Chapter 27 : The Tondo Conspiracy

Tondo Conspiracy

By Jean Morton on June 25th, 2013

Names, more names like Datu, Rajah,

Lakan, Lakay, Laki, Magat, Panday Pira,

And The TONDO CONSPIRACY

you have never heard!

Lakandula is an illiterate way of writing Lakan Dula, the pre - hispanic King of Manila. This is the spelling of the paid hacks usually identified with a family from Lubao, Pampanga Philippines whose tall tales written by their great grandfather put them on the side of the traitors and not with the Philippine heroes. What a bad writer of tall tales.

You do not spell Lakan Timamanukum as lakantimamanukum, so, dont spell Lakan Dula as lakandula, you moron.

lakandula lakan dula macapagal magat salamat lubao candaba

by Dennis Arroyo Feb 23, 2011 share this

By Jose Sison Luzadas

Delray Beach, Florida

Barcelona and Zaragoza are some popular Filipino family names you have heard, read or met in person. Both traced their etymological beginnings with the City of Barcelona the capital of Spanish province of Catalonia and Zaragoza in Aragon.

Barcelona traces its origin to the time when Carthage was the undisputed military and commercial power in the Iberian region under the Barcas, Hamilcar, the father and his sons, Hannibal said to be the greatest general of ‘antiquity’ and his brother Hasdrubal.

It was Rome who tried to wrest control of Carthage commercial dominance in the Iberian Peninsula that led to long drawn years of the Punic Wars.

Zaragoza on the other hand, is a name that got corrupted in its pronunciation originally meant for “caesaraugusta” referring to Augustus Caesar, the Roman emperor whom the city was named when Spain was a frontier outpost and Roman province during his long reign.

Some names of Filipino families have appealing history of their evolution. There are still Filipinos proudly sporting name like Lakandula, who was the king of Tondo before Spanish conquistadores Ruy Lopez de Legaspi, Martin De Goiti and Juan Salcedo appeared in the shores of Old Maynilad.

Today, the big Dulay clan claimed to be forebears of Lakan Dula, the King of Tondo as their proud ancestor. Rajah Soliman, King of Manila who has his statue erected close to City Hall was his nephew. These proud and die-hard descendants are using just the name “Soliman”.

When pre-Spanish Manila and its environs were peopled by Muslim Filipinos, the title “Rajah” connotes respect for a leader of noble birth. The prefix “Lakan” a Kapampangan word is equivalent to “Rajah”. Another Pampango word attached with respect to a leader or head in the local community is addressed “Magat”. There is a possibility that “Lakan” has its equivalent meaning to Ilocanos “Lakay” while “Laki” is what the Pangasinenses use when addressing an old and respectable man.

The Bornean Connection refers to Muslim Filipinos who traced their ancestry to the Bornean datus. We have learned that the leader Datu Puti together with Datu Sumakuel and Datu Bangcaya braved the treacherous high seas leaving Borneo to settle in the island of Panay using barangay boats bringing their wives and followers to escape the harsh treatment of their ruler. It is also believed that Datu Puti had sailed further north and stayed in Manila for a while then continued his journey to Pampanga until he died there. The kings of Pampanga and the rulers of Manila traced their kinship. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her father Diosdadoof Pampanga claimed to be descendants of Lakandula of Manila.

Despite Panday Pira’s ingenuity making powerful lantakas (canons) designed for use by Rajah Soliman, they were of no match to counteract a much superior Spanish military tactics and strategy. Subjugation and submission resulted with Fray Urdaneta and other priests doing their job as accomplices for the complete control of the natives to foreign rule.

Less than two decades of governing there were abuses and maltreatment reported by the natives under Legaspi and his successor, Lavezares, the thought of fighting back became an issue for the conquered natives that the last resort is to win back the freedom they have lost.

In our history of early resistance against Spanish rule, Magat Salamat, the son of Rajah Matanda, King of Tondo played a major role. He was the mastermind of the “Tondo Conspiracy”. He invited datus and chieftains of neighboring towns of Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Batangas and Pampanga to series of secret meetings to plot a violent scheme how to defeat and expel the Spaniards in order to regain and restore privileges they formerly enjoyed. Magat was mandated to go to Borneo to enlist help from the datus including expedition of mercenaries. Another proof of Bornean Connection on how close the native Filipinos in their relations with Muslims in Borneo.

Juan Gayo a Japanese adventurer volunteered to go to Japan to bring arms and ammunitions and was promised for his services half of the tribute the datus can collect. Wary, suspicious and distrustful, several meetings were held when the Japanese failed to show up. With the timetable for the uprising kept on postponing, it dims the chances of a well laid plan conspiracy to materialize. The Tondo Conspiracy like most failed conspiracies, foiled because one of the plotters, Antonio Suribao, administrator of an encomienda revealed the plot of Magat and his co-conspirators to his boss, a Spanish captain name d Capitan Pedro Sarmiento.

Magat Salamat was condemned to death despite his appeal to the Royal Audiencia while others implicated were either hang or wee exiled. Properties appropriated were use to the construction of the WalledCity known as Intramuros.

The Tondo Conspiracy is perhaps the first and the earliest aborted attempt of native resistance to foreign rule.