C. The
arrival of Christianity imposed by the Spaniards
On September 20, 1519 Ferdinand Magellan
commissioned by King Charles I of Spain leading an expedition of 250 men in
five ships looking for the “Spice Island”. On March 31, 1521, they disembarked
at the islet of Limasawa south of leyte, and there Magellan celebrated the
first Catholic mass in the Philippines. From here the conquest or conversion of
Christianity of the various island was effected, except the Mactan islan under
Rajah Lapulapu who chose fire and blood to abject submission. In the famous
Battle of Mactan on April 21, 1521 the Spaniards, despite superiority of their
weapon were utterly routed. With his own hand, Raja Lapulapu slew Magellan. After
the debacle of Mactan, Charles I sent three more expeditions in 1525, 1526, and
1527 but all ended in dismal failure. In 1542, Charles I fitted an expedition
under the command of Ruy de Villaobos with the specific order to establish
permanent settlement in the Philippines. Villalobos in the company of four Augustinian
priests disembarked on Sarangani south of Mindanao. Because of the stiff
hostility of the Moros the Spaniards hurriedly left. On their way home, Bernardo
de laTorre, one of the crew, while passing by the islands of Samar-Leyte, gave
to these islands the name Filipinas in honour of Philip, the then Spanish crown
prince. The name was later applied to the entire archipelago and was Anglisized
by the Americans to its present from Philippines. In 1556 Philip II ascended
the throne and made it an official policy to colonize the Philippines. On April
27, 1565 the Spaniards under the command of Miguel Lopezde L to colonize the Philippines.
On April 27, 1565 the Spaniards under the command of Miguel Lopezde Ligazpi
landed in Panay and from there wrested the Visayan island, one after the other.
After securing these areas, Ligazpi sent Captain Martin de Goiti to Lozun.
Commanding the Spanish troops was Captain
Martin de Goiti, while Rajah Sulaiman was leading the native defenders. True to
his words, reminiscent of the Islamic slogan “Victory or Martyrdom” Rajah
Sulaiman prepared martyrdom than to submit to the Spaniards. At the Battle of
Tondo shore, on June 3, 1571 Rajah Sulaiman perished. After the fall of Manila
the Spaniards then became the new master over Luzon and Visayas.
In the year 1578 the Spaniards focused
their eyes to Mindanao and Sulu. General Francisco de Sande instructed Captain
Rodrigues de Figueroa the siege of Sulu in June 1578 and Mindanao in April
1596. This marked the virtual declaration of war by Spain against the Moro of
Mindanao and Sulu which was to drag on and remain undecided for more than three
hundred years. Series of bloody encounters took place in this period. The Christianized
natives of Luzon and Visayas were used by the Spaniards to fight against the
Moros. The created a deep feeling of animostyfeeling of animosity between the
Endioity between the Endios now the Filipimnow the Filipino people in one hand,
and the Bangsamoro people in the other hand. Sultan Buddiman Pangiran of Sulu
and the reigning Sultans after him and Sultan Dipatuan Muhammad Qudrat of
Mindanao and his successors after him were the heroes of such Jihad in keeping
the World of Allah Supreme, until the Spaniards were ejected from the
Philippines by the Americans in 1898.
Despite the more than three hundred years
of Spanish invasion of the Philippines, the Moros of Mindanao and Sulu remained
intact in defending their faith and never subdued to the enemy. This is substantiated
by the fact of their survival as Muslims (the Bangsamoro) distinct from the
Christianized Filipinos of Luzon and Visayas.
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