LESSON 6

The Philippines Under Spain

Marlyn Topia

Lesson Introduction

Seeking more territories and subjects during the fifteenth century "Age of Discovery primary
Western powers salied through oceans to tierras incognitas uncharted lands) Through the
Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494 the Spanish thalassocracy circled farther west to arrive in the
Philippines in 1521 and colonize it in 1505. Upon contact and establishment of colonial rule,
differences between Spanish and Philippine races, cultures, and ways of doing things amplified.
Samuel Tan framed Filipino responses to Spanish colonization as indios, inhabitants who were
Christianized, Moros, those who were Islamized in the late fourteenth century, and Lumadis,
those neither of the two and were mostly able to retain their tr they the phones The Spanish
drastically change and socio-cultural landscape of the archipelago gut a gimpse of early In this
lesson we are going to Spanish anivial tough Juan de Plasencia's Customs of Spanish imposed
economic institutions in the commer recounted by Filipino culture wporn the Tagalogs how
Philippines and how they cont Antonio de Morga in Sucesos de las Filipinad how the Spanish
expeditions attempted to co Maguindanao and Sale Sutunates through a letter of instruction to
conquest

Juan de Plasencia's Customs of the Tagalog

Upon the arrival of the Spaniards establishment by Miguel Lopez de Legazp in 1521,
culonization 1565 the Manila area as the capital of Spanian colony in the Philippines, the
practical move was to study the subiects rote about the Filipinas du the new colony, Hence,
several Spanish writers wrote That mid-millennium. Foremost of them belonged to religious
orders such as th Franciscan missionary Juan de Plasencia. This same priest authored the first
book eves printed in the archipelago in 1593, the Doctrina Gristiana. He was known to lived
modestly and was concemed with the welfare of the Filipino, even suggesting that aside from
the Christian doctrine, reading and writing Spanish should also be taught to Filipinos Plasencia
asserted that in the process of compiling the Customs he had to "obtain the simple truth by
weeding out much of the foolishness, in regar to their government, administration of justice,
inhentances, slaves, and downes."

Plasencia's Customs of the Tagalog (1589) was the earliest descriptive written work on early
Filipino society giving us the withesis view of our ancestors custome and traditions. He used
"Tagalog because Tagalogs inhabited Manila, the established capital, His work had no particular
order elaborating on certain aspects of early Filipino life. The socio-political structure of early
Tagalogs, according to Plasencia was led by revered chiets referred to as dato, who served as
war captains. They ruling as many as a hundred houses, a "tribal gathering called a barangay.
Plasencia aiso identified three "caates or classes the nobles or the maharlica, the commoners or
the aliping namamahay who served their master, and the slaves called aliping sa guiguiir
(saguigullid) who also served their master, but they could be sold. We have to understand that
Plasencia was writing from a Spaniard's view and assigned terma to the Filipines that were
otherwise actually foreign such as "knights" and "castes Springing from the previous lesson on
the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, we read that Plasencia also mentions in a frustrating voice
his distress regarding loans:

In what concurs loans, there was vas formerly, koces and i today an exures of susarc which is a
great hindrance to baptism as well as to confession, for it turnout in the same way as 1 have
showed in the case of the one under judgment, who gives halt of his cultivated lands and profits
until he pays the debt. The delter is condemned to a life of soil, and thus borrowers beorme
slaven, and after the death of the father the children pay the debt. Not doing so, double the
amount must be paid. This system should and can be reformed

Plasencia continues with paragraphs on mariage and cormtitution of the family giving
scenarios of couples who divorced and matters conceming inhentance and dowry. He also
relates how disputes in the community were settled:
Investigations made and sentences parsed by the dato must take place in the pa ener of them
at his barangay If If any any of of the pents belt tunneli gneved anartime was unammously
named from another village or berangay whether he were a dato or not, since they had tot this
purposes persums known as fair and just nam, who were said to give true hidgment according
to ther cestoms. If the controvary lay berween two chiefs when they wished to avoid wat, they
also convoked judges to act as arfuters, they did the same it the disputants belonged to two
different barangays in this commony they always had to drink, the plaintiff inviting the others.

Regarding the elaborate belief system of the Filipinos. Plasencia explained:

In all the villages, or in other parts of the Filipinas Islands, there are no samples voecrated in the
pertussing of sacrifices, the adoration of their idols. ne the general practice of idolatry it is true
that they have the name which means a temple or place of adoration, but this is because,
Urmerly when they wished to celetuate a testival, which they called pandit, or "worship" they
celebrated it in the large home of a chief. During this time the whole barangay ec family, united
and joined in the worship which they call napsanme Anking theit many idols then was one
called Badhala, whom they especially worshiped The title seems to signity "all powerful" or
"maker of all thirugs. They also worshiped the sun, which, on account of is beauty in alment
universally respected and henoned try heathens. They worshiped, too, the moon, specially
when it was new, at which time they held great joicings, adering it and bidding it welcome
Same of them allan adored the he stars, although they dat set know them by their names, as
the Spaniants and other nations know the planets-with the one exception of the morning stat,
which they called Tala They knew to the "seven little gpare the Panades) as we call them and
consequently de change of seasorom, which they call Mapolon, and Balatic, which is our
Greater Beut. They possessed many idols called lo ha, which were images with different shapes,
and at times they worshiped any little trifle, in which they adored.

These mindes said that they knew that there was another life of rest which they called mact,
just as if we should say "paradise. m in other words "village of rest. They say thuat those she go
to this place are the just, and the valiant, and theee who lived without doing harm, or sche
poseerd other moral virtues. They said also that in the other lite and mortality, there was al
place of panishment, griet, and affliction, called casumaan, which was "a place of anguish they
said that all the wicked went to that place, and there diwelt the demos, whom they called at
sitan.

He closed his letter with the following

Others, perchaner, may offer a more extended narrative, but leaving aside irrelevant matters
concerning government and justice among them a summary of the whole truth is contained in
the above. I am sending the account in this clear and concise form because I had reanved no
orders to pursue the work further. Whatever may be decided upon, it is certainly important
that a should be given to the alcaldes-mayor, accompanied by an explanation....

Analysis of the Customs of the Tagalogs

The Sparnish govemment commissioned Plasencias s work 10 identify the strategy gan ter
hewly founded colony Compared with the Chi lycopene thy of bade matters, the Spanish were
more intererates in socio pumical structure of the early Filipinos (whom they called indlow).
Althoug recognising the datus, the Spanish looked at the structures as weak and segmente
reflecting other Southeast Asian forms of political organization based on networks over
tenitorial expansion. allitare

The the holds that Plasencia's work is a lengthy treatise on Tagalog custom covering severe
topics from marriage to burial. It was evidence that the san Filipinos had a system of
governance, customs, and beliefs Notably, Plasenc narrated that Filipinos would enslave each
other because of unpaid debts and how this created a slave status that is inherited by children
unless the detit is paid, Buthe looked at these systems from the European perspective For
example, referring Filipino asmology, he said. They adore the stars although they don't know
their naren (only a few). He labeled spiritual practitioners as "priests of the devir to include the
catalanan, manganesiam, eto, but acknowledged that they did believe in a specia being called
Badhala and that there was an afterlife. His presentation of these both gives us a glimpse of but
at the same time obscures us from understanding the true nature of these cultural practices.
Through the centuries under Spanish rule these practices were inherited, combining them with
Catholic belets-labeled fok Catholicism A simple example would be the crucifix being used by
the Filipinos as a form of the indigenous concept of anting-anting

One of the most formative concepts that stemmed from Plasencia was the idea ol the
"barangay An authority on pre-sixteenth century Philippines. William Henry Scott wrote that
the word was misused to refer to the smallest social structure of the society as it merely meant
a boat. But as the Spanish continued to write about the Filipinos, they replicated Plasencia's
error. Plasencia, as well as those who succeeded him may have chosen the wrong concept and
construct, but more than a mistake, it was also an attempt to impose a Western structure to
explain the Filipino political units Scott said that in his studies, what appears to refer to early
Filipino political structure was the word bayan. Unfortunately, Plasencia's work became the
seed of scholarship on Filipino political structure that writers after him, whether Spanish,
American, or Filipino, had enabled the concept of "barangay" to persist.

The barangay is so embedded in Philippine history that probably all textbooks begin the
discussion on pre-sixteenth century Philippines using this construct, a testimony to how the
foreign lens or perspective shaped realites using misconstrued concepts in history, Imagine
other indigenous concepts that had the same fate Revisiting and reanalyzing primary sources
allow us to contextualize the same concepts we use today. Ultimately, we have to understand
that Plasencia's work was just a fraction of the whole and was not in any way representative of
all the other indigenous peoples of the Philippine pre-sixteenth century.

Alayssa Ianna Aguilar

Antonio de Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas

Antonio de Morga studied canon and civil law in Spain and was called to serve as assistant to
the Governor-General in the Philippines in 1593, arriving in Manila in 1595 in 1598, he
proposed and realized the reestablishment of the Audiencia, the highest tribunal in the colony,
which he led until 1603 when he was reassigned to Mexico. It was in Mexico that he published
his experiences and observations in Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (Events in the Philippine
Islands) in 1609. The book has eight chapters, the last of which talks lengthily about all his
observations in the places that he had known. He mentioned foremost provinces in Luzon,
Visayas, and Mindanao, describing their location, trade products, flora and fauna, food, houses,
clothing, weapons, and language, among others.

Morga described in length the socio-cultural and political aspects of early Filipino society. He
explained in this chapter the barangiry and some of their justice system:

There were no kings or lords throughout these islands who ruled over them as is the manner of
our kingdoms and provinces. Some chiets had friendship and communication with others and at
times wars and quarrels.

When some natives had suits or disputes with others over matters of property and interest or
over personal injuries and wrongs teceived, they appointed old men of the same district, to try
then, the parties being present is they had to present proots, they brought their wanesses
there, and the case was imediately judged arcording to what was lound, according to the
usages of their ancestors on like occasions, and that sentence was observed and execured
without any further objection or delay.

The natives' laws throughout the islands were made in the same manner, and they followed the
traditions and customs of their ancestors, without anything being written. Some provinces had
different customs than others in some respects. However, they agreed in most, and in all the
islands generally the same usages were followed.

He described the "natives throughout the islands can write excellently wa certain characters,
almost like the Greek or Arabic." He explained on chiefs, slave marriage, Inheritance, loans,
crimes, religion, the coming of Islam, and the arrival Spaniards and the foundation of Manila:

The arrival of the Spaniards in these Filipinas Islands, since the year 1564, the pacification and
conversion that has been made therein, their mode of governing, and the provisions of his
Majesty during these years for their welfare, have caused innovations in many things, such as
are usual to kingdoms and provinces that change their religion and sovereign. The foremost has
been that, besides the name of Filipinas which all the islands took and received from the
beginning of their conquest, they belong to a new kingdom and seigniory.....

The city of Manila was founded by the adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, first governor of
the Filipinas, in the island of Luzon. It occupies the same site where Rajamora had his
settlement and fort... The whole site was occupied by this new settlement, and Legazpi
apportioned it to the Spaniards in equal building-lots. It was laid out with well-arranged streets
and squares, straight and level. A sufficiently large main square [Plaza mayor) was left, fronting
which were erected the cathedral church and municipal buildings. He left another square, that
of arms (Plaza de armas), fronting which was built the fort, as well as the royal buildings. He
gave sites for the monasteries, hospital, and chapels which were to be built, as being a city
which was to grow and increase continually-as already it has done; for, in the course of the time
that has passed, that city has flourished as much as the best of all the cities in those regions.

He also described with pride this new settlement of handsome edifices and passageways and
that all vessels sail from Manila. He explained the new political arrangement under the
Spanish:

The chiefs, who formerly held the other natives in subjection, now have no power over them in
the tyrannical manner of former days. This was not the least benefit received by these natives
in having been freed from such servitude. However, it is true that matters touching the slavery
of former days have remained on the same footing as before. The king our sovereign has
ordered by his decrees that the honors of the chiefs be preserved to them as such, and that the
other natives recognize them and assist them with certain of the labors that they used to give
when pagans. This is done with the lords and possessors of barangays, and those belonging to
such and such a barangay are under that chief's control. When he harvests his rice, they go one
day to help him; and the same if he builds a house, or rebuilds one. This chief lord of a barangay
collects tribute from his adherents, and takes charge of these collections, to pay them to the
encomendero.
The datus became the cabezas de barangay whose job is to collect taxes to be paid to the
encomendero, a Spaniard who helped colonize the Philippines.The Filipinos paid the tribute
in kind-gold, cloth, cotton, rice, bells, fowls, and what they may have or their harvests. Aside
from the introduction of the tax or tributo, several economic policies were imposed by the
Spanish to seize control of trade and commerce in the Philippines aggressively:

The natives of these islands have also the ir personal services, which they are obliged to render-
in some parts more th an in others-to the Spaniards. These are done in different ways, and are
commonly called the polo. For, where there are alcaldes-mayor and justices, th ey assign and
distribute certain natives by the week for the service of their houses. They pay these servants a
moderate wage, which generally amounts to one-fourth real per day, and rice for their food.
The same is done by the re ligious for the mission, and for their monasteries and churches, and
for their works, and for public works..... The Indians also furnish rice, and food of all ki nds, at
the prices at which they are valued and sold among the natives. These p rices are always very
moderate. The datos, vilangos, and fiscals make the divisior 1, collect, and take these supplies
from the natives; and in the same manner th ey supply their encomenderos when these go to
make the collections.... The gr eatest service rendered by these natives is on occasions of war,
when they act as rowers and crews for the vireys and vessels that go on the expeditions, and a
pioneers for any service that arises in the course of the war, although their pray and wages are
given them. In the same way natives are assigned and apportioned for the king's works, such as
the building of ships, the cutting; of wood, the trade of making the rigging, the work in the
artillery foundry, and the service in the royal magazines; and they are paid their stipend and
daily wage.... In other things pertaining to the service of the Spaniards and the vir expeditions,
works, and any other service, performed by the natives, the ser vice is voluntary, and paid by
mutual agreement...; for, as hitherto, the Spaniar ds have worked no mines, nor have they
given themselves to the gains to be de rived from field labors, there is no occasion for
employing the natives in anything of that sort.

Jamaica Duhig
The trade involved large sea vessels that carry a variety of merchandise to be sold in Nueva
España (Mexico) which was then the viceroyalty of Spain:

In the vessels and fleets of large vessels for the Nueva España line, the ships that are sent carry
a general, admiral, mast ers, boatswains, commissaries, stewards, alguacils, sergeants of marine
artiller y [condestables], artillery men, sailors, pilots and their assistants, common sea imen,
carpenters, calkers, and coopers, all in his Majesty's pay, on the account of Nueva España, from
whose royal treasury they are paid. All that is necessary for this navigation is supplied there.
Their provisions and appointments are made by the viceroy; and this has hitherto pertained to
him, though the ships m may have been constructed In the Filipinas. Thed salinence with their
cargo of merchandise for Nueva España, and return thence to the Filipinas with the
reinforcements of soldiers and supplies and whatever else is necessary for the camp, besides
passengers and religious, and the money proceeding from I he investments and merchandise.
The merchants and businessmen form the bulk of the residents of the islands, because of the
great ame sunt of merchandise brought there outside of native products from China, Japon,
Maluco, Malaca, Sian, Camboja, Borneo, and other districts. They invest it this merchandise and
export it annually in the vessels that sail to Nueva España a, and at times to Japon, where great
profits are made from raw silk. Thence on the return to Manila are brought the proceeds, which
hitherto have resulted in large and splendid profits. A considerable number of somas and junks
(which are large vessels) generally come from Great Chi na to Manila, laden with merchandise.
Every year thirty or even forty ships ar e wont to come, and although they do not come
together, in the form of a trading and war fleet, still they do come in groups with the monsoon
and settled weather, which is generally at the new moon in March. They belong to the
provinces of Canton, Chincheo, and Ucheo [Fo-Kien), and sail from those provinces. They i nake
their voyage to the city of Manila in fifteen or twenty days, sell their merch andise, and return
in good season... The merchandise that they generally bring and sell to the Spaniards consists of
raw silk in bundles, of the fineness of two strands [dos cabecas], and other silk of poorer qualit
y; fine untwisted silk, white and of all colors, wound in small skeins; quantities of velvets, some
plain, and some embroidered in all sorts of figures, colors, and fashions-others with body of
gold, and embroidered with gold; wover 1 stuffs and brocades, of gold and silver upon silk of
various colors and patter ns; quantities of gold and silver thread in skeins over thread and silk-
but the glitter of all the gold and silver is false, and only on paper; damasks, satins, taffe tans,
gorvaranes, picotes, and other cloths of all colors, some finer and better than others; a quantity
of linen made from grass, called lencesuelo [handkerchie f, made from piña cloth]; and white
cotton cloth of different kinds and qualities, for all uses. As soon as the ship reach es the mouth
of the bay of Manila, the watchman stationed at the island of Mir aveles goes out to it in a light
vessel. Having examined the ship.... When the vessel has arrived and anchored, the royal
officials go to inspect it and the register of the merchandise aboard it. At the same time the
valuation of the cargo is made according to law, of what it is worth in Manila; for the vessel i
mmediately pays three per cent on everything to his Majesty. After the register has been
inspected and the valuation made, then the merchandise is immediate ly unloaded by another
official into champans, and taken to the Parian, or to other houses and magazines, outside of
the city. There the goods are freely sold. In these classes of merchandise, and in the products of
the islands-namely, gold, cotton cloth, mendrinaqı te, and cakes of white and yellow wax-do the
Spaniards effect their purchaset i, investments, and exports for Nueva España.... They value and
register these goods, for they pay into the royal treasury of Manila, before the voyage, the two
per cent royal duties on exports, besides the freight charges of the vessel, which amount to
forty Castilian ducados per tonelada. This latter is paid at the port of Acapulco in Nueva España,
into the royal treasury of the said port in addition to the ten per cent duties for entrance and
first sale in Nueva Españia.

The trans-Pacific trade was profitable enough that the Spanish sought more goods abundant
in Ternate of the Moluccas area:

They found Governor Eton Pedro de Acuña in Manila, and presented the matter to hint, making
use of tl te Audiencia and of the orders, and making many boasts of the Portuguese fleet, and
the illustrious men who were in it, and of the valor and renown of its genera il in whatever he
undertook. They asserted at the same time the success of the c. ipture of Terrenate at that
time, especially if they received from Manila the suco or and help for which they had come, and
which, in justice, should be given then n, as it was given from the Filipinas whenever the king of
Tidore and the chief ca ptain of that fort requested it, and as his Majesty had ordered-and with
more į good reason and foundation on such an occasion.

Morga described some of the Philippine islands that have gold (and other commodities) that
the Spaniards wanted to extract and sell:

All these islands are, in 1 many districts, rich in placers and mines of gold, a metal which the
nativ es dig and work. However, since the advent of the Spaniards in the land, the natives
proceed more slowly in this, and content themselves with what they alt eady possess in jewels
and gold ingots, handed down from antiquity and inher ited from their ancestors. This is
considerable, for he must be poor and wretched who has no gold chains, calombigas
[bracelets], and earrings.... Some placers and mines were worked at Paracali in the province of
Camarines, where there is good gold mixed with copper. This commodity is also traded in the
Ylocos.... On the slopes of these mountains, in the interior, live many natives, as yet unsu
bdued, and among whom no incursion has been made, who are called Ygolotes. These natives
possess rich mines, many of gold and silver mixed.... There are also many gold mines and
placers in the other islands, especially among the Pintados, on the Botuan River in Mindanao,
and in Sebu, where a mine of good gold is. Quite near this large isla nd of Luzon, many other
islands, large and small, are located, they are inhabited 1 by the same natives as Luzon, who
have gold placers, sowed fields, and their trading. Such are Marinduque, Tablas Island,
Mazbate, Burias, Banton, Bant onillo, and others of less importance. The nearest of them to
Manila is the island 1 of Mindoro.... All of the settlements abound in rice, food, and gold-
placers, and all kinds of game and timber.

Morga also elaborated on 1 he economic activities in the Philippines and how Spain's revenue
from the Philipp ines is low, compared to its other colonies:

Consequently, since his Majesty's revenues in these islands are so limited and his expenses so
great, the royal treasury falls short, and suffers poverty and need.... Consequently, the king our
sovereign derives as yet no profit from any revenues of the Filipinas, but rather an expenditure,
by no means small, from his revenues in Nueva España. He sustains the Filipinas only for the
Christianization and convers ion of the natives, and for the hopes of greater fruits in other
kingdoms and I provinces of Asia, which are expected through this gateway, at God's good p
leasure.

Analysis of the Spanish Source and Filipino Annotation

Being the auditor of the Audiencia and havin g taken part in the galleon trade Morga became
an actor in that historical era of the It reginnings of globalization through the trans-Pacific
exchange of goods between Manila and Acapulco. He observes an writes about the many
Philippine islands and other Asian products that are loaded galleons at Manila to be sold in
Mexico. From his writings, we deduce the monetar and labor costs that built this trade to the
benefit only of the merchants and Spanis government. Reading through the Sucesos, we sera a
shift in political, economic, ang cultural practices of the Filipinos-datus became cabezas de
barangay, taxes and forced labor replaced communal production of basic needs, and the
Christian doctrine was adopted by the Filipinos who believed in anito: 3 and nature spirits.
These brought about creolization or a group of people who blender 1 elements of different
cultures that eventually became the norm and inherited by succ eeding generations.

The Spanish arrival can be seen as an interruption to the trade relations that had been
flourishing in Southeast Asia in the pre-sixteenth century. The choice by Legazpi to establish
Manila as the colonial capital spelled out how much the Spanish aimed to take over and
immensely profit from this trade. Not only did they take over the trade, but they also establis
shed a steady source of income through the tax and labor through the polo by which they were
able to build and man the galleons. They sourced merchandise fr om neighboring lands like
China Japan, Borneo, and Indonesia, assembled these goods, loaded them in galleons at Manila,
and sailed to Mexico to sell the products there. This galleon trade was the beginning of more
extensive trade between continents, the precursor of global trade where Manila was at the
center of not only the exchange of goods, but also of meeting peoples and ideas.

Morga's Sucesos is a significant source on Philippine history as it described Philippine life and
society at the turn of the sever iteenth century. Morga's Sucesos was probably the earliest
historically grounded work relating to the events that occurred in the Philippines as well as
those he was able to observe. His work touched on the political, social, and cultural aspects of
the Filipinos, providing an extensive depiction of life at the turn of the seventeenth century.
Even Jose Rizal Took an interest in Morga's work when he annotat ed it in 1890 at the British
Library and Museum. Rizal's annotations exposed the Western bias employed by Morga in
ooking at the Filipinos. Nonetheless, Rizal praise d Morga's work. It was a primary istorical
account written by a layman, who Rizal ( deemed more objective.

Val Aguilar

Francisco de Sande's Letter to Estevan Rodriguez de Figueroa

Early Spanish texts in the Philippines always recounted the presence of what they called
"Moros" in the islands. Most describe not only the Moro people (sometimes called
Mahometan), but also their religion as unfavorable and that the Spanish arrival stopped the
spread of Islam. It must be noted, however, that these Moros were indigenous inhabitants who
adopted the religion of Islam, which flourished and arrived in the Philippines by way of trade in
the fourteenth century. Since the Spanish had the most challenging time in subduing Mindanao,
the foreigner almost made their mantra the promise to crush these Moros of the south
throughout their 333 years in the country. Some Spanish successes were won, but mostly the
victories belonged to the skilled Moro fighters in defending their lands and belief. Primary
sources on the Moros have not been explored much as there are also problems of accessibility.
But there are enough to get a glimpse of at least bits of their story in mainstream Philippine
history. The Spanish were determined to subdue Jolo and Mindanao for their strategic location
for trade as well as natural materials that could be developed to become expensive trade
products. The following is a letter from Governor Sande instructing Captain Figueroa to subdue
the islands of Jolo, an island known for extraordinary pearls, dated 23 May 1578.

I certify thereto:

That which you, Captain Estevan Rodriguez de Figueroa shall observe on the expedition which
you are about to make, God our Lord helping, is as follows:

...you shall go to the islands of Xolo (Sulu), where you shall endeavor to reduce that chief and
his people to the obedience of his Majesty. You shall bargain with them as to what tribute they
shall pay, which shall be in pearls, as they are wont to give to the king of Borney. You shall
exercise great care and, if possible, much mildness; for it is of importance that those islands
should not become depopulated; therefore, in case they receive you peaceably, you shall treat
them well. And, in addition to the above, you must order that, besides the tribute that they are
to pay in pearls, they shall obtain as many of them as possible, so that we, the Spaniards or
Castilians, may buy them; that they must trade with us from now on; that every year Castilians
will go to their lands with cloths and merchandise from China, of whatever they shall declare
that they may need. You shall inform yourself of their needs; and if they wish to come eely to to
our settlements you shall give them permission to go freely to Manila and to come to Borney,
although not to steal.

You shall keep close watch over the artillery, ammunition, vessels, sails, and other like things
pertaining to the armed fleet; and you shall deprive them of those supplies, for it is notorious
that those people are common marauders.

And, as I have said, this must be done if possible gently, in order that no people may be killed.
You shall tell them that it will be to their advantage to be vassals of his Majesty, and our allies.
If they do not act respectfully, and it shall be necessary to punish them in another manner, you
shall do so. And inasmuch as the Joloans, as is well known, are open pirates, whose only
ambition is to steal, and to assault men in order to sell them elsewhere especially as they go
annually for plunder among all the Pintados Islands, which are under his Majesty's dominion-
you shall try to ascertain the Pintados slaves among them, in order to return such to their
homes, especially those who are Christians... and you shall command them expressly to settle
down in their land, to cultivate, sow, and harvest, develop the pearl industry, and cease to be
pirates. You shall order them to raise fowls and cattle. You shall try to ascertain their number,
and bring it to me in writing, in order that I may see it, together with the distance from these
islands to the Jolo Islands, information regarding the food, water, and healthfulness of that
land, and other things that may occur to you.....

After having finished affairs in Xolo, if time permits you shall, God willing, go to the island of
Mindanao. There you shall try, by the most convenient methods and with friendliness, to
reduce the chief of the river of Bindinao, and the other chiefs of that island, and of those
nearby, to the obedience of his Majesty-giving him to understand what they will gain in
becoming his Majesty's vassals and our allies, and in having trade with us. You shall also tell
them that the gain therefrom affects them chiefly, since we come to teach them our civilization,
and most of all the service of God, our Lord, who created and redeemed them, and of whom
they are ignorant; and how to live in accord with natural law, as is their obligation. For this
purpose you shall tell them that you are going to their land for two principal reasons.

The first is that they should cease to be pirates... and that they must cease to commit other like
cruelties and thefts, and must become good and virtuous men.... You shall give them to
understand that they are ignorant of God, our Lord, who created and redeemed them, so that
when they know him they may serve him and become good.....

Item: You shall order them not to admit any more preachers of the doctrine of Mahoma
(Mohammed), since it is evil and false, and that of the Christians alone is good.....

Item: You shall order that the Indians shall not go outside of their island to trade; and you shall
seize those vessels used for plundering excursions, leaving them those... used for trade and
fishing. You shall take also what artillery and ammunition they have. You shall ascertain the
harvest, seasons, and products of the land; the gold mines, and the places where they wash
gold; the number of inhabitants, and their settlements; and their customs....

In order that we may allot in encomiendas whatever people are found in these districts, you
shall bring me a signed notarial writ. Thus, as those lands have no other owner, the natives
thereof may be reduced to the obedience of his Majesty, according to his will-and by war, if the
natives begin it, so that war on our part may be just, and that the same justice may continue, so
that we can compel them to obey, and impose tributes upon them. You shall exercise match
diligence us this and see to it that these orders be carried out carefully and intelligentis. If the
natives of Mindanaoer of any other place shall give tribute according to the above, you shall at
according to the usual custom in these island name, you shall take one-half and place it to the
account of his Majesty, while the other half shall be distributed among the soldiers.
Analysis of the Letter

The purpose of Governor-General Sande was to further the Spanish hold into Mindanao for
potential revenues to add to Spanish coffers. Through the centuries, the Spaniards sustained
efforts and resources to colonize the Moros The letter in 1578 was just seven years after they
established Manila as the colonial capital, knowing that Philippine's gateway to the Southeast
Asian neighbors was Jolo. But as readers of the letter, we must read between the lines and look
at the bigger scenario. The first thing to ask is, what was the mandate of the Spaniards in
colonizing Mindanao? In the letter, Sande spells out that the Moros belief (Islam) is evil, and
Christianity alone is good. Thus, the Spaniards had the moral ascendancy to stop the spread of
Islam and convert the inhabitants to Christianity. The problem with this kind of "othering is that
it becomes a basis for justified acts for both sides, thinking that each one is serving a higher
purpose; notice that the letter begins and ends with this purpose. Although the letter instructs
"great care, mildness" or gentleness, the Spanish expeditions against the Moros were brutal.
Reading carefully, we see that the Spanish goal was mainly economic: to collect taxes from Jolo,
to make them cultivate their lands and produce raw materials, to make them more serious in
diving for pearls and selling those to the Spaniards, that they should not trade with neighboring
countries but only with the Spaniards.

The Spaniards would later send more expeditions to Mindanao. The Corcuera expedition in the
1630s was the first of many small advancements made by the Spaniards. In 1635, they built the
Fort Pilar in Zamboanga, originally Real Fuerza de San José, which became the first Spanish hold
in Mindanao. From there, they attacked other areas, especially Sulu and Maguindanao.
Governor- General Corcuera even had Visayan reinforcements to help attack Jolo and later
other parts of Mindanao. Toward the turn of the seventeenth century, when the Spanish had
most coastal settlements in Luzon and Visayas under the colonial government, they used
Filipino men and resources to subdue Mindanao. The Moros would fight back as bravely as the
Spaniards attacked to defend their right to their lands, belief, property, lives, and freedom. This
defense would come in many forms through centuries that would be labeled as the "Moro
Wars"-leaving behind a lasting split between the Christianized and the Islamized peoples of the
archipelago.

Lesson 6: Member

Marlyn Topia

Jamaica Duhig

Val Aguilar

Alayssa Ianna Aguilar