Finally...they will be remembered

Better late than never but I am happy to know that our brave Muslim brothers will finally get the much needed recognition for their bravery and freedom loving thanks to Senator Aquilino Pimentel. Although I am not a big fan of him, but with the bill he written for the recognition of the brave men, women and children of Jolo, I’ll give a plus credit for that.

So what is this bill all about? The bill proposes that March 6 will be called “Bud Dajo Day” in his Senate Resolution No. 70. The resolution was co-authored by then enate President Franklin Drilon and Senators Juan Flavier, Francis Pangilinan, Edgardo Angara, Rodolfo Biazon, Pia Cayetano, Loi Ejercito-Estrada, Jinggoy Estrada, Richard Gordon, Panfilo Lacson, Alfredo Lim, Jamby Madrigal, Sergio Osmeña III, Ralph Recto and Ramon Revilla, Jr.

Citing an account of the Battle of Dajo in the book “Swish of the Kris,” written by historian Vic Hurley, Sen. Pimentel said an examination of the dead showed that many of the Moros had up to 50 wounds. Of the 1,000 Tausugs who fought the invaders, only six men escaped the carnage.

Pimentel said the bravery and martyrdom of the defenders of Bud Dajo can be compared to the legendary feat of Jewish Zealots who fought the Roman colonizers in the year 72 of the Christian Era at the top of the mountain fortress called Masada. Rather than surrender to the Roman invaders, the Jewish people all committed suicide.

Pimentel said the ne’er-say-die spirit of the Tausugs at Bud Dajo was also replicated by the Japanese Kamikaze pilots who crashed their planes on American warships in the battle over Okinawa towards the end of World War II in the Pacific.

“Bud Dajo stands proud in the annals of bravery of people fighting for the freedom of their homeland that was certainly on the level of Masada and higher than those of Okinawa and Saipan,” he said.

(Blogger’s note: some portions are taken from the Philippine Senate website dated March 8, 2006 entitled 1,000 TAUSUG WARRIORS WHO FOUGHT AND DIED AT BUD DAJO BATTLE DECLARED AS “MARTYRS OF FREEDOM”)