Moro cota, fort - US military blueprint drawing of a fort in Bayan, Mindanao, scene of the first battles during the untold Moro-American War in 1902. There were hundreds of fortifications throughout the Moro territories during the Spanish and American eras. Pandapatan Cota aka Padang Karbala
Cotas were symbols of power and community in territorial localities controlled by their leaders, Datus and Sultans. The native forts were built on high strategically located grounds surrounded by deep barrier trenches, moats, pit traps and shallow trenches for fighting and escape. The walls were contructed of heavy timber and boulders, packed with earth. Besides captured foreign armory, native cast guns and bronze cannon, lantaka, of various sizes were used by the Moro warriors. The cotas were last lines of defenses where natives chose to fight to the death. The forts were stored with food, supplies, arms and armor. Some cota were large enough to contain whole communities. On the island of Jolo, some extinct volcanoes were improvised into cota fortifications were thousands of warriors and their families lived. When cotas were overrun, whole villages would withdraw into the interior of the country. As a means of survival, many communities were highly mobile due to the nature of warfare through the centuries of foreign occupation. It was common for invading armies to burn their homes and crops.