The first recorded Filipino migration was the result of an unexpected turn of events that happened to a voyage to China. The mission consisted of royalties from Sulu who wanted to improve their trade leverages with the Chinese.   

In 1417, Sultan Paduka Batara, with two other sultans, Maharajah Kaolamanting and Paduka Prabhu, and a retinue of 340 wives, ministers, and retainers, sailed across the South Seas to the Chinese capital of Beijing, and presented to the Ming Emperor Yong Le a memorial inscribed in gold and such tributes as pearls, precious stones and tortoise shells.  

Unfortunately, sailing halfway home, Paduka Batara fell ill and died on October 23, 1417.  On hearing the news, the Ming emperor ordered an imperial burial for the sultan. Batara’s concubine and retainers were sent back to Sulu after completing the three-year mourning rites in China.  However, his two sons, together with more than ten followers stayed behind, tended Batara’s tomb and intermarried with local Muslims.  

This means that 104 years before Ferdinand Magellan came to the Philippines in search of an alternate route to the Spice Islands, skilled Filipinos have been building and sailing seafaring vessels.  

Today, this historical journey is preserved in memory through an arch and gateway with an epitaph which the Chinese imperial ministers built in honor of Sultan Paduka Batara.  This memorial attesting to an immigrant from the Philippines in the early 15^th century is located a kilometer north of Dezhou in Shandong, China.  The extensive record of the historic diplomatic visit is found in Volume 323 of the Ming Dynasty annals.