Francisco de Tello de Guzmán (sometimes Francisco Tello de Guzmán; 1532-April 1603) was Spanish governor of the Philippines from July 14, 1596 to May 1602. He was a knight of the Order of Santiago.
Early life and appointment as governor
Francisco de Tello de Guzmán was a native of Seville. He became a knight in the Order of Santiago and treasurer of the India House of Trade. He was named governor and captain general of the Philippines by a royal decree dated November 26, 1595. He entered Manila and took up his position on July 14, 1596.
As governor
Despatches from New Spain ordering the reestablishment of the Audiencia of Manila (which had been dissolved some years before) arrived in Manila in May 1598. Governor Tello was named its governor; Doctor Antonio de Morga and Licentiates Christoval Telles Almaçan and Alvaro Rodriguez Zambrano, auditors; and Licentiate Geronymo de Salazar, fiscal. This Audiencia was constituted May 5, 1598.
Fray Ignacio de Sanctivañes, the first archbishop of Manila arrived by the same ships, in May 1598, but he died of dysentery in August of that year. The first suffragan bishops also began arriving in 1598. One of these was Fray Pedro de Agurto, bishop of Sanctisimo Nombre de Jesus, was a native of New Spain. The Jesuit seminary of San José was founded in 1601.
In 1598, Tello sent Juan Zamudio to China in order to establish a trade port there like the Portuguese did in Macau. This resulted in El Piñal being granted to the Spanish, but the Portuguese in Macau reacted violently and attacked the Spanish there. El Piñal was abandoned two years later.
On December 14, 1600, a Spanish fleet under the command of Doctor Antonio de Morga fought two Dutch pirate ships at Cavite. In an intense, six-hour hand-to-hand battle between the two flagships (the San Diego and the Mauritius), the Spanish ship was sunk and defenders of the Dutch ship were mostly killed and the ship set on fire. It did, however, manage to limp to Borneo with a skeleton crew. (This is based on the account of Morga himself. The Dutch account accused him of incompetence and cowardice.) The San Diego lost perhaps 350 sailors and soldiers.
Also in 1600, two merchant ships left Manila for New Spain: the flagship Sancta Margarita, with Juan Martínez de Guillestigui as general, and the San Geronimo, under Don Fernando de Castro. On their way, both ships met with storms in the latitude of 38° and at 600 leguas from the Philippines, and suffered great hardship. After nine months at sea, after many of the men had died and much of the merchandise had been thrown overboard, the San Geronimo put back to the Philippines, off the islands of Catenduanes, outside of the channel of Espiritu Santo, and there was wrecked, although the crew was saved. The flagship "Sancta Margarita, after the death of the general and most of the crew, ported at the Ladrones Islands (Guam) and anchored at Zarpana. There natives who went to the ship, seeing it so abandoned and battered, boarded and took possession of it, and of its goods and property. The few men whom they found alive, they took away to their settlements, where they killed some and apportioned others to various villages, where they maintained them and gave them better treatment.
The war in Mindanao
Shortly after he had taken over the government, Tello received news of the death of Estevan Rodríguez de Figueroa in Mindanao. Juan de la Xara wrote that he had taken over the conquest and pacification of the island that Rodríguez had been in charge of. However, it was learned that Xara was depriving the heirs of Rodríguez of their inheritance, and that he intended to ignore the authority of the governor in Manila. When Xara left his camp and traveled to Oton, he was arrested and sent to Manila for trial. He died during the course of the trial. Tello sent Captain Toribio de Miranda to Mindanao, and he reestablished royal authority in the camp of Xara.
Mindanao at this time was only partially conquered. Rodríguez de Figueroa had signed an agreement to complete the conquest at his own expense, but with his death the agreement lapsed. The treasury of the colony was depleted, but Governor Tello nevertheless decided to take over the conquest at government expense. He sent General Juan Roquillo to take charge.