Sulu town celebrates 109th anniversary

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  --- Residents of a historic island town in Sulu that witnessed bloody conflicts in decades past celebrated Sunday the 109th anniversary of their municipality, optimistic the peace  in the area will boost efforts to foster sustainable development in their 50 barangays.

The municipality of Siasi, one of Sulu’s 18 towns scattered in the mainland province and smaller islands around, actually first became a “municipal district” during the American administration on February 11, 1904.

Siasi boasts of having many scions of local clans that brought the island town fame and honor.

Lawyer Jamar Kulayan, regional education secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said among the locals that made the municipality proud were Manila-based lawyer Arthur Lim, Hollywood movie writer Antony Tan, the late Time magazine writer Nelly Sindayen, and many others that became successful entrepreneurs, physicians, practicing lawyers and teachers.

Lawyer Jose Lorena, who, as former counsel of the Moro National Liberation Front, helped craft the September 2, 1996 government-MNLF peace pact, also hails from Siasi, according to relatives.

Even former Senator Santanina Rasul belongs to Siasi’s Tillah clan. Her spouse, the late Abraham Rasul, was also an ethnic Tausog from Sulu who had served the government as ambassador to different Islamic states in the Middle East.

Lawyer Wilson Anni, one of the pioneer members of the 1st Regional Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, established following the ratification of the ARMM’s first charter, Republic Act 6743 through a plebiscite in 1990, also hails from Siasi town.

ARMM’s acting governor Mujiv Hataman, graced Sunday’s 109th founding anniversary celebration of Siasi in the island province.

Hataman called on Siasi residents to support President Aquino’s peace overtures with Moro sectors in Mindanao, which is focused on fostering peace and sustainable development in Southern Philippine Muslim communities.

Local Moro historians said there is no strong historical basis on how Siasi got its name, except for a folklore that says it could have originated from a Spanish friar who worked in the area and had the habit of yelling to Tausog and Samah settlers “si hace,” which means “you work,” in simple context.

Since there was strong resistance by locales to the presence of the Spaniards which were for them invaders trying to “Christianize” them, people that heard the friar tell them “si hace,” mumbled and repeated the phrase in their heavy Tausog and Samah accent, until the name Siasi came to fold.

Hataman, while in Siasi, also announced to local residents their municipality is to get this year a grant from the ARMM government of P10 million for the expansion of their seaport, and another P2 million for their water system.

Catholic communities in Siasi and several other islands in Tawi-Tawi, also a component province of ARMM, are now under the pastoral care of the Jolo Vicariate, which is run the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) congregation.

Oblate missionaries in these areas are engaged in projects furthering Muslim-Christian solidarity and the preservation of the unique religious and cultural identities of local Moro communities. - John Unson