caliber would appear later to
replace the .38 as the Army standard sidearm. It would be invented by the
United States Army in a grudging tribute to the unstoppable ferocity of
the Moro warrior that will be demonstrated in the battles that lie ahead).
General Bates sits at the conference table across from the
distinguished-looking, colorfully-garbed Sultan of Jolo. Slung from the
Sultan's waistcoat is a fearsome, wavy-bladed kris. Behind the Sultan
stand his retinue of aides and Tausug warriors, looking suspiciously at
the Americans, their hands grasping the handles of their krises. The
camera pans around the village and focuses on a hut not far away, where a
beautiful young Malay woman is shyly peering at the group from an open
window. She is the Sultan's daughter, the Muslim princess.
General
Bates and the Sultan are signing a treaty, known as the Bates Treaty.
General Bates, the representative of the United States Government, enters
into a treaty with the Sultan, representing the whole archipelago of Jolo
and its inhabitants. The basic premise of the Treaty stipulates Moro
acceptance of United States sovereignty over the whole archipelago of Jolo
in exchange for a certain degree of autonomy for the Sultan and his
people. (FYI, the Bates Treaty has similarities to the autonomy granted
the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) by the Marcos administration,
known as the Tripoli Agreement of 1978, that established the current
Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) provinces).
The
Bates Treaty did not last long before it became a meaningless scrap of
paper. The United States Army's pacification campaigns in Mindanao and
Sulu would lead to the discovery of a fierce but magnificent people by the
Americans. While Filipinos in the northern part of the archipelago were,
for the most part, meek and easily subdued, the Tausugs were never brought
under complete American control. What followed, John were fourteen years
(1899-1913) - how the heck long it took to bring Iraq to its knees? - of
breathtaking battles between the Tausugs backed by no one but their fierce
determination and the United States Army infantry supported by the
Filipino troops of the American-created Philippine Constabulary and the
Philippine Scouts, who were no different from the Sepoys of India as
lackeys of the British Empire.
There
would be one final epic battle. It would occur in June 1913, atop an
extinct volcano. This would be the Battle for Bud Bagsak in Jolo. The
battle would rage ferociously for a week. American infantry under the
command of General John "Blackjack" Pershing would defeat the
Tausugs in the end, but not before he discovered their mystique and
ferocity. The Moros were never in awe of superior forces. In a region
where holding one's ground and fighting to the end are enshrined in
history and legend, the battle at
Bud Bagsak in June 1913 would go down in Moro history as one of their last
bold stand with their gleaming krises against the Krag-Jorgenson rifles of
American infantry. It would also give birth to the Colt .45 automatic side
arm of the U.S. Army that was invented specifically with the advancing,
seemingly indestructible Moro fighter in mind. It is against this backdrop
of factual Moro history that our movie about a fictitious love story
between an American military officer and the Sultan's daughter, the Muslim
princess, would revolve, John.
Now,
the actors. I will go with Alec Baldwin or Harrison Ford as General Bates.
Leah Salonga, or some other knock-out Filipina actress, to play the Muslim
princess. Please understand that any subject matter dealing with Muslims
in film must be treated with extreme care. You need to consult Muslim
academics, if you plan to incorporate kissing scenes in the script.
I
apologize for the length of this letter. I thank you for your patient
reading, but do please let me hear from you.
John
Reyes
Salaza, Palauig, Zambales
ZambalesForum(ZF1) owner-moderator
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