JOURNAL 1 – FOREWORD (Vol.
1 No. 1 June 2001) 
The Institute of Cultural Studies for Western Mindanao
(ICSWM) and the Ateneo Peace Institute (API) are happy
to come out with this first issue of CULTURE AND PEACE
STUDIES. This journal seeks to contribute to the promotion
of peace and dialogue in Western Mindanao and the
advancement of the study and appreciation of local
history and culture. It does this primarily by publishing
relevant papers, researches, notes, comments, and
observations. It will come out twice a year, the mid-year
issue being the papers from the annual ADZU-run national
conferences on Western Mindanao Cultures.
This first issue publishes the main papers and two
key speeches delivered during the National Conference
on the History and Culture of the Bajau. This Conference
was held on February 26-27, 2001. It was attended
by around 200 participants from thirty-three different
schools, colleges, and universities and from more
than a dozen government agencies, NGOs and private
institutions.
The main papers form a range of topics and styles
– from a rather scholarly introduction and general
historical backgrounder (by Dr. Aurora Roxas-Lim)
to a privileged talk on indigenous leadership among
Bajau by (by Hadji Musa Malabong), from a sharply
focused study of household strategies, gender, and
sea tenure in a small Bajau village (by Prof. Wilfredo
Torres, III) to an open-ended discussion on the disappearing
Bajau boat-bulding technology and the preservation
of thie material culture (by Prof. Artemio Barbosa),
from a preservation of the case for a special educational
program and curriculum for the Bajau (by Dr. Saladin
Teo) to an explosion on current efforts to help them
(by Mrs. Perla de Castro).
The authors themselves come from various perspectives.
One is himself a Sama Dilaut - Hadji Musa Malabong
of Sitangkai, Tawi-tawi, where he is also a schoolteacher.
Two are government officials – Dr. Teo (the
CHED Commissioner for the Autonomous Region of Muslim
Mindanao) and Mrs. De Castro (of the National Commission
on Indigenous Peoples, Region IX); Dr. Teo has published
a book on the lifestyle of the Bajau. Two are based
in the academe – Prof. Torres (Notre Dame of
Jolo College) and Dr. Roxas-Lim (University of the
Philippines, Diliman); Prof. Torres is concurrently
the Director of Notre Dame of Jolo College’s
Community Extension Services, while Dr. Roxas-Lim
has been involved in a lot field research and advocacy
work. The sixth – Prof. Barbosa – is a
curator at the National Museum; he was the main scholar
behind the permanent Sama Dilaut exhibit at the Zamboanga
City branch of the National Museum.
The keynote address was delivered by the Hon. Virgilio
S. Almario, the Director of the National Commission
for culture and the Arts (NCCA) while the Synthesis
Speech was made by Dr. Erlinda Burton, the Director
of the Research Institute on Mindanao Culture (RIMCU)
based at Xavier University.
Following the lead of the Conference, this journal
now consciously chooses to promote the more correct
“B-A-J-A-U” spelling and to prefer the
name “SAMA DILAUT” to refer to this most
maritime people of Southeast Asia.
TITLES
Marine Adaptations and Ecological Transformation:
The Case of the Bajau and Samalan Communities
DR. AURORA ROXAS-LIM
On Ethnography, The Disappearing Sama Dilaut
Boatbuilding Technology and Preservation of their
Material Culture
PROF. ARTEMIO C.BARBOSA
The NCIP and the Bajau
MRS. PERLA DE CASTRO
Integration of the Bajau in the Philippine
Society
DR. SALADIN S. TEO
Leadership Concepts and Changing Traditions
of the Sama Dilaut
HADJI MUSA S. MALABONG
Household Strategies, Gender, and Sea Tenure:
A Study of a Sama Dilaut Community in Kabuukan Island,
Hadji Panglima Tahil, Sulu
WILFREDO M. TORRES III
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