Bates Treaty: A Deadly Trick?
Posted by lupahsug on June 14, 2009
The United States send Brigadier General John C. Bates to negotiate a treaty with Sultan Jamalul Kiram II after US President William McKinley had a second thought on validity of the treaty and Spain’s claimed sovereignty over Mindanao. Add the armed Moros which made the situation threatening. For more than a month of diplomacy and refinement in the conditions, Jamalul Kiram II signed the treaty on 20 August 1899. The treaty was known as the Kiram-Bates Treaty. 15 articles were included in it and confirmed by the President of the United States on April 1900. Both parties disputed the interpretations. The Sultan wanted the recognition of Bangsamoro State as different from Revolutionary Government formed by Gen. Aguinaldo.
America applied different strategy to handle the Moros. Ranging from military, politics, social, economic and educational. US troops poured in Jolo, Palawan, Cotabato, Polloc, Parang, and Banganga in 1899. The Military District of Mindanao was created under the command of General John C. Bates. The command was relinquished to Brigadier General William Kobbe on 20 March 1900 and to Brigadier General Samul Sumner in 1902.
By virtue of 1903 Moro Act(6), the Military District became Moro Province with Major General Wood as the first Governor. From there on various laws were implemented until 1919 including the Torrens land titling system which was unknown to Moros and Lumads thereby depriving them of their ancestral lands which in favor to the settlers and multinational companies to acquire vast lands.
The creation of Moro Province provided the America to manipulate the Moro Land which is a violation of Kiram-Bates Treaty.The America wanted to prepare the integration and assimilation of Moros into body politics. The Governor enforced Custom Regulations, Tax Levy, land survey, mapping, and exploration of natural resources.
In United States, President McKinley was shot by an anarchist on 06 September 1901 and Theodore Roosevelt took oath as new President(7).On 02 March 1904, President Roosevelt declared the Kiram-Bates Treaty null and void. Governor Wood, informed Sultan Kiram on 21 March 1904 of the decision. The abrogation of treaty enabled the America to shift from Military to Civilian Rule.
General Wood was relieved by Brigadier General Tasker Bliss on 16 April 1906 and Brigadier General John C. Pershing on November 1909 until the creation of Department of Mindanao and Sulu. General Pershing was responsible for the first Christian settlers in Mindanao in 1912 and the implementation of Disarmament Policy.
