The history of these early times is very confused, and there are many contradictions in the authors of the Philippine chronicles, none of which seems to have been written contemporaneously with the first events. It appears, however, that Martin de Goiti and a few soldiers accompanied Salcedo to the north. They were well received by the native chiefs or petty kings Lacandola, rajah of Tondo (known as Rajah Matanda, which means in native dialect the aged rajah), and his nephew, the young Rajah Soliman of Manila.
The sight of a body of European troops, armed as was the custom in the sixteenth century, must have profoundly impressed and overawed these chieftains, otherwise it seems almost incredible that they should have consented, without protest, or attempt at resistance, to (forever) give up their territory, yield their independence, pay tribute,[8] and become the tools of invading foreigners with which to conquer their own race, without recompense whatsoever.
A treaty of peace was signed and ratified by an exchange of drops of blood between the parties thereto. Soliman, however, soon repented of his poltroonery, and raised the war-cry among some of his tribes. To save his capital (then called Maynila) falling into the hands of the invaders he set fire to it. Lacandola remained passively watching the issue. Soliman was completely routed by Salcedo, and pardoned on his again swearing fealty to the King of Spain. Goiti remained in the vicinity of Manila with his troops, while Salcedo fought his way to the Bombon Lake (Taal) district. The present Batangas Province was subdued by him and included in the jurisdiction of Mindoro Island. During the campaign, Salcedo was severely wounded by an arrow and returned to Manila.
Legaspi was in the Island of Panay when Salcedo (some writers say Goiti) arrived to advise him of what had occurred in Luzon. They at once proceeded together to Cavite, where Lacandola visited Legaspi on board, and, prostrating himself, averred his submission. Then Legaspi continued his journey to Manila, and was received there with acclamation. He took formal possession of the surrounding territory, declared Manila to be the capital of the archipelago, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the King of Spain over the whole group of islands. Gaspar de San Augustin, writing of this period, says: “He (Legaspi) ordered them (the natives) to finish the building of the fort in construction at the mouth of the river (Pasig), so that his majesty’s artillery might be mounted therein for the defense of the port and the town. Also he ordered them to build a large house inside the battlement walls for Legaspi’s own residence—another large house and church for the priests, etc.... Besides these two large houses he told them to erect one hundred and fifty dwellings of moderate size for the remainder of the Spaniards to live in. All this they promptly promised to do, but they did not obey, for the Spaniards were themselves obliged to terminate the work of the fortifications.”
The City Council of Manila was constituted on the 24th of June, 1571. On the 20th of August, 1572, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi succumbed to the fatigues of his arduous life, leaving behind him a name which will always maintain a prominent place in Spanish colonial history. He was buried in Manila in the Augustine Chapel of San Fausto, where hung the royal standard and the hero’s armorial bearings until the British troops occupied the city in 1763.
“Death makes no conquest of this conqueror,
For now he lives in fame, though not in life.”
—“Richard III.,” Act 3, Sc. 1.
In the meantime Salcedo continued his task of subjecting the tribes in the interior The natives of Taytay, and Cainta, in the present military district of Morong, submitted to him on the 15th of August, 1571. He returned to the Laguna de Bay to pacify the villagers, and penetrated as far as Camarines Norte to explore the Bicol River. Bolinao and the provinces of Pangasinan and Ilocos yielded to his prowess, and in this last province he had well established himself when the defense of the capital obliged him to return to Manila.
At the same time, Martin de Goiti was actively employed in overrunning the Pampanga territory, with the double object of procuring supplies for the Manila camp and coercing the inhabitants on his way to acknowledge their now liege lord. It is recorded that in this expedition Goiti was joined by the rajahs of Tondo and Manila. Yet Lacandola appears to have been regarded more as a servant of the Spaniards nolens volens than as a free ally; for, because he absented himself from Goiti’s camp “without license from the Maestre de Campo,” he was suspected by some writers of having favored opposition to the Spaniards’ incursions in the Marshes of Hagonoy (Pampanga coast, northern boundary of Manila Bay).
The district which constituted the ancient province of Taal y Balayan, subsequently denominated Province of Batangas, was formerly governed by a number of caciques, the most notable of which were Gatpagil and Gatjinlintan. They were usually at war with their neighbors. Gatjinlintan, the cacique of the Batangas River at the time of the conquest, was famous for his valor. Gatsungayan, who ruled on the other side of the river, was celebrated as a hunter of deer and wild boar. These men were half-castes of Borneo and Aeta extraction, who formed a distinct race called by the natives Daghagang. None of them would submit to the King of Spain or become Christians, hence their descendants were offered no privileges.
On the death of General Legaspi, the government of the colony was assumed by the royal treasurer, Guido de Lavezares, in conformity with the sealed instructions from the Supreme Court of Mexico, which were now opened. During this period, the possession of the islands was unsuccessfully disputed by a rival expedition under the command of a Chinaman, Li-ma-hong, whom the Spaniards were pleased to term a pirate, forgetting, perhaps, that they themselves had only recently wrested the country from its former possessors by virtue of might against right.