EDGEDAVAO Serving a seamless society
1848 The Battle for Davao O
NE COULD hardly notice the historic marker on one corner of a small triangular Children’s Park at the junction of Quezon Boulevard and Bonifacio streets in this bustling southern city. Unless they read the marker, most residents and visitors will never know this was the spot 172 years ago where the Spanish trader Don Oyanguren y Cruz and his motley group of Spanish volunteer soldiers, ship crew, native settlers, etc. landed their armada of brigantine ships, sloops, and outrigger boats to prepare for an all-out assault against the proud, stubborn Moro warriors of Datu Mama Bago who vowed to die fighting to protect AURELIO A. PENA is a Dabawenyo the riverside settlement called Dabaw against any invaders. artist, replica painter, journalist Selected passages from the book “Davao Histoand poet who once headed the ry” by the local historian Ernesto Corcino revealed Philippine News Agency the following details : (PNA)-Davao Bureau. IT TOOK 14 months of a long sea voyage sailing on choppy seas from Manila, passing through the Visayan islands, towards the north-eastern tip of Surigao, passing along the Pacific coast of Mindanao, before the expedition led by Oyanguren , finally entered the big blue gulf, arriving at the tiny islet of Malipano beside Samal Is-
Battles Spanish Moro Photos taken from net
land on March 1848. With him were around seventy people who all joined him in this dangerous journey to this thriving riverside settlement they call Dabaw. Oyanguren’s two-mast sailing vessel known as a Brigantine, followed closely by smaller single-mast sailing ships known as Sloops, with cargo holds all filled with food supplies
and armaments like muskets (single-shot guns), ammunitions, artillery (big cannons), gunpowder, etc, dropped anchor at Malipano islet, about ten kilometers across the sea of Davao Gulf to the tree-lined, swampy coast of mainland Davao. Here, the Spanish trader was welcomed warmly by Datu Daupan, chief
of the Samales tribe, who provided him information about the Moro settlement under the control of Datu Mama Bago at the mouth of Davao River. When the Samales tribe saw that Oyanguren’s group came to end the reign of oppression by Datu Mama Bago, they were excited and decided to join the fight against the Moro warrior. Oyanguren had earlier accepted the offer and full support of the Spanish Governor General Narciso Claveria y Zaldua in Manila “to conquer and subdue” the entire Davao Gulf area ---which was known at that time as “Taclooc Bay” --- and expel the Moros there. The special deal hammered out with Claveria gave Oyanguren the “exclusive right” and full authority to govern the early Davao settlement for ten years, as well as the right to do business in Davao for six years after the conquest.
A brigantine ship similar to this one was used by Don Oyanguren on his journey and dangerous expedition to the early riverside settlement of Dabaw in March 1848 and confronted Datu Mama Bago.
MANY YEARS earlier, there was a treaty in Mindanao, by which the Sultan Qudarat of Maguindanao ceded the entire Davao Gulf territory to Spanish control. Added as bonus to this treaty was an invitation to the Spaniards to open a trading post in Davao which encouraged many Spanish trading ships to head for Davao during that early period. Three years before Oyanguren made that historic voyage to Davao, a Spanish trading ship called “San Rufo” loaded with merchandise arrived at the Gulf and dropped anchor near the shores of the early Davao riverside settlement. The Spanish captain of the ship carried with him a “recommendation letter” from the Maguindanao sultan to the Davao chief Datu Mama Bago to receive the Spanish traders with “courtesy and respect” as personal friends of the Sultan. Moro settlers along the coast pretended to respect the Sultan’s letter and welcomed the Spaniards, offering friendship and large quantities of wax to trade. Since the Moros of the early Dabaw settlement seemed so friendly to the Spanish visitors, most of the ship’s crew left the ship to go fishing at the Davao Gulf, while some went ashore in their small boats. After noticing that most of the Spaniards were gone, a large band of Moros led by one Datu Ongay, climbed on board the Spanish ship pretending to offer and trade wax. While the remaining Spanish soldiers were cleaning their muskets and the ship crews were weighing the wax with Moro traders, they were suddenly overwhelmed in a violent bloody attack by the Moros. All the ship cargos were plundered and the entire ship put to the torch by the Moros, killing many of the Spaniards.
Maguindanao Sultan Qudarat, however, washed his hands of any blame and responsibility for the attack by the Moros on the trading ship San Rufo by telling the Spaniards that Datu Mama Bago and his warriors were not really his followers because they had also disobeyed his earlier instructions before, to receive Spanish traders as “friends of the Moros.” THIS PROMPTED the Spanish authorities in Manila to cry for revenge and sounded the call for volunteer soldiers to go back and fight. The Spaniards were now bent on driving the Moro warriors away from the Dabaw riverside settlement. Faced by this prospect of conquering and controlling Davao, Oyanguren stepped forward and accepted the offer of the Spanish governor general Claveria to lead the risky expedition that will sail from Manila to Mindanao. Backed by the tribal warriors of the Bagobos, the Samales and Mandaya tribal groups, Don Oyanguren and his Spanish volunteer fighters fought with the Moro warriors of Datu Mama Bago for the control of the riverside Dabaw settlement from April to June 1848. The following passages from Corsino’s book described in detail the battle for Davao that broke out right after Oyanguren attempted to land several small boats and native outriggers loaded with Spanish volunteer soldiers and tribal warriors on the shores of Davao in an area we call today as “Trading” --- marked by that historical marker at Quezon Boulevard. FIERCE FIGHTING broke out on the riverbanks and swampy marshes along the mouth of the Davao River. For Don Oyanguren and his motley group of fighting men, it was not
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