The Governor’s Blindness: Francisco Combés, SJ, and His Relación de las Islas Filipinas (ca. 1654)

Abstract

The objective of this paper is twofold. First, to underline the fact that the Relación de las Islas Filipinas (ca. 1654) responded to the need to provide “entera notiçia de las cosas” to the new governor of the Philippines, Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, to promote good government. And second, to demonstrate how this report was drawn up to convince the new governor to fight against Muslim sultanates as a way to protect the Lutaos and Suban natives, thereby spreading the Catholic faith in the southern islands of Mindanao and Sulu. Placing it into Manila’s troubled relationship with the Muslim population, Francisco Combés’ Relación was a minor but no less important work. It was a complete report – entera relación - which used witness-based (autoptic) knowledge and empirical practices, with imperialist biases. Nonetheless, this new knowledge was not an imposition of hegemonic cultural models but the result of cultural exchanges across Muslim, Christian, and native cultures.