A History of the Philippines

by David P. Barrows

Subjection of the Igorrote Tribes.—With Claveria began a decisive policy of conquest among the Igorrote tribes of northern Luzon, and by the end of Spanish rule these mountains were dotted with cuartels and missions for the control of these unruly tribes. The province of Nueva Vizcaya has been particularly subject to the raids of these head-hunting peoples. Year after year the Christian towns of the plains had yielded a distressing sacrifice of life to satisfy the savage ceremonials of the Igorrotes.[2]

In 1847, Claveria nominated as governor of Nueva Vizcaya, Don Mariano Ozcariz, whose severe and telling conquests for the first time checked these Igorrote outrages and made possible the development of the great valleys of northern Luzon.

Spanish Settlements on Mindanao.—Zamboanga.—With Claveria’s governorship we enter also upon the last phase of Moro piracy. In spite of innumerable expeditions, Spain’s occupation of South Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago was limited to the presidio of Zamboanga. She had occupied this strategic point continuously since the reëstablishment of Spanish power in 1763, The great stone fort, which still stands, had proved impregnable to Moro attack, and had long been unmolested.

Distributed for a distance of some miles over the rich lands at this end of the Zamboanga peninsula was a Christian population, which had grown up largely from the descendants of rescued captives of the Moros. Coming originally from all parts of the Bisayas, Calamianes, and Luzon, this mixed population has grown to have a somewhat different character from that of any other part of the Islands. A corrupt Spanish dialect, known as the “Chabucano,” has become the common speech, the only instance in the Philippines where the native dialect has been supplanted. This population, loyal and devotedly Catholic, never failed to sustain the defense of this isolated Spanish outpost, and contributed brave volunteers to every expedition against the Moro islands.

Activity of Other Nations.—But Spain’s maintenance of Zamboanga was insufficient to sustain her claims of sovereignty over the Sulu and Tawi-Tawi groups. Both the Dutch and English planned various moves for their occupation and acquisition, and in 1844 a French fleet entered the archipelago and concluded a treaty with the sultan of Sulu for the cession of the island of Basilan for the sum of one million dollars. Writings of the French minister and historian, M. Guizot, show that France hoped, by the acquisition of this island, to obtain a needed naval base in the East and found a great commercial port within the sphere of Chinese trade.[3]

Conquest of the Gulf of Davao.—But this step roused the Spaniards to activity and the occupation of the island. A naval vessel subdued the towns along the north coast, and then proceeding to the mouth of the Rio Grande, secured from the sultan of Maguindanao the cession of the great Gulf of Davao. Spain took no immediate steps to occupy this gulf, but in 1847 a Spaniard, Don José Oyanguran, proposed to the governor, Claveria, to conquer the region at his own expense, if he could be furnished with artillery and munitions and granted a ten years’ government of Davao, with the exclusive privilege of trade.

His offer was accepted by the governor and the Audiencia, and Oyanguran organized a company to secure funds for the undertaking. In two years’ time he had subdued the coast regions of this gulf, expelled the pirates who harbored there, and founded the settlement of Nueva Vergara. He seems to have been making progress toward the conquest and commercial exploitation of this region, when jealous attacks in Manila induced Governor Urbistondo to cancel his privilege and to relieve him by an officer of the government.

In subsequent years the Jesuits had a few mission stations here and made a few converts among the Bagobos; but the region is still an unsubdued and unutilized country, whose inhabitants are mainly pagan tribes, and whose rich agricultural possibilities lie undeveloped and unclaimed.

The Samal Pirates.—The Sulu.—The piratical inhabitants of the Sulu archipelago are made of two distinct Malayan peoples—the Sulu (or Sulug), and the Samal, who are known throughout Malaysia as the “Bajau” or “Orang laut” (Men of the Sea). The former appear to be the older inhabitants. They occupy the rich and populous island of Jolo and some islands of the Siassi group, immediately south.

The Samal.—The Samal, or Bajau, are stated to have come originally from Johore. Many of them live almost exclusively in their boats, passing their lives from birth to death upon the sea. They are found throughout most parts of Malaysia, the position of their little fleets changing with the shifting of the monsoons. In the Sulu archipelago and a few points in South Mindanao, many of these Samal have shifted their homes from their boats to the shore. Their villages are built on piles over the sea, and on many of the low coral reefs south of Siassi and east of Tawi-Tawi there are great towns or settlements which have apparently been in existence a long while.