Note 6 — EVENTS IN FILIPINAS, 1721–1739

[The Marqués de Torre Campo, after eight years of clement and upright government, was succeeded by Fernando de Valdés y Tamón, a knight of the Order of Santiago, who took possession of his office on August 14, 1729. As an experienced and able soldier, he gave his first attention to the fortifications and military equipment of Manila, which had been sadly neglected. He tried to purchase 1,500 guns with bayonets, but the Dutch refused to sell him these firearms. In May, 1730, the pirates of Joló sent out a large expedition, with 3,000 men, against the islands of Palawan and Dumaran, where they plundered the villages and carried away many captives. They besieged the fort at Taytay (the principal town in that part of Palawan) during twenty days, but were obliged to retire with considerable loss, including some of their datos. As it was evident that the islands could have no peace or safety until severe punishment was inflicted on these pirates, an expedition with over 600 men was sent from Manila in February, 1731, under the command of General Ignacio de Iriberri. This force attacked the town of Joló, which was well defended with forts and artillery; and after a fierce contest the Spaniards captured the place, and burned the houses and boats of the Moros. They also ravaged the islands of Talobo and Capual, near Joló, and destroyed the salt-works there, from which the pirates obtained much wealth; and returned to Manila in the month of June. A prominent chief of Mindanao, named Malinog, had revolted against Maulana Diafar, sultan of Tamontaca, securing the aid of many datos on the Rio Grande, and negotiating with the Dutch for their aid; in November, 1731, a small squadron was sent from Manila, in answer to Maulana’s petition for aid against the rebels; with the aid of the Spaniards the rebels were routed, their forts destroyed, and their villages and plantations ravaged and burned. Malinog, however, kept up the contest, so that another Spanish expedition was sent (January, 1733) against him; but while his town was besieged by the Tamontacans and the Spaniards he slipped away with 300 pirogues and invaded Tamontaca, where Maulana was slain by his foes.6 His son Amuril asked Governor Valdés y Tamón for aid against Malinog, which was granted; and in February 1734 an expedition left Zamboanga under command of General Francisco Cárdenas Pacheco, who placed a detachment of the armada under Pedro Zacarías Villarreal. Their campaign against the Moros was bravely fought, but was only partially successful, on account of the fierceness and overwhelming numbers of the Moros. The latter committed numerous depredations wherever and whenever they could find opportunity, and the Manila government took measures for the erection of lookout towers and fortifications at the coast villages, and for sending coastguard galleys and other vessels to the points most likely to be menaced by the pirates, so as to be ready to meet or follow up any Moro vessels that might attack the Indian villages or Spanish forts. In 1735, 2,000 Joloans and Mindanaos attacked the fort at Taytay, but they were finally repulsed with great loss. In this conflict, as often on like occasions, the native soldiers in the garrison were encouraged and incited by the friars in whose spiritual charge they were, to resist the fierce foe who attacked them.7 In 1735, Mahamad Ali-Mudin was raised to the sultanate of Joló, in virtue of the abdication of his father Maulana. The latter plotted to obtain possession of the fort at Zamboanga by treason, but the scheme was unsuccessful; the news of this so angered Maulana (who was then ill) that he hastened his own death. The new sultan of Joló professed (1736) friendship to the Spaniards, and even joined them in a campaign against the Tiron pirates; but in secret he encouraged the latter, and sent them warning of the movements against them. (Montero y Vidal, Hist. de Filipinas, i, pp. 438–452; his account is largely taken from Concepción’s Hist. de Philipinas, x, pp. 198–238, 337–375.)]