Nueva España STORY OF FILIPINAS AFTER MAGELLAN PART III

Nueva España
STORY OF FILIPINAS AFTER MAGELLAN PART III


THE PROBLEMS OF PIRATES FROM JOLO








  

On Sunday, December 3, 1634, the Mindanaos arrived with eighteen galleys at the village of Ogmuc( now known as Ormoc), 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 


 
Mindanao River  ( now known as Agusan River)

 
Calaghan (now known as Caraga Region)






MINDANAO DURING SPAnISH TIMES


 





CABALIAN OF LEYTE 



 
                               Dapitán



 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 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, Fray Cristóbal de Miranda, and Fray Andrés Berdugo. The visitors were father Fray ]Diego Martinez 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 On July twenty-seven father Fray Diego de Ordás 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.

 His Majesty had promoted Don Hernando Guerrero to this archbishopric of Manila; and the latter, upon the arrival of the decree of presentation in the year 1632, asked the cabildo on May 25 to put him in possession of his government. But inasmuch as the decree which was required for it was lacking, the cabildo refused to receive him in possession until the arrival of the bulls and pallium. Consequently, he remained in Manila without governing, until, in the above year [i.e., 1635], came an official statement that the bulls and pallium were already attended to in the Roman court; and he thereupon insisted once more that he be admitted to the government of the Church. There were various difficulties raised by the cabildo in receiving him; for in that ship there came only a statement from an apostolic notary, without approval. In regard to this matter long opinions were uttered by each side, which were finally settled by admitting Señor Guerrero after he swore to present himself with the bulls and pallium within a year. In accordance with this, possession was given to him on June 25, 1635. 

 Don Fray Hernando de Guerrero began to govern this church at the same time that Don Sebastián de Corcuera these islands: At the beginning there were abundant indications of what would happen at the end; for the new governor showed himself so greatly bent on increasing his own jurisdiction that it was necessary to act with severity, and not to allow him to make precedents by which certain notions (already beginning to be apparent when he was governor of Panamá) which he had in mind should be established. That gentleman was at once very prudent, very harsh and austere, very tenacious in his resolutions, and wedded to his own notions—which is the occasion for the greatest errors in princes; for by not yielding, in matters that self-love adopts as certain, they allow themselves to be carried over any precipice. This passion was greatly predominant in that gentleman and was the cloud that obscured other talents, worthy of esteem, that adorned him. Immediately occasions of dispute arose between the two, not because Guerrero tried to meddle with the civil government, but because the governor was trying to govern both estates, by giving unfair interpretations to several matters called by the name of “royal patronage;” these are delicate to handle, and the attention with which they ought to be treated is not bestowed on them. Don Fray Hernando greatly regretted the unavoidable occasions that arose, and feared that by the precedent of the first disputes all those which might afterward arise would be regulated; and accordingly, he tried not to weaken at the beginning, which is the time when one must pay heed in order to avoid consequences.

 The first occasion when the governor contrived to introduce himself into the ecclesiastical government more than was his right, was in trying to aid father Fray Diego Collado of the Order of Preachers in the division which the latter was attempting to make of the province of Santo Rosario, under the title of “Congregation of San Pablo,” dividing the province into two parts. For that purpose the father had brought a company of religious, who were called “barbados,” because they wore long beards, and were destined for the new province which he was going to found under the title of “congregation,” for the conversion of Japón and China. For this purpose the said father Fray Diego Collado had obtained the bulls necessary for it in Roma; but seeing that he would not be given license for it in the royal and supreme Council of the Indias, on account of the difficulties that were apparent to the eyes of the least prudent, he did not present them there, being content with having Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera on his side, with whom he had come to these islands in the aforesaid company. That was a very dangerous and critical time for the province of Santo Rosario, which was exposed to many disturbances by the division that they were trying to make of it; and the best convents near Manila were to be taken away from it for the new congregation. In that pretension the aid of the governor was freely used, and it was necessary for the archbishop to oppose him, the province of Santo Rosario having had recourse to the latter. Thereupon the dispute was openly declared, because the governor tried to carry to completion the undertaking that had been begun. The said division would without doubt have been carried into effect had it not been opposed by the archbishop and by Don Fray Diego de Aduarte, a Dominican, and bishop of Nueva Segovia. That was the beginning of the sharpest controversies that have been seen in the Indias between the two jurisdictions—ecclesiastical and civil; and from it originated the disturbances which scandalized the world, causing lamentable effects which are experienced even until the present time. Not only laymen, whom worldly considerations cause to follow the side of power in these islands, conspired on the side of the governor, but also certain ecclesiastical persons, whose advancement depended on the will of the civil government. These latter, being domestic enemies, were the [greatest spur in the hostilities that had been begun. They would have been ended by the care that the archbishop was taking, had the unyielding disposition of Don Sebastián de Corcuera, in what had been begun, allowed him to be less insolvent in what he was attempting. For if on such occasions something is not yielded on both sides, the fire that has been started will continue to increase until any check will be entirely impossible—as was experienced on this occasion; for instead of being extinguished,