Note 27 — INSURRECTIONS BY FILIPINOS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

In Basilan, affairs were more difficult. Most of the people of that island had been subdued by Father Francisco Lado,27 who with the aid of the governor of Samboangan had driven from it all the panditas,28 and the vicious and suspicious characters. Only one of these was left, who by his malice stirred up much disquiet; this was one Tabaco, who incited the natives of the island to revolution. All who desired to be freed from the tribute and other obligations repaired to him, and at once found in him their patron. His faction rapidly increased, and at Samboangan it was decided to intercept this danger. Diligent were their efforts, for the very Basilanos whom it was necessary for the Spaniards to employ warned this man of all that they did; and with their information he mocked the utmost efforts of the Spaniards. An adjutant undertook a raid, with a considerable number of Spaniards and Pampangos, and burned his grain-fields; but he did not encounter Tabaco, and had to return. Father Lado went to find him, and asked him to wait for him in a certain place; the father made such representations that he succeeded in inducing this man to leave the mountains. He went with the father to see the governor of Samboangan, and gave the latter such assurances of his desires for peace and quiet that to him was entrusted the reduction of the natives. He returned to Basilan, and to his perverse mode of life—so much so, that he tried to kill Father Lado, in order to remove that obstacle to his evil designs. The father knew his depraved intentions, and fled from the blow that was aimed at him; and at Samboangan there was discussion, in a military council, of the most effective measure for restraining those seditious natives. Among the speakers was an alférez, Don Alonso Tenorio, who said that it was a fruitless trouble and fatigue to transport [to Basilan] arms and troops, since these carried with them the warning to the rebels to place themselves in safety; that efforts should be made to kill Tabaco, and the rest would be subdued, and thus this source of evil would be stopped without wearing out either Spaniards or Indians. The governor, who supposed that Don Alonso spoke without experience, and that the arrogance of youth led him too far, said to him: “Then, your Grace, go and kill him.” Tenorio was not a man to jest, or one to form speculative projects which others might carry out; he took this order quite in earnest, and immediately set out for Basilan with some companions. He summoned Tabaco to a certain place, in which he must communicate to him an important matter, which would be to his advantage. Tabaco went to the place designated, with several of his most valiant companions; and Tenorio also arrived with his friends. The Indian awaited him without fear, at seeing him destitute of forces adequate to his own; and Tenorio, having talked about the subject that had been agreed upon, said to him, in a most resolute voice, “Tabaco, unless thou desirest me to kill thee, give thyself up as a prisoner.” Tabaco, without showing any alarm, rose to his feet, holding his lance, in order to reply with it; Tenorio attacked him with astonishing courage, and the companions of both engaged in the fight. Our men killed Tabaco, and seven of his braves; and on our side one Spaniard and two Indians were slain. Tenorio cut off Tabaco’s head, and those of his seven companions, and in forty hours29 was already on his return to Samboangan with these trophies. Thus promptly was concluded an exploit which pledged [the safety of] all the forces of the garrison; with the death of Tabaco his followers lost their courage, and the island remained entirely quiet. Such is the power of an heroic resolution. It is certain that conversions of the Moros are difficult, but those which are successful are stable; they steadfastly maintain the true religion, when they cast aside the errors of their false belief. The following instance is an edifying one, and goes far to confirm our statement. When the Joloans were conquered and reduced to quiet, the turbulent and cruel Achen—a dato, and a notorious pirate—was not pacified. He made a voyage to Borney, in order to stir up the natives there, and to make them companions and auxiliaries in his robberies. He carried with him his wife Tuam Oley,30 daughter of Libot; the latter was a urancaya or petty king of the Lutaos of the Siocon coast, and was a Mahometan by profession. Enlightened within and from above, he had received holy baptism, and very strictly maintained its innocence. Achen became very sick in Borney, and, reduced to the last extremity, as a last farewell he made his wife swear that she would never abandon the doctrine of Mahoma. After Achen’s death, Oley began to feel the sorrows of an afflicted widowhood, and she sadly wrote to her father, Libot, asking him to go to carry her away from that wretched exile. His paternal affection made him resolve, although he was now old and feeble, to go to console his daughter. The governor [of Samboangan] tried to prevent this voyage, on account of Libot’s age, and because, as the latter had grown up in the errors of that sect, it was feared that there was danger of his perversion [from the Christian faith]. The governor therefore proposed to him measures which were sufficient for removing his daughter from that country. Libot assured him of his constancy in the faith, and in proof of his firmness, gave a contribution of a hundred pesos to the church; as it was not easy to detain him, they acquiesced in the voyage. He arrived at the court of Borney, where, on account of his advanced age and the hardships of the journey, he fell ill, and this sickness proved to be mortal. The king, seeing Libot, exhorted him to abandon the new religion and return to his former faith; but Libot remained steadfast. Then the king sent him his panditas, or learned doctors, in order to convince him; but they found that their efforts were in vain. The king was angered at this constancy, and threatened to take Libot’s property from him, make his daughter a slave, and fling his dead body into the open field. All this Libot scorned, and charged his daughter to bury him as a Christian, without using the ceremonies of the Moors [i.e., Mahometans] in their funerals, or even mingling these [with Christian rites]; and so he died, in a very Christian frame of mind. The prince took possession of all Libot’s property, and ordered that his daughter Oley be imprisoned; but she, availing herself of her many slaves, forced her way out of her prison, and risked going as a fugitive to Samboangan. The king, furious, undertook to avenge this affront on the corpse of her father, and commanded that it be disinterred; but through Supreme Providence they were never able to find it, although they attempted to, with the closest search, and they believed that his daughter had carried the body with her. Oley arrived at Samboangan safely, and soon fell ill, not without suspicion of some deadly poison. The fathers went to her, to see if they could convert her to the faith of Jesus Christ, but their persuasions were vain. In compassion, the governor and other persons opposed such obstinacy, with both promises and threats; but they could not make her change her opinion in the least. The victory was won by the [native] master-of-camp, Don Pedro Cabilin, a very influential and respected man, who pledged himself to persuade Oley to become a Christian. She listened to him attentively on account of his nobility, and because he was of her own kinsfolk and blood. With these recommendations, and his effectual arguments, that obstinacy was conquered, and she received holy baptism, to the universal joy of the entire garrison. Her godmother was the wife of the governor, Doña Cathalina Henriquez, and the newly-baptized convert took that lady’s name. Oley had an excellent intellect, and put it to good use in her last moments, continually invoking God up to her last breath. The Spaniards gave her a very solemn burial. The chiefs carried her body on their shoulders up to the door of the church, where the governor and the officers of the garrison took it, carrying it in the same manner to the burial-place, and afterward to the tomb—this magnificent display causing edification to all.