During the Philippine-American War, the Americans adopted a policy of noninterference in the Muslim areas, as spelled out in the Bates Agreement of 1899 signed by Brig. General John Bates and Sultan Jamalul Kiram II of Jolo.
Jamalul Kiram III (16 July 1938 - 20 October 2013) was a claimant Sultan of the Sultanate of Sulu (now part of the Republic of the Philippines).