Chapter XV
The raid of the Mindanao pirates into Leyte. Election of father Fray Juan Ramirez as provincial. Arrival of the governor, Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, and the religious who came in his company.
That year of 1634 was so quiet and so barren of events worthy of remembrance that I shall not dwell long upon it; for there is nothing of which I have heard to detain me, unless it be the raid of the Mindanao enemy into the island of Leyte, and the depredations that they committed there with the license permitted to them in seeing that there was no attempt made in Manila to check them.
On Sunday, December 3, 1634, the Mindanaos arrived with eighteen galleys at the village of Ogmuc, leaving behind in that of Baybay the rest of the vessels which they brought in their fleet. Fifty of our Indians went out to resist them, but being unable to fight so many, they gradually retired to a little fort, possessed by the village. They thought that they would be able to resist the pirates there, being encouraged by their minister, Father Juan del Carpio, of the Society of Jesus; and they did so for some time, until the Moros, knowing that the church was higher than the fort, entered it and our men could not reach them with their shots. They planted three pieces in a convenient place at the church, in order to do great damage to those in the fort; and firing without cessation, they did not allow our men to fire a shot through its loopholes and windows. Others of the enemy hastened by another side to gather bundles of thatch by uncovering the roofs of the houses; and by fastening together what wood and bamboo they could gather, and pushing this contrivance toward the fort, they set it afire. The fire burned a quantity of rice and abacá (which is the hemp of this country), and many men were choked by the smoke. The besieged, seeing that the fire had caught the timber-work [of the fort], and that they were being inevitably killed without any chance to defend themselves, displayed a signal for surrender and in fact did so.
They were all captured; and a great contest arose among the enemy as to who should have Father Carpio as his captive. In this contention they had recourse to the Mindanao captain, and he ordered that the father be killed. That they did very gladly, and beheaded him and carried his head back to present it as a spoil to their king, Cachil Corralat. The latter had charged them not to leave alive any religious or Spaniard, for so had he vowed to their false prophet Mahomet in an illness that he had had. They took the others captive, and sacked and burned all the village. From that place they sailed out and committed the same destruction in the villages of Soyor, Binñangán, Cabalián, Canamucán, and Baybay. But they were so stoutly resisted in the village of Inibañgán in [the island of] Bohol, and in Dapitán, that they retired but little the gainers; for those Indians are very valiant, and very different in valor from the other villages which the Mindanaos sacked.
The Camucones also—a people from islands subject to Borney, cruel and barbarous, and Mahometan by religion, although there are pagans in some islands—made their raids into the island of Panay, chiefly on the villages of Bataán, Domayan, and Mahanlur, and in those of Aclán and Bahay, where they captured many of our Indians, and burned the churches of the visitas. The visitas are usually deserted, and have no houses to defend them; and those Camucones are very cowardly and very different from the Joloans and Mindanaos, who are valiant, and much more so the latter named. The Camucones entered by the river and bar of Batán, which is salt water, where a very grievous jest happened to two or three of their craft. The river of Batán has another river a short distance above the village road, which ends in a very wide and spacious sea, which they call “tinagongdagat,” or “hidden sea,” in which the inhabitants enjoy excellent fishing. With the ebb of the tide that spacious sea is left almost dry, and then many kinds of shellfish are caught, such as oysters and crabs. The Camucones entered that sea, with the intention of lying in wait for some capture, but when they least expected it they found their craft on dry ground. An Indian who was gathering the aforesaid shellfish saw them; and, recognizing them to be piratical enemies by the style of their craft, went to the village and gave warning of them. Many of the inhabitants of Batán assembled, and, well armed, attacked the Camucones very courageously. They made a great slaughter of the pirates, and captured many of them and burned their craft. Some of the Camucones escaped through the mangrove plantations and swampy ground. They were captured next day, with the exception of those who had the luck to rejoin the boats of their companions—who repenting of their carelessness, returned to their lands, and did not return to try their fortune in those regions for many years.
Those Camucones enemies, entering that island of Panay in the same district between Bataán and Aclán, in 1672, captured the alcalde-mayor of Panay, Captain Don José de San Miguel. He defended himself against them until he was killed, and immediately when that was known they beheaded him, and took his head and skin to their land as a trophy. Better fortune was experienced by the notary, Pedro de Villarús, who was in another boat; for, having seen the Camucones, he had his boat beached, and, taking to the mangrove swamps, saved his life after great danger. This he attributed to a miracle of the apostle St. Peter, to whom he was very devoted, and to whom he made a great feast as a thank-offering. The piteous death of that alcalde-mayor, Don José de San Miguel, could be attributed to the punishment of God, as he had been a cruel persecutor of the regular ministers; so much so that in the time during which he governed that province (which by the Divine permission was short), they suffered a great persecution. But God knows the truth; and it is not permitted, nor do I wish, to interpret the events of His holy will and providence. But it has not seemed proper to me to omit a circumstance which I positively know concerning that ill-starred youth; namely, that after his death, there was found among his papers a letter from his father, Don Basilio de San Miguel (who is said to have been much given to astrology and soothsaying), who told and ordered him not to receive an office of justice under any circumstance, for the first that he should obtain threatened him with a very great disaster. I know that fact absolutely; for the rest, concerning the infallibility and even possibility of like judgments, I declare that I am ready to obey the command of our holy Mother the Church, in the constitution of his Holiness Sixtus V which begins, Cæli et terræ Creator.
Father Fray Gerónimo de Medrano finished his triennium, notable both for his pacific and prudent government, and by the two martyrs of Christ who ennobled this province during his triennium. In the chapter celebrated in the convent of Manila, April 28, 1635—over which father master Fray Alonso de Carvajal presided, by virtue of the letters of our father-general—father Fray Juan Ramirez,[4] a religious of great prudence, learning, and devotion, was elected, to the content of the whole province. The definitors elected were father Fray Estacio Ortiz, the father master Fray Teófilo Mascarós,[5] Fray Cristóbal de Miranda, and Fray Andrés Berdugo.[6] The visitors were father Fray Diego Martinez[7] and Fray Juan Gallegos. They enacted regulations very useful for the good government of the province, and provided ministers for the ministries of it, both priors and vicars, as at that time it contained many distinguished members of the order.
Two galleons arrived at Cavite on St. John’s day, which were returning from Nueva España with the reënforcements for these islands. The flagship of those vessels was called “Nuestra Señora de la Concepción” [i.e., “Our Lady of the Conception”], and the almiranta “San Luis.” They brought the new governor and a company of religious of our order, and also some of St. Dominic, among them father Fray Diego Collado.[8] On July twenty-seven father Fray Diego de Ordás[9] entered the convent of Manila with his mission, which was composed of twenty-five religious, who have been very useful to this province.
That same year came also Governor Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera, knight of the Order of Alcantara, and member of the Council of War in the states of Flandes, where he had served many years with great credit, being one of the most renowned captains in the siege of Breda. He had afterward been master-of-camp of the port of Callao in Perú, and captain-general of the cavalry of that kingdom, and lastly governor of Panamá. He brought a great reënforcement of soldiers, many of them from Perú, as he made his voyage to Acapulco from that kingdom. He was a gentleman of great valor, and one prone to undertake rash enterprises. However he did not have much good fortune in the outcome of these, either in war or in politics, for all had a disastrous end. The reason of this is hidden, with the Divine plans; but, as the reader will see in the events that I shall soon write, it will appear that the beginnings of his government, fatal for these islands, could not have less unfortunate progress, the effects lasting until the present time. Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera took possession of this government on June 25 of the above year.