The History of Sulu

by Najeeb M. Saleeby

[Concerning the pacification of the Island of Mindanao in the year 1600.][8]

In the relation of the last year you will have learned how occurred the death, in the pacification of the Island of Mindanao, of Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa, who offered to carry out this pacification under the conditions which he stipulated with Gomez Perez Dasmariñas, formerly governor of these islands, copies of which were sent to His Majesty and to Master-of-Camp Juan de Lajara, formerly of the said expedition, who succeeded to his place when the camp was abandoned, and came to Manila. Don Francisco Tello, Governor and Captain-General of the said Philippine Islands, who at that time had taken possession of the government, was considering how to aid and stimulate the said pacification at the expense of the heirs of Esteban Rodriguez, and with the agreement of the captains and persons who were long resident and experienced in war in the said islands. Don Juan Ronquillo was appointed commander of the galleys to prosecute the said pacification, and in the meantime, in order to be present and continue the expedition, Capt. Toribio de Miranda was sent forward to encourage and animate the troops, under orders to keep them in his charge; and in case the post should be abandoned, and a retreat made to Manila, he should detain the troops and return to Mindanao. The said Capt. Toribio de Miranda having arrived at the Island[9] of La Caldera, which lies 40 leagues from the river of Mindanao, there found the whole camp, which was returning from the said islands. Conformably to the orders which he had, he turned back and fortified the site where they had first been, which was on the river, 4 leagues from the forts of the enemy. Juan Ronquillo, having been dispatched to Mindanao, had taken the camp in his charge, and begun to achieve some success. He achieved a victory in the battle which he fought with the Ternatans, who had entered with 800 men to give aid to the people of Mindanao. Before these successes, he had written a letter in disparagement of that country (a copy of which was sent to His Majesty), on account of which, in a council of war which had been held, the General Don Ronquillo had been ordered to make a last effort against the Mindanaos, doing them all possible damage. He was then to come to the Island[10] of La Caldera and there build a fort, to be garrisoned with a hundred Spanish soldiers, with artillery, arms, and munitions, and leave them there as a check upon Ternate and Mindanao, in charge of a good soldier, one of the captains of the camp, and with the rest return to Manila. Although Don Juan Ronquillo received this order, after having won considerable victories, he again wrote that he would not abandon that place, even if such were the order, because it would not be expedient to retire from the camp and comply with what had been ordered, when he was leaving the Island of Mindanao already pacified, the chiefs, with whom he had used gentle means, that they might all be more contented, having again rendered submission to His Majesty, and likewise as the King of Sulu again rendered obedience and submission. Confiding in this, Capt. Cristobal Villagra, whom Don Juan Ronquillo had appointed commander of the garrison of La Caldera, had sent 30 soldiers to the Island of Sulu for supplies. They found at this time in Jolo a Mindanao chief, an uncle of the King of Mindanao and a brother-in-law of the King of Sulu, who had been driven out of Mindanao because he was rebellious. He treacherously killed 13 Spanish soldiers. When news of this was brought, Juan Pacho was sent to take the troops of La Caldera in charge, and, when it should seem best to him, to try to inflict punishment with 600 Spaniards; the enemy unfortunately killed the said Juan Pacho and 29 Spaniards, the rest of them retiring without any success. This news having come to the governor, he sent in place of Juan Pacho, Capt. Toribio de Miranda, a person in whom he had entire confidence, with an order not to attempt any punishment until he had force enough for it. After this Capt. Toribio de Miranda arrived at La Caldera on the 26th of August, 1599. When the garrison was given into his charge he put the defensive works in order, and with the arms which he brought, and those which he found in the fort, he armed all the troops, amounting to 114 soldiers. As directed by an order of the governor, he sent a chief of the Pintados [Bisayans] to Mindanao with letters to the chiefs of the island, in which he informed them that they would be protected, favored, and upheld in justice, as vassals of His Majesty, and that with this object a garrison had been placed in La Caldera; and that to aid in maintaining it, and in covering the expenses which they had caused in the war by their disobedience, the largest possible quantity of tributes would be collected for His Majesty, and that he would send for them shortly, which had not been done earlier because the Mindanaos had been so spent and afflicted. Having arrived on the 2d of September at the river of Mindanao, and delivered his dispatch, this chief was well received, and found the people in the settled state in which Gen. Don Juan Ronquillo had left them. Raja Muda, the main chief of Mindanao, in the name of them all, sent him back on the 15th of the said month, offering to give to His Majesty all the tribute which they could collect.

At this time news from the chief captain of Malacca having reached the governor, to the effect that in the Sunda,[11] 150 leagues from that port, there had been seen a number of English ships, whose designs were not known; and, a little later, word from the commander of the fort of Maluco that there were at Ternate, within the port, two English ships with 400 men and 50 pieces of artillery; a council of war was held as to what was best to do. The said council decided to withdraw the garrison from La Caldera to Cebu, so that the enemy should not take that place; and, if they should attempt to do damage to that province, they would find it in a state of defense. Accordingly an order was sent to Capt. Toribio de Miranda to withdraw with the troops, arms, artillery, and munitions, dismantling the fort; he was also told that he could return shortly to the island; with more troops and arms, in order to assist in its defense. On the 9th of September Capt. Toribio de Miranda arrived at Cebu, with all the troops, artillery, arms, and munitions; and at the same time Gen. Don Juan Tello arrived at Cebu with a hundred men, who came as reënforcement from the city of Manila. Having spent six months there and commenced to build a fort of stone, the governor, as they had no more news of the English referred to, sent an order to the said Don Juan to come to the city of Manila—which he did with the hundred men. leaving the Province of Cebu in a prosperous condition, with the troops which are usually kept there, and those of the garrison of La Caldera, which in all amounted to 250 Spaniards.

After all this, in June of 1600, the governor received news, by way of Malacca, that the ships which had passed to the South Sea belonged to Dutch merchants, who had come to load with spices in the Maluco Islands. Having transacted their business, they had returned to their own country by way of India, without doing any damage to the islands of the west; it therefore seems that we are safe, notwithstanding the news received of those enemies.

Appendix III

The Moro raids of 1599 and 1600

[Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, Dr. Antonio de Morga, Mexico, 1609.][12]

The Spanish garrison left in La Caldera, at the withdrawal of Don Ronquillo’s camp from the river of Mindanao, passed into command of Captain Villagra at the death of Capt. Juan Pacho in Jolo, and was suffering for lack of provisions; for neither the people of the river could give them to the Spaniards, nor would the Sulus furnish any on account of the war declared upon them. Therefore the garrison urgently requested Governor Don Francisco Tello either to aid their presidio with provisions, soldiers, and ammunition, or to allow them to retire to Manila—a thing of which they were most desirous—since there they gained no other special result than that of famine, and of incarceration in that fort, and of no place wherein to seek their sustenance. The governor, in view of their insistence in the matter, and having but little money in the royal exchequer, with which to provide for and maintain the said presidio and for the same reason the punishment that was to be inflicted upon the Sulus for their outrages upon the Spaniards, and their insurrection was deferred—and thinking that the return to Mindanao matters would be a long question, he was inclined to excuse the difficulty and anxiety of maintaining the presidio of La Caldera. In order to do it with a reasonable excuse he consulted the Audiencia and other intelligent persons, and requested them to give him their opinion. But he first communicated his wishes to them and gave them some reasons with which he tried to persuade them to give him the answer that he desired. The Audiencia advised him not to remove or raise the garrison of La Caldera, but to reënforce and maintain it, and to attend to the affairs of Sulu and the river of Mindanao as soon as possible, even if what was necessary for those two places should be withdrawn from some other section. They said that this was the most urgent need, and the one which required the greatest attention in the islands, both in order to pacify those provinces and to keep them curbed; lest, seeing the Spaniards totally withdrawn, they should gain courage and boldly venture still farther and come down to make captures among the Pintados [Bisayans] and carry the war to the very doors of the Spaniards. Notwithstanding this reply the governor resolved to raise and withdraw the garrison, and sent orders to Captain Villagra immediately to burn the fort which had been built in La Caldera, to withdraw with all his men and ships, and return to Manila. This was quickly done, for the captain and the soldiers of the garrison waited for nothing more than to dismantle the fort and leave. When the Sulus saw the Spaniards abandoning the country, they were persuaded that the latter would return to Mindanao no more, and that they had not sufficient forces to do so. Thereupon they gained fresh resolution and courage, and united with the people of Bwayan on the river, and equipped a number of caracoas and other craft, in order to descend upon the coast of Pintados (Bisayas) to plunder them and make captives. The people of Tampakan, who lost hope of receiving further help from the Spaniards, and of the latter’s return to the river, since they had also abandoned the fort of La Caldera and left the country, came to terms with and joined the people of Bwayan, their neighbors, in order to avoid the war and injuries that they were suffering from the latter. Then all turned their arms against the Spaniards, promising themselves to make many incursions into their territory and gain much plunder. Accordingly they prepared their fleet and appointed as leaders and commanders of it two of the experienced chiefs of the river of Mindanao, called Sali and Silungan.[13] They left the Mindanao River in the month of July of the year 1599, in the season of the vendabals,[14] with 50 caracoas, containing more than 3,000 soldiers armed with arquebuses, kampilan, carasas,[15] other weapons with handles, and many culverins, and steered toward the islands of Oton and Panay, and neighboring islands. They passed Negros Island and went to the river of Panay, which they ascended for 5 leagues to the chief settlement, where the alcalde-mayor and some Spaniards were living. They sacked the settlement, burned the houses and churches, captured many native Christians—men, women, and children—upon whom they committed many murders, cruelties, and outrages. They pursued these in boats more than 10 leagues up the river, and destroyed all the crops. For the alcalde-mayor, and those who could, fled inland among the mountains, and accordingly the enemy had a better opportunity to do what they pleased. After they had burned all the vessels in the river, they left the river of Panay with their boats laden with pillaged goods and captive Christians. They did the same in the other islands and towns which they passed. Then they returned to Mindanao, without any opposition being offered, with a quantity of gold and goods and more than 800 captives, besides the people whom they had killed. In Mindanao they divided the spoil, and agreed to get ready a larger fleet for the next year, and return to make war better prepared.[16]

This daring attack of the Mindanaos worked great injury to the Pintado Islands [Bisayas], both on account of their deeds there and also on account of the fear and terror with which they inspired the natives; because of the latter being in the power of the Spaniards, who kept them subject, tributary, and disarmed, and neither protected them from their enemies, nor left them the means to defend themselves, as they used to do when there were no Spaniards in the country. Therefore many towns of peaceful and subjected Indians revolted and withdrew to the tingues,[17] and refused to descend to their houses, magistrates, and encomenderos.[18] As was reported daily, they all had a great desire to revolt and rebel, but they were appeased and reduced again to subjection by a few promises and presents from their encomenderos and religious who showed great pity and sadness over their injuries. Although in Manila people regretted these injuries, and still more those which were expected in the future from the enemy, they did nothing but regret them—since the governor was ill provided with ships and other necessities for the defense—and reckon them with the loss which they had suffered for having raised the camp on the river of Mindanao and dismantled the presidio of La Caldera.