Sulu is divided into two congressional districts, eighteen municipalities, and 410 barangays, with Jolo being its main island. Ten of its municipalities are located in Jolo while the remaining eight are island municipalities. According to the National Mapping and Resources Information Authority, Sulu’s total land area is about 160, 040 hectares. 

 ˚Religion

-The dominant religious affiliation in Sulu is Islam which constitutes 98.8% of the total population, 50.6% of which are women and 49.4 are men. This is followed by the Roman Catholic at 0.6%, and the rest is composed of Tribal religions, Evangelicals, Iglesia ni Cristo, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Protestants.

˚Language

- The dominant ethnic group in the province is Tausug which occupies Jolo, Indanan, Siasi and Patikul. Some are scattered in Zamboanga del Sur, Cotabato, and Malaysia.  Tausug is derived from tau which means person and suug which came from the old name of Jolo Island. However, the present generation of Tausugs has descended from the different ethnic groups who had migrated to the Sulu Archipelago.

The lingua franca in the Sulu province is the Tausug language which is adopted from the vocabulary of Tagimaha. This is composed of two dialects:parianum and gimbahanun. Parianum is spoken by those who live along the coasts of Jolo while Gimbahanun is spoken by those who live in the interior part of the province

Sulu’s main source of livelihood comes from agriculture and fishing. The Sulu Sea provides a large proportion of the nation’s commercial catch. It is also rich in marine resources such as button shells, mother-of-pearl, coral, shark fins, bêche-de-mer (sea cucumbers), turtle shells, turtle eggs, and sponges.

Due to the type of soil and climate in Sulu, it provides a greater variety of products than other parts of the country. The province produces an abundance of crops like abaca, coconut, and fruits like oranges, lanzones, and jacks. There are fruits that do not grow in the northern islands but are cultivated in the province like mangosteen berries and durian. In September 2007, six tons of mangosteen and durian were sold to different supermarkets in Manila.

In addition, Sulu is also rich in maritime resources as fishing is one of its major sources of income. Its islands are home to all kinds of fish and even sea turtles.  Aside from fishing, people in the province also engage in the industries of boat building, mat weaving coffee processing, and fruit preservation.

The province provides extensive amounts of trepang and pearls. Trepang or also known as bêche -de-mer is a sea cucumber that is often dried or smoked to use as an ingredient in Chinese and Indonesian soup. 

The study entails the damage inflicted by the terrorists such as dips in economy, lives lost during attacks, property damage, negative travel advisories, properties abandoned and destroyed, and religious tension between Christians and Muslims.

Solving this issue is important because currently the Abu Sayyaf group, if not addressed, will continue to impair the Philippines' already unstable political and economic conditions.

 

Poverty Threshold is the minimum income needed for a family or individual to meet their basic food and non-food essentials. It is also known as the Poverty Line. According to the 2018 data of PSA, Sulu’s poverty threshold spiked to 74.3% for an average income of P12,042 per family. This means that in 2018 74.3% or 108,600 families in Sulu were poor. 

In 2021, BARMM’s poverty rate decreased to 29.8% but Sulu stands at 62.5% making it the poorest province in the region

 

According to the data from the Department of Agriculture SAAD, there are a significant decrease in poverty incidence from 2015 to 2018 among impoverished provinces. These include Siquijor (40.2%), Sorsogon (25.6%), Bukidnon (25.3%), Northern Samar (24.2%), Apayao (22.1%), Kalinga (21.3%), Samar (19.6%), Catanduanes (19.2%), Lanao del Norte (19.1%), and Misamis Occidental (17.3%).

 

However, among the 30 provinces, Sulu is the only province that was recorded to have an increased rate of poverty incidence: at 75.3% in 2018 from 40.2% in 2012 and 63.8% in 2015. The primary contributing factor is the conflict in peace and order due to terrorism which hinders economic growth in all sectors. 

 

Real growth can only be attained if the government can alleviate all the impoverished provinces without leaving others behind. It is important to address the high poverty incidence in Sulu to lessen the inequalities and improve their living situation. A high poverty rate will lead to hunger, increase in crime rates, and lack of access to quality education and healthcare.   

One of the solutions to alleviating poverty is education but because of the conflict in the province, education is under attack. Numerous abductions, sexual harassment, and violent attacks were recorded in the province. 

 

The followings are some recorded instances of violence in school: 

·         Attempted abduction of four teachers by unknown gunmen in Tagbak village, Sulu. 

·         Child abduction in front of a school in Patikul district, Sulu. 

·         Abduction of a public teacher on his way home in Patikul town, Sulu.

·         Sexual harassment and abduction of a female teacher in Kanlagay Elementary School in Kalingalan Caluang, Sulu. 

Even with the abundance of maritime resources and healthy soil in cultivating crops, Sulu is still experiencing severe food insecurity due to poverty. The IPC classified Sulu province in their IPC-chronic level 4 which means that it is part of those provinces with severe chronic food security. 

The pandemic had also helped in contributing in lessening violence and threats with the restrictions it had imposed, helping the people in Sulu build up their livelihood and start to approach the internal issue of the province.

The positives of this are the possibility to rebuild the province from the ground up, it also gives the opportunity to focus on peace and to quell the unrest the people have had over the years. It also establishes the islands as a tourism spot with all the marvels of marine wildlife that the province is centered on.

We’ve mentioned how the pandemic had helped quell the unrest on Sulu, however it too had a negative effect. The pandemic ravaged people worldwide, leading to dips in stocks and in the market. “The short-term plan is how to revive the local economy after the worst of the pandemic. It is not only Sulu who is attentive to the recovery stage of the economy.” as mentioned in an interview by Gov. Sakur Tan.

One of the major sources of income in Sulu is agriculture and the advancement of technology has positive and negative effects on the agricultural sector. Technology helps in producing fertilizers, pesticides, and seed technology. Biotechnology and genetic engineering have invented pest resistance, increased crops, and improved crop quality. Mechanization also reduces manual labor by making tilling and harvesting more efficient. Processing machinery has reduced wastage. Irrigation and transportation have also improved. Some innovations focus on robotics, precision agriculture, artificial intelligence, block chain technology and more.  

 

However, because of the use of technology and machinery, the improvement in technology can also be detrimental to the environment. The pollution from machines and factories that make artificial fertilizers contribute to the augment of global warming. Nevertheless, technological advancement in agriculture is beneficial in boosting the economy and ensuring food security. 

As a result, terrorism affects employment of locals and their opportunities for livelihood.

“This may be reflected in the Philippine’s 2002 status report which indicated widespread unemployment and underemployment with rates of 10.3% and 15.9% respectively though 2008 figures indicate a decrease in unemployment rate to 7.3%.” as researched by the US Air force Counterproliferation Center in 2019.

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