Philippine E-Journals

Sultan Kudarat or Cachil Corralat: A Play in Three Acts

Mig Alvarez Enriquez

Discipline: Cultural Studies

 

Abstract:

In 1633 Sultan Kudarat, or Cachil Corralat, as the Spaniards called him, succeeded his father King Buyson to what was then the most powerful sultanate of Mindanao. Forthwith he became even more powerful than his father was. Inheriting the hate his warrior ancestor had for the Spaniards who were seeking forcibly to gain a foothold in Mindanao while preaching a new religion, Sultan Kudarat plundered Christian villages, desecrated churches, and attacked not only the islands of the Pintados (the Visayan Islands) but even Bicolandia and Maynilad. The incidents you are about to see will illustrate not only the way of life of Kudarat but even more importantly, WHY he fought and how he was considered conquered.