In a recent interview, former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (PRRD) and Davao 3rd District Congressman Isidro Ungab pointed out certain items left blank in the signed Bicameral (BICAM) Committee Report on the 2025 Budget, the basis for the 2025 General Appropriations Act recently signed by the President Bongbong Marcos (PBBM).

PRRD pointed out missing budget amounts in the signed BICAM Report last December, which was first noted by PBBM’s sister Senator Imee Romualdez Marcos in a privilege speech at the Senate in December 2024 and expounded on by Congressman Ungab, a former House Committee Appropriations head during an interview along with PRRD in Davao just a few days ago. According to PRRD, leaving blanks in the BICAM report and signing it is “falsification of law and a criminal act,” warning, “You can all go to jail for that”.

This is not the first time the former president Duterte and his camp have cited the current government for falling short of representing the Filipino people.

Unlike the opposition of the past, after the days of the old statesmen, today we see a new breed of opposition, who could be called a worthy adversary for those currently in power. They not only use their political know how, their legal savviness, they also harness a strength garnered from a rich and deep past of thwarting anyone who tried to usurp them.

Not so long ago, I was reminded of how Mindanao was “the last frontier of southern Philippines to be penetrated by western colonizers,” while reading the article in the Chinese Studies Journal, “The Archaeology of Lanao del Sur: A glimpse into Chinese-Maranaw Trade.” The article was about the archeological activities led by archaeologist Dr. Lee Neri in the Lanao Region, Lanao del Sur, in particular Lanao del Sur, and the materials recovered as evidence of trade between the Meranaw or Maranaw as they are popularly called today, and China dating back pre-colonial times. It is believed the Meranaws were the “Malano” people mentioned in 14th-century Chinese records.  

In the Lanao Region (comprising of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur), Lanao del Sur is where you have the highest concentration of Meranaws today. 

One of the objectives of the project led by Dr. Lee was to find the gravesite of Sultan Kudarat. You see the Lanao Region was part of the Kingdom of Maguindanao, which encompasses what is now the Maguindanao Provinces (Maguindanao Norte and Maguindanao del Sur) and SOCCSKARSARGEN (South Cotabato, Cotobato del Sur, Cotobato del Norte, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, and General Santos), Zamboanga Peninsula, and the Davao and Lanao Regions. 

Sultan Kudarat or Muhammad Dipatuan Kudarat was the ruler of the Kingdom of Maguindanao from 1619 to 1671. He was a descendant of a Malay-Arab named Shariff Kabungsuan, who was believed to have spread Islam in Mindanao. Considered one of the greatest heroes of Mindanao, Sultan Kudarat was successful in protecting Mindanao from Spanish colonizers. He was thus considered “a champion against colonialism.” It was also Sultan Kudarat who declared the first jihad in the history of Philippine Islam.

In the 17th century, the Spanish began its attempt to expand in the Muslim south. Sultan Kudarat armed warriors with assorted weapons of Malay-made cannons and fighting blades and built a series of fortifications called kotas. Dr. Neri and his team were able to record and document six kotas or forts in Lanao del Sur during their archaeological survey in the region. 

According to Neri, “the number of kotas identified in Lanao del Sur may signify the warring response of the Meranaws to the continuing threat posed not only by the Spaniards, but by the American colonial forces as well in our past. “The six identified kotas were constructed in a very strategic location—the promontory beside Lake Lanao or a river,” he adds. Two kotas, believed to have have belonged to Ramitan and Ilian, are of note since these were the sites of the first few encounters between Sultan Kudarat and the invading Spanish forces. Several excavations were conducted to ascertain the presence of forensic evidence that could yield clues to help the team in its search. The exact location of Kota Ramitan and Kota Ilian are unknown, so Neri’s team had to go by oral reports handed down through generations and geographical clues in written accounts. The other Kotas and sites in Lanao del Sur surveyed were noted for their historical significance during succeeding encounters between Kudarat’s descendants against Spanish and later American colonizers.

Sultan Kudarat lived till the ripe old age of 90. During his long life he engaged with Spanish forces. He was successful in a number of violent encounters with the Spanish and lost many battles too but he never surrendered. 

Although Dr. Neri’s team’s initial attempt to find forensic evidence leading to the actual location of Sultan Kudarat’s exact burial site was unsuccessful. Different historical accounts place his final resting place in Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, and Basilan, but Neri is determined to locate his final resting place. He underscored the importance of obtaining DNA samples on any material remains found, to be compared with his living descendants to “provide clarity to the opposing claims of other burial sites, such as the Sultan’s alleged tomb in Maguindanao and Basilan. 

Aside from providing clarity, locating the sultan’s actual grave is imperative since some of the alleged burial sites are exposed to environmental factors deemed destructive.

With regards to finding material evidence to support claims of ancient trade between the Meranaws and China, based on initial findings, Nero’s team recovered ceramic materials dating back to the Song period (960-1279) or possibly older. Trade of “prestige goods” like Chinese ceramics were considered “a key symbol of social status, prestige, and political power”. “Nonetheless”, says Neri, “the results of this analysis provide a convincing narrative of the movement, migration, trading, and connection of people in Mindanao in Asia”.

While reading about Sultan Kudarat, I was reminded of his alliance with the Dutch in thwarting Spanish expansion in Maguindanao. This alliance involved Sultan Kudarat supplying the Dutch with slaves and (bees) wax in exchange for Dutch goods, military arms among them. Along with Chinese goods, like porcelain and spices, beeswax was a product carried on cargo ships as part of the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade. Beeswax is used in candle-making.

One famous shipwreck recorded to have sunk in 1692 called the Santo Cristo de Burgos was found off the coast of Oregon in the US. It has since been called the Beeswax Wreck because of the amount of Beeswax it contained. It was plying the Manila-Acapulco trade route when it sank.  Evidence points to the cargo bound for Mexico from the Philippines. As the Seattle Times pointed out in 2008, “Beeswax from centuries-old shipwrecks still found on Oregon beaches,” the beeswax contained “wings of bees native to the Philippines trapped inside the wax.”