Note 4 — Moro Pirates and their Raids in the Seventeenth Century

[For several years after Corcuera’s expedition against the Mindanaos (1637), various military operations were conducted in that island by the Spanish forces, notably under Pedro de Almonte. Corralat and other Moro chiefs were sufficiently reduced to render them nominally peaceful; but they formed various plots and conspiracies against the Spaniards, and, on the other hand, these availed themselves of the jealousies and personal interests of the Mindanao chiefs to separate them and neutralize their efforts. The foolish arrogance of a Spanish officer, Matías de Marmolejo, caused an attack on his detachment by Corralat and Manaquior; all the Spaniards save Marmolejo and six others were slain (June 1, 1642), including the Jesuit Bartolomé Sánchez, and the survivors were captured by Corralat. But when Corcuera heard of this encounter he was so angry that he ordered Marmolejo to be ransomed and afterwards to be beheaded in the plaza at Zamboanga, for disobedience to his orders. He also ordered that the fort at La Sabanilla be demolished, and the men there be sent to punish Corralat, which was done. That chief, to revenge himself, intrigued with the people of Basilan to secure possession of the Spanish fort there; but its little garrison defended it against the Moro fleet until aid could be sent them from Zamboanga. As soon as Diego Fajardo became governor of the Philippines in Corcuera’s place, he endeavored to secure peace in Mindanao, and finally (June 24, 1645) a treaty of peace was signed by Corralat and his leading chiefs, and Francisco de Atienza and the Jesuit Alejandro López. This treaty settled questions of mutual alliance, of boundaries of possessions, of trade, of ransom of captives, and of freedom for the ministrations of Jesuit missionaries. Christian captives in Corralat’s domain should be ransomed at the following rates; “for men and women, in the prime of life, and in good health, each forty pesos; for those who were more youthful, thirty pesos; for aged and sick persons, twenty pesos; for children at the breast, ten pesos.” In this very year Salicala, son of the king of Joló, had gone to Batavia to seek aid from the Dutch; the latter sent some armed vessels, which cannonaded the Spanish fort at Joló for three days, but finally were obliged to depart without having accomplished anything. This occurrence increased Fajardo’s anxiety in regard to the cost and danger incurred in attempting to maintain three forts in Joló; and he sent orders to Atienza, commandant at Zamboanga, to withdraw the garrisons from Joló and demolish those forts—an embarrassing command, since both Joloans and Dutch were then making raids among the northern islands. Both Fajardo and Atienza relied on the Jesuit Alejandro Lopez to bring about the pacification of both the Mindanaos and the Joloans, a task which he accomplished so successfully that on April 14, 1646, a treaty was signed, by Atienza and Lopez,4 with Raya Bongso of Joló (the same who, with his wife Tuambaloca, was conquered by Corcuera’s troops in 1638) and the envoys of Corralat. Combés gives the full text of both this and the former treaty. A Dutch fleet attempted to make a landing near Zamboanga, but were repulsed by the Spaniards with much loss. Corralat and Moncay came to hostilities, and the former implored the aid of the Spaniards; Atienza sent an armed force to succor Corralat, and Moncay fled. Salicala of Joló and Panguian Cachilo of Guimba undertook (1648) to raid the Visayan Islands; but the latter was attacked and slain by a Spanish squadron, which so intimidated Salicala that he hastened back to Joló. Meanwhile, a notable event occurred in Mindanao, the conversion of Corralat’s military commander, Ugbu, to the Christian faith—which of course tended to strengthen the ties between Corralat and the Spaniards; and Ugbu afterward rendered them efficient service in the Palapag insurrection, which caused his death. Salicala died (1649) and his parents, Bongso and Tuambaloca, were thus able to maintain the peace which they had established with the Spaniards; that queen afterward left Joló, retiring to Basilan. Moncay also died, soon afterward, and was succeeded in Buhayen by Balatamay, a Manobo chief who had married Moncay’s daughter; he joined Corralat in alliance with the Spaniards. In January, 1649, Pedro Duran de Monforte went with an armed fleet to northeastern Borneo, to punish its people for aiding the Joloans in their raids; the Spaniards plundered several villages, burned three hundred caracoas, and carried away two hundred captives. The expedition was accompanied by Jesuits, who afterward opened successful missions in Borneo. The insurrection of 1649–50 spread to Joló and Mindanao, but was quelled by the Spaniards (see Vol. XXXVIII). (Combés, Hist. Mindanao, col. 269–348, 425–498; Murillo Velarde, Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 149–153. Cf. Concepción, Hist. de Philipinas, vi, pp. 205–281; Montero y Vidal, Hist. piratería, i, pp. 182–189, 212–231.)]