Second election as provincial of our father Fray Alonso Quijano;
conversion of the villages of Aclán and Vera; the undertakings
of Admiral Pedro Durán against the Igolotes; death of our father
the ex-provincial Fray Diego de Ordax; and other events.
(1665-67)
Our father Fray Alonso Coronel having completed the term of three
years of his government--which was filled with fears and hardships,
because of the unfortunate events that we have just related in the
threats of the pirate Kuesing Pompoán--the time assigned for the
celebration of the chapter in the convent of Manila arrived, namely,
April 25, 1665. The senior father definitor, Fray Luis de Medina,
presided at that chapter, in which our father Fray Alonso Quijano was
elected for the second time, as he was a person of whom this province
had experienced the worthiness of administering the government of
it; for he had ruled so efficiently during the triennium when he was
provincial the first time. As definitors were elected the following
fathers: Fray Tomás de Villanueva, Fray Cosme de Hiz, [121] Fray
Francisco del Moral, [122] and Fray Enrique de Castro. [123] The
visitors of the past triennium were present, fathers Fray José de
Mendoza, [124] and Fray Francisco de Medina de Basco; [125] and as
new visitors were elected the father lecturer Fray Cristobal Marroquí
[126] and Fray Carlos Bautista. [127] They passed very useful acts
for the efficient government of the province, and such that one
recognizes the care and vigilance that were taken in preventing the
slightest neglect in matters pertaining to the regular observance,
and in the care for better administration in the office of parish
priest. In that chapter was renewed once more the urgent request of
the governor for the list of the appointments of prior-ministers. But
it was resolved not to establish such a precedent and they were aided
in that by the fathers of St. Dominic, who also held their chapter on
the same day--when they elected as their provincial father Fray Juan de
los Ángeles, who was worthy of that name because of his many virtues.
The new provincial, seeing the lack of religious from which this
province was suffering, on account of its failure to receive large
missions, which would furnish abundant workers for the maintenance of
so many and remote convents and missions as were in its charge--for,
although diligent efforts had been made to remedy that lack, three
procurators who had been sent to España had died; and the third, father
Fray José Botoño, after having been forced to put back to port twice,
died during the voyage, the third time when he embarked--appointed
for that duty father Fray Isidro Rodríguez, a native of Madrid and
minister of the province of Pampanga, of whom we have given a memorial
in the [relation of the] insurrection of the said province. That
was an excellent appointment, for he made his voyage successfully,
having embarked on the galleon "Nuestra Señora de la Concepción,"
under command of the commander José de Zamora. He brought back the
most numerous mission that had thus far entered these islands.
On June 17, 1665, the fortunate galleon "San José" arrived at the
port of Cavite, with the most illustrious bishop of Cebú, already
consecrated, the master Don Fray Juan López, of the Order of Preachers,
native of Martín-Muñoz de las Pasadas. He was a prelate who gave
great consolation to the Christian people of these islands--both
in the bishopric of Cebú, where he remained for seven years; and in
Manila, where he died archbishop-elect in the year 1674, after having
suffered many cares. He was a very learned and affable prelate, and
was accordingly greatly beloved by all. In the same galleon came
also the auditor Licentiate Don Juan de Peña Bonifáz, a native of
Segovia, of whom there will be much to say in due time, because of
his beginning to govern the military department in the year 1668,
which was the origin of great disturbances.
Near the boundaries of the province of Ilocos, in the mountains of Cape
Engaño, near the province of Cagayán, belonging to the mission of the
convent of Bacarra, the conversion of the natives of the villages of
Aclán and Vera (now Bangbanglo) was commenced that year by the ardent
zeal and diligence of father Fray Benito de Mena, a native of Manila
and son of our Manila convent San Pablo; he was a religious of great
virtue, and one very fluent in the tongues of Ilocos and Cagayán. Those
villages are more than twenty leguas distant from the central town
Bacarra; and their people are a barbarous and spirited nation, and for
that reason are feared by the Indians round about. They are known by
the name of Payaos. [128] That nation had not received the light of
the holy gospel, because of the ruggedness of their mountains. They
were living in the darkness of their blind paganism, protected by the
inaccessibility of those lofty mountains, and exempt from the yoke
of subjection--the only means by which one is able to introduce the
evangelical preaching among barbarous nations. For since they are the
last nations whom the Celestial Paterfamilias invites to the banquet
of glory, which so many noble and civilized nations have despised,
in them is verified the command to make them enter by means of force:
Compelle intrare, ut impleatur domus mea. [129]...
Father Fray Benito, moved to piety by his great zeal at seeing how
difficult it was for those natives to receive the knowledge of our
faith in that way, as they were remote and invincible, having first
consulted with God in prayer, determined to enter those mountains,
accompanied, in order to remove suspicions, by only the few whom
he could take. He went to the village of Bañgui, the last visita
of Bacarra, where he established a military base [plaza de armas]
for that spiritual conquest. Bañgui is distant four long leguas from
the first settlement of the Payaos,and one must ascend a river with
a strong current. Wisely repeating his entrances by means of that
river, he introduced himself gradually among them, and preached the
holy gospel to them, which they heard without any difficulty, as they
are a people who have but little tenacity in holding to their heathen
ceremonies. They only practice various superstitions, auguries, and
a servile worship to the souls of their first progenitors--whom they
reverenced not as gods, but like the Indigetes [130] of the Romans,
to whom the people offered sacrifices to keep them propitious. This
method of worshiping deceased ancestors is very common in these
Filipinas, and very difficult to stamp out, even in those who are to
all appearances faithful Christians. For in this regard fear has a
great influence over them; and most of them believe that it is not
opposed to the Christian faith to place on one and the same altar
the ark of the testament and the idol Dagón.... But scarce a trace
of this malign belief is to be found in the villages near Manila.
[Many miracles and prodigies influence those rude people to receive
baptism. Especially efficacious for the faith is the resurrection of
a child who has died, and who after receiving holy baptism dies again
(five hundred and two persons becoming baptized in consequence). A
leper is also healed with the ceremony of baptism. The chief seeks
salvation in the holy waters before his death. The new converts
prove exceptionally clever in learning the prayers and the Christian
doctrine, a night or a day often sufficing.]
Great were the troubles that father Fray Benito de Mena suffered
in that conversion, because of the steepness of the mountains, and
because there was no lack of ministers of Satan among the Payaos
who endeavored to dissuade the people from what that religious was
teaching them. But he, persevering in teaching them the truth until
the year 1668, attained the fruit of his fatigue; for he converted
so many that he was able to found the three villages of Aclán, Vera,
and Bangbanglo, which were administered in the church that he built in
the village of Aclán under the advocacy of St. Catherine, virgin and
martyr. Those villages are today a part of the ministry of Bañgui,
the most remote of all this island of Manila. A settled minister is
assigned to it when there are plenty of religious in this province
for such work. When there is the greatest lack of religious, the
administration is under the charge of the prior and minister of the
village of Bacarra.
The villages of Aclán and Vera are very useful as frontiers opposed
to the Calanasas, a cruel heathen nation; and for that reason the
governors of Manila have exempted them from paying tribute. That
religious Fray Benito de Mena was an able evangelical minister, and
obtained much fruit in the province of Ilocos. He was much given to
prayer and mortification; and a long chapter could be written of his
life, if the notices of the curious prodigies that happened to him
had not been lost--events in the conversion of the Indians of the
mountains of Aclán and Vera, and in other villages of that province,
where he died holily as prior of the convent of Bacarra in 1676.
Don Diego de Salcedo, having heard of the remote nations who were
living free from the yoke of political subjection in the larger
and better part of the island of Manila, and who possessed the best
lands of the fertile forests of Ilocos--the worst thing being that
they were living in the Cimmerian darkness of paganism, and that so
many souls were being lost because of our neglect and carelessness;
and seeing that the islands, harassed for so many years by the
insurrections of those natives and the threats of foreigners,
seemed to be quiet (for the gates of the temple of Janus were shut
in his time, which had been open during all the terms of his three
predecessors): planned to undertake some conquest that would result
to the honor of God and extend the Spanish government. He assembled
the most experienced and skilful captains of those islands and the
provincials of the orders, as they were the ones who would have the
greatest part in the preservation and continual increase of what would
be conquered. All thought that the best field of conquest in which to
employ their arms with some profit was the mountains of Ilocos, where
the Igolotes lived in broad and fertile lands, abounding not only in
food but in minerals rich in gold--which the natives themselves bring
in great plenty to Pangasinán and Ilocos to barter for clothes, salt,
and other things which they need.
The Igolotes [131] are a barbaric race of scanty intelligence. They
are of lighter complexion than the other natives, both because
they are born in a cooler climate and because they are descended,
according to their own traditions, from Chinese who were shipwrecked
on those coasts long before the Spaniards arrived in those islands,
as say their barbaric and confused accounts. That assertion is proved
by the closeness with which their customs approach those of the Chinese
although they are not provided with a regular government, or civilized,
as are the latter. For they are deceitful, cunning, and cruel, a sign
of their cowardice. Accordingly, they never undertake any warlike deed
unless it promises them perfect security; and to such an extent is
that true that it is sufficient for one to fall to make them all seek
safety in flight. Therefore they do considerable harm in the villages
of Pangasinán and Ilocos alone, by setting fire to them, or by means
of very safe ambushes. They have but little adherence to their false
religions, but are very superstitious and practice divination. In
that respect they greatly resemble the Payaos and Calanasas [132]
above mentioned. They are opposed in all their customs to the Abacaes
[133] and Italones [134] of the mountains of Santor in Pampanga. They
practice bigamy [sic] for they marry many women; and they regard
theft as great cleverness. Their usual weapons are arrows, and some
chiefs carry lances and balaraos [i.e., daggers] which they buy in
other villages with their gold. Father Fray Esteban Marin, [135] a
religious of Ours, suffered martyrdom among that race in the year 1601,
as is mentioned in the first part, book 3, chapter 22, folio 502. [136]
Having made the preparations for that conquest, the governor appointed
Admiral Pedro Durán de Monforte, a brave and experienced soldier
(of whom repeated mention has been made in this history) the chief
commander of it. He gave him the title of lieutenant captain-general,
and a sufficient number of soldiers, both Spanish and Pampango. The
sargentos-mayor Blas Rodríguez and Don José de Robles Cortés
accompanied him, as did also Captains Gabriel de la Jara, Francisco
de Espinosa, Don Pablo de la Piedra, and Lorenzo Rubio, and Adjutants
Pedro Bravo, Juan de Mercado, and Francisco de la Jara--all leaders and
veteran soldiers. He asked our father provincial, Fray Alonso Quijano,
to appoint evangelical ministers to go to the preaching and teaching of
the villages which would be conquered. The provincial appointed father
Fray Lorenzo de Herrera [137] (former prior of Narbacán in Ilocos),
father Fray Luís de la Fuente, [138] and Fray Gabriel Alvarez, [139]
for that mission. The governor also appointed the commander Don Felipe
de Ugalde as purveyor and paymaster for those troops, giving him four
thousand pesos for that purpose. Don Felipe, however, did not accompany
the army, but went later; and his self-confidence was the cause of
his death. For at the point of the uninhabited district the Zambals
went out against him; and, although he defended himself with great
valor, a valiant Zambal named Tumalang killed him. That man became a
Christian after the event of Pignauén, and was named Don Alonso. He
cut off the purveyor's head, as we have mentioned in another chapter,
[treating] of the year 1656.
Pedro Durán marched with his men by short stages, because of the
inconvenience to the infantry and baggage, and for fear of the ambushes
which could be set against him in the many defiles that offered along
the road. He always had spies who knew the roads, and Pampanga scouts,
and friendly Zambals together with Sargento-mayor Blas Rodríguez and
the adjutant Francisco de la Jara, and some Spaniards. Without the
occurrence of anything worthy of consideration, they arrived at the
first two villages of the Igolotes--called Cayang, [140] of one hundred
and fifty houses; and Lobing, of a few less. They found these deserted,
but they remained there to await the rest of the convoy. The site
of Cayang was very pleasant, and suitable for a military post, as it
was the nearest to the villages that had been subdued. Consequently,
Pedro Durán determined to build a fort for his defense until, by
means of the Zambals and Ilocans, the Igolotes should become quieted
and reduced to their houses. He treated the natives well, and the
soldiers who might transgress by offering them the least injury
he punished. Gradually many of the chief Igolotes came, and showed
themselves to be obedient, and friends of the Spaniards, and well
inclined to profess the evangelical law and be baptized. A church
was built of such materials as could be found in those mountains,
because of the difficulty of finding bamboo near there. The same and
greater difficulty was experienced in building a fort of palisades
and a terreplein; for all that land was bare, and had no forests of
timber. Therefore it cost the soldiers considerable labor to find
timber and bring it from afar, as they did, without any disaster
having happened to them.
That exploration was made near the end of 1668, the time when the
Spaniards were in those parts. Of their doings in detail, only very
short and confused accounts have remained. It is only reported that
they explored one hundred and fifty villages, from the heights of
Cayang to the mountains of Cagayán. Most or them are located on
the shores of large rivers, all of which flow into the great river
of Cagayán, which empties [into the sea] at Lalo. It is the largest
river that is known in all the Filipinas Islands; and is said to be
larger than the Danubio [i.e., the Danube.]
The Spaniards did not neglect to look for gold-mines, for the
working of which they took along miners and plenty of tools. But
although they found mines in the latitude of 17 degrees, from
which the Igolotes extract very fine gold, our miners could not
obtain any in all the assays that they made; for all went up in
smoke. That was one of the reasons that made that conquest drag on,
as it was very costly and very remote. The names of the villages which
rendered obedience were the following: Cayang, Lobing, Masla, Sumader,
Anquiling, Balugan, Maguimey, Tadián, Balococ, Caagitan, Otocan, Bila,
Cagubatan, Guindajan, Banaao, Pingar, Pandayan, Naligua, Singa, Banao,
Payao, Agava, Lobo, Madaguem, Balicoey, Bilogan, Balicnon, Biacan,
Pangpanavil, Gambang, Mogo, Leodan, Dugungan, Sayot, Calilimban, Sanap,
Sabangan, Alap, and a valley called Loo, with nine villages. But those
which paid something as recognition were Peglisan, Tanon, Maynit,
Guinaan, Amtadao, Malibuen, Bucog, Balignono, Balián, Malibcon, Dingle,
Datalan, Agava, Malibuen, Talabao, and others--whose names I omit, as
they are of little importance, and which exceed one hundred in number.
The governor, in order that that conquest might be made more easily,
ordered that the fort of Pignauén be established in Zambales, with a
sufficient garrison of soldiers and some small pieces of artillery. As
its commandant he appointed Sargento-mayor Blas Rodríguez. Afterward,
in the term of Governor Don Juan de Bargas jurisdiction was given to
the commandant who then was Captain Alonso Martín Franco; he is still
living to govern the villages of Zambales, Nuevo Toledo, and others,
in which he places justices and governors. That fort is the check
that restrains the raids of the Zambals of Playa Honda, a cruel and
barbarous race, who consider their highest good the cutting off of
heads, which is their great badge of nobility.
The fruit obtained by fathers Fray Lorenzo de Herrera, Fray Luís de la
Fuente, and Fray Gabriel Alvarez in that conquest was considerable,
for they reduced entire villages to the knowledge of our holy faith;
in the beginning, they succeeded in inducing many children and
old people who were about to die to have the good fortune to die as
Christians. But they bore themselves with great caution and prudence,
for they feared that it would be very difficult to preserve that
field of Christendom unless those people were reduced, and removed
to a more suitable site, secure from the continual wars which some
villages waged against others. Thus many were led to settle in the
villages of Ilocos, and others in those of Zambales. But what most
hindered that so important reduction was the frustration of the hopes
for the rich gold mines which so incited greed; for all those who went
on that expedition were boasting that they were already Croesuses and
Midases. It is certain that there are very wealthy mines and placers
in the rivers, whence the Igolotes get the great quantities of gold
which they have brought down to sell to the provinces of Ilocos and
Pangasinán; but it appears that divine wisdom does not choose that
they shall fall into our hands, for it was very certain that we would
make an ill use of that benefit....
[Great sorrow is caused to the province by the death of Fray Diego de
Ordáx, August 12, 1666. He was a native of the city of León, and had
come to the islands in 1635. He became a missionary in the Bisayas, and
was twice prior of Manila, and twice provincial. Most of his life in
the islands was passed in the convent at Manila. In 1666 are celebrated
the funeral ceremonies for Felipe IV, who died September 17, 1665.]
Governor Don Diego de Salcedo, considering the many oppressions that
were experienced by the provinces near Manila from the continual
cutting of timber and building of galleons--a necessary evil, and
one in which the wrongs that are committed in it can be obviated
only with great difficulty--very prudently determined to build the
galleon "Nuestra Señora del Buen Socorro" in the province of Albay. He
entrusted its execution to the commander Diego de Arévalo who was
most experienced in maritime matters. He appointed him alcalde-mayor
of the adjoining province of Camarines, for the better expedition
of the timber-cutting, putting him under greater obligations [to
do well] by the future reward of commander of the galleon which
he was about to build. In order that that galleon might be built
more quickly and finished sooner, he sent as chief overseer his
lieutenant master-of-camp, Don Agustín de Cepada Carnacedo, who was
then master-of-camp of the army of these islands for his Majesty,
in order that he might live in the port of Albay. He did that with
so great care that in little more than one year the largest and best
galleon that had yet been seen in the islands was built--and very few
so large have been seen in European seas, and extremely few that are
larger. For that purpose the woods of Filipinas are the best that can
be found in all the universe; because for the inside work, the ribs
and knees, the keel and rudder molave is used--which is the hardest
wood known; and at its disintegration it is converted into stone by
being kept in the water. Lavang [141] is used for the sheathing outside
the ribs; it is so strong and of such a nature that no artillery ball
will pass through it; and the greatest harm that the ball can do is to
stick in the wood without entering inside the ship. On account of that
advantage the galleons of these islands are so formidable to the Dutch;
for each one is a strong castle in the sea. When the galleon "Nuestra
Señora del Buen Socorro" was finished, it sailed from Albay, August
28, 1667, under command of Diego de Arévalo, with Juan Rodriguez, a
Portuguese, as its chief pilot. The patache "San Diego" left Cavite
to accompany it, under charge of Admiral Bartolomé Muñoz. They had
a fortunate voyage, and arrived in due time at the port of Acapulco.
The ship "Concepción," which had sailed from these islands in the
previous year of 1666, in charge of Commander Don Juan de Zalaeta--who
remained in Nueva España, where he took the habit of Santiago, and was
alcalde-mayor of the city of La Puebla de los Angeles, and castellan
of Acapulco--also arrived in safety at these islands. (Afterward Don
Juan returned to these islands, in the year 1684, as judge of the
residencia of Governor Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado. That residencia was
very tedious and occasioned that judge great troubles.) On that voyage
he had taken with him the famous and valiant commander Francisco de
Estéybar who also remained in Méjico, where he lived blind for many
years.... On its return trip that galleon carried Doctor Don Diego de
Corbeta, his Majesty's fiscal, and Doña María Jiménez, his wife. A
mission of the discalced religious of our father St. Augustine also
came. The galleon was in great danger, for some of the criminals who
were being sent in it for the galleys and presidios of these islands
tried to mutiny; but this was checked in time, and the guilty were
punished.
Those and other like troubles have occurred in Filipinas because so
many criminals and persons who have committed various crimes have been
sent from Méjico, and form in these islands the sink [of the iniquity]
that prevails here. For those who sometimes merited the punishment
of the gallows are confined here, under pretext that they are sent
to serve in the galleys, of which we generally have none. And since
the need of men is so great, because of the lack of Spaniards, the
authorities are compelled to enlist them as soldiers; and from that
they continue to advance to the highest military rank, for they are
the ones to whom Fortune is more favorable than to others who are
more worthy of taking precedence of them.... It is true that there
is some relief from that abuse at present. For, on petition of the
governors of these islands, the viceroys of Nueva España now send those
condemned for such crimes to the conquest of Pansacola [i.e., Florida],
which was discovered in the time of the Conde de Galber [i.e., Galves].
That year the galleon "Buen Socorro" sailed from Albay after it was
completed, under its commander Diego de Arévalo and its chief pilot
Juan Rodríguez. It sailed August 28, and was in great danger for it
ran aground as it left the harbor; but it was gotten off easily by
the great energy and skill of the commander. The galleon was the best
that was ever built thus far in these islands; and its size, beauty,
and swiftness were amazing. It had two tanks of water, so large that
one of them was more than enough for the entire voyage to Acapulco,
and the other served for the return, and a quantity of water was
left--a great convenience for the sea, when one suffers so great lack
of water. From this it is inferred that the water of Filipinas does
not become foul, either going or coming, as the English say of the
water of the river Támesis of Londrés [i.e., Thames, of London]. The
patache "San Diego" left the port of Cavite, under command of Admiral
Bartholomé Muñoz,to go in its convoy--the fortunate Argo that was to
conduct those chosen heroes, the apostles for the Marianas Islands,
the associates of the venerable father Diego Luís de San Vitores.
[The following chapter contains the biography of the Augustinian
father Fray Luís López de Amezquita, who died June 26, 1667.]