Doctor Francisco de Sandé.
Before me:
Alonso Beltran,
His Majesty’s notary.
Reasons for hostilities
The above shows clearly that Governor Sandé intended, first, to reduce Sulu to a vassal state; second, to exact tribute in pearls; third, to secure the trade of Sulu for the Spaniards; fourth, to punish the Sultan of Sulu for the help he rendered the Sultan of Bruney against the Spanish forces; fifth, to rescue the Christian slaves in Sulu; sixth, to deprive the Sulus of their artillery and ammunition and of all vessels except fishing vessels, in order to stop their piracy; seventh, to compel the Sulus to become peaceful agriculturists; eighth, to uproot the “accursed doctrine” of Mohammed and to convert the Sulus to the Christian religion.
The leader of the expedition was directed to carry out these instructions as carefully and as gently as possible; and there is no reason to think that he failed to comply with his orders to the letter. But no matter how careful and faithful Captain Rodriguez could have been, it was not difficult for the Sulus to understand the purpose of the expedition and the motives of the Spanish Government, and it does not stand to reason that such people would yield to vassalage and receive a direct insult to their religion without resentment and without a struggle. Governor Sandé knew the reputation of the Sulus, but he must have underestimated their strength and failed to provide garrisons for the occupation of the conquered territory and the protection of peaceful natives.
In January, 1579, Governor Sandé sent an expedition to Mindanao, commanded by Capt. Gabriel de Ribera, under instructions similar to those given to Captain Rodriguez. Ribera had additional orders to visit Jolo and collect the tribute for that year, and special stress was laid on procuring from the Sultan of Sulu “two or three tame elephants.” Ribera accomplished nothing in Mindanao; the natives abandoned their villages and fled to the interior. On his return to Kawite or Caldera, he met a deputation from Jolo, which brought insignificant tribute and informed him of the existence of famine in Sulu and the extreme distress of the people. He returned their tribute, receiving in its place a cannon, which the Sulus had obtained from a wrecked Portuguese galley. Ribera then returned to Cebu, without producing any significant effect on conditions in Sulu.
In April, 1580, Governor Sandé was relieved by Governor Gonzalo Ronquillo, who did not take the same interest in Borneo and Sulu. In the same year the kingdom of Portugal and its rich eastern colonies were annexed to the Spanish domain. No danger could then be expected from the direction of Borneo and Sulu, and the ambitious new Governor-General turned his attention to more desirable fields of conquest.
Piracy was not the primary cause of this invasion of Sulu. Public sentiment was not so strong against slavery in those days as it is now; for the Spaniards and other leading civilized nations were then diligently pursuing a profitable trade in it between the west coast of Africa and the West Indies and America. Piracy is always a crime among nations, but it can not be urged as the principal and leading cause of this war or as sufficient reason in itself for the early precipitation of such a deadly conflict between Sulu and Spain. Religion, on the other hand, was declared by Governor Sandé to be the “principal reason for going to their lands.” He ordered the Sulus not to admit any more preachers of Islam, but to allow the Spanish priests to preach Christianity to them. The Mohammedan preachers he directed to be arrested and brought to him, and the mosques to be burned or destroyed and not to be rebuilt.
Part of the instructions the Adelantado[24] Miguel Lopez de Legaspi received before embarking on his expedition to the Philippines read as follows: