Rich in culture and tradition, the island municipality of Mapun, Tawi-Tawi is a historical landmark being one of the places traversed by the first circumnavigation of the planet of Magellan-Elcano expedition in their Philippines Voyage. The word MAPUN came from a  Derivative word “maaf and ampun means “forgiveness or you forgive  ” in the local Jama Mapun dialect. It aptly describes the good values of the peace-loving people living in the one of the farthest municipalities from Bongao which is the center of the Province of Tawi-Tawi.

   Mapun is situated at the western part of the Mindanao peninsula. To its northwest is the Palawan Peninsula and to the south is the federal state of Sabah, Malaysia.

   The people inhabiting the island are known as Jama Mapun or “people of Mapun”. Their local language is Pullun Mapun, which means “Mapun language”.

   In 1973, Cagayan de Sulu was changed to “Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi” when Tawi-Tawi was created as a separate province out of its mother Province of Sulu by virtue of Presidential Decree Number 302. It also signifies that the place is now part and one of the original municipalities comprising the newly created Province of Tawi-Tawi.

   On September 5, 1988, Republic Act Number 6672 signed by then President Corazon C. Aquino has officially given the island its old name, thus the “MUNICIPALITY OF MAPUN” was born. However, no matter how many names other people call their home place; the natives always refer to this island as “TANAH MAPUN” (Land of Mapun).

   In anticipation of the 2021 Quincentennial Commemoration of the Philippine Part in the First Circumnavigation of the World, the National Quincentennial Committee of the Republic of the Philippines in coordination with the Local Government Units plans to put Historical markers on significant places passed by the expedition including Mapun. Through the Executive Order No. 103 (s.2020) known as the Victory of Mactan, it maximizes the worldwide commemoration to underscore the fact that our ancestors had flowering civilization upon the arrival of Magellan in 1521.

With political and economic ties more oriented towards the Sulu sultanate, the history of the Jama Mapun during the Spanish era can be told in terms of the hostility between the Spanish colonial government and the Sulu sultanate. The Sulu sultanate. The Sulu sultanate escaped colonial dominance at the onset of Spanish rule, for total conquest was not a goal of early colonial policies. In the mid-19th century, the colonial government south to conquer the Muslim sultanates, especialy that of Sulu. By then the british and the Dutch were extending their influence over the Southeast Asian world, and the Spaniards felt they had to secure their rapidly deteriorating empire.The Jama Mapun or literally “people of Mapun,” occupy the island.

Readers’  View

The Jama Mapun, on closer examination may not be a distinct ethnic group. The Jama Mapun are rather another Sama sub-group. Their language, called Pullun Mapun, is just a dialect of the Sama language.

The Jama mapuns inhabit the Cagayan de Sulu and Turtle (Taganak) Islands, and are also found in Southern Palawan. The word Jama is a variation of the word Sama, and denotes west, i.e., west of Jolo Island. The Jama Mapuns refer to Job Island as “East” and their own Cagayan de Sulu as “West”, a concept derived from the time when the Jama Mapun had a strong client relationship with the Sultanate of Sulu centered in Job. The Jama Mapuns earn their livelihood much like the other Sama groups except that some also cultivate upland rice. The latter activity is mainly done n Southern Palawan.

The Jama Mapun tribe is often mistakenly identified as Samal or Badjao, considering the fact that they mingle with these two tribes. The only distinction of this ethnic group is that originally they occupied the overlapping jurisdiction of the sultans of Sulu and Brunei and later on mixed with the Samals and Badjaos,

The Jama Mapuns primarily engage in dry rice agriculture, copra production, and trading. In the smaller islands and islets, they engage in fishing.