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<img src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-26/governor-francisco-de-sande.avif" alt="Governor Francisco de Sande" loading="lazy" />
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(Governor General Francisco de Sande)
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<h2>
The Castilian War and the Prelude to Sulu
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Governor Francisco de Sande, the third Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines who served from August 25, 1575 to April 1580, had just completed a successful military campaign against the Brunei Sultanate. In March 1578, Sande personally led an armada consisting of 400 Spaniards, 1,500 Filipino natives, and 300 Borneans to invade Brunei. The expedition captured the capital <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kota_Batu,_Brunei" class="news-link-ext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Kota Batu</a> on April 16, 1578, forcing Sultan <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saiful_Rijal" class="news-link-ext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Saiful Rijal</a> to flee to the interior. Sande officially declared <time datetime="1578-04-20">Brunei a vassal state of Spain on April 20, 1578</time>.
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During the Battle of Brunei, forces from the Sulu Sultanate fought alongside their Bruneian allies against the Spanish. The Sulu warriors managed to seize two Spanish galleys, three smaller vessels, artillery, and ammunition, which they transported back to their islands. This act of defiance, combined with Sulu's assistance to Brunei and the broader Spanish objective of curbing Islamic influence in the region, prompted Sande to order an immediate expedition against Sulu.
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<h2>
The Instructions to Captain Figueroa
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Governor Francisco de Sande entrusted the Sulu expedition to Captain Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa, a Portuguese-born veteran who had arrived in the Philippines with <a href="https://kahimyang.com/articles/3097/the-life-and-legacy-of-miguel-l-pez-de-legazpi" class="news_link">Miguel López de Legazpi</a> in 1565. Figueroa had distinguished himself in the recent Brunei campaign and was considered one of Sande's most capable commanders.
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In his detailed written instructions dated May 23, 1578, and notarized by Alonso Beltran, Governor Sande outlined eight specific objectives for the expedition:
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<b class="lt-bold">First</b>, to reduce the Sulu Sultanate to a vassal state and compel them to acknowledge Spanish sovereignty and pay tribute in pearls.
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<b class="lt-bold">Second</b>, to secure exclusive Spanish trade with Sulu and discover the natural resources of the region for commercial exploitation.
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<b class="lt-bold">Third</b>, to punish the Sultan of Sulu for the military assistance he had rendered to the Sultan of Brunei. 
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<b class="lt-bold">Fourth</b>, to rescue Christian captives held as slaves in Sulu. 
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<b class="lt-bold">Fifth</b>, to confiscate all Sulu artillery, ammunition, and vessels except fishing boats, thereby stopping their maritime raids.
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<b class="lt-bold">Sixth</b>, to transform the Sulus from seafaring warriors into peaceful agriculturists. 
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<b class="lt-bold">Seventh</b>, to uproot Islam - referred to by Sande as <i>"the accursed doctrine of Mahoma"</i> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad" class="news-link-ext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Prophet Muhammad</a>, Peace Be Upon Him) - and convert the Sulus to Christianity. 
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<b class="lt-bold">Eighth</b>, to prevent any further Islamic preachers from entering Sulu and to arrest those already present.
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The instructions explicitly stated: <i>"You shall order them not to admit any more preachers of the doctrine of Mahoma (Prophet Muhammad), since it is evil and false, and that of the Christians alone is good"</i>. Sande emphasized that religion was the <i>"principal reason for going to their lands"</i>, though he directed Figueroa to carry out these objectives <i>"as carefully and as gently as possible"</i>.
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<h2>
The Expedition Reaches Jolo
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Captain Figueroa's expedition reached the town of Jolo in June 1578. The reigning Sultan at that time was <a href="http://sulusultans.blogspot.com/2016/10/sultan-muhammad-ul-halim-15681596.html" class="news-link-ext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Muhammad ul-Halim</a>, also known as Pangiran Buddiman, who had ascended to the throne in 1568. Sultan Muhammad ul-Halim was married to a Brunei princess and was related by marriage to Sultan Saiful Rijal of Brunei, whose sister had married the Sulu Sultan.
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According to Spanish accounts, Figueroa defeated the Sultan's forces in battle. However, rather than engage in a prolonged conflict, Sultan Muhammad ul-Halim chose a diplomatic approach. To prevent the capture of his capital and avoid further Spanish occupation, the Sultan agreed to pay tribute to Spain in the form of pearls and gold. Some accounts identify the Sultan in Spanish records as <b class="lt-bold">Rajah Ilo</b> or <b class="lt-bold">Rajah Ilog Panguilan</b>.
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Significantly, Captain Figueroa did not occupy Jolo or establish a permanent Spanish garrison. He collected the initial tribute and returned to report his victory to Governor Sande. However, this apparent success proved to be ephemeral. Despite the treaty agreement, no regular tribute was ever delivered from Sulu to Spanish Manila during Sultan Muhammad ul-Halim's reign or during the reigns of his successors.
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<h2>
The Failed Mindanao Mission
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Following the Sulu expedition, Figueroa was tasked with proceeding to Mindanao to secure the submission of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimasangcay_Adel" class="news-link-ext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Datu Dimasankay</a>, the ruler of Maguindanao. However, this mission proved unsuccessful. The Maguindanao Sultan avoided all Spanish contact by retreating further into the interior. In January 1579, Governor Sande dispatched another expedition to Mindanao under Captain Gabriel de Ribera, with additional instructions to visit Jolo and collect the annual tribute. Ribera found that a famine had devastated Sulu, and the Sultan reportedly fled to Borneo with approximately 300 followers. Ribera received only insignificant tribute, which he returned, accepting instead a cannon that the Sulus had salvaged from a wrecked Portuguese galley.
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<h2>
The 300-Year Moro Wars
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The 1578 invasion of Sulu marked the beginning of what historians call the Spanish-Moro conflict, a protracted struggle that would span over three centuries until 1898. This conflict, one of the longest colonial wars in history, arose from the fundamental incompatibility between Spanish imperial and religious objectives and the determination of the Moro peoples - particularly the Sultanates of Sulu, Maguindanao, and various communities in Mindanao - to preserve their independence, Islamic faith, and way of life.
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The Sulus and other Moro groups resented Spanish interference and, in response to Spanish aggression, intensified their maritime raids against Spanish-controlled settlements in the Visayas and Luzon. This pattern of Spanish expeditions followed by Moro retaliatory raids became a defining characteristic of the conflict. The Spanish were never able to establish effective control over the Sulu Archipelago or the interior regions of Mindanao. Despite numerous military expeditions, including the Spanish occupation of Jolo from 1638 to 1645 under Governor-General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebasti%C3%A1n_Hurtado_de_Corcuera" class="news-link-ext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera</a>, and the major campaign of 1876 under Captain-General Malcampo, the sultanates maintained their de facto independence.
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The war only concluded with the end of Spanish rule in the Philippines in 1898. Even then, Moro resistance continued against subsequent American colonial rule from 1899 to 1913, and later evolved into modern separatist movements in the 20th and 21st centuries.
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<h2>
Governor Francisco de Sande: A Legacy of Expansion and Reform
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Doctor Francisco de Sande Picón, born in Cáceres, Spain in 1540, was a trained lawyer who served as attorney, criminal judge, and auditor in Mexico before being appointed Governor-General of the Philippines by King Philip II in 1575. His four-and-a-half-year tenure was marked by both military expansion and administrative reforms.
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One of his first acts was to reform the encomienda system. In May 1576, Sande issued a decree forbidding all officials appointed by the Spanish Crown from owning encomiendas, the large land grants that were meant to benefit indigenous communities. This reform aimed to prevent the concentration of wealth among colonial officials and ensure that these lands served their intended purpose.
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Sande founded the Royal City of Nueva Cáceres (present-day <a href="https://kahimyang.com/articles/3116/the-history-of-naga-camarines-sur-a-journey-through-time" class="news_link">Naga City</a>) in 1575, naming it after his hometown. Established by Captain Pedro de Chávez, Nueva Cáceres became one of the first royal Spanish cities in the Philippines and served as the capital of the Bicol region for over three centuries.
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Sande also initiated the fortification of Manila, appropriated the <a href="https://kahimyang.com/articles/3263/pampangas-history-pre-colonial-to-modern-times" class="news_link">province of Pampanga</a> to ensure adequate food supplies for Spanish forces, and worked to reform the colonial administration's financial management. He demonstrated ambitions beyond the Philippines, proposing expeditions to conquer China and the Moluccas, though King Philip II rejected these plans.
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After leaving the Philippines in April 1580, Sande was succeeded by Governor Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa. He subsequently served as Governor-General of Guatemala and later as President of the Real Audiencia of Santa Fé de Bogotá (in present-day Colombia) from 1597 until his death on September 12, 1602.
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Francisco de Sande's May 23, 1578 Sulu Expedition: The Beginning of a 300-Year Conflict