Note 16 — Chapter XVIII

In 1596, Fathers Valerio de Ledesma and Manuel Martinez first established the mission of the River of Butuan. That same year, there not being as yet any division into bishoprics, the Manila ecclesiastical cabildo (as the see was vacant), gave Mindanao into the formal possession of the Society of Jesus, an act that was confirmed by Francisco Tello, as viceroyal patron. Later, the question of the jurisdiction about Lake Malanao was argued in court between the Jesuits and Recollects, and was decided in favor of the former by Juan Niño de Tabora, a sentence confirmed by Corcuera September 5, 1637. (Pastells and Retana’s Combés, cols. 655, 656.)