Jolo, Sulu’s capital, has been receiving upgrades to its port infrastructure funded through the BARMM. Connectivity to the rest of the country, by sea and air, and to more remote areas of the island, remains a high priority for Sulu. Image Source: turistaboy

The high level meeting at the Malacañang Palace reportedly focused on shortages in healthcare infrastructure and resources in what remains the Philippines’ poorest province.

The Manila Times reports a number of specific proposals including the creation of a dedicated Special Health Fund for Sulu’s needs, confirming Sulu’s health-related budget for the next few years, and direct distribution of funds to Sulu province’s hospitals.

These are substantial requests that may make a big difference, bypassing layers of bureaucracy that have often left Sulu’s island position remote. Indeed, bureaucracy can only compound other infrastructure issues, including a reliance on the province’s sole airport, limited number of flights, and dispersed needs not only on Sulu island itself but across other islands too.

Sulu’s needs, in theory, should pass through Region IX Zamboanaga Peninsula, to which it is administratively assigned after the Supreme Court ruled it could not lawfully be included in the BARMM. This followed the results of a plebiscite that found a majority of Sulu did not wish to join the autonomous region despite significant cultural and political ties.

“Sulu’s needs, in theory, should pass through Region IX Zamboanaga Peninsula.”

However, projects began in the interim between Sulu’s assigned to the BARMM and transfer to Region IX will be completed. Only this week, the BARMM completed delivery of P90M worth of infrastructure upgrades to Jolo port in Sulu’s capital. Calls for Sulu unity with BARMM continue even as Sulu seeks its own place in the Philippines, one representative of a unique culture and distinct needs separate from Mindanao.

This is the other Sulu story, one more important than foreign drama and claims that have so often seized headlines. Interestingly, it is one that the Tan family, which has long held control over the Sulu governorship, has stayed focused on even as members of the influential Kiram dynasty have prioritized historical royal claims to Sabah over domestic narratives.

For nearly thirty years, the Tan family has dominated politics in Sulu, a province in the southern Philippines. Abdusakur "Sakur" Mahail Tan first won the governorship in 1996, and aside from a six-year gap between 2001 and 2007, the family has held power largely unbroken since.

Their grip tightened after 2007 through a signature strategy: rotating the governorship and vice-governorship between the elder Tan and his son, Abdusakur Tan II, to get around the Philippines' three-term limit. The two have swapped roles multiple times, most recently in 2025, with the son now governor and the father vice governor.

While political dynasties are both common and potentially consequential in the Philippines, it is useful to distinguish the respective roles and activities of the Tans and the Kirams. Although the two families have largely stayed out of each other’s way while maintaining the necessary courtesies, their political priorities have never been the same. The Tans have remained principally focused on preserving Sulu’s direct political link to Manila and resisting the interposition of a BARMM bureaucracy between Sulu and the national government.

“It is useful to distinguish the respective roles and activities of the Tans and the Kirams.”

The Kirams, by contrast, have exercised no formal governing authority since the dissolution of the Sulu Sultanate under the 1915 Carpenter Agreement. They nonetheless retain considerable influence and prestige as heirs to the Sultanate and as custodians of its historical legacy. In recent decades, however, much of their political energy has been consumed by an intra-dynastic struggle among competing members of the Kiram lineage over who should claim the now-symbolic title of Sultan of Sulu within the Philippine Republic, as well as by their longstanding claims to Sabah in Malaysia.

The Kirams’ public advocacy on issues such as health, economic development, and security in Sulu has been comparatively muted, even as the province ranks as the most underdeveloped in the Philippines. Sulu's poverty incidence rate sits around 72 to 74 percent, and several of its towns, including Tapul, Parang, and Panglima Estino, rank among the ten poorest municipalities in the entire country.

“Their public advocacy on issues such as health, economic development, and security in Sulu has been comparatively muted.”

That the Tan’s remain the true political power in Sulu rather than the Kirams is a sign of what truly matters to Tausugs on Sulu.

REFERENCES

Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department. (2022). Poverty statistics update: First semester 2021 [Facts & Figures]. House of Representatives, Republic of the Philippines. https://cpbrd.congress.gov.ph

GMA Integrated News. (2026, January 18). Zubiri files bill to reset BARMM polls on March 30, 2026. GMA News Online. https://www.gmanetwork.com

Inquirer. (2026, January 13). Stark relationship: Poverty persists where dynastic power endures. Inquirer. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net

Know Sulu. (2025, December 30). Mindanao's struggle for identity: A call for independence and the shadow of the Sulu heirs case. Know Sulu. https://www.know-sulu.ph

Know Sulu. (2025, June 19). Isolated or independent? The new ambiguity of Sulu's position outside of BARMM. Know Sulu. https://know-sulu.ph

Lacson, N. (2026, September 10). Vice gov bats for Sulu health care support. The Manila Times. https://www.manilatimes.net

Nazario, D. (2025, February 5). Sulu governor on returning to BARMM: "90% will say no." Manila Bulletin. https://mb.com.ph

Pacific Disaster Center. (2021). Sulu, the Philippines: NDPBA province profile. https://dev.pdc.org

PSA: 10 poorest PHL towns are found in Basilan, Sulu. (2024, April 4). BusinessMirror. https://businessmirror.com.ph

Web Editor. (2026, September 9). Bangsamoro transport ministry turns over P90M port projects in Jolo. PortCalls Asia. https://portcalls.com