Li-ma-hong still held out, but perceiving that an irresistible onslaught was being projected against him by Salcedoʼs party, he very cunningly and quite unexpectedly slipped away, and sailed out of the river with his ships by one of the mouths unknown to his enemies.[3] In order to divert the attention of the Spaniards, Li-ma-hong ingeniously feigned an assault in an opposite quarter. Of course, on his escape, he had to abandon the troops employed in this manoeuvre. These, losing all hope, and having indeed nothing but their lives to fight for, fled to the mountains. Hence it is popularly supposed that from these fugitives descends the race of people in the hill district north of that province still distinguishable by their oblique eyes and known by the name of Igorrote-Chinese.
“Aide-toi et Dieu tʼaidera” is an old French maxim, but the Spaniards chose to attribute their deliverance from their Chinese rivals to the friendly intervention of Saint Andrew. This Saint was declared thenceforth to be the Patron Saint of Manila, and in his honour High Mass was celebrated in the Cathedral at 8 a.m. on the 30th of each November. In Spanish times it was a public holiday and gala-day, when all the highest civil, military and religious authorities attended the Funcion votiva de San Andrés. This opportunity to assert the supremacy of ecclesiastical power was not lost to the Church, and for many years it was the custom, after hearing Mass, to spread the Spanish national flag on the floor of the Cathedral for the metropolitan Archbishop to walk over it. However, a few years prior to the Spanish evacuation the Gov.-General refused to witness this antiquated formula and it subsequently became the practice to carry the Royal Standard before the altar. Both before and after the Mass, the bearer (Alférez Real), wearing his hat and accompanied by the Mayor of the City, stood on the altar floor, raised his hat three times, and three times dipped the flag before the Image of Christ, then, facing the public, he repeated this ceremony. On Saint Andrewʼs Eve the Royal Standard was borne in procession from the Cathedral through the principal streets of the city, escorted by civil functionaries and followed by a band of music. This ceremony was known as the Paseo del Real Pendon.
According to Juan de la Concepcion, the Rajahs[4] Soliman and Lacandola took advantage of these troubles to raise a rebellion against the Spaniards. The natives, too, of Mindoro Island revolted and maltreated the priests, but all these disturbances were speedily quelled by a detachment of soldiers.
The Governor willingly accepted the offer of the commander of the Chinese man-oʼ-war to convey ambassadors to his country to visit the Viceroy and make a commercial treaty. Therefore two priests, Martin Rada and Gerónimo Martin, were commissioned to carry a letter of greeting and presents to this personage, who received them with great distinction, but objected to their residing in the country.
After the defeat of Li-ma-hong, Juan Salcedo again set out to the Northern Provinces of Luzon Island, to continue his task of reducing the natives to submission. On March 11, 1576, he died of fever near Vigan (then called Villa Fernandina), capital of the Province of Ilocos Sur. A year afterwards, what could be found of his bones were placed in the ossuary of his illustrious grandfather, Legaspi, in the Augustine Chapel of Saint Fausto, Manila. His skull, however, which had been carried off by the natives of Ilocos, could not be recovered in spite of all threats and promises. In Vigan there is a small monument raised to commemorate the deeds of this famous warrior, and there is also a street bearing his name in Vigan and another in Manila.
For several years following these events, the question of prestige in the civil affairs of the Colony was acrimoniously contested by the Gov.-General, the Supreme Court, and the ecclesiastics.
The Governor was censured by his opponents for alleged undue exercise of arbitrary authority. The Supreme Court, established on the Mexican model, was reproached with seeking to overstep the limits of its functions. Every legal quibble was adjusted by a dilatory process, impracticable in a colony yet in its infancy, where summary justice was indispensable for the maintenance of order imperfectly understood by the masses. But the fault lay less with the justices than with the constitution of the Court itself. Nor was this state of affairs improved by the growing discontent and immoderate ambition of the clergy, who unremittingly urged their pretensions to immunity from State control, affirming the supramundane condition of their office.
An excellent code of laws, called the Leyes de Indias, in force in Mexico, was adopted here, but modifications in harmony with the special conditions of this Colony were urgently necessary, whilst all the branches of government called for reorganization or reform. Under these circumstances, the Bishop of Manila, Domingo Salazar,[5] took the initiative in commissioning an Austin friar, Alonso Sánchez, to repair firstly to the Viceroy of Mexico and afterwards to the King of Spain, to expose the grievances of his party.
Alonso Sánchez left the Philippines with his appointment as procurator-general for the Augustine Order of monks. As the execution of the proposed reforms, which he was charged to lay before His Majesty, would, if conceded, be entrusted to the control of the Government of Mexico, his first care was to seek the partisanship of the Viceroy of that Colony; and in this he succeeded. Thence he continued his journey to Seville, where the Court happened to be, arriving there in September, 1587. He was at once granted an audience of the King, to present his credentials and memorials relative to Philippine affairs in general, and ecclesiastical, judicial, military and native matters in particular. The King promised to peruse all the documents, but suffering from gout, and having so many and distinct State concerns to attend to, the negotiations were greatly delayed. Finally, Alonso Sánchez sought a minister who had easy access to the royal apartments, and this personage obtained from the King permission to examine the documents and hand to him a succinct résumé of the whole for His Majestyʼs consideration. A commission was then appointed, including Sánchez, and the deliberations lasted five months.