How the Aklanons helped the Spaniards conquer Mindoro

Panay and Mindoro islands in the oldest Philippine map created by Petrus Kaerius in 1598. Tilt your head towards the left when looking at the map to get the right view. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Fray Gaspar de San Agustin noted how the Spaniards, in helping the natives of Aklan and Ibajay, managed to extend their presence in Mindoro. It is, however difficult to discredit the contribution of native soldiers who made this voyage a success.  Fr. San Agustin begins:

“In the month of January of 1570, two native leaders visited the governor [Legazpi]. One of them came from the village of Aklan, on the island of Panay, while the other came from Bahay [Ibajay] river. They asked him for help against the natives of the coast of Mindoro who were great pirates and from whom they received great harm.  The governor gave them Captain Juan de Salcedo, whom they had specifically requested, along with thirty soldier from his company, under orders to pacify and reduce some of the villages to the service of His Majesty on the same island of Panay on his way back.”

Barely twenty years old, Salcedo pacified villages on his way to Aklan via the Aklan river, where some 500 Aklanon warriors were waiting for him who accompanied him and some Spanish troops to Mamburao village in Mindoro island. They arrived at midnight without a villager noticing them, leaving their paraos somewhere where they could not be easily seen.

Captain Juan de Salcedo. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Of the attack to Mamburao, San Agustin continues:

“Juan del Salcedo went alone with a native leader of Aklan to spy the displacement and the defense that could  be had in the enemy village. They then returned to where the men were left and, after eating dinner and resting a little bit, he left with his men and two hundred chosen Aklan natives, and marched on the village of Mamburao. They reached it one hour before sunrise. They attacked at daybreak. The battle lasted a long time, until the enemy finally surrendered, with the rest fleeing to Luban.”

Once the enemies were vanquished, Salcedo told the people of Mamburao that they “had not come to harm them but to help the natives of Aklan and Bahay who suffered so much under the enemy.” At first, Salcedo told them he wanted them as friends of Spain, but the cunning young man changed his mind and demanded they random ransom themselves, instead, with gold. This he distributed “among the soldiers and leaders”  [of Aklan and Ibajay, probably?] without taking anything for himself. Suffice it was for him to know that success was his.

Next he launched a brutal attack to the island of Luban whose people gave him “great quantity of gold”, which he shared with the leaders of Aklan and Ibajay. After entering a blood compact with the leaders of vanquished island, Salcedo returned to Panay, happy with his victories.  

Read: When the Spaniards moved to Panay

When the Spaniards moved to Panay

The mouth of Panay River that opens up to the Sibuyan Sea. Image from Simon Gibson

When the Spaniards moved to Panay

Just to contextualize things before I begin, Capiz did not yet exist as a geopolitical unit or as a province that it is today when the Spaniards came here in 1568. But it is a source of pride to know that somewhere along the banks of Panay River that flows in this province, the Spaniards had set foot, established a community, and turned the pages of our history into the next chapter.

Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and his Spanish troops arrived in Cebu some time in 1565 but they never really felt safe there. When the stomach is empty all else failed and when food supplies became scarce and dwindled, it was time to move out and look for a safer place where provisions were abundant. Food has a significant factor in the success (or failure) of the Spanish expedition in the Philippines.   Spanish soldiers were dying from famine and the most miserable had to partake of herbs. Add to this, they had to compete with the “rats and other vermin  came to devour the food,” wrote Fray Gaspar de San Agustin in Conquistas de las Islas de Filipinas. With hostile natives around and the threat of Portuguese attacks, Legazpi ordered the transfer of their camp to the island of Panay.

Of this transfer, de San Agustin wrote:

“Everyone agreed to move the camp to the river of Panay [probably its tributary Banica River?], since the place was impregnable and the island abundant with everything necessary to resist any enemy invasion. Having decided on this, the governor ordered his captains, together with their companies, to spread themselves to the neighboring islands, under orders that once they were informed  of the Portuguese armada’s return, they were all to gather at the Panay river to defend themselves…

“The governor sent Captain Felipe de Salcedo to accompany the camp and the artillery to the Panay river with the people who accompanied him when the Capitana was lost. They were well-received by the natives of Panay and after seeing to their lodgings, the natives asked them for help against some enemy villages who had cometo their area and done them great harm, capturing some of them while they were fishing.  Felipe de Salcedo did so, burning enemy villages as well as levying other forms of punishment.

"… the governor [Legazpi] left [Cebu] for Panay river accompanied by the maestre de campo [Luis de la Haya, who had earlier reached Panay where he gathered rice for the Spanish camp in Cebu]… the governor was lovingly received by the natives whose highest leaders Madidum and Manicabug, proved in everything to be well-intentioned and more loyal than those in Cebu.

Some thoughts to ponder…

Could the Spaniards have landed at the tributary of Panay River, which is the Banica River? If so, could it be in Roxas City, not in Panay, where the first Spanish settlement in Panay island was established? Since the Spaniards decided to make this part of the island their initial base in evangelizing the entire Panay, in attacking Mindoro and Manila later, could this mean that 16^th century Capiz was an abundant place that filled the conquerors’ stomachs?

 

“Not a Trace” of Capiz for Rizal

Old Libas port, early 20th century. Image from Milton Meyer 

On July 31, 1896, Jose Rizal boarded S.S. España in Dapitan. He was bound for Manila after receiving permission from the Spanish authorities to leave for Cuba where he would serve as a military physician. The steamer made delightful stopovers in Dumaguete (August 1), Cebu (August 2), Iloilo (August 4), Capiz (August 4), and Romblon (August 5). However, not a sliver of Capiz  was seen by the patriot since the steamer docked far away from the port. Of this brief stopover, he wrote:

“The night was rainy and dark when we arrived at Capiz or what seemed to us as Capiz. Ships always anchor at a great distance from the mouth of Tibas [Libas], they say where there is a great marine corporal who acts as governor, administrator, etc., with regard to the mail. A boat was lowered with the second officer and the steward aboard and we expected it to come back within an hour in order to continue our voyage. But, it was not so. Although it left at around 11 o’clock at night, it did not return until the following day, late in the day, because according to what they said, it anchored very far from the shore and it had to row for more than three hours. At Capiz, the passenger do not go ashore, except those who will remain there. Not a trace of the town nor of the presence of a human being can be seen. A sergeant of the Civil Guard, who, they say, was going to Cuba as a volunteer, embarked.”

Further readings:

National Historical Institute (1977). Reminiscences and Travels of Jose Rizal. Manila.

When Capiz was almost surrendered to the British

An illustration of the fort in the town of Capiz from the Archivo General de Indias

Did you know that Capiz was almost surrendered to the British forces? In 1762, Manila was occupied by the British forces but instead of showing allegiance to the Spanish authorities under Governor General Simeon de Anda y Salazar, certain local leaders chose to collaborate with the British, like the following gobernadorcillos, Jose Pasarin of Bulacan, Antonio Zabala of Vigan, and Felix Galan of Pagsanjan. Meanwhile, the alcalde of Panai (now province of Capiz), a certain Quintinilla decided to sheepishly turn the province to the invaders.

In 1842, Spanish diplomat and adventurer Sinibaldo de Mas wrote this portion of Capiz history in the first volume of Informe sobre el estado de las Islas Filipinas en 1842 (Report of the State of the Philippine Islands in 1842):

En la provincia de Panai se descubrió que el alcalde Quintinilla estaba corrupto por el inglés, á quien tenia dispuesto entregar la provincia, pero advirtiéndolo con tiempo los frailes agustinos Fr. Tadeo de la consolacion prior de Capiz, y Fr. Francisco de Valenzuela prior de Panai, llamaron á otros compañeros y juntaron armas, y estando todo dispuesto, prendieron una noche con mucho silencio al dicho alcalde, y lo aseguraron en un calabozo de la fuerza de Capiz, y quitándole el baston, se lo entregaron al maestro Barte cura de Aclan, para que mantuviese la voz de España: dieron parte de lo egecutado al Sr. gobernador Anda, quien lo aprobó y dió muchas gracias por ello en nombre del rey nuestro amo y señor.

Here is how I understand it:

In the province of Panai, the alcalde, Quintinilla, was discovered of plotting with the British authorities (who occupied Manila 1762-1764) of surrendering the province to enemies. The Augustinian friars, Fr. Tadeo de la Consolation, Prior of Capiz, and Fr. Francisco de Valenzuela, Prior of Panai, learned of this plot and called their companions (the principales, according to Fr. Dedert Duarte), and gathered weapons. When everything was ready, they arrested the alcalde one quiet night, taking away his weapon and throwing him in a dungeon at the fort in Capiz (see illustration). They then turned over care of the province to Fr. Barte, the priest of Aclan, in order to maintain the Spanish interests. Afterwards, they informed the governor-general, Simeon de Anda, who upon learning, thanked them on behalf of the king, “our lord and master” for what they have done. 

 

Early 20th Century Brickmaking in Capiz

A brick from the kiln in Libas, Roxas City

Capiz had a thriving brick-making industry at the turn of the 20th century. In the 1903 Philippine census, Capiz was one of the provinces, alongside Bulacan, Rizal, Iloilo, Ilocos Norte, Isabela, Marinduque, Masbate and Pampanga, where the country's 27 brick and tile plants were located. During the Spanish period, bricks were supplied in church constructions. A kiln was identified in Calivo, which supplied the bricks in the construction of the Calivo church in the 1870s. The La Manchega in Capiz was recorded as supplying bricks for the churches in Loctugan and Panay in the 1890s. 

In the American Philippines, brick-making was ranked 16th in terms of capital investment. The industry was the 8th largest employer in the country, 17th in terms of monthly wage paid, and 15th in terms of value of products. Data from the Bureau of Public Works show that the annual value of brick products reached P457,900 based on the 1913 figure. Capital investments amounted to P237,543 with raw materials costing P72,840. 

By the second decade of American rule, the brick industry in Capiz had lamentably disappeared. The province had since depended on the brickmaking plants  of Javellana and Jalandoni families in Iloilo. 

 Lim Juyco,  a Chinese from Fookien who married a Capizeña from Calivo in 1905, established a brick-making plant near Libas Port in Capiz Town around 1910s and 1920s. According to his grandson, Ruben Yap, red clay used in making the bricks abound near where the kiln was situated in what is present-day Purok Tres. Alongside this business, the family also ventured into deep-sea fishing. A salt farm was also identified as among the family initiatives. The brickmaking facility halted operations at the start of World War II. Lim Juyco died from tuberculosis in 1945. 

(With special thanks to my friend, Dimples Tabujara Yap for the data about Lim Juyco)