Note 30 — EVENTS IN FILIPINAS, 1739–1762

The king of Joló had already reached Manila, and was imprisoned in the fort of Santiago,30 to the great satisfaction of those who had been opposed to his baptism and had always doubted his fidelity; but he obtained from the governor permission that his daughter the princess Faatima, who was imprisoned with him, might go to Joló with letters from him for his brother and other chiefs, in order [to urge them] to make a stable peace with the Spaniards; and for this permission he bound himself to surrender fifty Christian captives.31 The princess accomplished the return of the captives, and obtained from her uncle Bantilan the despatch of an ambassador to Manila, to attend to her father’s affairs. The envoy carried authority to conduct, jointly with Bantilan’s brother the king, negotiations for peace with the governor, and to solemnize the treaties which they should regard as expedient, [the chiefs] binding themselves to obey whatever the two should sign. It was stipulated with the king and the ambassador that the Moros of Joló should surrender all the Christian captives who were in their island, and send back all the arms which they had taken from the Spaniards, and the ornaments which they had plundered from the churches; and, in order to make these treaties effective, permission was granted to one of the chiefs who were prisoners with the king to go to Joló in company with the ambassador whom Bantilan had sent.