Resolution of 2008
Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo-Sabah
Royal House Concurrent Resolution No. 8377-01
Concurrent Resolution expressing the sense of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo-Sabah, that Sulu/Mindanao (by consanguinity), Palawan, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan and North Borneo-Sabah, inclusive of its Tributary Trust Territory of Zamboanga (Sultanate Moro Capital) Peninsula and Kalimantan; and its adjoining Islands belongs to the Sultan of Sulu:
H.R.H. Sultan Sharif Maulana Paduka Ahmad Carpenter Arpa-V
Ibni Maharaja Adinda Taup Angging (Anddin) Zein Ul-Abidin,
And to the ultimate sovereignty of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo-Sabah, and for the said Sultan to conduct negotiations for the restoration of such ownership and sovereign jurisdiction over said territories, for its return of total sovereignty and total independence.
His Highness’ 6th Grandfather, Sultan Sharif Ul-Hashim (Abu’bkr, Zein Ul-Abidin), the 1400’s very first Sultan of Sulu and of 1363 Brunei, the latter’s brother Bar-Baki or Bal-Paki a sultan who escaped Johore (Singapore) due to Spanish encroachments , established the very first Sultanate of Mindanao seated at Malabang-Lanao as Sultan Sharif Kabungsuwan.
Sultan Sharif Kabungsuwan exiled some of His peoples to Cotabato and its Hinterlands marrying the daughter there, of Tomaoi Aliywa of the Maguindanao-family dynasty. After the latter’s death, Sharif Kabungsuwan took over His father-in-law’s political authority establishing the Sultanate of Maguindanao as Sultan Aliywa. He was initially known as Karim Ul-Makdum, the Mindanao-Maguindanao Sultanate Government Founder.
The Sulu Sultanate National Flag “Door to Mecca” that had been flying over its territories and the territory of Kalimantan (Southern Borneo) there called as “the Gate to Mecca”, since the 1400’s, the latter territory presently under Indonesia’s Sovereign Jurisdiction Administering upon it, said territory is also included in His Highness legal and valid claim.
As by consanguinity and as by the manifesto for unity of strings of Sultanates throughout the Mindanaos signed by its representing Sultans, including the Kirams, under the Sultanate of Basilan and Zamboanga (Sultanate Moro Capital) established by His Highness, the Sultan Suluk Negara’s father, a clear indication of the Sulu Sultanate’s manifestation of its act of Sovereignty and its tacit Sultan’s political will and authority upon its territories, not registered with the foreign Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.), however, signed and conforme by the Philippine Republic; His Highness the Sultan of Sulu, maintains and or reserves the right to also stand as the Sultan of Maguindanao-Mindanaos. Thus, His country and state shall be the Sultanate of Sulu Negara (territories); Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Palawan, North Borneo-Sabah, Kalimantan, Jambangan-Zamboanga Peninsula and the Mindanao-Maguindanao;
Whereas, the Sulu Sultanate State and strings of Sultanate States by consanguinity in the Muslim National archipelagic islands or so-called Philippines by Spain, were a dejure Sovereignty State/s since the fourteen hundredths;
Whereas, in more or less the year 1516, Spain arrived saliently in the Muslim National archipelago and with their physical conquest, colonized most of the Muslim national archipelago territories with their forceful acquiescence;
Whereas, Spain’s motives in joining with Portugal, were to have established their Religion and themselves in the Malayas (Muslim National archipelagos) and in the monopolizing of the spice trade which was the source of power of Cairo-Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Evident of the Spanish-Portuguese viceroy Captain Affonso Albuquerque Statement to His Commanders before the successful and the final attack to Malacca in 1511;
Whereas, this forceful acquiescence was a so-called echo of the “crusade” against the Ottomans and the Moors of Morocco, it was also an Iberian (pertaining to the ethnologic
primitive groups inhabiting the Caucasus mountain range of the Soviet Union, called Caucasoid) warfare against the “Moors”-Muslims of North Africa and Morocco, far reaching
the Malayas or Muslim National archipelagic islands, its peoples called “Moros”, subjugated for more or less 300 years;
Whereas, in 1842, the Sultan of Sulu, Sultan Moh. Fadlun or better known as Sultan Pulalun signed a Treaty with the United States, the said Sultan assuring the safety of U.S. vessels in the Sulus, for the United States exploring expedition;
Whereas, in 1862, Sulu Sultan Moh. Fadlun or better known as Pulalun signed the Spanish Protocol Treaty of Spain, giving permission of Spain’s Sovereignty rights or pretensions of Sovereignty upon the island of Jolo and its dependencies; Sultan Pulalun transferred His seat to the hinterlands then sometime after;
Whereas, in 1878, two British subjects, Gustavus Baron Von Overbeck and Alfred Dent, ESQ. Came to Jolo to lease North Borneo-Sabah from the Sulu Sultan, for their intent to establish the British North Borneo Company;
Whereas, Jamalul Agdam presented himself acclaiming to be the Sultan of Sulu to the two British subjects, executed an agreement leasing and delivering to the latter, the territory North Borneo now Sabah for an annual rental of $5,000;
Whereas, the leasing of said territory by the self-acclaimed Sultan Jamalul Agdam, signed himself as Jamalul Alam the son of Sultan Pulalun-when in fact, otherwise;
Whereas, whether Sultan Pulalun had children or not (it is not known), he Pulalun, since 1859, proclaimed His Highest Crown Prince and heir-apparent, Maharaja Adinda Taup, who is to succeed him upon his death; moreover, Sultan Pulalun writing a letter of revocation of the said leased to the British North Borneo Company which was not heeded upon;
Whereas, on April 22, 1903, the British North Borneo Company, which succeeded to the rights of MESSRS. Gustavus Baron Von Overbeck and Alfred Dent, entered into another agreement with the Sultan of Sulu, (Sultan Jamalul Kiram-II) to include in the original lease certain islands laying North and Northeast of Borneo for an additional rental of $300 annually;
Whereas, MESSRS. Gustavus Baron Von Overbeck and Alfred Dent, and their successors, including the British Government, paid the total annual rental of $5,300 for the Leased territory until June 7, 1936, death of Sultan Jamalul Kiram-II;
Whereas, the British Government ceased to pay the annual rental amount in 1936 due to the controversy as to who are the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu or its successor entitled to receive the annuity , Sultan Kiram-II known to have no heir;
Whereas, the British Government should have reverted to Sharif Sultan Imam Ul-Alam Arpa who replaced Sultan Kiram-II in 1915 deduced as Highest Spiritual Leader of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo, as the successor to the said leased annuity and as the Sultanate’s Successor –Sultan deduced to Highest Spiritual Leader (by which a Sultan is also, such; temporal and ecclesiastical indivisible in nature) by the U.S. administration;
(2)
Whereas, in undermining veracity, on July 4, 1946 the United States blatantly incorporated the Muslim Sultanate lands and territories to have included Mindanao and Sulu into with the making of the Philippine Republic, inspite of the Sultanate’s Datos declaration of rights and purposes made in 1921 and submitted to the U.S. Congress on 1926, depriving the heir/s of the successor-Sultan Sharif Imam Ul-Alam Arpa or His heirs to the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo, of ownership over its territories;
Whereas, Senator Beacon of the United States passed the Beacon Bill in 1926 with the United States Senate which proposed that…”Independence be given to northern and central Provinces of the Philippines, but that Mindanao and Sulu be retained under American rule”. (see house bill 12772, 69TH Congress, first session. May 6, 1926);
Whereas, inspite of the solid expressions of self-determination and resolve to the total return of independence of the Mindanao and Sulu (Sultanates), the United States of America heedlessly proceeded to have incorporated the Mindanao and Sulu Sultanates’ lands and territories into with the Republic of the Philippines, blatantly breaching Article IV, section 3 of the United States Constitution and utterly disregarding the Beacon Bill of 1926 passed by the United States Senate;
Whereas, it was totally unlawful from the standpoint of the 1787 U.S. Constitution, the law of war of 1898 and the law of nations for the United States to occupy Mindanao and Sulu, when it was not a political component of the first Philippine Republic that declared war against the United States of America;
Whereas, on July 16, 1946, the British Government annexed as a crown colony the aforesaid leased territory known then as British North Borneo, thereby also depriving Sharif Sultan Imam Ul-Alam Arpa (Successor-Sultan) or His heirs to the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo, of ownership over the territory, North Borneo;
Whereas, the annexation of the territory North Borneo as a crown colony of the United Kingdom (Britain) is based mainly on the claim that the deed executed by Sultan Jamalul Alam on January 22, 1878 in favor of MESSRS. Gustavus Baron Von Overbeck and Alfred Dent was a cession and not a lease; which claim is unfounded because the deed in fact was merely a lease whereby the Sultan of Sulu delegated His Governmental powers to the lessees and granted to them the right to develop and exploit the territory, reserving to Himself the ultimate sovereignty over said territory;
Whereas, the act of annexation made by the British Government is furthermore, based on the claim that subsequent to the deed of January 22, 1878, The Sultan of Sulu capitulated in the same year to the crown of Spain which in turn renounced the sovereignty over North Borneo. Which claim lacks merit because in the Treaty of Capitulation between the Sultan of Sulu and the King of Spain, the Sultan did not relinquish His residual sovereignty over North Borneo, likewise the rest of the Sultanate Territories. As in fact, the Sultan was never nor permanently under the authority of the crown of Spain, and, therefore, the renunciation by Spain of sovereignty over North Borneo in the Treaty of 1885 with Britain did not serve to affect the right of sovereignty of the Sultan of Sulu over said territory;
Whereas, it results from the foregoing that the action of the British Government on July 16, 1946, annexing North Borneo as a crown colony is unwarranted and illegal; that the territory belongs to the Sultan of Sulu and Highest Spiritual Leader or His heir to the Sultanate of Sulu, the Sultanate State presently under GRP administration on account of the unwarranted and illegal treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898. That said heir and present successor to the Sulu throne, H.R.H. Sultan Sharif Maulana Paduka Ahmad Carpenter Arpa-V, is cordially exhorting Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippine Republic by which some the Sulu Sultanate lands and territories are presently being administered by; the protection of His Highness rights and dignities, and the rights and dignities of His peoples, that subject to adjustments of the lease rights of the British Government on North Borneo now administered by Malaysia as made the ultimate successor of the original lessees, and adjustments made of to other, said territories, should be restored to the ownership of His Highness H.R.H. Sultan Sharif Maulana Paduka Ahmad Carpenter Arpa-V, the Sultan of Sulu and to the sovereign jurisdiction of the Sultanate of Sulu, and whose seal and ancestral flags of authority recognized without qualification;
(3)
Whereas, inclusive of Kalimantan and North Borneo, the Sulu/Mindanao, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and Palawan Sultanate territories that was Unfoundly and Unwarrantly Sold by Spain to the United States of America in the December 10, 1898 Treaty of Paris by which the Sultan of Sulu/Mindanao did not have representation, nor being a contracting party to it, and without the knowledge nor consent as titular head of State;
Whereas, the August 20, 1899 Bates Treaty, agreement between Gen. John C. Bates of the U.S. Government and the Sultan of Sulu, profoundly recognizing the dejure sovereignty of the Sulu Sultanate State;
Whereas, other entreaties before and after the 1915 Carpenter Memorandum Agreement, affirming the dejure sovereignty of the Sulu Sultanate, as also the 1915 Carpenter Act, in its interpretative letter, legally guaranteeing the preservation and continuing existence of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo;
Whereas, inspite of the Sulu Sultanate’s Sultan-Highest Spiritual Leader and Datos’ declaration of rights and purposes made in 1921 and submitted to the U.S. Congress in 1926, stipulating the non-desire of being under the Commonwealth Government or the soon to be Philippine Republic, but instead rather declare ourselves back a Constitutional Sultanate or be retain under U.S. Administration; the United States heedlessly and blatantly incorporated the Sulu/Mindanao Sultanate territories into with the Philippine Republic on July 4, 1946. While the United Nations was founded for the preservation, peace and security of nations in 1945;
Whereas, the Sulu territory of Kalimantan (Southern Borneo) came under the forceful acquiescence of the Dutch Colonial Forces, the latter that might have had to do in promoting the 1678 rebellion in North Borneo and 1849 Kalimantan revolts undermining the Sulu Sultanate National Flag, “Door to Mecca”, that had been already flying there since the advent of the Sulu Sultanate, called by its people, the “Gate to Mecca”, and said territory later was turn-over to Indonesia was unwarranted and unfounded;
Whereas, the fact of His Highness cause, the Sultan of Sulu as understood as by heredity, and succession, and of consanguinity from Taif Arabia, Brunei and Sulu/Mindanao as by Sultan Betatar of the Holy City of Taif Arabia, a progeny of Nabi Muhammad (Salawlahu Alaihi Wassalam) the aforesaid’s son Zein Ul-Abidin or Awang Anak Betatar the latter known as the 1363 Sultan Mohamad Shah established the Sultanate of Brunei with him as its very first Sultan. He Zein Ul-Abidin, as also known as Abu’bkr came to Sulu and married the daughter of the Tomoai (Chieftein) Baginda. Baginda embraced Islam and took the name as Raja Baginda. After Raja Baginda passed away, Abu’bkr took over the political authority of his father-in-law and established the very first institutional Government in the Muslim National Archipelago, the Sultanate of Sulu with him as its very first Sultan in the reigning name as Sultan Sharif Ul-Hashim, meaning a Sharif from the Hashimite Kingdom of Taif Arabia;
Whereas, Abu’bkr’s brother, Bar-Baki, went to Malabang Lanao, who established the very first Sultanate of Mindanao as Sultan Kabungsuwan seated in Malabang Lanao. He exiled some of his people (raayats) to Cotabato marrying the daughter there of Tomaoi Aliywa. He farther exiled some of His raayats, who still deviated from Islam, to the Hinterlands and are the present Manobos and Tarunians of the area. After the death of His father-in-law, he too, took over the political authority, of the Latter and established the Sultanate there under his father-in-law’s Maguindanao-family dynasty, the Sultanate of Maguindanao, and Him as Sultan Aliywa, was also known as Karim Ul-Makdum; the first Sultanate Government founder of Mindanao; the Sultan who visited his brother Sultan Sharif Ul-Hashim in Sulu. These two Sultans and Makdums, documented by the Catholic Jesuit Priest Fr. Francisco Combes, of those who first brought, re-enforced and promulgated Islam to have walked on water, flew in the air and saved people from drowning;
Whereas, in the Sulu Sultanate, Sultan Sharif Ul-Hashim’s grandson, the 1520-1548 Sultan Shar Ul-Uddin Awal Digmin, also known as Sultan Mu’izz Ul-Mutawidin or better known as Maharaja Upo who reigned while his father Sultan Ala’Uddin Buto was still alive. Sultan Shar Ul-Uddin Awal Digmin was succeeded by the 1548-1596 Sultan Pangilan Buddiman, the reigning title of Mohamad Ul-Halim who hailed from Brunei as an assured line of descendancy from Sultan Sharif Ul-Hashim (Zein-Ul-Abidin). Sultan Buddiman’s wife was the daughter of Brunei Sultan Abdul Kahar, the latter, father of successor Brunei Sultan Seif Ul-Rijar who placed his brother-in-law Sultan Buddiman (Ul-Halim) as viceroy Sultan of Sulu;
(4)
Whereas, 1596-1678 Sulu Sultan Patara Shah also known as Pangiran Tengah or Panguan Tindig who also hailed from Brunei as an assured line of descendancy and whose father was Brunei Sultan Mohamad Hassan. Sultan Patara Shah’s cousin Adasaolan acquired marriage alliance with the Maguindanao Royal Family marrying the daughter of Maguindanao Sultan Laut Buisan or also known as Katchil (half-brother of Maguindanao Sultan Salikula) the latter being the Great-Grandson of Sultan Kabungsuwan (Sultan Aliywa or Karim Ul-Makdum). Adasaolan’s brother in-law Nasir’uddin succeeded as Maguindanao Sultan Qudarat, the latter who goes to His island sanctuary in a Sulu island known there by the Sulu Sultan as Sultan Nasir’uddin, the Sultan of that said island ;
Whereas, in Manilad or Selurong- the island of Luzon, its Sultan, Raja Sulayman and Tondo’s Sultan, Datu Lakandula, a nephew of Brunei Sultan and the former, a first cousin of the Bruinei Sultan at that time;
Whereas, the string of Sultanate in Cebu ruled by “King” Humabon (as referred by the Spaniards), this Sultan was converted to Christianity by the Spaniards. The reason why the Sempurna Pertama, Panglima Ege or Kaliph Pulaka, but better known as Lapu-Lapu left Borneo and came to the settlement of Suluan and Borneoan allies in Mactan to investigate the situation in Cebu;
Whereas, it is rest assured, that the strings of Sultanates expanded throughout the Muslim National archipelago later known as the Philippine Archipelago, its Kinships by consanguinity were inter-related from the assured line of descendancy from Brunei that originated from the Holy City of Taif Arabia;
Whereas, His Highness descendancy from the Brunei Nakhodas and Brunei Sultan Mohamad Shah (Zein Ul-Abidin, Abu’bkr) the latter or his successor, owner of North Borneo, gave North Borneo as a gift to His Nakhodas (fleet admirals and relatives) Sayyid Nakhoda Perkasa Angging and Sayyid Nakhoda Sangkalang who had led about 600 Sulu warriors sent by the Sulu Sultan in suppressing a 10 year rebellion by the self proclaimed Sultan Mobin of Northern Borneo in 1678;
Whereas, as a gesture of gratitude also to the Sulu warriors, and as by the Nakhoda owners, the Brunei Sultan ceded North Borneo to the Sulu Sultanate, making it then contiguous to Southern Borneo or Kalimantan in 1704, evident of the Sulu Sultanate State National Flag “The Door to Mecca”, known there as “Gate to Mecca” and known to have already flown in Kalimatan (Southern Borneo), evident of already having been a Sulu Sultanate territory since its advent;
Whereas, Datu Piang of Cotabato (Tan Tuy Piang) was a first cousin of Tan Liu Yang (Liudayang), the latter being His Highness Grandmother, (wife of Sharif Sultan Imam Ul-Alam Arpa);
Whereas,Liudayang’s father, Tan Sing Lian is a brother of Tan Peng, the latter being the father of Tan Piang or Datu Piang of Cotabato;
Whereas; Liudayang’s mother, Horayang, is a daughter of Tunggal Gareng, the latter being the brother of Gajah Tunggal of Kalimantan (now Indonesia);
Whereas, Datu Piang was a former Chief Minister of Maguindanao Datu Utto (Sultan Anwar’Uddin) of Buanyan;
Whereas, in 1888 death of Maguindanao Sultan Moh. Jalal’uddin Pablu, the Maguindanao Sultanate was vacant till 1896;
Whereas, the Maguindanao Sultanate vacancy was probably due to the fact that Datu Utto wanted His brother in-law Datu mamaku (a son of Sultan Qudarat-Ullah Untong) instead to succeed as the Sultan and not him;
Whereas, in1896, Maguindanao Sultan Mangigin reigned.Whereby in 1900, Sultan Mangigin transferred his residence from Cotabato to Sibugay. In 1906, he married Rajah Putri, the widow of Datu Utto and sister of Datu Mamaku;
(5)
Whereas, 1900 death of Datu Utto, the latter’s son in-law and chief Minister Datu Piang, married to Datu Utto’s daughter, reigned as Maguindanao Sultan with his seat in Dulawan-Cotabato, as the Datu Piang of Cotabato;
Whereas, the Buayan rulers and Lanao area rulers traced their descent to a daughter of Sharif Kabungsuwan, while the Iranun Maguindanao family dynasty, by where Sultan Qudarat descended, traced theirs, in a linear direction, to male descendants of the said Sharif;
Whereas, Sultan Qudarat (Ullah Untong), a descendant of Sharif Kabungsuwan or Sultan Aliywa (Karim Ul-Makdum the Sultanate government founder of Mindanao-Maguindanao seated at Malabang-Lanao), the most powerful Sultan in defense against the Spanish encroachments, his descendants nicknamed their Sulu cousin Sharif Carpenter Arpa-I (His Highness’ father) as “Utong” derived from the name, Ullah Untong-Qudarat. It was because Sharif Carpenter Arpa-I, in 1942-1945 being awarded the U.S. Presidential Citation for his heroic defenses against the Japanese encroachments in World War-II in the so-called Philippine Archipelago, which threatened to eliminate any Royal Family which was a threat to Japanese concept of their Emperor-God in the Muslim National Archipelago or so-called Philippines by where Japan was trying to promote their so-called,” higher race”;
Whereas, Sharif Carpenter “Utong” Arpa-I, of his heroic actions having served as a Captain in the United States Army Forces in the Far East is known as, “Tong-Tong” by which the residents in Siasi, place of his great grandfather, Sayyid Nakhoda Perkasa Angging (The Brunei Maharaja in the Sulus) at Subah Buaya and presently known as “Duhol-Duhol”, derived from Siama-Samal word “Tong-Tong”, meaning highest and top leader;
Whereas, it is assured that the strings of Sultanates in the Muslim National archipelagic islands were all inter-related by consanguinity and by blood-relations;
Whereas, His Highness Sultan Sharif Maulana Paduka Ahmad Carpenter Arpa-V Ibni Maharaja Adinda Taup Angging (Anddin) Zein Ul-Abidin is by and of that said consanguinity and blood-relations as by heredity and succession being the present Sultan of Sulu/Mindanao and North Borneo territories;
Whereas, in 1705, Sulu Sultan Sahab’Uddin ceded the Sulu Territory of Palawan to the Spanish Government; one reason why priory Brunei sent Sayyid Nakhoda Perkasa Angging as Maharaja in the Sulus to prevent any possible cession of North Borneo;
Whereas, in 1862, Sulu Sultan Moh. Fadlun, better known as Pulalun signed the Spanish protocol treaty with Spain giving Sovereignty rights or pretensions of Sovereignty to Spain over the Island of Jolo and its dependencies, by when the said Sultan transferred His seat to the Hinterlands of Jolo;
Whereas, in 1865, the United States Consul to Brunei, Claude Lee Moses, obtained a 10-year lease for the territory of North Borneo from Brunei. However, the post civil war of the United States, the United States wanted nothing to do with Asian colonies. So, Moses sold his rights to the Hong Kong-based American Trading. Besieged with financial difficulties, the company had, to its rights on North Borneo consul of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Hong Kong, Gustavos Baron Von Overbeck. Von Overbeck managed to get a 10-year renewal of the lease from the Temenggong of Brunei, and a similar treaty from the Sultan of Sulu on January 22, 1878;
Whereas, Jamalul Agdam (Azam) came forth presenting Himself as the Sultan of Sulu, signing the leased treaty agreement for perpetuity in exchange for arms and munitions in order to defend themselves from the Spanish Armada forewarned by the two British subjects in gaining the favor of the signing of the lease from the said so-called Sultan of Sulu without the knowledge nor consent of the reigning Sultan Pulalun at the Hinterlands;
Whereas, Jamalul Agdam signed the said treaty, indicating His name as Sultan Jamalul Alam, the supposed son of Sultan Pulalun. Said signing was obviously done about dusk, not being able to offload the said arms and munitions at night, and the intent of the said British Subjects never to deliver the said arms and munitions as for their use in the protection of their North Borneo Company. Evident of the said British Subjects leaving Jolo at about mid-night bringing with them the leased treaty agreement and the said arms and munitions aboard their ship, H.M.S. America, headed for North Borneo. Sultan Jamalul Alam was frowned upon of His actions, that there was never a known grave of him after his death;
(6)
Whereas,Von Overbeck, in order to finance his plans for North Borneo-Sabah, found financial backing from the Dent brothers-Alfred and Edward Dent. However, he was unable to interest his government in the territory. Von Overbeck withdrew in 1880, leaving Alfred Dent in control. Dent was supported by Sir Rutherford Alcock and Admiral Sir Harry Keppel;
Whereas, In July 1881, Alfred Dent and his brother formed the British North Borneo Provisional Association Ltd, and obtained an official royal charter on November 1, 1881 of the same Year. In May 1882, the British North Borneo chartered company replaced the provisional association, Sir Rutherford Alock became the first president, and Alfred Dent became managing director;
Whereas, Inspite of some diplomatic protests by the Dutch, Spanish and Sarawak governments, the British North Borneo Company proceeded to organized settlements and administration of the territory. The Company subsequently acquired further sovereign and territorial rights from the Sultan of Brunei expanding the territory under control to the Putatan river in May 1884, the Padas district in November 1884, the Kawang river in February 1885, the Mantanani islands in April 1885 and additional minor Padas territories in March 1898;
Whereas, In 1888, North Borneo together with Sarawak and Brunei, became a protectorate of Great Britain. Its administration, however, remained entirely in the hands of the British North Borneo Company, with the British crown only reserving control of foreign relations;
Whereas, on January 7, 1883, a letter from the British Secretary of State for foreign affairs, Lord Granville, confirms the position that the “Takeover” of the British over North Borneo-Sabah, a Sulu Sultanate property was a Lease and not a purchase. It states: ”The British charter (representing the British North Borneo Company) therefore differs essentially from the previous charters granted by the Crown….in the fact that the Crown in the present case assumes no dominion or sovereignty over the territories occupied by the company, nor does it purport to grant to the company powers of government, therefore; it merely conveys upon the persons associated the status and incidents of a body corporate, and recognizes the grants of territory and the powers of government made and delegated by the sultan in whom the sovereignty remains vested. It differs also from previous charters in that it prohibits instead of grants a general monopoly of trade. As regards the general features of the undertaking, it is to be observed that the territories granted to the company have been for generations under the government of the Sultanate of Sulu and Brunei, with whom Great Britain has had Treaties of Peace and Commerce.”;
Whereas, In retrospect, the British Foreign Affairs communiqué conceded that the matter of sovereignty remained vested in the Sultanate of Sulu, the Sultan of Sulu, and could not be delegated to any party because the Deed of January 22, 1878 expressly prohibited it;
Whereas, the thorniest item in the North Borneo/Sulu agenda was whether the Overbeck-Dent pact with the Sultan of Sulu was a Lease or Sale. Scholarly sources, including those officially issued by Britain and the United States, pointed out that the sovereignty over North Borneo-Sabah, was never, at anytime in the past and present relinquished in favor of any person, organization, or entity. Thus, the said agreement was merely a Lease;
Whereas, Legally and Technically, it remained to this day as the exclusive property of the sultan of Sulu and Brunei. This statement confirms the observation that the transfer of rights made by the lessees to the British North Borneo Company was Ab-initio, flawed and illegal. Thus, should have never had any binding effect or applicability;
Whereas, specifically, the Deed of 1878 clearly mentioned that, “The rights and powers hereby leased shall not be transferred to another nation or a company of other nationality”, same theme discussed in 1963 when a negotiation was made in London with Britain for the recovery of North Borneo. The British, in defense of their own argument, insisted the covenant entered into by Von Overbeck and Dent with the supposed Sultan of Sulu (Jamalul Alam) in 1878 was a sale and not a lease. Even for example, whereby the 1915 Sultan Jamalul Kiram-II giving up his temporal powers in exchanged for a lifetime pension, could not possibly abrogate the Sultanate of Sulu without the reigning Sultan Pulalun and/or his Maharaja Adinda family concurrences. The said 1878 lease treaty was never concurred by the reigning Sultan Pulalun at the hinterlands, evident of the latter writing a letter of revocation to the lease;
(7)
Whereas, a strong proof in favor of the Sultanate was when U.S. Governor-General Francis B. Harrison on February 27, 1947 furnished the Philippine Vice-President and foreign affairs secretary, Elpedio Quirino, a photostat copy of the Lease Treaty document, which was later translated from Malay language and the Arabic script by Professor H. Otley Bayer of the University of the Philippines. Moreover, Overbeck and Dent, in a statement before the Royal Colonial Institute on May 12, 1886 admitted that the deal they forged with the rightful owners of North Borneo did not forfeit the sovereign rights of the Sultan of Sulu and Brunei (the rightful owners) over the territories administered by the British North Borneo Company. Dent declared openly: “as to the charter, some friends of the enterprise seem to believe that the enormous powers we hold were given by Her Majesty the Queen. It is not so at all. All our powers were derived entirely from the Sultan of Brunei and Sulu, and what the British government did was simply to incorporate us by Royal charter, thus, recognizing our powers, which recognition is to us, of course, of vital importance.”;
Whereas, clearly, the said territory of North Borneo-Sabah do belongs to the Sultan of Sulu and Brunei to the present, and the Sulu Sultanate’s sovereignty was never lost, nor by default; and to the least as by the Carpenter Act of 1915 enacted by Governor Frank W, Carpenter, which stipulated the exemption of North Borneo-Sabah from being under the U.S. administration, but, as still belonging to the Sultanate of Sulu. Thus, in its interpretive letter, legally guaranteeing the preservation and continuing existence of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo-Sabah;
Whereas, in 1704, precautious of North Borneo being ceded by Sultan Sahab’Uddin (ceded Palawan instead in 1705 to Spain), The Brunei Sultan sent the North Borneo owner, Sayyid Nakhoda Perkasa Angging (Maharaja Anddin) to the Sulus to guard against this possibility of cession, given the Brunei Maharaja State Official Flag and the Twin Headed Crocodile/Alligator Flag, as the symbol of the Brunei Sultan’s twin authority to His Nakhoda as Maharaja in the Sulus, while Sayyid Nakhoda Sangkalang stayed in North Borneo guarding against possible encroachment from its Southern part Kalimantan, occupied by the Dutch Colonial Forces who might have had priory promoted the 1678 revolt;
Whereas, the name Maharaja was given to only one of the lineages of the Royal Family, Sayyid Nakhoda Perkasa Angging (Maharaja Anddin) who married Apuh Andun or Mahandun of Karongdong- Luuk, Jolo, and as a result, heir-apparent and/or Sultans under this continued assured line of descendancy append “Maharaja Adinda” as a title to the beginning of their names; Maharaja Adinda Taup, the son of Maharaja Anddin (Sayyid Nakhoda Perkasa Angging) the latter married to Mahandun;
Whereas, the said Brunei Nakhodas were the grandsons of Brunei Sultan Mohamad Shah (Zein Ul-Abidin, Abu’bkr) through Brunei Sultan Ahmad “Amir-Alatas” Uddin who elected another son (Seri Ali) to have succeeded him;
Whereas, Sayyid Nakhoda Perkasa Angging married Apuh Andun or Mahandun of Karongdong (present Luuk Jolo), a Royalty whose Uncle was Brunei Sultan Nassar’Uddin 1690-1705, Apuh Andun’s son was Maharaja Adinda Taup, Crowned Prince and heir-apparent of Sultan Pulalun, the latter being the nephew of Apuh Andun or Mahandun;
Whereas, Maharaja Adinda Taup’s son was Sharif Sultan Imam Ul-Alam Arpa, the successor-Sultan and Highest Spiritual Leader of the Sulu Sultanate who, in 1915, replaced Sultan Jamalul Kiram-II;
Whereas, His Highness’ Grandfather, Sharif Imam Ul-Alam Arpa did replaced Sultan Jamalul Kiram-II, the latter who gave up His Temporal powers to the U.S. Government in exchanged for a lifetime pension and positions of His Datos (direct followers) as Senators and/or Government positions with and under the American administration after the signing of the 1915 Carpenter Memorandum Agreement. However, deduced by the Americans as Highest Spiritual Leader (by which a Sultan is also such, indivisible in nature with its temporal power and position as Sultan), Sharif-Sultan Imam Ul-Alam Arpa standing as the Sultan of Sulu and as also of that said Doctrine of Government and religion, indivisible in nature, and nonetheless succeeding from Sultan Pulalun and the latter’s Crowned Prince Maharaja Adinda (heir-apparent) Taup as by the Rumah Bichara (voice of the peoples) and by consultation with Sultan Pulalun ratified by the Sultan of Brunei ( Sultan Jamalul Alam II), Sharif Sultan Imam Ul-Alam Arpa being the son of Maharaja Adinda Taup;
(8)
Whereas, the Sultanate Government in the Muslim National Archipelago (Philippine Islands) have never lost its Sovereignty and its Government functions are merely suspended due to foreign powers’ administrations;
Whereas, however, looked upon by foreign Sovereign powers as otherwise, lost and being under their Sovereign jurisdiction and/or under its National territorial delimited body politic, this is not true because our Sovereignty and Country was not lost thru default;
Whereas, the Treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898 after Spain’s forceful acquiescence upon the Muslim National Archipelago or so-called Philippine Islands, by when Spain sold to the United States of America for $ 20 Million Dollars in the Treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898, and by which the Sultan of Sulu and titular head of State of the strings of Sultanate Government were not contracting parties, and sold without the knowledge nor consent of said Sultanate Government, its Sultan;
Whereas, the Bates Treaty of August 20, 1899, an agreement between the Sultan of Sulu and the United States Government, later was unilaterally abrogated by the United States Government in 1903 without the knowledge nor consent of the Sultan and/or the Sultanate Government as a contracting party;
Whereas, the 1915 Carpenter Memorandum Agreement, although Sultan Kiram-II did signed, giving up His temporal powers was in no way a default of the Sultanate. It was merely the said Sultan stepping down in exchanged of a lifetime pension, and was replaced by a successor, Sharif Sultan Imam Ul-Alam Arpa deduced to Highest Spiritual Leader by the Americans, that do not have the competence to rule over the said act of deducing a successor;
Whereas, a successor is a successor and the Sultanate State was not abrogated. In abrogating a State, an instrument to be use is an executive order by the Sultan or Sovereign head, and not thru a mere Memorandum (1915 Carpenter Memorandum) demoting of the latter to a position, alike of a Governor;
Whereas, priory Sultan Pulalun after the 1862 signing of the Spanish protocol treaty, giving Spain sovereignty rights or pretensions of sovereignty over Jolo (Sulu), the said Sultan transferred his seat at the hinterlands. When then later in 1878, a self-acclaimed Jamalul Agdam presented himself to two British subjects as the Sultan of Sulu, entered into an agreement, signing himself as Sultan Jamalul Alam as the son of Sultan Pulalun, leasing and delivering North Borneo-Sabah to the British North Borneo Company without the knowledge nor consent of the reigning Sultan Pulalun at the hinterlands;
Whereas, in 1881-1884, Badaruddin-II came forth acclaiming to be the son of Sultan Jamalul Alam (known to have no heir nor children), and acclaiming himself as the next Sultan of Sulu;
Whereas, from 1881 thru 1884, usurpers to the Sulu throne, in conflict as: Alimmuddin, Harun Ar-Rashid and Amirul Kiram Awal-II came forth acclaiming themselves as Sultan of Sulu;
Whereas, Alimmuddin was driven off and/or retracted from his claim and went to Parang, Cotabato and eventually to Tawi-Tawi where he died;
Whereas, Harun Ar-Rashid was proclaimed by the Spanish government in Manila as the Sultan of Sulu as for expediency for the Spanish government’s intents and purposes. Although Harun Ar-Rashid was also driven off, and to Palawan where he retired;
Whereas, in 1884, Amirul Kiram Awal-II proclaimed himself as Sultan of Sulu in the title name as Sultan Jamalul Kiram-II as by his direct followers acclaiming the said sultan as the son of Sultan Jamalul Kiram-I (Muwalil Wasit), which is untrue because the latter is the father of Sultan Pulalun;
Whereas, these said usurpers and/or acclaimed sultans were in total disregard to the reigning Sultan Pulalun seated at the hinterlands, and underming the latter’s existence;
(9)
Whereas, said usurpers aside from being in conflict with one another by which one ruled south of Jolo and the other at the north, did conveniently served in the defense against foreign encroachments while the reigning Sultan Pulalun was seated at the hinterlands and the latter’s Pertama-Prince or Adinda and heir-apparent, Maharaja Adinda Taup, was fighting the Spanish encroachments far reaching the southern coast of Selurong or Luzon;
Whereas, Sultan Jamalul Alam’s claimed as the son of Sultan Pulalun was not legitimate for whether Sultan Pulalun either had a son or not, the latter had already proclaimed his successor heir-apparent Maharaja Adinda Taup in 1859, the father of Sharif Imam Ul-Alam Arpa, His Highness’ grandfather. Evident of Sultan Pulalun writing a letter of revocation to the leased treaty agreement between Sultan Jamalul Alam and the two British Subjects by which was not heeded upon by the British North
Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo-Sabah
Royal House Concurrent Resolution No. 8377-01
Concurrent Resolution expressing the sense of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo-Sabah, that Sulu/Mindanao (by consanguinity), Palawan, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan and North Borneo-Sabah, inclusive of its Tributary Trust Territory of Zamboanga (Sultanate Moro Capital) Peninsula and Kalimantan; and its adjoining Islands belongs to the Sultan of Sulu:
H.R.H. Sultan Sharif Maulana Paduka Ahmad Carpenter Arpa-V
Ibni Maharaja Adinda Taup Angging (Anddin) Zein Ul-Abidin,
And to the ultimate sovereignty of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo-Sabah, and for the said Sultan to conduct negotiations for the restoration of such ownership and sovereign jurisdiction over said territories, for its return of total sovereignty and total independence.
His Highness’ 6th Grandfather, Sultan Sharif Ul-Hashim (Abu’bkr, Zein Ul-Abidin), the 1400’s very first Sultan of Sulu and of 1363 Brunei, the latter’s brother Bar-Baki or Bal-Paki a sultan who escaped Johore (Singapore) due to Spanish encroachments , established the very first Sultanate of Mindanao seated at Malabang-Lanao as Sultan Sharif Kabungsuwan.
Sultan Sharif Kabungsuwan exiled some of His peoples to Cotabato and its Hinterlands marrying the daughter there, of Tomaoi Aliywa of the Maguindanao-family dynasty. After the latter’s death, Sharif Kabungsuwan took over His father-in-law’s political authority establishing the Sultanate of Maguindanao as Sultan Aliywa. He was initially known as Karim Ul-Makdum, the Mindanao-Maguindanao Sultanate Government Founder.
The Sulu Sultanate National Flag “Door to Mecca” that had been flying over its territories and the territory of Kalimantan (Southern Borneo) there called as “the Gate to Mecca”, since the 1400’s, the latter territory presently under Indonesia’s Sovereign Jurisdiction Administering upon it, said territory is also included in His Highness legal and valid claim.
As by consanguinity and as by the manifesto for unity of strings of Sultanates throughout the Mindanaos signed by its representing Sultans, including the Kirams, under the Sultanate of Basilan and Zamboanga (Sultanate Moro Capital) established by His Highness, the Sultan Suluk Negara’s father, a clear indication of the Sulu Sultanate’s manifestation of its act of Sovereignty and its tacit Sultan’s political will and authority upon its territories, not registered with the foreign Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.), however, signed and conforme by the Philippine Republic; His Highness the Sultan of Sulu, maintains and or reserves the right to also stand as the Sultan of Maguindanao-Mindanaos. Thus, His country and state shall be the Sultanate of Sulu Negara (territories); Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Palawan, North Borneo-Sabah, Kalimantan, Jambangan-Zamboanga Peninsula and the Mindanao-Maguindanao;
Whereas, the Sulu Sultanate State and strings of Sultanate States by consanguinity in the Muslim National archipelagic islands or so-called Philippines by Spain, were a dejure Sovereignty State/s since the fourteen hundredths;
Whereas, in more or less the year 1516, Spain arrived saliently in the Muslim National archipelago and with their physical conquest, colonized most of the Muslim national archipelago territories with their forceful acquiescence;
Whereas, Spain’s motives in joining with Portugal, were to have established their Religion and themselves in the Malayas (Muslim National archipelagos) and in the monopolizing of the spice trade which was the source of power of Cairo-Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Evident of the Spanish-Portuguese viceroy Captain Affonso Albuquerque Statement to His Commanders before the successful and the final attack to Malacca in 1511;
Whereas, this forceful acquiescence was a so-called echo of the “crusade” against the Ottomans and the Moors of Morocco, it was also an Iberian (pertaining to the ethnologic
primitive groups inhabiting the Caucasus mountain range of the Soviet Union, called Caucasoid) warfare against the “Moors”-Muslims of North Africa and Morocco, far reaching
the Malayas or Muslim National archipelagic islands, its peoples called “Moros”, subjugated for more or less 300 years;
Whereas, in 1842, the Sultan of Sulu, Sultan Moh. Fadlun or better known as Sultan Pulalun signed a Treaty with the United States, the said Sultan assuring the safety of U.S. vessels in the Sulus, for the United States exploring expedition;
Whereas, in 1862, Sulu Sultan Moh. Fadlun or better known as Pulalun signed the Spanish Protocol Treaty of Spain, giving permission of Spain’s Sovereignty rights or pretensions of Sovereignty upon the island of Jolo and its dependencies; Sultan Pulalun transferred His seat to the hinterlands then sometime after;
Whereas, in 1878, two British subjects, Gustavus Baron Von Overbeck and Alfred Dent, ESQ. Came to Jolo to lease North Borneo-Sabah from the Sulu Sultan, for their intent to establish the British North Borneo Company;
Whereas, Jamalul Agdam presented himself acclaiming to be the Sultan of Sulu to the two British subjects, executed an agreement leasing and delivering to the latter, the territory North Borneo now Sabah for an annual rental of $5,000;
Whereas, the leasing of said territory by the self-acclaimed Sultan Jamalul Agdam, signed himself as Jamalul Alam the son of Sultan Pulalun-when in fact, otherwise;
Whereas, whether Sultan Pulalun had children or not (it is not known), he Pulalun, since 1859, proclaimed His Highest Crown Prince and heir-apparent, Maharaja Adinda Taup, who is to succeed him upon his death; moreover, Sultan Pulalun writing a letter of revocation of the said leased to the British North Borneo Company which was not heeded upon;
Whereas, on April 22, 1903, the British North Borneo Company, which succeeded to the rights of MESSRS. Gustavus Baron Von Overbeck and Alfred Dent, entered into another agreement with the Sultan of Sulu, (Sultan Jamalul Kiram-II) to include in the original lease certain islands laying North and Northeast of Borneo for an additional rental of $300 annually;
Whereas, MESSRS. Gustavus Baron Von Overbeck and Alfred Dent, and their successors, including the British Government, paid the total annual rental of $5,300 for the Leased territory until June 7, 1936, death of Sultan Jamalul Kiram-II;
Whereas, the British Government ceased to pay the annual rental amount in 1936 due to the controversy as to who are the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu or its successor entitled to receive the annuity , Sultan Kiram-II known to have no heir;
Whereas, the British Government should have reverted to Sharif Sultan Imam Ul-Alam Arpa who replaced Sultan Kiram-II in 1915 deduced as Highest Spiritual Leader of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo, as the successor to the said leased annuity and as the Sultanate’s Successor –Sultan deduced to Highest Spiritual Leader (by which a Sultan is also, such; temporal and ecclesiastical indivisible in nature) by the U.S. administration;
(2)
Whereas, in undermining veracity, on July 4, 1946 the United States blatantly incorporated the Muslim Sultanate lands and territories to have included Mindanao and Sulu into with the making of the Philippine Republic, inspite of the Sultanate’s Datos declaration of rights and purposes made in 1921 and submitted to the U.S. Congress on 1926, depriving the heir/s of the successor-Sultan Sharif Imam Ul-Alam Arpa or His heirs to the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo, of ownership over its territories;
Whereas, Senator Beacon of the United States passed the Beacon Bill in 1926 with the United States Senate which proposed that…”Independence be given to northern and central Provinces of the Philippines, but that Mindanao and Sulu be retained under American rule”. (see house bill 12772, 69TH Congress, first session. May 6, 1926);
Whereas, inspite of the solid expressions of self-determination and resolve to the total return of independence of the Mindanao and Sulu (Sultanates), the United States of America heedlessly proceeded to have incorporated the Mindanao and Sulu Sultanates’ lands and territories into with the Republic of the Philippines, blatantly breaching Article IV, section 3 of the United States Constitution and utterly disregarding the Beacon Bill of 1926 passed by the United States Senate;
Whereas, it was totally unlawful from the standpoint of the 1787 U.S. Constitution, the law of war of 1898 and the law of nations for the United States to occupy Mindanao and Sulu, when it was not a political component of the first Philippine Republic that declared war against the United States of America;
Whereas, on July 16, 1946, the British Government annexed as a crown colony the aforesaid leased territory known then as British North Borneo, thereby also depriving Sharif Sultan Imam Ul-Alam Arpa (Successor-Sultan) or His heirs to the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo, of ownership over the territory, North Borneo;
Whereas, the annexation of the territory North Borneo as a crown colony of the United Kingdom (Britain) is based mainly on the claim that the deed executed by Sultan Jamalul Alam on January 22, 1878 in favor of MESSRS. Gustavus Baron Von Overbeck and Alfred Dent was a cession and not a lease; which claim is unfounded because the deed in fact was merely a lease whereby the Sultan of Sulu delegated His Governmental powers to the lessees and granted to them the right to develop and exploit the territory, reserving to Himself the ultimate sovereignty over said territory;
Whereas, the act of annexation made by the British Government is furthermore, based on the claim that subsequent to the deed of January 22, 1878, The Sultan of Sulu capitulated in the same year to the crown of Spain which in turn renounced the sovereignty over North Borneo. Which claim lacks merit because in the Treaty of Capitulation between the Sultan of Sulu and the King of Spain, the Sultan did not relinquish His residual sovereignty over North Borneo, likewise the rest of the Sultanate Territories. As in fact, the Sultan was never nor permanently under the authority of the crown of Spain, and, therefore, the renunciation by Spain of sovereignty over North Borneo in the Treaty of 1885 with Britain did not serve to affect the right of sovereignty of the Sultan of Sulu over said territory;
Whereas, it results from the foregoing that the action of the British Government on July 16, 1946, annexing North Borneo as a crown colony is unwarranted and illegal; that the territory belongs to the Sultan of Sulu and Highest Spiritual Leader or His heir to the Sultanate of Sulu, the Sultanate State presently under GRP administration on account of the unwarranted and illegal treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898. That said heir and present successor to the Sulu throne, H.R.H. Sultan Sharif Maulana Paduka Ahmad Carpenter Arpa-V, is cordially exhorting Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippine Republic by which some the Sulu Sultanate lands and territories are presently being administered by; the protection of His Highness rights and dignities, and the rights and dignities of His peoples, that subject to adjustments of the lease rights of the British Government on North Borneo now administered by Malaysia as made the ultimate successor of the original lessees, and adjustments made of to other, said territories, should be restored to the ownership of His Highness H.R.H. Sultan Sharif Maulana Paduka Ahmad Carpenter Arpa-V, the Sultan of Sulu and to the sovereign jurisdiction of the Sultanate of Sulu, and whose seal and ancestral flags of authority recognized without qualification;
(3)
Whereas, inclusive of Kalimantan and North Borneo, the Sulu/Mindanao, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and Palawan Sultanate territories that was Unfoundly and Unwarrantly Sold by Spain to the United States of America in the December 10, 1898 Treaty of Paris by which the Sultan of Sulu/Mindanao did not have representation, nor being a contracting party to it, and without the knowledge nor consent as titular head of State;
Whereas, the August 20, 1899 Bates Treaty, agreement between Gen. John C. Bates of the U.S. Government and the Sultan of Sulu, profoundly recognizing the dejure sovereignty of the Sulu Sultanate State;
Whereas, other entreaties before and after the 1915 Carpenter Memorandum Agreement, affirming the dejure sovereignty of the Sulu Sultanate, as also the 1915 Carpenter Act, in its interpretative letter, legally guaranteeing the preservation and continuing existence of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo;
Whereas, inspite of the Sulu Sultanate’s Sultan-Highest Spiritual Leader and Datos’ declaration of rights and purposes made in 1921 and submitted to the U.S. Congress in 1926, stipulating the non-desire of being under the Commonwealth Government or the soon to be Philippine Republic, but instead rather declare ourselves back a Constitutional Sultanate or be retain under U.S. Administration; the United States heedlessly and blatantly incorporated the Sulu/Mindanao Sultanate territories into with the Philippine Republic on July 4, 1946. While the United Nations was founded for the preservation, peace and security of nations in 1945;
Whereas, the Sulu territory of Kalimantan (Southern Borneo) came under the forceful acquiescence of the Dutch Colonial Forces, the latter that might have had to do in promoting the 1678 rebellion in North Borneo and 1849 Kalimantan revolts undermining the Sulu Sultanate National Flag, “Door to Mecca”, that had been already flying there since the advent of the Sulu Sultanate, called by its people, the “Gate to Mecca”, and said territory later was turn-over to Indonesia was unwarranted and unfounded;
Whereas, the fact of His Highness cause, the Sultan of Sulu as understood as by heredity, and succession, and of consanguinity from Taif Arabia, Brunei and Sulu/Mindanao as by Sultan Betatar of the Holy City of Taif Arabia, a progeny of Nabi Muhammad (Salawlahu Alaihi Wassalam) the aforesaid’s son Zein Ul-Abidin or Awang Anak Betatar the latter known as the 1363 Sultan Mohamad Shah established the Sultanate of Brunei with him as its very first Sultan. He Zein Ul-Abidin, as also known as Abu’bkr came to Sulu and married the daughter of the Tomoai (Chieftein) Baginda. Baginda embraced Islam and took the name as Raja Baginda. After Raja Baginda passed away, Abu’bkr took over the political authority of his father-in-law and established the very first institutional Government in the Muslim National Archipelago, the Sultanate of Sulu with him as its very first Sultan in the reigning name as Sultan Sharif Ul-Hashim, meaning a Sharif from the Hashimite Kingdom of Taif Arabia;
Whereas, Abu’bkr’s brother, Bar-Baki, went to Malabang Lanao, who established the very first Sultanate of Mindanao as Sultan Kabungsuwan seated in Malabang Lanao. He exiled some of his people (raayats) to Cotabato marrying the daughter there of Tomaoi Aliywa. He farther exiled some of His raayats, who still deviated from Islam, to the Hinterlands and are the present Manobos and Tarunians of the area. After the death of His father-in-law, he too, took over the political authority, of the Latter and established the Sultanate there under his father-in-law’s Maguindanao-family dynasty, the Sultanate of Maguindanao, and Him as Sultan Aliywa, was also known as Karim Ul-Makdum; the first Sultanate Government founder of Mindanao; the Sultan who visited his brother Sultan Sharif Ul-Hashim in Sulu. These two Sultans and Makdums, documented by the Catholic Jesuit Priest Fr. Francisco Combes, of those who first brought, re-enforced and promulgated Islam to have walked on water, flew in the air and saved people from drowning;
Whereas, in the Sulu Sultanate, Sultan Sharif Ul-Hashim’s grandson, the 1520-1548 Sultan Shar Ul-Uddin Awal Digmin, also known as Sultan Mu’izz Ul-Mutawidin or better known as Maharaja Upo who reigned while his father Sultan Ala’Uddin Buto was still alive. Sultan Shar Ul-Uddin Awal Digmin was succeeded by the 1548-1596 Sultan Pangilan Buddiman, the reigning title of Mohamad Ul-Halim who hailed from Brunei as an assured line of descendancy from Sultan Sharif Ul-Hashim (Zein-Ul-Abidin). Sultan Buddiman’s wife was the daughter of Brunei Sultan Abdul Kahar, the latter, father of successor Brunei Sultan Seif Ul-Rijar who placed his brother-in-law Sultan Buddiman (Ul-Halim) as viceroy Sultan of Sulu;
(4)
Whereas, 1596-1678 Sulu Sultan Patara Shah also known as Pangiran Tengah or Panguan Tindig who also hailed from Brunei as an assured line of descendancy and whose father was Brunei Sultan Mohamad Hassan. Sultan Patara Shah’s cousin Adasaolan acquired marriage alliance with the Maguindanao Royal Family marrying the daughter of Maguindanao Sultan Laut Buisan or also known as Katchil (half-brother of Maguindanao Sultan Salikula) the latter being the Great-Grandson of Sultan Kabungsuwan (Sultan Aliywa or Karim Ul-Makdum). Adasaolan’s brother in-law Nasir’uddin succeeded as Maguindanao Sultan Qudarat, the latter who goes to His island sanctuary in a Sulu island known there by the Sulu Sultan as Sultan Nasir’uddin, the Sultan of that said island ;
Whereas, in Manilad or Selurong- the island of Luzon, its Sultan, Raja Sulayman and Tondo’s Sultan, Datu Lakandula, a nephew of Brunei Sultan and the former, a first cousin of the Bruinei Sultan at that time;
Whereas, the string of Sultanate in Cebu ruled by “King” Humabon (as referred by the Spaniards), this Sultan was converted to Christianity by the Spaniards. The reason why the Sempurna Pertama, Panglima Ege or Kaliph Pulaka, but better known as Lapu-Lapu left Borneo and came to the settlement of Suluan and Borneoan allies in Mactan to investigate the situation in Cebu;
Whereas, it is rest assured, that the strings of Sultanates expanded throughout the Muslim National archipelago later known as the Philippine Archipelago, its Kinships by consanguinity were inter-related from the assured line of descendancy from Brunei that originated from the Holy City of Taif Arabia;
Whereas, His Highness descendancy from the Brunei Nakhodas and Brunei Sultan Mohamad Shah (Zein Ul-Abidin, Abu’bkr) the latter or his successor, owner of North Borneo, gave North Borneo as a gift to His Nakhodas (fleet admirals and relatives) Sayyid Nakhoda Perkasa Angging and Sayyid Nakhoda Sangkalang who had led about 600 Sulu warriors sent by the Sulu Sultan in suppressing a 10 year rebellion by the self proclaimed Sultan Mobin of Northern Borneo in 1678;
Whereas, as a gesture of gratitude also to the Sulu warriors, and as by the Nakhoda owners, the Brunei Sultan ceded North Borneo to the Sulu Sultanate, making it then contiguous to Southern Borneo or Kalimantan in 1704, evident of the Sulu Sultanate State National Flag “The Door to Mecca”, known there as “Gate to Mecca” and known to have already flown in Kalimatan (Southern Borneo), evident of already having been a Sulu Sultanate territory since its advent;
Whereas, Datu Piang of Cotabato (Tan Tuy Piang) was a first cousin of Tan Liu Yang (Liudayang), the latter being His Highness Grandmother, (wife of Sharif Sultan Imam Ul-Alam Arpa);
Whereas,Liudayang’s father, Tan Sing Lian is a brother of Tan Peng, the latter being the father of Tan Piang or Datu Piang of Cotabato;
Whereas; Liudayang’s mother, Horayang, is a daughter of Tunggal Gareng, the latter being the brother of Gajah Tunggal of Kalimantan (now Indonesia);
Whereas, Datu Piang was a former Chief Minister of Maguindanao Datu Utto (Sultan Anwar’Uddin) of Buanyan;
Whereas, in 1888 death of Maguindanao Sultan Moh. Jalal’uddin Pablu, the Maguindanao Sultanate was vacant till 1896;
Whereas, the Maguindanao Sultanate vacancy was probably due to the fact that Datu Utto wanted His brother in-law Datu mamaku (a son of Sultan Qudarat-Ullah Untong) instead to succeed as the Sultan and not him;
Whereas, in1896, Maguindanao Sultan Mangigin reigned.Whereby in 1900, Sultan Mangigin transferred his residence from Cotabato to Sibugay. In 1906, he married Rajah Putri, the widow of Datu Utto and sister of Datu Mamaku;
(5)
Whereas, 1900 death of Datu Utto, the latter’s son in-law and chief Minister Datu Piang, married to Datu Utto’s daughter, reigned as Maguindanao Sultan with his seat in Dulawan-Cotabato, as the Datu Piang of Cotabato;
Whereas, the Buayan rulers and Lanao area rulers traced their descent to a daughter of Sharif Kabungsuwan, while the Iranun Maguindanao family dynasty, by where Sultan Qudarat descended, traced theirs, in a linear direction, to male descendants of the said Sharif;
Whereas, Sultan Qudarat (Ullah Untong), a descendant of Sharif Kabungsuwan or Sultan Aliywa (Karim Ul-Makdum the Sultanate government founder of Mindanao-Maguindanao seated at Malabang-Lanao), the most powerful Sultan in defense against the Spanish encroachments, his descendants nicknamed their Sulu cousin Sharif Carpenter Arpa-I (His Highness’ father) as “Utong” derived from the name, Ullah Untong-Qudarat. It was because Sharif Carpenter Arpa-I, in 1942-1945 being awarded the U.S. Presidential Citation for his heroic defenses against the Japanese encroachments in World War-II in the so-called Philippine Archipelago, which threatened to eliminate any Royal Family which was a threat to Japanese concept of their Emperor-God in the Muslim National Archipelago or so-called Philippines by where Japan was trying to promote their so-called,” higher race”;
Whereas, Sharif Carpenter “Utong” Arpa-I, of his heroic actions having served as a Captain in the United States Army Forces in the Far East is known as, “Tong-Tong” by which the residents in Siasi, place of his great grandfather, Sayyid Nakhoda Perkasa Angging (The Brunei Maharaja in the Sulus) at Subah Buaya and presently known as “Duhol-Duhol”, derived from Siama-Samal word “Tong-Tong”, meaning highest and top leader;
Whereas, it is assured that the strings of Sultanates in the Muslim National archipelagic islands were all inter-related by consanguinity and by blood-relations;
Whereas, His Highness Sultan Sharif Maulana Paduka Ahmad Carpenter Arpa-V Ibni Maharaja Adinda Taup Angging (Anddin) Zein Ul-Abidin is by and of that said consanguinity and blood-relations as by heredity and succession being the present Sultan of Sulu/Mindanao and North Borneo territories;
Whereas, in 1705, Sulu Sultan Sahab’Uddin ceded the Sulu Territory of Palawan to the Spanish Government; one reason why priory Brunei sent Sayyid Nakhoda Perkasa Angging as Maharaja in the Sulus to prevent any possible cession of North Borneo;
Whereas, in 1862, Sulu Sultan Moh. Fadlun, better known as Pulalun signed the Spanish protocol treaty with Spain giving Sovereignty rights or pretensions of Sovereignty to Spain over the Island of Jolo and its dependencies, by when the said Sultan transferred His seat to the Hinterlands of Jolo;
Whereas, in 1865, the United States Consul to Brunei, Claude Lee Moses, obtained a 10-year lease for the territory of North Borneo from Brunei. However, the post civil war of the United States, the United States wanted nothing to do with Asian colonies. So, Moses sold his rights to the Hong Kong-based American Trading. Besieged with financial difficulties, the company had, to its rights on North Borneo consul of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Hong Kong, Gustavos Baron Von Overbeck. Von Overbeck managed to get a 10-year renewal of the lease from the Temenggong of Brunei, and a similar treaty from the Sultan of Sulu on January 22, 1878;
Whereas, Jamalul Agdam (Azam) came forth presenting Himself as the Sultan of Sulu, signing the leased treaty agreement for perpetuity in exchange for arms and munitions in order to defend themselves from the Spanish Armada forewarned by the two British subjects in gaining the favor of the signing of the lease from the said so-called Sultan of Sulu without the knowledge nor consent of the reigning Sultan Pulalun at the Hinterlands;
Whereas, Jamalul Agdam signed the said treaty, indicating His name as Sultan Jamalul Alam, the supposed son of Sultan Pulalun. Said signing was obviously done about dusk, not being able to offload the said arms and munitions at night, and the intent of the said British Subjects never to deliver the said arms and munitions as for their use in the protection of their North Borneo Company. Evident of the said British Subjects leaving Jolo at about mid-night bringing with them the leased treaty agreement and the said arms and munitions aboard their ship, H.M.S. America, headed for North Borneo. Sultan Jamalul Alam was frowned upon of His actions, that there was never a known grave of him after his death;
(6)
Whereas,Von Overbeck, in order to finance his plans for North Borneo-Sabah, found financial backing from the Dent brothers-Alfred and Edward Dent. However, he was unable to interest his government in the territory. Von Overbeck withdrew in 1880, leaving Alfred Dent in control. Dent was supported by Sir Rutherford Alcock and Admiral Sir Harry Keppel;
Whereas, In July 1881, Alfred Dent and his brother formed the British North Borneo Provisional Association Ltd, and obtained an official royal charter on November 1, 1881 of the same Year. In May 1882, the British North Borneo chartered company replaced the provisional association, Sir Rutherford Alock became the first president, and Alfred Dent became managing director;
Whereas, Inspite of some diplomatic protests by the Dutch, Spanish and Sarawak governments, the British North Borneo Company proceeded to organized settlements and administration of the territory. The Company subsequently acquired further sovereign and territorial rights from the Sultan of Brunei expanding the territory under control to the Putatan river in May 1884, the Padas district in November 1884, the Kawang river in February 1885, the Mantanani islands in April 1885 and additional minor Padas territories in March 1898;
Whereas, In 1888, North Borneo together with Sarawak and Brunei, became a protectorate of Great Britain. Its administration, however, remained entirely in the hands of the British North Borneo Company, with the British crown only reserving control of foreign relations;
Whereas, on January 7, 1883, a letter from the British Secretary of State for foreign affairs, Lord Granville, confirms the position that the “Takeover” of the British over North Borneo-Sabah, a Sulu Sultanate property was a Lease and not a purchase. It states: ”The British charter (representing the British North Borneo Company) therefore differs essentially from the previous charters granted by the Crown….in the fact that the Crown in the present case assumes no dominion or sovereignty over the territories occupied by the company, nor does it purport to grant to the company powers of government, therefore; it merely conveys upon the persons associated the status and incidents of a body corporate, and recognizes the grants of territory and the powers of government made and delegated by the sultan in whom the sovereignty remains vested. It differs also from previous charters in that it prohibits instead of grants a general monopoly of trade. As regards the general features of the undertaking, it is to be observed that the territories granted to the company have been for generations under the government of the Sultanate of Sulu and Brunei, with whom Great Britain has had Treaties of Peace and Commerce.”;
Whereas, In retrospect, the British Foreign Affairs communiqué conceded that the matter of sovereignty remained vested in the Sultanate of Sulu, the Sultan of Sulu, and could not be delegated to any party because the Deed of January 22, 1878 expressly prohibited it;
Whereas, the thorniest item in the North Borneo/Sulu agenda was whether the Overbeck-Dent pact with the Sultan of Sulu was a Lease or Sale. Scholarly sources, including those officially issued by Britain and the United States, pointed out that the sovereignty over North Borneo-Sabah, was never, at anytime in the past and present relinquished in favor of any person, organization, or entity. Thus, the said agreement was merely a Lease;
Whereas, Legally and Technically, it remained to this day as the exclusive property of the sultan of Sulu and Brunei. This statement confirms the observation that the transfer of rights made by the lessees to the British North Borneo Company was Ab-initio, flawed and illegal. Thus, should have never had any binding effect or applicability;
Whereas, specifically, the Deed of 1878 clearly mentioned that, “The rights and powers hereby leased shall not be transferred to another nation or a company of other nationality”, same theme discussed in 1963 when a negotiation was made in London with Britain for the recovery of North Borneo. The British, in defense of their own argument, insisted the covenant entered into by Von Overbeck and Dent with the supposed Sultan of Sulu (Jamalul Alam) in 1878 was a sale and not a lease. Even for example, whereby the 1915 Sultan Jamalul Kiram-II giving up his temporal powers in exchanged for a lifetime pension, could not possibly abrogate the Sultanate of Sulu without the reigning Sultan Pulalun and/or his Maharaja Adinda family concurrences. The said 1878 lease treaty was never concurred by the reigning Sultan Pulalun at the hinterlands, evident of the latter writing a letter of revocation to the lease;
(7)
Whereas, a strong proof in favor of the Sultanate was when U.S. Governor-General Francis B. Harrison on February 27, 1947 furnished the Philippine Vice-President and foreign affairs secretary, Elpedio Quirino, a photostat copy of the Lease Treaty document, which was later translated from Malay language and the Arabic script by Professor H. Otley Bayer of the University of the Philippines. Moreover, Overbeck and Dent, in a statement before the Royal Colonial Institute on May 12, 1886 admitted that the deal they forged with the rightful owners of North Borneo did not forfeit the sovereign rights of the Sultan of Sulu and Brunei (the rightful owners) over the territories administered by the British North Borneo Company. Dent declared openly: “as to the charter, some friends of the enterprise seem to believe that the enormous powers we hold were given by Her Majesty the Queen. It is not so at all. All our powers were derived entirely from the Sultan of Brunei and Sulu, and what the British government did was simply to incorporate us by Royal charter, thus, recognizing our powers, which recognition is to us, of course, of vital importance.”;
Whereas, clearly, the said territory of North Borneo-Sabah do belongs to the Sultan of Sulu and Brunei to the present, and the Sulu Sultanate’s sovereignty was never lost, nor by default; and to the least as by the Carpenter Act of 1915 enacted by Governor Frank W, Carpenter, which stipulated the exemption of North Borneo-Sabah from being under the U.S. administration, but, as still belonging to the Sultanate of Sulu. Thus, in its interpretive letter, legally guaranteeing the preservation and continuing existence of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo-Sabah;
Whereas, in 1704, precautious of North Borneo being ceded by Sultan Sahab’Uddin (ceded Palawan instead in 1705 to Spain), The Brunei Sultan sent the North Borneo owner, Sayyid Nakhoda Perkasa Angging (Maharaja Anddin) to the Sulus to guard against this possibility of cession, given the Brunei Maharaja State Official Flag and the Twin Headed Crocodile/Alligator Flag, as the symbol of the Brunei Sultan’s twin authority to His Nakhoda as Maharaja in the Sulus, while Sayyid Nakhoda Sangkalang stayed in North Borneo guarding against possible encroachment from its Southern part Kalimantan, occupied by the Dutch Colonial Forces who might have had priory promoted the 1678 revolt;
Whereas, the name Maharaja was given to only one of the lineages of the Royal Family, Sayyid Nakhoda Perkasa Angging (Maharaja Anddin) who married Apuh Andun or Mahandun of Karongdong- Luuk, Jolo, and as a result, heir-apparent and/or Sultans under this continued assured line of descendancy append “Maharaja Adinda” as a title to the beginning of their names; Maharaja Adinda Taup, the son of Maharaja Anddin (Sayyid Nakhoda Perkasa Angging) the latter married to Mahandun;
Whereas, the said Brunei Nakhodas were the grandsons of Brunei Sultan Mohamad Shah (Zein Ul-Abidin, Abu’bkr) through Brunei Sultan Ahmad “Amir-Alatas” Uddin who elected another son (Seri Ali) to have succeeded him;
Whereas, Sayyid Nakhoda Perkasa Angging married Apuh Andun or Mahandun of Karongdong (present Luuk Jolo), a Royalty whose Uncle was Brunei Sultan Nassar’Uddin 1690-1705, Apuh Andun’s son was Maharaja Adinda Taup, Crowned Prince and heir-apparent of Sultan Pulalun, the latter being the nephew of Apuh Andun or Mahandun;
Whereas, Maharaja Adinda Taup’s son was Sharif Sultan Imam Ul-Alam Arpa, the successor-Sultan and Highest Spiritual Leader of the Sulu Sultanate who, in 1915, replaced Sultan Jamalul Kiram-II;
Whereas, His Highness’ Grandfather, Sharif Imam Ul-Alam Arpa did replaced Sultan Jamalul Kiram-II, the latter who gave up His Temporal powers to the U.S. Government in exchanged for a lifetime pension and positions of His Datos (direct followers) as Senators and/or Government positions with and under the American administration after the signing of the 1915 Carpenter Memorandum Agreement. However, deduced by the Americans as Highest Spiritual Leader (by which a Sultan is also such, indivisible in nature with its temporal power and position as Sultan), Sharif-Sultan Imam Ul-Alam Arpa standing as the Sultan of Sulu and as also of that said Doctrine of Government and religion, indivisible in nature, and nonetheless succeeding from Sultan Pulalun and the latter’s Crowned Prince Maharaja Adinda (heir-apparent) Taup as by the Rumah Bichara (voice of the peoples) and by consultation with Sultan Pulalun ratified by the Sultan of Brunei ( Sultan Jamalul Alam II), Sharif Sultan Imam Ul-Alam Arpa being the son of Maharaja Adinda Taup;
(8)
Whereas, the Sultanate Government in the Muslim National Archipelago (Philippine Islands) have never lost its Sovereignty and its Government functions are merely suspended due to foreign powers’ administrations;
Whereas, however, looked upon by foreign Sovereign powers as otherwise, lost and being under their Sovereign jurisdiction and/or under its National territorial delimited body politic, this is not true because our Sovereignty and Country was not lost thru default;
Whereas, the Treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898 after Spain’s forceful acquiescence upon the Muslim National Archipelago or so-called Philippine Islands, by when Spain sold to the United States of America for $ 20 Million Dollars in the Treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898, and by which the Sultan of Sulu and titular head of State of the strings of Sultanate Government were not contracting parties, and sold without the knowledge nor consent of said Sultanate Government, its Sultan;
Whereas, the Bates Treaty of August 20, 1899, an agreement between the Sultan of Sulu and the United States Government, later was unilaterally abrogated by the United States Government in 1903 without the knowledge nor consent of the Sultan and/or the Sultanate Government as a contracting party;
Whereas, the 1915 Carpenter Memorandum Agreement, although Sultan Kiram-II did signed, giving up His temporal powers was in no way a default of the Sultanate. It was merely the said Sultan stepping down in exchanged of a lifetime pension, and was replaced by a successor, Sharif Sultan Imam Ul-Alam Arpa deduced to Highest Spiritual Leader by the Americans, that do not have the competence to rule over the said act of deducing a successor;
Whereas, a successor is a successor and the Sultanate State was not abrogated. In abrogating a State, an instrument to be use is an executive order by the Sultan or Sovereign head, and not thru a mere Memorandum (1915 Carpenter Memorandum) demoting of the latter to a position, alike of a Governor;
Whereas, priory Sultan Pulalun after the 1862 signing of the Spanish protocol treaty, giving Spain sovereignty rights or pretensions of sovereignty over Jolo (Sulu), the said Sultan transferred his seat at the hinterlands. When then later in 1878, a self-acclaimed Jamalul Agdam presented himself to two British subjects as the Sultan of Sulu, entered into an agreement, signing himself as Sultan Jamalul Alam as the son of Sultan Pulalun, leasing and delivering North Borneo-Sabah to the British North Borneo Company without the knowledge nor consent of the reigning Sultan Pulalun at the hinterlands;
Whereas, in 1881-1884, Badaruddin-II came forth acclaiming to be the son of Sultan Jamalul Alam (known to have no heir nor children), and acclaiming himself as the next Sultan of Sulu;
Whereas, from 1881 thru 1884, usurpers to the Sulu throne, in conflict as: Alimmuddin, Harun Ar-Rashid and Amirul Kiram Awal-II came forth acclaiming themselves as Sultan of Sulu;
Whereas, Alimmuddin was driven off and/or retracted from his claim and went to Parang, Cotabato and eventually to Tawi-Tawi where he died;
Whereas, Harun Ar-Rashid was proclaimed by the Spanish government in Manila as the Sultan of Sulu as for expediency for the Spanish government’s intents and purposes. Although Harun Ar-Rashid was also driven off, and to Palawan where he retired;
Whereas, in 1884, Amirul Kiram Awal-II proclaimed himself as Sultan of Sulu in the title name as Sultan Jamalul Kiram-II as by his direct followers acclaiming the said sultan as the son of Sultan Jamalul Kiram-I (Muwalil Wasit), which is untrue because the latter is the father of Sultan Pulalun;
Whereas, these said usurpers and/or acclaimed sultans were in total disregard to the reigning Sultan Pulalun seated at the hinterlands, and underming the latter’s existence;
(9)
Whereas, said usurpers aside from being in conflict with one another by which one ruled south of Jolo and the other at the north, did conveniently served in the defense against foreign encroachments while the reigning Sultan Pulalun was seated at the hinterlands and the latter’s Pertama-Prince or Adinda and heir-apparent, Maharaja Adinda Taup, was fighting the Spanish encroachments far reaching the southern coast of Selurong or Luzon;
Whereas, Sultan Jamalul Alam’s claimed as the son of Sultan Pulalun was not legitimate for whether Sultan Pulalun either had a son or not, the latter had already proclaimed his successor heir-apparent Maharaja Adinda Taup in 1859, the father of Sharif Imam Ul-Alam Arpa, His Highness’ grandfather. Evident of Sultan Pulalun writing a letter of revocation to the leased treaty agreement between Sultan Jamalul Alam and the two British Subjects by which was not heeded upon by the British North