Philip the II of Spain, for whom the archipelago was named, continued to send expeditions to the Philippines, under the following series of leaders: Garcia Jefre de Loyasa, Alvaro Saavedra and Lopez de Villalobos. It was not until 1563, when the fifth expedition (Magellan counting as the first) arrived with its captain adventurer, Miguel Lopez de Lagaspi (also spelled Legazpi, in some sources). Lagaspi made headway into the Philippines.
In May 1565 he established a permanent European colony on Cebu. His Spanish conquistadors successfully used fire power, military strategy and the advantage of the barangay’s isolation from each other to conquer Cebu and annex neighboring islands. Then, in 1570 Legazpi’s grandson, Juan Salcedo, sailed to Luzon and established friendly relations with the Rajah of Tondo, Lacandola, and the Rajah of Manila, Soliman. By 1571, just forty years after Magellan’s death, the elder Miguel Lopez de Legaspi proclaimed Spanish sovereignty over the Philippine Archipelago and named Manila as its capital.
HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINES #17
In 1574, an exiled Chinese pirate, Li Ma Hong, attempted to take control of Manila. He came with sixty-two armed junks, containing some 5,000 men. Li Ma Hong demanded control of the city, but was defeated. Most of his men escaped to the north and intermarried with the islanders. The Dutch, traditional enemies of Spain, often tried to invade the islands and wrest control from the Spanish, but were consistently forced into retreat. Spain continued to dominate and chose to retain the barangay as their basic unit of local administration in the islands. Unfortunately, they sadly disregarded the venerated
tuhons careful passage of writings, which were passed down through centuries, one generation to the
next. The Spanish destroyed most of the Philippine Islander’s writing and eclipsed many areas of Filipino culture.
Most certainly, Spanish rulers would have viewed the Filipino martial arts, kali, as a potential threat attempted to squelch it by prohibiting the Filipinos from displaying or carrying bladed weapons. However, as fast as the Spaniards tried to eradicate kali, the arts transitioned to alternate seemingly innocuous avenues of Filipino culture. Although practice with the blade was still continued in secret, usually at night under moonlight, kalimen switched their ancestral art’s emphasis from kalis (bladed weaponry) to bahi (hardwood) or oway (rattan) sticks. Additionally, mono mono plays were staged as mock battles of Moors against Crusaders. However camouflaged within the play’s dances, kali, (now
arnis in Spanish) was retained, hidden, and legally practiced directly before the unsuspecting Spanish
despots. Arnis survived the Spanish conquest and later, as we shall see, the American occupation. The Spaniards did their best to completely immerse the Philippine Islanders into Spanish ways. They even changed the entire blocks of Filipino surnames from their native names into completely different Spanish ones. Kali names changed accordingly and gleaned additional techniques. Kali became arnis de mano (Spanish for arnis, trapping or defensive armor). Kali also changed to the Spanish names: 1) estocada, to Tagalogs, and 2) egrima, escrima, or eskrima (to fence or skirmish) to Visayans. Other areas knew kali as estoque, fraile, arnis de mano, or arnis. The stick became known as the baston, garrote, or tabak, and the blades were often grouped under the term bolo. Espada y daga was what the Spanish called the blade and dagger. Sinawali or doble baston refer to the use of two sticks.
Kali cultivated mutual respect among men while preserving life and freedom. This was mostly clearly observed in the unconquerable spirit of the Moors in the southern Philippines. Dan Inosato related, “the Muslim warriors opposed the Spanish conquests with their religion, their courage, and their unparalleled fighting ability.” Spain was never able to subjugate or even extort tribute from the Moslems in the south. The Spaniard’s strategy was to capture Moro chiefs and then break and force them to make their people submit, as they had done to Montezuma in Mexico. It never happened. Spain misjudged these descendants of the Moslem Majapahit Empire. Moro leaders were fiercely committed to retaining freedom, and would mete out death or die attempting to protect this fundamental value. They boldly, competently and successfully keep their people and territory free from invaders since the time when they themselves were conquerors. The Spanish were not the first to fail in an attempt to control Moro territory and they would not be the last. To date no one has succeeded in conquering or dominating the proud strong people of the Mindanao.
Another Filipino point of contention regarding three religious orders, Dominicans, Augustinians, and Recollects and their ownership of one tenth of all the Philippine island’s unimproved land. This had occurred because the Catholic Church had been united with the Spanish government for over three hundred twenty seven years. Plus, the Filipino clergy resented the power the Spanish clergy held in the church. Despite sporadic opposition from the Filipino clergy throughout the years, the Spanish retained power in the islands. Additionally, the Spanish continued to repulse foreign attempts to take over the Philippine archipelago, including the time in 1762 when the British captured the city of Manila. Spain regained the city, however, according to the Treaty of Paris in 1763.