The Government of the Philippine 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 the other officers of the Government as well as various consellors of the Sultan, after due discussion of the declarations of the Governor-General and President of the Philippine Commission Luke E. Wright, and the said Sultan of Sulu, and their respective associates, in certain hearing held in Manila on July 19th, 20th and 26th, 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 hearing:

WHEREAS, the Sultan of Sulu is the titular spiritual head of the Mohammedan Church in the Sulu Archipelago with all the-Mohammedan rights and privileges which under the government of the United States of America may be exercised 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 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 representative 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, 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, the Government of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu and the Sultan of Sulu, do hereby affix our signatures in permanent record thereof.

I hereby certify that the foregoing is full, true and correct copy of its original.

ISIDRO VAMENTA
Department Secretary

*Note: This document was not printed on the Official Gazette. It is from “Philippine Claim to North Borneo Volume no. 1” printed by the Bureau of Printing, 1963.