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| Moro weapons |
Fr.
Francisco de Luzon was in Sogod in 1634 when a squadron of 22 vessels of
Corralat were preying on the islands of Bohol and Leyte. But he was able to
escape Corralat’s fury.
Other
moro tribes joined the thriving enterprise of the Magindanaus, conducting their
own raids of helpless coastal villages in the Visayas and even the southern
parts of Luzon. One of these groups originated from the small island of Jolo
which could hardly mobilize 3,000 armed men. They had once paid tribute to
Spain but later rebelled and killed all the Spaniards in the island. One of
their datus, a Datu Achen, was often compared to the most destructive African
pirates because of his ferocity in the high seas.
He
and his troops once attacked a shipyard in Camarines where galleons were built.
After the usual robbery and murder, he captured many natives and Spaniards and
traded these in the islands south of Jolo, carrying away artillery and
firearms, with which he strengthened his defenses in his own country.
One
of the prized captives seized during this period was a Jesuit Father Giovanni
Domenico Bilanci, a native of
Naples, Italy who was on a journey near
Hinundayan. This was in 1632. They brought him to Jolo and then the usual
ransom note was dispatched to Manila. With it came a letter from Bilanci
himself.[i]
He died in captivity , in 1655, at 60 years old. He served as a priest for 30
years.[ii]
In
the last decade of the century, the Joaloans were joined by moros from
Tawi-Tawi, Lacay-Lacay and Tuptup. They
mustered some 60 vessels and divided their forces into smaller squadrons as they sacked and burned the villages of
Poro (in Camotes Is.), Baybay, Sogor (Sogod), Cabalian, Basey (Samar),
Dangajon, Capul in Northern Samar and Guinobatan, Albay. They killed a Spanish
Captain Gabriel de la Peña, captured another official of the same class,
Ignacio de la Cueva, and the Jesuit Father Buenaventura Barcena.[iii]
Not content with what they found in the coastal villages, the marauders even
went to the mountains in pursuit of the missionaries and captured all the
natives they chanced upon.[iv]
The
moro raids did not stop at the close of the 17th century. In the
middle of the next century, two more major raids of Leyte’s coastal towns in
the west are recorded citing the valiant resistance of the native defenders, frustrating the moro
raiders. In the month of February 1754, some 2,000 moro warriors attacked
Hilongos and for 11 days laid siege to
its fort built earlier. But the local warriors held on and made various sallies
to prevent the moros from building their own trenches, with the Jesuit
missionary acting as their adviser. The
death of many moro warriors discouraged the latter from continuing their siege,
even as the locals did not lose any of their fighters.[v]
From
Hilongos, the moros proceeded to another progressive settlement also in the
western coast, the village of Palompon. This happened on June that same year. During this time,
Palompon had already built its stone church
that also served its residents well during moro depredations. Here the moros
suffered losses which it did not experience in earlier raids. Although a lot of
native warriors were killed in this raid, the defeat of the moros taught them a
stern lesson they would not forget. That was going to be the last moro raid in
the island. [vi]
The
moro raids decidedly had adverse effects on the Jesuit missions. When raids
happened, fields were devastated, houses burned, fishing gear destroyed, the
land ravaged and families forcibly separated because the captives were sold in
the slave markets of Borneo and nearby lands. These compelled the missionaries
to change plans and fast track courses of action they would not have otherwise
taken. The building of stone fortifications and churches happened in the years
when the moros were rampaging in the Pintados islands.
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[i]
Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson, The Philippine Islands, 1493 – 1803, Volume XXIX, pp 95-96, raid of Cabalian, 1634
[ii]
Op cit, Redondo, p. 40
[iii]
Also in September, 1665, in Sogod, Fr. Juan Bautista Larrauri and two of his
companions managed to escape from the moros who were pursuing him in 24
caracoas, but they captured Fr. Buenaventura Barcena. Another companions
crossed the mountains to Cabalian. On the 20th of the same month,
three vessels of the moros (called
‘loangas’) from Lake Malanao reached
Cabalian and captured Larrauri, and then killed him near the island of
Panaon. Barcena died in his captivity in
Tawi-tawi that same year. [Redondo, p. 39]
[iv]
“Moro Pirates, 1691-1700,” Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson, The Philippine Islands, 1493 – 1803, Volume XLI, p. 313
[v]
Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson, The Philippine Islands, 1493 – 1803, Volume XLVIII, p. 47, author said to be a Jesuit priest,
Hilongos raid of Moros, Feb 1754. In a rare pamphlet published at Manila in
1755, apparently written by one of the Jesuit missionaries in Leyte
[vi]
The details can be read here: Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson, The Philippine Islands, 1493 – 1803, Volume XLVIII, pp. 37-49. This relation was evidently written by some
one of the Jesuit missionaries in Leyte, and perhaps even an eyewitness to the
events related. The villages mentioned in the pamphlet that was circulated in
Manila seemed to have been those in charge of the Jesuits.
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