ANNO DOM. 1618.
The Administration of Don Alonzo Faxardo.
On the 2d of July, 1618, arrived Don Alonzo Faxardo, of the order of
Alcantara, of Murcia, and on the day following he took possession
of the government of these islands. His Majesty had appointed him
chief of an armament which he had intended to send by the Straits of
Magellan, to the relief of Don Juan de Silva, to drive the Dutch from
these seas; but it was delayed by his sending the forces destined for
the Philippines, to the relief of the Emperor of Germany, Ferdinand
the Second. The voyage on this account did not take place, until the
death of Silva was known, when his Majesty named Faxardo as Governor,
charging him to be careful of the interests of the Indians, who had
suffered much in the late struggles, and promising ample rewards
to those Spaniards, who should make this an object of their special
attention.
A short time after his arrival, the Dutch appeared in those seas,
not with the intention of attempting Manila, as they were aware of
the difficulty of the undertaking, but to intercept the galleons from
Acapulco, richly laden with bullion. For this purpose they cruized
with three ships off Cape Espiritu Santo, taking their station in the
strait of St. Bernardino, as the galleons coming from Acapulco were
in the constant habit of taking that route. On the 25th of February
the Dutch got sight of them; they bore up, and ordered them to strike
their colours, when a severe engagement took place. The Spaniards,
under the veil of night, and in the confusion which prevailed,
separated and escaped, one arriving at Palapag, and the other at
Borongo, on the coast of Ybabao, where the cargoes were all saved,
though the ships were lost. That the same misfortune might not occur
again, the Governor ever after gave the commanders secret instructions,
changing their route each voyage. On the 24th of August, this year,
Friar Miguel Garcia Serrano, of the order of St. Augustine, late
Bishop of New Segovia, took possession of the Archbishopric of Manila.
In the year 1623, upon the canonization of St. Ignacio and
St. Francisco Xavier, the friars of that order celebrated a grand
festival, and those of Zebu, desirous of imitating them, likewise
celebrated one, at which all the Jesuits of the island of Bohol were
present, leaving very few Spaniards in that island. The defenceless
state of it induced two or three Indians to persuade the rest to rebel,
assuring them that the Devil had appeared, ordering them not to pay
tribute to the Spaniards, but to retire to the mountains, and erect a
chapel, where they should worship him, and he would give them every
thing they required, and defend them from the Spaniards. This was
quite sufficient to set all the island in a flame, two towns alone
remaining faithful to the Spaniards. The Alcalde Mayor of Zebu,
immediately upon notice of this insurrection, sent fifty Spaniards,
and one thousand friendly Indians to Bohol, who attacked the rebels
with great vigour, made considerable slaughter, and completely routed
them. This ought to have undeceived them, but they were obstinate,
and fortified themselves on a rock, which, however, afforded them
little defence, as our people being protected by their shields from
the arrows and stones they hurled down, gained the height, and made
great havock among them, making prisoners all that were not able
to save themselves by flight. The Alcalde Mayor hanged some of the
ringleaders, and pardoned the remainder; but insensible to this favour,
they spurned at the proffered pardon, and fled to the mountains,
to which, six months after, the Alcalde returned, and thoroughly
quelled the insurrection.
The bad example of the people of Bohol was followed by those of the
island of Leyte, and was fomented by an Indian who was not suspected
of disaffection. This was Bancao, a petty chief of Dimasava, who had
received Legaspi with great attention, and had accompanied him to Zebu,
where he was baptized, for which conduct Philip the Second had sent
him a royal order, granting him many privileges. He had been very
faithful to the Spaniards in his youth, but turned traitor in his
old age. In imitation of those of Bohol, he raised an insurrection
among the Indians in the island of Leyte, so that it became necessary
to send a force against them. Although they saw the Spaniards were
superior in numbers to them, they were not dismayed, and received
them firmly; but in a short time they fled with precipitation. In
this flight Bancao was killed, having been transfixed by a lance:
his head was placed on a pole, to serve as a warning to others,
which had so good an effect, that order was immediately restored.
This year an expedition was sent to the mountains of Igorrotes,
where there were mines of gold, and where the Indians were of fairer
complexion, with the small eyes of the Chinese. It was imagined that
when Limahon was in Pangasinan, many of his people, pressed by hunger,
fled to the mountains, and mixed with the inhabitants, from which
intercourse resulted this cast, so different from the rest.
This expedition, under charge of Francisco Carrino de Valdes, head
of the provinces of Pangasinan and Ylocos, marched in good order
seven days, and on the eighth arrived in the town of the mines,
where the natives received them well; but the Spaniards placed too
much confidence in them. The Igorrotes, when least expected, rose on
them, and treacherously murdered the chief of the friendly Indians, on
which de Valades retired, to wait a better opportunity. The following
year the expedition was expected to be repeated, but it was not, as
it became necessary for the troops to march to Cagayan, to quell an
insurrection among the Indians of that province. Many expeditions have
since taken place to these mountains, but with such ill success, that
the Indians of this district remain independent to this hour. They,
however, trade with the Spaniards in gold, wax, and tobacco, in return
for cattle; and the Augustine friars have succeeded, in converting
to Christianity, a few who live in the towns near the mountains.
The Governor persevered in pacific measures as much as possible,
although those measures were deemed disgraceful. He had much
domestic uneasiness on account of his wife, Dona Catalina Zembrano,
who had an illicit connection, and was accustomed to steal out from
the palace to a particular house, where she was at last discovered
with her lover by Faxardo, who going his rounds through the city, as
was his custom, from information, no doubt, which he had received,
entered into the house in which this lady was with her paramour,
and found her in a situation, which rendered her guilt sufficiently
manifest. Don Alonzo, a man of high honour, severely felt this injury,
and was determined to take proper vengeance. He ordered a confessor
to be called to her; and the ceremony at an end, unmoved by the
tears and persuasion of the priest to the contrary, he stabbed her
with his own hand. The unworthy paramour saved his life by flight,
and thus escaped the vengeance of the Governor. Don Alonzo soon after
fell into a profound melancholy, of which he died in two years, and
was buried in the church of the Franciscans, August, 1624. By his
death Don Geronimo de Silva succeeded to the military government,
and the civil government became vested in the Royal Audience. In a
short time after, a fleet of seven Dutch men of war appeared off Playa
Honda, and many of their soldiers landed on the island of Corrigidor,
and took prisoners or killed such Indians as fell in their way. The
Governor proceeded against them with five galleons and two large
galleys, and fell in with them on the coast of Playa Honda, when the
Dutch attempted to escape; but our commander's ship, by superiority
of sailing, prevented it, when a warm engagement took place, and a
Spaniard was killed close to the Governor. It is necessary to mention
this accident, as he thought himself in great danger, and was so
alarmed by it, that he ordered the ships to retire to Cavite, where
he was received with the contempt he merited; the people imputing
the loss of the victory to his cowardice. Complaints were made to
the Royal Audience, who confined him in the fort of Santiago, where
he remained until he was released by the Governor who succeeded him,
ad interim, Don Fernando de Silva, knight of the order of Santiago.
Don Fernando had been in Manila before this time, having there made a
most honourable matrimonial connection; and having accumulated a good
fortune, he went with his wife to Mexico, and from thence to Madrid,
having been sent thither by his near relation, the Viceroy of New
Spain, Marquis de Cerralbo. Having returned to Mexico and this vacancy
in the government of Manila occurring, it was given to him ad interim,
and he arrived there in June 1625.
He was received in Manila with great satisfaction, as they knew he
was prudent, and well acquainted with these islands: this he had
sufficiently shewn in the measures he had adopted for the protection
of our commerce, by means of the ships he had built at Cavite for
that purpose. He ordered the Alcalde Mayor of Cagayan to land on the
island of Formosa, and fortify it in that part of Fanchuy which was
the nearest to Cagayan, in order, with greater facility to oppose the
Dutch, who, the year before, had raised forts on the opposite side,
called Tayguan, with the intention of obstructing the commerce of
China with Manila. The Alcalde Mayor executed his commission, and
constructed works sufficiently extensive to accommodate the troops,
and the Dominican friars, who had gone there to convert the natives;
and who exerted themselves with such zeal, that in a short time they
built several towns, and were able to number the greater part of the
natives, among the professors of our faith.