MANDATE IN MOROLAND
Appendix D
MEMORANDUM AGREEMENT
BETWEEN
THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE
PHILLIPINE ISLANDS
AND
THE SULTAN OF SULU
Being the Complete
Renunciation by the Latter of his
Pretensions of
Sovereignty and a Definition of his Status
Zamboanga, March 22, 1915
NOTE. –
Prior to American occupation the Sultanate of Sulu had been for more than 400
years an independent sovereignty; during the latter portion of the Spanish
regime the Sultanate had partially relinquished the exercise of that sovereignty
as to foreign relations and to a lesser degree as concerned the port of Jolo
and the four other points occupied by Spanish military garrisons; a temporary
sovereignty, partial but nevertheless de facto, existed and was recognized by
the Bates treaty in the term ‘the Government of the Sultan,’ to which the
American authorities were by that agreement required to turn over for trial
cases ‘where crimes and offenses are committed by Moros against Moros’ (Art.
IX).
The
abrogation of the Bates treaty was premised upon other matters than the de jure
sovereignty of the Sultan, who subsequently neither by conquest nor otherwise
lost or relinquished his claims to sovereignty so far as concerned internal
affairs of government of the Sulu Archipelago until he signed this agreement of
March 22, 1915, at Zamboanga.
Copy of the
agreement of August 20, 1899, between Gen. John C. Bates, United States Army,
and the Sultan of Sulu (the Bates treaty) also herewith.
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE
PHILLIPINE ISLANDS
DEPARTMENT OF MINDANAO AND
SULU,
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
Zamboanga, P.I., March 22,
1915
MEMORANDUM
The
governor of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu, Frank W. Carpenter, duly
authorized by His Excellency the Governor General, and the Sultan of Sulu,
Hadji Mohammad Jamalul Kiram, together with other officers of the government,
as well as various councilors of the Sultan, after due discussion of the
declarations of the Governor General and president of the Phillipine
Commission, Luke E. Wright, and the said Sultan of Sulu, and their respective
associates, in certain hearings held in Manila on July 19, 20, and 26, 1904,
following the abrogation of the so-called Bates treaty by the President of the
United States, March 21, 1904, reach the following mutual understanding of the
result of said hearings:
Whereas
the Sultan of Sulu is the titular spiritual head of the Mohammedan Church in
the Sulu Archipelago, with all the rights and privelages which under the
Government of the United States of America may be excercised by such an
ecclesiastical authority, and subject to the same limitations which apply to
the supreme spiritual heads of all other religions existing in American
territory, including the right to solicit and receive voluntary popular
contributions for the support of the clergy, rites, and other necessary lawful
expenses of an ecclesiastical character.
The
Sultan of Sulu, on his own account and in behalf of his adherents and people in
the Sulu Archipelago and elsewhere within American territory, without any reservation
or limitation whatsoever, ratifies and confirms his recognition of the
sovereignty of the United States of America, and the exercise by his Excellency
the Governor General and the representatives of that Government in Mindanao and
Sulu of all the attributes of sovereign government that are exercised elsewhere
in American territory and dependencies, including the adjudication by
government courts or its other duly authorized officers of all civil and
criminal causes falling within the laws and orders of the Government.
The
Sultan of Sulu and his adherents and people of the Mohammedan faith shall have
the same religious freedom had by all adherents of all other religious creeds,
the practice of which is not in violation of the basic principles of the laws
of the United States of America.
In
testimony of the above mutual understanding we, the undersigned, the governor
of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu and the Sultan of Sulu, do hereby affix
our signatures in permanent record thereof.
(Signed) Hadji Mohammad Jamalul Kiram
Sultan
of Sulu
(Signed) Frank W. Carpenter
Department
Governor
Witness to above:
(Signed) Dato Rajamuda
(Signed) Peter E. Traub
Colonel,
United States Army
District
Chief, Phillipine
Constabulary
(Signed) Hadji Bu’u
Special
Assistant to the
Provincial
Governor of Sulu
(Signed) Dato Mohammad
(Signed) Isidro Vamenta
Department
Secretary
(Signed) Abdullah Awang
Secretary
to Sultan
(Signed) Ponciano Reyes
Department
Attorney
(Signed) Hadji Mohammad
(Signed) Guy N. Rohrer
Governor,
Province of Sulu
(Signed) Panglima Tahil
(Signed) H. Gulamu Rasul
Aid-de-camp
of the
Department
Governor
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