ANNO DOM. 1580.
The Administration of Don Ronquillo de Penalosa, third Governor
of Manila.
In April 1580, Don Gonzalo Ronquillo de Penalosa arrived at the
port of Cavite, as Governor of Manila. He was a nephew of the famous
Judge Ronquillo, who hanged the Bishop of Zamora. He brought to his
predecessor, the appointment of Oidor of Mexico, with orders for
him to sail by the first ship, destined for Acapulco. On his taking
possession of his government, his first step was, to mark out the
Chinese quarter of the town, under the guns of the fort of Santiago,
on the other side of the river. He sent Captain Rivera to Borneo,
again to re-establish on his throne the legitimate King Sirela,
who had a second time been deprived of it by his brother, with the
assistance of a Portuguese Captain, of the name of Brito. Rivera
executed his commission without delay, and returned to Manila, after
having placed Sirela in peaceable possession of his kingdom. This was
judged to be the fittest opportunity, for bringing the Moluccas under
the Spanish dominion, and the Governor began to make preparations for
the enterprize, for, in addition to the customary enmity between the
courts of Portugal and Castile, he had received positive instructions
from Philip the Second, to effect this object. Circumstances, however,
compelled him to postpone it till the year following, as several
matters of consequence, in these islands, required his presence,
particularly in the province of Cagayan, where a Japanese pirate had
established himself, with a great many followers and vessels. Pablo
Carrion dislodged the Japanese, but not without great loss on the
side of the Spaniards, as the former, rather than be taken prisoners,
preferred dying bravely, with arms in their hands. The pirate thus
dislodged, the Governor founded the city of Nueva Segovia, close to
the Indian town of Lalo, and the city of Arivalo, in the island of
Panay, in memory of his native province.
The year following, 1582, an expedition sailed to the Moluccas,
commanded by Don Sebastian Ronquillo, a nephew of the Governor, who
took with him Pablo de Lima, married to a niece of the King of Tidore,
and who, in her right, laid claim to several towns, of which she had
been unjustly deprived by the King of Ternate. De Lima was likewise
appointed Governor of Ternate, when it should be subdued by the
Spaniards, and all these considerations contributed, to induce him to
give every aid to this expedition. The squadron arrived at the island
of Motiel, and making an easy conquest of it, the natives recognized
Pablo de Lima as their chief. From this island, the Spaniards proceeded
on their voyage to Ternate, where the Indians seemed determined,
to throw every impediment in the way of their disembarkation; but
the resistance was of short duration, as the Spaniards contrived to
draw them into the interior, and to plant their artillery against
the town, without which expedient nothing could have been done. They
laid regular siege to the town, and were on the point of taking it,
when a disorder in the intestines began to rage among them, which
occasioned such mortality, that they were compelled to break up their
enterprize, and return to the Philippines. During these transactions
in Ternate, the Christians in Manila, found out new objects for mutual
hostility. Besides the provinces which I have mentioned, which the
Augustine friars had been the means of reducing to obedience, they
had distributed priests in Pangasinan, in Cagayan, and in the two
provinces of Misames and Caraga, in the island of Mindanao, which are
the only two in this large island, acknowledging subjection to the
Spaniards. The factor of Mindanao, whose name was Blas de la Serna,
treated the Indians with great severity, and lived a scandalous life,
highly prejudicial to the cause of Christianity.
The friar whom the Augustines had placed there, admonished him
repeatedly to alter his course of life; but as his conduct became
more reprehensible every day, the friar, unable to bear it longer,
was under the necessity of excommunicating him. The factor, in revenge
for (as he termed it) his impudence, publicly beat him. At this time
the Bishop of Manila was Don Fr. Domingo de Salazar, who had arrived
at Manila in March, 1581, with two Jesuits, who were the first of
the order in these islands. On the 21st of December, he erected the
church into a cathedral, appointing proper prebends and dignitaries,
and forming municipal authorities for its due government. This
nobleman was highly attentive to the rights of the clergy. He took
up the affair with the factor very warmly, and did not relax in his
exertions, until he saw him at Manila undergo the punishment, imposed
on him by the sentence of the church, and which he had so well merited.
The whole body of factors being alarmed, and fearing this would be
much to their prejudice, persuaded the Governor, to withdraw from the
clergy, the Indians who had been given to them for their own service,
and that of the church. The Spaniards well inclined to the factors,
seconded this advice, and they, in conjunction, commenced a cruel
persecution against the Augustine and Franciscan friars. But Pedro de
Chaves, Amador de Arriaran, Juan de Morenos, Antonio Savedra, Miguel
de Lorca, Francisco de la Cueba, Esteban Rodrigueze de Figueroa,
and other factors, who had seen, of how much importance the friars
were, in the conquest and retention of these islands, came over to
their party, and defended them against the attack thus made on them,
proving satisfactorily, that without the assistance of the clergy,
the factors would never have received even their rents.
The Governor, Don Gonzalo Ronquillo, was deeply afflicted at those
disputes, so much at variance with his character, and with the anxiety
of his views, for the happiness and prosperity of these islands. His
whole mind, indeed, was occupied in the consideration, of what might
contribute to these ends, and to the aggrandizement of the Spanish
name; but unhappily persuading himself, that his honour was committed
by these dissensions, he became affected by a deep melancholy,
to which he was a prey during six months, and to which he fell a
sacrifice in the month of March, 1583, before he completed his third
year as Governor. He was interred in the church of St. Augustine,
and to do him honour, more tapers than usual being burnt, the roof
of the church was set on fire, which in a few hours communicated
so generally, that the greater part of the city was destroyed, with
immense loss of lives and property.
By the death of Don Gonzalo, his kinsman, Don Diego Ronquillo,
succeeded as Governor ad interim, being nominated as such in the
royal order. The new Governor directed all his attention, to the
rebuilding of the city, assisting personally in the public works,
and paying particular attention, to the restoration of the houses,
belonging to the inhabitants. Such diligence was used, that in a short
time, the city was completely re-established. Many of the inhabitants,
lost almost all their property in this fire; and the disaster, though
of sufficient magnitude, was swelled into a most dreadful picture,
by the ship going to Acapulco, but which had been forced by stress
of weather into China. It is inconceivable, in what consternation,
the inhabitants of the islands in the neighbourhood of Manila,
arrived to their assistance. Don Diego Ronquillo immediately sent
to China the factor of the royal works, Juan Bautista Roman, with
orders to chastise those, who had been the cause of spreading this
report, and to despatch, at any expense, a ship to New Spain, with a
true statement of the extent of the mischief. The factor performed
his commission with such efficacy, that the ship he despatched,
returned the year following from Acapulco, in company with another;
and in these ships came the new Governor and the Royal Audience. The
government of Don Diego had lasted only one year, but, though short,
it was of great importance to the settlement.
He reduced to obedience in the island of Layte, and the province of
Pangasinan, some towns which refused to pay the usual tribute, and he
effectually suppressed symptoms of sedition in the other provinces,
and which took their rise in the ill treatment of the factors. The
factors entertained the idea, that the Indians whom they had found on
their lands, ought to be considered in the light of slaves in every
respect, and compelled them to work, appropriating all the wages of
their labour to their own use, by which means they enjoyed all the
luxuries of life, and even accumulated fortunes. To such a height had
these abuses been raised, that a reform was absolutely necessary. The
Governor bestowed particular attention on this subject, punishing
those who were culpable, and watching over the general good. The result
of this was, that many Indians who before had fled to the mountains,
returned to the towns, and paid the tribute settled by the government,
either in silver, or in the produce of the land they cultivated. By
these desirable arrangements, the royal revenue was improved, and
the interest of the factors so much injured by their own avarice,
that from hence arose the proverb, "Avarice bursts the sack."