While the people were on their way to the village of Malonor, father Fray Francisco de Mesa decided to risk the attempt to prove whether he could through his preaching persuade them to accept better counsels, and, repentant, to put an end to that abominable farce of apostates; for it seemed to him that he would not fulfil his obligation if he did not make this endeavor. He encountered much opposition from the chiefs of the village of Laglag, who were not accomplices in the sedition by those of Malonor; but with intrepid courage to confer with the rebels. He reached the village and sent word to them to assemble in some convenient place, where he would go to discuss with them what concerned the deliverance of their souls, in case they were unwilling to come to the place where father Fray Francisco was. They replied “that they would not go out of the place where” (on account of its being rugged) “they had taken refuge for the sake of their safety—not, however, for fear of the Spaniards, whom they esteemed but lightly, for they themselves were accompanied by all the Holy Trinity, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and all the apostles, who would defend them by working miracles.” They also said that they did not need father ministers, because they had popes and bishops and priests who could minister to them in their own way, although it was very different from that which the fathers used; and “that Fray Francisco should be content with this, that they did not undertake to do harm to the other Christians who, deluded, followed him—although they could do these much harm with the power of God the Father, who assisted them”—and in this fashion they uttered other execrable blasphemies.
Father Fray Francisco, grieved at the perdition of those souls, with intrepid heart determined to go to the place where the rebels were (which was almost inaccessible on account of its ruggedness), where they had erected a shed which served them as a temple in which to offer their sacrifices to the demon and to hold their infamous assemblies. But he did not venture to do so, being dissuaded by the peaceable Indians of Laglag, and by Fray Martín de Mansilla, the prior of Pasig; for that would be to search imprudently for danger, without hope of accomplishing even the least good, since the people of Malonor were so obstinate. The prior told him that it was better to wait for the coming of the Spaniards. But this was not enough to prevent him from going to the said Laglag.[58]
The father arrived, very late in the day, at the house which he had in the village, close to the church, with the intention of obtaining better information regarding the condition of those misguided people, so as to see if he could make any endeavor for the good of their souls. In case he could not do so, he intended to return to Laglag the next day, and there await the coming of the Spaniards. The rebellious apostates consulted the demon as to what they should do; and in consequence resolved to put Father Francisco to death; and they proceeded to carry out this decision. It was about midnight when they all came down to the village in a mob; and some surrounded the house, which was made of bamboo, and others began to thrust their lances through the openings in the floor, between the bamboos, wounding father Fray Francisco, and uttering many abusive words. The father religious, alarmed at his peril, sprang up intending to jump out at the windows, as the house stood very low, not considering the greater danger of this. As he leaped, the insurgents ran toward him, and received him on the points of their lances; and all he could do was to reach the cross which stood in the cemetery, next to the church. He embraced it tenderly, and in this position received many lance-thrusts; and thus, his arms flung round the holy cross, and uttering loving and devout words, he rendered his soul to the Lord—to go, as we may piously believe, to enjoy eternal peace.[59] The insurgents burned the house and the church, but they did not dare to profane the body of the venerable father, and retreated to the most secluded part of those mountains.
On the same day when the news that the apostates had killed the father reached the village of Laglag the Spaniards and soldiers arrived whom Admiral Pedro Durán had sent; and with them came the notary-public of the province and Lorenzo Tallez Mucientes to make an investigation [of the murder], although there was some delay in the arrival of the alcalde-mayor, Pedro Durán, in person. Two days after the death of the venerable father, they went to the village of Malonor, and found the body of the venerable father at the foot of the cross—quite ruddy and without corruption, and the blood dropping from it as if the murderers had but that instant slain him (as the notary Bernabé López has assured me at various times); and it remained in the same incorruption, and without the blood coagulating, until the third day, when they buried it in the church of Laglag. Pedro Durán proceeded, as both a soldier and a judge, to search for the aggressors; and a considerable time after the death of the venerable father, and after many endeavors, and having employed adroit spies, the Spaniards seized the principal actors in the diabolical farce. Others defended themselves and were slain; but their corpses were brought in, and carried with the criminals to the port of Iloilo. There justice was executed upon them; they were fastened to stakes in the river of Araut,[60] and the body of the accursed woman who played the part of the Blessed Virgin was impaled on a stake and placed at the mouth of the river of Laglag.
In Otón; 1672
[This is related by Diaz in his Conquistas, pp. 696–697.]
The spirit of discord also roamed through the mountains of the province of Ogtong in the island of Panay, causing a disturbance which had an aspect more ridiculous than serious; and if I have concluded to set it down here it is only to show the pliability of disposition in these Indians in believing every new thing, even when it is groundless, simply because fear persuades them to believe whatever is inimical to the Spaniards, and especially if it is to their discredit. In the villages of Miagao and other visitas of Tigbauan, the collector of tributes for the king was a soldier born in Nueva España, of a merry and jesting disposition; he without heeding what would result, told among the Indians this exceedingly absurd story: “That the king of España had gone out to the seashore for recreation, so heedless of danger and so lightly attended that he had been captured by some Turkish galleys that landed at that shore, and had been carried away to the court of the Grand Turk, who demanded for his ransom an enormous number of slaves; and that to comply with this demand he had sent many ships, which were to carry all the natives of that province to him, so that he could deliver them to the Turks.” The soldier told them that several ships had come for this purpose, which were already in the harbor of Iloilo; and that the alcalde-mayor Don Sebastián de Villarreal and other Spaniards had to go with the ships, in order to make this delivery. This foolish and so perverse story was so thoroughly believed by the Bisayan Indians[61] that it caused a great disturbance and commotion among the inhabitants of the villages of Tigbauan, Miagao, Guimbal, and their visitas—so that, abandoning their homes and villages, they fled to the woods without concerted action, publishing the story that the Turks were already close by to seize them, and would carry the natives to their king as prisoners. The father ministers, as being nearest to them, experienced great perplexity, not being able to bring back the fugitives, as they did not know the cause of their disturbance; for when the natives perceived any religious they only took to flight, crying out, “Turks!” and thus the villages were being depopulated.
When the said alcalde-mayor learned this, he gathered all the soldiers that he could find, and reënlisted many veteran soldiers; and, in company with the father ministers Fray Marcos Gabilán, Fray Marcos González, and Fray Agustín de Estrada, he set out with all speed to see if he could check the disturbance; for he did not know of the falsehood uttered by the demon through the lips of the soldier. But this measure tended to fan the flames and to give further confirmation to that lie; they found, therefore, the villages deserted, and feared that this was a general rebellion. At last, the absurd cause which had influenced the natives was ascertained; and in a conference of the father ministers and the sensible Spaniards they chose the more prudent measure of withdrawing the troops, and allowing the natives to be undeceived by the course of events. The soldier, who must have been more knave than dolt, succeeded in concealing himself so well that nothing was known of him for a long time, because he left the island. The end of this revolution was, that gradually the Indians became undeceived, and ascertained that the whole thing was a lie; and through the agency of father Fray Agustín de Estrada, of whom they had a very high opinion, they were pacified, and brought back to their villages and homes. This is written only that some idea may be formed of the readiness with which these natives believe any lie; and the difficulties experienced by the religious who live among them as ministers, and the danger to the lives of the fathers if the demon concocts some fiction which, like this, is to their detriment or to the discredit of the Spaniards.
In Playa Honda; 1681
[From Diaz’s Conquistas, pp. 747–748.]