The much older Tabawan settlement now belongs to the new municipality of South Ubian. There is no North or Central Ubian. Why the municipality is called South Ubian when it is actually located in the easternmost portion of the province of Tawi-Tawi is a mystery to many. Speaking of mystery, the island of Tabawan holds the key to the understanding of the mysterium and the fascinans of the Sama peoples. In this island rest their ancestors and the spirits that guide their destiny. The indigenous rituals widely practiced are known as “pagomboh” and “pagdiwata”. The former is a ritual related to their ancestors – a devotion to their origin, and the latter refers to the spirits or jinns – rituals of offering to please the jinns. These two rituals have become keys to the very soul of the Sama peoples who are the inhabitants of all the islands that form the Municipality of South Ubian.

The more famous landmark of Tabawan is the ancient well called Boheh Dea. Boheh is the Sama word for water and Dea is the word for forest. Boheh Dea, then would mean water in the forest. There are legends around the well. The more obvious one is the fact that it is the “source of life for the Sama people. As long as the well does not run dry, the Sama peoples live! And popular belief among the old says that at the other end of the Boheh Dea is the Zamzam Well in Makka. The people remember well that by tradition and by belief, the great Zamzam Well is a gift from Allah, precisely to save the lives of Hagar and her child ‘Ismael. Bohed Dea, definitely, is one of the great wonders in the region. It is considered a real miracle to have continued supply of fresh water in a very deep well in a coral reef island.

Tabawan is also the center of the mystical rituals for the Sama omboh (ancestors). They celebrate the omboh devotion twice a year. The first ritual is to appease the ancestors for the “disturbances” created in the community and family. They call this ritual as omboh jabo. The families prepare a ligu (a tray made of bamboo) containing seven plates filled with yellow rice. The local Imam (religious leader) leads the families in prayers that accompany the offering of the ligu. The other omboh rituals mark the Sama peoples’ departure and arrival – asking for the ancestors’ blessing before departure and thanksgiving on safe arrival.

The other famous ritual in Tabawan is pagdiwata. Here the people play their gongs and kulintang accompanied by local dances (igal) to appease the jinns or the diwatas. This ritual is important, because of the popular belief that jinns and diwatas have powers both to guide and misguide peoples. The performance of rituals, in many ways, “guarantees” that good jinns continue to help them and guide their path to righteousness and ward off the evil jinns.

A more contemporary landmark in the island is the Notre Dame of Tabawan or NDT. From the early 60’s to the present, NDT stands as the anchor of hope for the Sama for a better future. The founder of the school, Fr. Leopold Gregoire, OMI, had become a legend to the Sama peoples. Fr. Gregoire devoted almost his entire life in the islands and their inhabitants. He was their first teacher, the medicine man and a fac totum (a do all man) in the islands. The high academic standard and the strict discipline in the school and through the tireless efforts of Fr. Gregoire, the children of the Sama peoples are able to access higher education. He was a compassionate and fair man. The first trait is a path to the hearts as symbolized by the peoples’ omboh (ancestors) and the second is the path to open the mind – their capabilities symbolized by the jinns. He became the local “doctor’ – a real “medicine man” in indigenous cultures.

The Sama peoples recognize this great contribution of Fr. Gregoire. In fact, he has NOT left Tabawan in death but simply has become an omboh among their ancestors. Perhaps this is the reason why even today, the peoples of Tabawan continue to celebrate the annual festival of his birth that has become a sort of “town fiesta” - an offering to their “white omboh” who came from a very distant land (Canada) and lived his life with them.

In a small island like Tabawan in the middle of nowhere and among one of the most abandoned peoples of the earth, NDT stands proud to have contributed to the province of Tawi-Tawi, Sama professionals that include among others teachers, civil servants, nurses, and accountants. The legend of Fr. Gregoire lives on in the dedication and lives of newer Oblate generation of priests and brothers assigned to the place.

Another Oblate Missionary who has become an omboh to the Sama people is Fr. Jesus Rey Roda, OMI. Almost ten years of his active missionary life was spent in Tabawan. He took the life and deeds of Fr. Gregoire as the pastoral paradigm in his work with the Sama peoples of Tabawan and neighboring islands. NDT is known for English and mathematics in the whole province of Tawi-Tawi. The NDT students are known throughout the region as “English speakers”. The parents and the students since the early 60’s have made the commitment to speak English in the campus at all times. Then in 1998, Fr. Rey introduced computer literacy to the high school students thereby introducing the kids to the digital era.

In 2003, NDT began to undertake community extension services. Through the help of Tabang Mindanao under the Assisi Foundation, The school’s Community Extension Service provided 60 houses to the Halaws (“deportees” from Sabah). The next target was the supplemental feeding for 140 grade one pupils of Lawm (inside) Tabawan Central Elementary School. After six months, the supplemental feeding expanded to Likud (back) Tabawan Elementary and Bintawlan Elementary School. Then NDT partnered with Christian Children Foundation or CCF in the feeding program for undernourished pre-school kids. Again in 2005, Fr. Rey took the Sama youth of the island to task by encouraging them in enterprise development. They were divided into five groups and with the assistance from the Consuelo Foundation, they gained access to a micro-finance facility to begin small business enterprises.

In January 2006, the GMA Kapuso Foundation came to the island through NDT Community Extension Service. The Foundation distributed 4,000 bags containing books, can goods, biscuits & cookies, candies and “pancit” that brought much joy to elementary pupils of Tabawan.



In this peaceful and very idyllic place, came one day the jahannam (evil people) from the “outside”. They brutally murdered Fr. Rey in the early evening of January 15th, 2008. The Sama people were shocked and felt helpless in front of the jahannam who came heavily armed. They were not from the place and wore no masks flaunting their brute power and arrogance. When their evil mission was accomplished they left as they came with their high speed pump boats. And the whole community felt they lost a ‘mmah (father).

The real surprise in this tragedy was the fact that the local police force was nowhere to be found yet the police station was only about 30 meters away from the convent. When the jahannam left the island, the PNP like ghosts had miraculously re-appeared in the scene! To date, the Police investigation has NOT produced any results neither the Local Police Force has submitted any official reports on the murder of Fr. Rey. The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the congregation to whom Fr. Rey belonged, continues to hope for a day to come when justice would be done to all the victims of senseless killings perpetrated in the place. The OMIs, in the last ten years, have buried three of their missionaries murdered in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi - Bishop Benjamin de Jesus, OMI executed in public in front of the Jolo Cathedral on February 4, 1997, Fr. Benjamin Inocencio, OMI again executed in public at the back of the Jolo Cathedral on December 28th, and Fr. Jesus Reynaldo Roda, OMI violently taken from his convent and executed at the Notre Dame School ground on January 15th, 2008.

The local folks believe that the murder of Fr. Rey has disturbed the omboh. They continue to mourn and grieve Fr. Rey’s death. After performing the proper rituals of cleansing and offerings to the omboh, the community with their new pastor, Fr. Rito Daquipil OMI and his companion Bro. Ryan, have begun to turn a new page. With pain in their hearts, yet full of trust in the goodwill and hospitality of the Sama peoples, they pick of the pieces and begin anew.

Batu-Batu was the more popular name known to people to designate the southeastern side of mainland Tawi-Tawi. The “new” name of the municipality is actually Panglima Sugala but people seldom use the name. The municipality extends southeast toward Belatan island, and the isles of Liaburan and Tanduh. There are three prominent features of the island. The first is its very fertile land. At one time, the farmers of Batu-Batu supplied the archipelago of Tawi-Tawi with cassava (the staple food of the inhabitants), fruit and vegetables. Batu-Batu is one of the most fertile islands in the entire Philippines.


The second is its deep natural harbor. As far back as the Spanish time, the natural harbor of Batu-Batu has served the region well in keeping the maritime security of the archipelago. Its protected harbor can be compared to Subic Bay in Luzon and Polloc Bay in Cotabato. During the early days of World War II, it was the base from which the Filipino guerillas operated. Today, it hosts the Navy’s Task Force 61 that patrol and protect the country’s southern waters.

In addition to the rich natural resources, the island boasts of a special historical significance. Beneath its marshy waters and the forests of Dungon lay the ruins of the royal “astana”, the sanctuary built by one of the claimants to the throne of Sulu Sultanate during the Internecine War for succession in the 18th century.

The Christian migrants settled in Batu-Batu in the early 50‘s as part of the EDCOR (Economic Development Corps) Program during the time of President Ramon Magsaysay. It was an anti-insurgency agrarian program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines that settled rebels and their sympathizers in Mindanao . The Batu-Batu EDCOR experiment was an exception in many ways. Besides being the only agrarian reform program in the one time empire Province of Sulu, it was intended to become a pilot agricultural development model for Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.. The “settlers” were given home lot and farms to cultivate and they were under the “protection “ of the Philippine Navy.

An agricultural school was also established in the place to train more “tillers” for of the soil for the islands and assist the local farmers reap the fertility of the land. Batu-Batu could supply all the neighboring islands including Sabah with casava, fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products. But the war of the early 70’s between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front had changed the relationships in the community as well as all the land programs of the place.


The Christian minority with the Naval Station’s assistance have managed to survive the crisis and they were able to gather the broken pieces of their livelihood on their return to the island post the creation of the new Tawi-Tawi Province in 1973. One of the sources of their hope and strength during the dark period of their history is the continued pastoral care of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. When the Mission station was abandoned, because of the war, priests from Bongao would come on regular basis to serve few Christians that had remained and the personnel of the Philippine Navy that had a base in the island to secure the archipelago. But as soon as normalcy returned, Oblate priest with brave heart is assigned to the place.

The present Provincial Governor is Hon. Sadikol Sahili. He was the Mayor of Batu-Batu for many years prior to his election as Governor. By coincidence he is an agriculturist by profession - a graduate of Musuan State University in Bukidnon from where his wife came. When he took over the leadership of the island, many thought that he would bring the dream to reality - Batu-Batu the bread basket of the archipelago. This was not so… It remains an elusive dream! With the young Sahili (the son) as Mayor and a development-oriented wife in charge of the municipality, the dream remains within reach.


The EDCOR dream for Batu-Batu includes the Philippine Navy as an important component. In fact the dream of an agricultural settlement arrived at the place as a “program for peace” of the revitalized Armed Forces of the Philippines during the time of President Ramon Magsaysay. With the continuing security problems that includes among others rebels and the dreaded Abu Sayyaf Group, the participation of the Philippine Navy’s Task Force 61 is crucial in the development of the island. The Task Force’s Commanding Officer, Navy Captain Joel dela Cruz, is a gentleman and equally development-oriented officer. With the partnership of the LGU and the Philippine Navy, the island with its very fertile soil may still yield a bountiful harvest - becoming a veritable bread basket of these “Emerald Isles” and beyond.

In the archipelago of Tawi-Tawi, Sibutu Island stands for two things. First, it is the home of “ukkil” wood carvers and second, it is famous for boat making. “Ukkil” is an ancient wood art ala Pampanga- or Paete-style sans images. The more elaborate “ukkil” are seen in famous houses, mosques and burial grounds. The vine and flowery designs are believed to be as ancient as the Majapahit or the Sri Vijaya empires that connected the Southern Philippines culturally to its southern neighbors, Indonesia and Malaysia, prior to the coming of Islam. While the “ukkil” art is found nearly in all the islands, the “real macoy” are made in Sibutu, because the people there are reputed to be the “custodians” of this “sacred art”.

The other fame of the “islanders” is their expertise and mastery in boat-making. Big and small boats that navigate the Sulu Sea are “Made in Sibutu”. These boats are more popularly known as “kumpits”. Because of this technology, Sibutu has provided the peoples of Tawi-Tawi and Sulu the means to connect all the dots (islands and islets) in the Sulu Sea. They also build “modern” boats and speedboats that can compare with the very expensive fiber glass version. Sibutu has an advantage over the other islands because it grows all kinds of wood for all the timber needs of the province, from charcoal to light and hard timber for their boats and houses.

Sibutu maintains its mystique for the simple fact that the remains of Sheik Karim Makhdum, the Arab missionary who introduced Islam, lie in the island. His tomb, a national historical site, is located in Tandu Banak. To some historians, this tomb may sound confusing since the people of Simunul also claim that their island is the locus not only of the first mosque built by the Sheik himself but also of his “real” tomb. The inhabitants point to the “miraculous” mound that has become a “tampat” – a sacred place. We shall veer away from the many competing claims. Suffice to say that all these burial grounds are considered “tampat”, including the one in Jolo.

The people in Simunul believe in the legend that Karim Makhdum was a giant who could traverse the Sulu Sea on foot as he moved from island to island. The coral reefs during low tide actually connect the islands. The other possible explanation is the fact that Karim and Makhdum are really NOT proper names but the plural for “holy” and “learned” men. Is this a case of several holy and learned men, instead of only one historical person, who were responsible for the Islamization of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi? The acceptance of this theory could help explain the several burial grounds. They are all tombs of Karim Makhdum!



The people of the island have always been passionate for education. Way back in 1957, when the leaders heard of the Notre Dame schools in Jolo and Bongao under the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, they sent word to Bishop Francis McSorley, OMI, to establish one in Sibutu. For more than 50 years now, the Notre Dame of Sibutu has continuously produced competent boys and girls to pursue higher studies in Jolo, Bongao, Zamboanga City, and beyond. Through the years Notre Dame of Sibutu has produced many professionals who now serve as the backbone of both the public and private sectors in the province.

The occasion for our visit was the celebration of the annual fiesta of St. Francis of Assisi, with Bishop Angelito Lampon, OMI as the main celebrant. Priests and parishioners from the neighboring island had also come to join in the festivities. The officers and men of the nearby Philippine Air Force base and the Philippine Marines, who are in-charge of the security of the group of islands that include Sibutu, were also in attendance.

The most interesting small Christian community in the island is found in Barangay Tongehat. There are about 25 Christian families in the area who have found their livelihood as seaweed farmers in the coral reefs of Sibutu. Their Sama and Badjao neighbors have accepted them and they all live in peace. Living in peace in the area is something relative. This is due to the fact that the tiny Christian minority poses no threat to the local powers that be. Secondly, the powerlessness of the Christian minority makes them totally reliant on the “goodwill” of their majority neighbors. Thirdly, the Christians have to bear the label “Bisaya” with all its pejorative meaning dating back from the time of the slavery and piracy in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The more educated inhabitants who had ventured outside and have returned to the island have seen the bigger picture that in this country, they are actually the minority and thus have more favorable and fresher outlook of the presence of the few Christians in the place. This openness to each other as neighbors and the respect that each one accords the other as part of sharing a common humanity are the real formula for living together as partners and co-citizens of the planet. In places where this type of openness and respect are absent, the people live “in fear and trembling” for the security of their person and livelihood.

I was at Tongehat as the people celebrated the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. To my great surprise, the barangay was fully alive with all kinds of festivities. They had volleyball and basketball competitions, and the barangay center was teeming with all kinds of other games – cards and dices! It was like any barangay in the Philippines celebrating a big “fiesta”. This spirit of celebration and the sheer joy of being together are perhaps the more enduring bonds that unite us together regardless of faiths, cultures and languages.



Fr. Raul Biasbas, OMI, the director of Notre Dame of Sibutu, was our good host during this visit. He invited everybody to the feast and they all came in their “wedding” garments. There was much singing and dancing during this annual fare. The old, young, and children came from all over and they celebrated their fiesta with great abundance. Food and drink also overflowed, especially with a wild pig courtesy of some men from the Air Force who went hunting the previous night. Sibutu is still famous for this kind of hunting.

The several islands in Tawi-Tawi, like other places in the ARMM, can teach us a lesson or two about development and governance. The infrastructure projects put up by funding agencies are tragic examples of money gone down the drain. Halls, centers, and other infrastructures are pitiful sights. They are uncompleted, unserviceable and abandoned to rot. Likewise, the program support for local governments in the ARMM is in place through the now infamous internal revenue allotment or IRA, yet not a slightest dent has been made in the style as well as performance of the local government in the area.

The people, who are not experts on development and governance, have expressed their dreams in only three things: first is livelihood; second is access to good basic education for their children; and last is access to other basic social services like health clinics with medical personnel and medicine, and potable water. While international donor agencies and LGUs think of big things, the three simple dreams of people remain unmet. Based on the look of things in the province now, the people must gird themselves for a very long wait for their simple dreams to be fulfilled! Tsk Tsk Tsk!

Sitangkai, Tongehat, Halusugbo and other islands like Sibutu, Tumindao, Sipangkot and Omapuy have coral reefs that stretch into Darbel Bay, Malaysia. The coral reefs in ancient times served as land bridges connecting the islands to Asia. At low tide, one can still “walk” and explore the miles and miles of coral reefs. The wonders to behold are the white sandbars in middle of nowhere somewhere in the Sulu Sea that borders Malaysia. Pitching tent in one of the sandbars and snorkeling around to admire the beauty of the sea world is an experience beyond description. The coral reefs are teeming with marine life – fishes of all colors, octopus, all types of sea urchins, different colors of star fish, etc. Yes, it is another world and uncontaminated by modern life, except for the tent and the snorkels.

The fascinating experience in my visit to the Emerald Isles is a visit with the community (pondok) of seaweed farmers in a place called Halusugbu (see photo). It is a mixed community of Muslim and Christian seaweed farmers. The coral reefs to them do not simply mean fish and other seafood at our tables but they have also become “sea farms” for seaweeds. The 15 or 20 Christian families in Halusugbo came from all places in mainland Mindanao. They were “land farmers” at one time but hardship and land disputes led them to explore the vast coral reefs in the Sulu Sea. They began “sea farming” about ten years ago. It is hard work also like land farming. But here right in the middle of the Sulu Sea, loneliness and not seeing land for days and weeks have transformed them into the new people of the sea. Speaking of Kevin Costner’s Water World in the previous article, here in Halusugbu and in all other pondoks as well, we have our versions of that world in the Sulu Sea.

Halusugbu is a very unique community of Muslims and Christians seaweed farmers. On one end of the pondok is a mosque with a friendly “Imam” (Muslim prayer leader) who leads the Muslim community to prayer at a specified time during the day. And on the other end is the small Catholic chapel for the community prayers and liturgical celebrations. Yes, here in the middle of nowhere the human voice praising God is heard and proclaimed. In the loneliness of the sea and as they keep watch of the sun’s rising and setting, they eke their daily lives peacefully tending to their seaweeds. They have learned to become neighbors and their lives are bound both by poverty and common livelihood.



The past five months have been extraordinarily good to them. The price of seaweeds is good and continues to rise as the world’s demand for seaweeds increases. A kilo of dried seaweeds in Sitangkai commands a price of 95 pesos; 100 pesos in Bongao and about 105 pesos in Zamboanga. The harvest has also been good, since they have been spared of the dreaded “snowflake” (seaweeds’ equivalent of “tongro”). We visited the place at the end of Ramadan fasting and it was an occasion for feasting thanking God for his bountiful mercy. For the Christians, it was a thanksgiving celebration as their bishop and party visited the community and broke bread with them.

The whole liturgical celebration was truly mind-boggling. Bishop Lito and Frs. Jun, Pone, Ross and Celoi (the Pastor of Sitangkai who is also responsible for Halusugbo) joined hands with Nong Kardo (the prayer leader in photo with his wife), his family and neighbors to celebrate God’s presence in their midst. It was a very simple, yet moving celebration… very much unlike our celebration on land and in a “regular “church. The faith and devotion of the seaweed farmers bind them to each other as they encourage and give strength to one another. This is one place in the planet where prayers and faith, truly, give solace and hope to the heart.

One of the highlights of the journey to nowhere was the visit to the fabulous sandbar right in the middle of Sulu Sea almost bordering Malaysia. It was a community picnic, bringing food, drinks, tents and benches with the local Philippine Marines joining the fun to break the monotony and the loneliness of the pondok. No one would believe that in the middle of the sea, a pristine white sandbar rises during low tide. We hurriedly pitched our tent and began to explore the natural underwater caves and corals around. One particular cave is so wide and deep that people believe that at the end of the cave is already Malaysia. It is so forbidding that no one dares to go into the bottom of the cave notwithstanding the strong call of sheer mystery and beauty.



Oh what an experience of beauty, camaraderie and joy! We were all like “children of the sun” frolicking at the sandbar and admiring the beauty of God’s creation. Paradise on earth is for real! But to touch it, one needs to get off the city with all the viruses of modernity in our blood. There in Halusugbo, as we watch the sun rise and set, we also begin to cherish each other’s company and friendship and together meet the new day with trust and joy in our hearts.

Halusugbo and the other islands in the Emerald Isles remain very forbidding for “modern” men and women, whose eyes are more familiar with things that glitter, and whose attention is caught by man-made decorations. Yet there in those islands, there are no malls, no computer, no internet and above all, no cell sites, thus no SMS! The “gizmo” children of this modern age cannot imagine such a place. Yet, an experience of this so-called deprivation in this forbidding paradise somewhere in the Sulu Sea calls us back to something basic in human relationships, which is that of learning to appreciate our humanity again and learning to trust each other again.

The faith and tenacity of our Oblate missionaries who work in these islands and islets are unfathomable! Some operate Notre Dame Schools – a name that has already established a niche in the whole archipelago. Others minister to the pastoral and human needs of the peoples in the islands and they have become sources of strength and hope in the region. The simplicity of their lives, their unassuming presence, and their faithful service to the peoples of all faiths are lamps lit that give rays of hope for the peoples, especially the small ones. Their lives echo, in a very particular way, the gospel passage that says: “neither gold nor money we do not have, but in the name of Jesus pick up your crutches and walk…”