Conspiracy of the Maharlikas
Encyclopedia
The Conspiracy of the Maharlika
s, also referred to as the Revolt of the Lakans or the Tondo Conspiracy of 1587-1588 was a plot against Spanish colonial rule by the Tagalog
and Capampangan
noblemen, or datus, of Manila
and some towns of Bulacan
and Pampanga
, in the Philippines
. It was led by Agustín de Legazpi, grandson of conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi
, nephew of Rajah Lakandula, and his first cousin, Martin Pangan. The datus swore to rise up in arms by anointing their necks with a split egg. The uprising failed when they were betrayed to the Spanish authorities by Antonio Surabao (Susabau) of Calamianes.
, nephew of Rajah Lakandula and son-in-law of sultan Bolkieh of Brunei; whose first cousin was Martin Pangan, the gobernadorcillo of Tondo.
Besides the two, the other leaders were Magat Salamat, son of Rajah Lakandula and the crown-prince of Tondo; Juan Banal, another Tondo prince and Salámat’s brother-in-law; Geronimo Basi and Gabriel Tuambacar, brothers of Agustín de Legazpi; Pedro Balingit, the lord of Pandacan; Felipe Salonga, the lord of Polo; Dionisio Capolo (Kapulong), the lord of Candaba and brother of Felipe Salonga; Juan Basi, the lord of Taguig; Esteban Taes (Tasi), the lord of Bulacan; Felipe Salalila, the lord of Misil; Agustín Manuguit, son of Felipe Salalila; Luis Amanicaloa, another prince of Tondo; Felipe Amarlangagui, the commander-and-chief of Caranglan; Omaghicon, the Minister of Navotas and Pitongatan (Pitong Gatang), another prince of Tondo.
The cause of conspiracy was the injustice committed by the Spanish Encomendieros against the people of the kingdom and their lack of respect to treaty obligations with the local aristocracy which reserved them the right to still exercise nominal suzerainty over the kingdom, being vassal kings of the king of Spain but still the Generals of Conquistador Legaspi refused to listen. This eventually forced the remaining royalty, not killed, to secretly plot their overthrow.
interpreter, Dionisio Fernández, who had also joined the conspiracy. A secret meeting ended with an agreement in which Gayo would supply arms and warriors to help in the rebellion and recognize De Legazpi as king of the entire Philippines. In return, Gayo and his men would receive half of the tribute to be collected from the Philippines. A significant group of merchants known only as the "Sakai Merchants" had also been known to conspirate with the royal families against spanish rule.
Apart from the Japanese, there were other secret arrangements that needed to be accomplished before the final plan of the uprising could be completed. First, a secret delegation would travel to Borneo to secure troops and ships from the Sultan of Brunei. Second, there was the need to obtain the support and participation of the inhabitants of Laguna and Batangas in the struggle for freedom. Once a full commitment was received from Borneo, Batangas and Laguna, the armed rebellion would begin upon the arrival in Manila Bay of the Sultan of Brunei’s warships with warriors on board. The conspirators and their armed warriors would then launch a ferocious attack to completely annihilate the Spaniards and then set the city on fire.
of a brewing conspiracy against Spanish rule.
so that they would remain barren. Dionisio Fernández was hanged and his property confiscated. Dionisio Capolo (Kapulong), the lord of Candaba (Pampanga), was exiled from his town and paid a heavy fine. De Vera eventually pardoned him. Later, he served as a guide and interpreter for two Spanish expeditions into Igorot country in 1591 and 1594.
The other five leading members were exiled to Mexico — Pedro Balinguit (lord of Pandacan), Pitongatan (a prince of Tondo), Felipe Salonga (lord of Polo), Calao (a commander-in-chief of Tondo), and Agustín Manuguit (Minister of Tondo). They were the very first natives of the Philippines to settle in Mexico.
Maharlika
Maharlika is a Filipino term meaning “nobility” or “aristocracy”. Its etymology is rooted from the Sanskrit maharddhika which means “a man of wealth, knowledge, and ability”...
s, also referred to as the Revolt of the Lakans or the Tondo Conspiracy of 1587-1588 was a plot against Spanish colonial rule by the Tagalog
Tagalog people
The Tagalog people are an ethnic group in the Philippines. The name Tagalog comes from either the native term tagá-ilog, meaning 'people living along the river', or another native term, tagá-alog, meaning 'people living along the ford', a ford being a shallow part of a river or stream where people,...
and Capampangan
Kapampangan people
The Kapampangans or Capampan͠gans are the sixth largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group, numbering about 2,890,000. The original Kapampangans may have descended from Austronesian-speaking immigrants to Luzon during the Iron Age.The province of Pampanga is traditional homeland of the Kapampangans...
noblemen, or datus, of Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
and some towns of Bulacan
Bulacan
Bulacan , officially called the Province of Bulacan or simply Bulacan Province, is a first class province of the Republic of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Region in the island of Luzon, north of Manila , and part of the Metro...
and Pampanga
Pampanga
Pampanga is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the City of San Fernando, Pampanga. Pampanga is bordered by the provinces of Bataan and Zambales to the west, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija to the north, and Bulacan to the southeast...
, in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. It was led by Agustín de Legazpi, grandson of conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi
Miguel López de Legazpi
Miguel López de Legazpi , also known as El Adelantado and El Viejo , was a Spanish conquistador who established one of the first European settlements in the East Indies and the Pacific Islands in 1565. He is the first Governor-General in the Philippines...
, nephew of Rajah Lakandula, and his first cousin, Martin Pangan. The datus swore to rise up in arms by anointing their necks with a split egg. The uprising failed when they were betrayed to the Spanish authorities by Antonio Surabao (Susabau) of Calamianes.
Conspirators
The mastermind of the plot was Agustín de Legazpi; grandson of conquistador Miguel López de LegazpiMiguel López de Legazpi
Miguel López de Legazpi , also known as El Adelantado and El Viejo , was a Spanish conquistador who established one of the first European settlements in the East Indies and the Pacific Islands in 1565. He is the first Governor-General in the Philippines...
, nephew of Rajah Lakandula and son-in-law of sultan Bolkieh of Brunei; whose first cousin was Martin Pangan, the gobernadorcillo of Tondo.
Besides the two, the other leaders were Magat Salamat, son of Rajah Lakandula and the crown-prince of Tondo; Juan Banal, another Tondo prince and Salámat’s brother-in-law; Geronimo Basi and Gabriel Tuambacar, brothers of Agustín de Legazpi; Pedro Balingit, the lord of Pandacan; Felipe Salonga, the lord of Polo; Dionisio Capolo (Kapulong), the lord of Candaba and brother of Felipe Salonga; Juan Basi, the lord of Taguig; Esteban Taes (Tasi), the lord of Bulacan; Felipe Salalila, the lord of Misil; Agustín Manuguit, son of Felipe Salalila; Luis Amanicaloa, another prince of Tondo; Felipe Amarlangagui, the commander-and-chief of Caranglan; Omaghicon, the Minister of Navotas and Pitongatan (Pitong Gatang), another prince of Tondo.
The cause of conspiracy was the injustice committed by the Spanish Encomendieros against the people of the kingdom and their lack of respect to treaty obligations with the local aristocracy which reserved them the right to still exercise nominal suzerainty over the kingdom, being vassal kings of the king of Spain but still the Generals of Conquistador Legaspi refused to listen. This eventually forced the remaining royalty, not killed, to secretly plot their overthrow.
Allies from Japan and Brunei
Augustín de Legazpi had contacted the Japanese admiral, Juan Gayo, through a Japanese ChristianKirishitan
, from Portuguese cristão, referred to Roman Catholic Christians in Japanese and is used as a historiographic term for Roman Catholics in Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries. Christian missionaries were known as bateren or iruman...
interpreter, Dionisio Fernández, who had also joined the conspiracy. A secret meeting ended with an agreement in which Gayo would supply arms and warriors to help in the rebellion and recognize De Legazpi as king of the entire Philippines. In return, Gayo and his men would receive half of the tribute to be collected from the Philippines. A significant group of merchants known only as the "Sakai Merchants" had also been known to conspirate with the royal families against spanish rule.
Apart from the Japanese, there were other secret arrangements that needed to be accomplished before the final plan of the uprising could be completed. First, a secret delegation would travel to Borneo to secure troops and ships from the Sultan of Brunei. Second, there was the need to obtain the support and participation of the inhabitants of Laguna and Batangas in the struggle for freedom. Once a full commitment was received from Borneo, Batangas and Laguna, the armed rebellion would begin upon the arrival in Manila Bay of the Sultan of Brunei’s warships with warriors on board. The conspirators and their armed warriors would then launch a ferocious attack to completely annihilate the Spaniards and then set the city on fire.
Traitors
On the way to meet with the Sultan of Brunei, Magat Salámat, Juan Banál, and Augustín Manuguit stopped at Cuyo, Calamianes, to meet with its datu, Sumaclob. The datu was swayed to join the conspiracy and pledged to contribute 2,000 of his men for the cause. However, Salámat made an error in judgment by recruiting another Cuyo native, Antonio Surabao (Susabao). Upon learning of the secret plan, Surabao rushed to expose it to his master, Captain Pedro Sarmiento, the Spanish encomiendero of Calamianes. Once Salámat, Banál and Manuguit were apprehended, Sarmiento hastily traveled to Manila on October 26, 1588 and informed Governor-General Santiago de VeraSantiago de Vera
Santiago de Vera was the sixth Spanish governor of the Philippines, from May 16, 1584 until May 1590. The construction of the walled city of Intramuros, Manila, commenced during his term. Fuerte de Santiago in Intramuros was named after him....
of a brewing conspiracy against Spanish rule.
Arrests and Punishment
Governor-General De Vera immediately ordered the arrest of all the conspirators. Tried and found guilty of treason, Augustín de Legazpi and Martin Pangan were hanged, their heads cut off and exposed on the gibbet in iron cages. Their properties were seized by the Spanish authorities and their lands plowed and sown with saltSalting the earth
Salting the earth, or sowing with salt, is the ritual of spreading salt on conquered cities to symbolize a curse on its re-inhabitation. It originated as a practice in the ancient Near East and became a well-established folkloric motif in the Middle Ages.-Destroying cities:The custom of purifying...
so that they would remain barren. Dionisio Fernández was hanged and his property confiscated. Dionisio Capolo (Kapulong), the lord of Candaba (Pampanga), was exiled from his town and paid a heavy fine. De Vera eventually pardoned him. Later, he served as a guide and interpreter for two Spanish expeditions into Igorot country in 1591 and 1594.
The other five leading members were exiled to Mexico — Pedro Balinguit (lord of Pandacan), Pitongatan (a prince of Tondo), Felipe Salonga (lord of Polo), Calao (a commander-in-chief of Tondo), and Agustín Manuguit (Minister of Tondo). They were the very first natives of the Philippines to settle in Mexico.