Merdeka is a Malay term meaning "free" or "independent".


Sabah is being claimed by the Philippines from Malaysia on the basis of the assertion of the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu that the Sultan of Borneo had 

given Sabah to the Sultan of Sulu as a reward for helping quell a rebellion in Borneo.


Malaysia, naturally opposed the claim, arguing that a certain Baron de Overbeck had "purchased" Sabah from the sultan of Sulu before later assigning his rights to the British East India Company. Malaysia further argued that Sabah had become part of Malaysian territory when Britain 

granted independence to the Federated States of Malaysia. The Philippines insisted that de Overbeck had only "leased" Sabah from the Sultan of Sulu. The alleged contract between de Overbeck and the Sultan of Sulu used, they argued, the word padjak, a Malay term that could mean either "lease" or "purchase". 


It is alleged that, Malaysia to this day , still pays the "rental" to the family of the Sultanate of Sulu.


The Merdeka plan involved the recruitment of nearly 200 Tausug and Sama Muslims aged 18 to 30 from Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and their training in the 

island-town of Simunul in Tawi-Tawi. The recruits felt excited about the promise not only of a monthly allowance, but also over the prospect of 

eventually becoming a member of an elite unit in the Philippine Armed Forces. That meant, among other benefits, guns, which Muslims regard as very 

precious possessions. So from August to December 1967, the young recruits underwent training in Simunul. This unit would become the "Jabidah Commando".


On December 30, 1967, from 135 to 180 recruits boarded a Philippine Navy vessel for the island of Corregidor in Luzon for "specialized training".

<div class="image-400">
<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources/jabin-arula.webp" alt=Jabin Arula" />
<div>
(Jabin Arula, the only “witness” to the alleged "Jabidah massacre". He died in Cavite in 2010) 
</div>
</div>

This second phase of the training turned mutinous when the recruits discovered their true mission. It struck the recruits that the plan would mean not only fighting their brother Muslims in Sabah, but also possibly killing their own Tausug and Sama relatives living there. The recruits then demanded to be returned home. 


It was alleged that to the planners there was only one choice, the "Jabidah Massacre".


The self-confessed sole survivor, Jibin Arula, recounted that the plotters led the trainees out of their Corregidor barracks on that night in batches of twelve. They were taken to a nearby airstrip. There, the plotters mowed the trainees down with gunfire. Arula said that he heard a series of shots and saw 

his colleagues fall. 


Jibin Arula claimed he survived running towards a hill and rolled off the edge on to the sea. He recalled clinging to a plank of wood and stayed afloat. 

By morning, fishers from nearby Cavite rescued him.



Later, Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. got hold of Arula and exposed the covert operation through a privileged speech at the Philippine Senate on March 28, 1968, calling Jabidah "codename for a sinister design of President Ferdinand Marcos".


Aquino in his speech however, would question if there ever was a massacre. Below is what Aqiuno would say about the massacre:


<ol>
<li>
Massacre means, to my mind, the wanton killing of men — maybe premeditated, but definitely committed according to a previous plan. I submit that there was no plan to kill the Muslim recruits.
</li>
<li>
What would have been the motive for the “massacre” ? Some quarters have advanced the theory that the trainees were liquidated in order to silence them. But then, 24 boys have already shown up in Jolo safe and healthy. To release 24 men who can spill the beans and liquidate the remaining 24 “to seal” their lips would defy logic.
</li>
<li>
Jibin Arula has been telling the truth all along. However, his fears, which in his place may be considered valid, may not be supported by the recent turn of events. Twenty-four recruits have turned up.
</li>
</ol>



Read the full text of Aquino's speech, here <a href="http://www.gov.ph/1968/03/28/jabidah-special-forces-of-evil-by-senator-benigno-s-aquino-jr/" target="_blank" class="news_link" title="Aquino's privileged speech" data-ajax="false">http://www.gov.ph/1968/03/28/jabidah-special-forces-of-evil-by-senator-benigno-s-aquino-jr/</a>. 



Also in late March of the same year, 1968, Moro students in Manila held a week long protest vigil over an empty coffin marked "Jabidah" in front of Malacañang palace. They claimed "at least 28" Moro army recruits had been murdered.


Subsequent investigations would probe no conclusive evidence of the murders.


There hasn't been a single victim of the "Jabidah massacre" ever identified. For an ethnic group known for its close yet expanded kinship system, no relative has ever claimed his brother, son, cousin, or husband was killed in Corregidor.



Yet on March 18, 2013, the President, Benigno Aquino III, son of Senator Aquino who plainly debunked it, in his speech during the "anniversary of Jabidah Massacre" when a commemorative plaque was installed in Corregidor for those supposedly killed, would claim the existence of the massacre.


Here is the speech of Aquino III, <a href="http://www.gov.ph/2013/03/18/speech-of-president-aquino-at-the-45th-anniversary-of-jabidah-massacre-march-18-2013/" target="_blank" class="news_link" title="Aquino III speech" data-ajax="false">
http://www.gov.ph/2013/03/18/speech-of-president-aquino-at-the-45th-anniversary-of-jabidah-massacre-march-18-2013/
</a>.



Source: 
<ol class="article-sources">
<li>
Paul F. Whitman (http://corregidor.org/)</li>
<li>
Jabidah, Sabah, The Manila Standard, February 23, 2013
</li>
<li>
Official Gazzette of the Office of the Philippine President
</li>
<li>
‘Jabidah’ was a big hoax, Rigoberto Tiglao, The Manila Times, March 22, 2015 
</li>
</ol>

March 18, 1968: the Jabidah commando was massacred in corregidor