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TONDO CONSPIRACY
Waters of Manila bay
Verse 1
Born to a poor family in the city Raoping of Chaozhou, Limahong had an early start in criminal activity and progressed to piracy, becoming leader of around 2000 pirates. His activities and attacks on ports and ships throughout southern China increased and a warrant was issued by the authorities to capture him alive and send him to the city of Tay Bin. He was married to Nataracy.
He shifted his activities to piracy on the high seas and out of reach of China's power. He was able to accumulate up to 40 ships, whereupon he once again raided cities and ports in southern China. Limahong attacked a city occupied by Lin Daoqian , another Chinese pirate, but Lin Daoqian was able to escape along with 5 of Limahong's ships, Lin Daoqian would defeat Limahong, imprisoning him.
Meanwhile in the North the rulers of Sapa and Kaboloan and their nobles would be yet to contact the Spanish in their core areas which are Karaklan and Bukid, the Isinay, Irraya, Gaddang and the Pangasinan(Kaboloan)(ruled by Kasikis) and also the Majapahit Loyalists in the former Majapahitan Saludong would yet to contact with the Spanish.
During the reign of Sultan Saiful Rijal when the Castilian War broke out. He faced two main problems which was that the Spanish wanted to spread Christianity and invade the Philippines.
From their ports in Mexico, the Spanish sent several expeditions to the Philippines and in 1565 under Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, settled in Cebu. For a time Cebu became the capital of the archipelago and the main trading post. It was also the first city for spreading Christianity in the islands. Because of this, Spain's aspirations came to clash with those of Brunei. Between 1485 and 1521, the Sultanate of Brunei led by Sultan Bolkiah had established the state of Kota Saludong(Otherwise known as the Kingdom of Maynila) as a Bruneian puppet state. Islam was further strengthened by the arrival to the Philippines of traders and proselytisers from present-day Malaysia and Indonesia. The multiple states that existed in the Philippines simplified Spanish colonisation. In 1571 Spanish Miguel Lopez de Legazpi attacked and Christianized Islamic Manila, which was made the capital of the Philippine Islands, also becoming a hub for trade and evangelisation. The Visayans, (people from the Kedatuan of Madja-as and Rajahnate of Cebu) which before the Spanish came, had waged war against the Sultanate of Sulu and the Kingdom of Maynila, now became allies of the Spaniards against the Sultanate of Brunei. The time the Castilian War broke out was a time of religious fervor in Europe and many parts of the world, when a single state religion was followed. In Spain, the state religion was Roman Catholicism obliging followers of other faiths such as Jews and Muslims to convert to this religion. The Spanish had recently finished a 700-year-old war to reconquer and re-Christianize Spain, which had been invaded by the Muslims under the Umayyad Caliphate since the 8th century AD. The long process of reconquest, sometimes through treaties, mostly through war, is known as the Reconquista. The hatred of Spaniards against the Muslims that once invaded Spain fuelled the Castilian War.
In 1576, the Spanish Governor in Manila, had arrived from Mexico and he was Francisco de Sande. He sent an official mission to neighboring Brunei to meet Sultan Saiful Rijal. He explained to the Sultan that they wanted to have good relations with Brunei and also asked for permission to spread Christianity in Brunei (Roman Catholicism in Brunei was a legacy brought by Spaniards). At the same time, he demanded an end to Brunei proselytism of Islam in the Philippines. Sultan Saiful Rijal would not agree to these terms and also expressed his opposition to the evangelisation of the Philippines, which he deemed part of Dar al-Islam. In reality, De Sande regarded Brunei as a threat to the Spanish presence in the region, claiming that "the Moros from Borneo preach the doctrine of Mahoma, converting all the Moros of the islands".
Later the muslims of Northern half of Saludong in 1577 would expel the christians missionaries in the towns in Pampanga and Cagayan a move supported by the pagan and hindu people in the North and later gradually supported by the rulers of Sapa and Kaboloan such as Kasikis of Kaboloan and the rest of the Majapahit faction which rules the north, as the hindus would see the spanish catholicism as a threat to their way of life.