Pillaged and ransacked several times in the last 150 years.

Since Arab traders came upon this Tausug settlement in the 14th century, Jolo’s history had been punctuated by periods of intense violence and turmoil. That Jolo is still standing is a testament to its resilience.

A former youth leader—a Christian who had recently converted to Islam—worked with a woman community leader from Patikul to construct Jolo’s narrative:

We, the Tausug, came from Sulu. What is a Tausug? Why are we called that? The word Tausog comes from Tao, which means man, and Sug, which means current. So Tausug… of the Sulu Sea.

To give you an overview of the community where we belong—about 600 miles from Manila, you can reach Sulu. We have a total land area of 163,400 hectares. We have 157 islands and islets. We are rich in population and natural resources. We are approximately 700,000—with 95% of whom are Muslims, 3% are Christians… 2% are Buddhists and (those practicing) other indigenous beliefs, including Sama. The main source of income in our community is fishing, then seaweed farming, and carpentry… small-scale business, fruits, and barter trade. Some work as laborers, bakers, laundrywomen. We live in shanties and squatter areas.

We feel terror, of course, when there are bombings. Those are unexpected. They happen so suddenly. Nobody desires that in our community, but it just happens like lightning. Of course, we are also proud to have… hehehe… kidnappings. So, the presence also of the Abu Sayyaf. They taint every one of us. Even though we are not members of the Abu Sayyaf, people call us Abu Sayyaf. Even though our goal is community development… that’s what the Tausug or the taga-Sulu want. But this halo effect could not be avoided.

And then, of course, military operations. The military conducts a lot of combat operations in Jolo. And even without the military operations, just the mere presence of the military can strike fear in the hearts of the populace. There are many soldiers, battalions of them in Sulu. Those who are not used to seeing so many of them would probably think that Jolo must be crawling with terrorists to bring in so many soldiers in full battle gear down there. They ask why there are soldiers. People who are not from Sulu, those who come from other cities, they quake when they see so how many soldiers there are in Sulu. They think that— there are terrorists here because here are the soldiers.

Yes, I think we do know when violence is about to happen or has happened. There is hearsay, and we see newsmen… Of course, relatives report and warn when there s going to be an attack. Media reports, on the other hand, some are true and some are not. Then, there’s the military presence—we see changes in their activities. They check cars, so you would expect that an operation is on the offing. They must have seen unlawful elements who would lead some disturbance in the community.

We try to get out of harm’s way. Some transfer residence. Those who can afford, they relocate to other cities like Davao. I really wanted to come to Davao to meet the Tausugs who are here. Luckily, I did meet some of them and I asked how they are. They said they’re now based here. They are the ones who have the wherewithal, so that’s what they do. If not in Davao, you’ll find them in Zamboanga or in other communities. Those who have no means end up in the evacuation centers in Jolo.

What do Jolo evacuation centers look like? We try to make sure that there is space for a child center so kids can play. There are relief operations and assessments. It’s relatively planned… that when certain crisis situations happen, there are plans about the things that need to be done and who would do it. The agencies involved coordinate efforts to help those affected. It’s already part of community life and our expectation that soon there would be armed encounters again. It is part of life for the Tausug to expect violent incidences to happen… Out of that, the effect of these experiences… the impact on the individual… it could lead to turning to violent behaviors like beheadings … or you read about soldiers who were subjected to torture.

The evacuation centers are usually the schools. So that’s about as comfortable as you can expect. There are comfort rooms… then there’s a child center space, no matter how limited. As far as I know, it’s the Kalimayhan Project, working with the Child Fund Philippines, that really focuses on the children and youth in Jolo. Relief operations are relatively okay, although there are times when the government agencies have difficulty delivering because even they are refused recognition. So relief distribution could get delayed. We also notice that the kind of assessment that is done in the evacuation centers is just to have data. There’s room for improvement there.