Blockade of Cebu

On September 18, 1568, a Portuguese vessel arrived in Cebu with letters from Pereira announcing his imminent arrival. Ten days later, a fleet manned by Portuguese and Moluccan sailors appeared on the horizon. Pereira sent messages to Legazpi asserting that the islands lay on their side of the demarcation line that divided the globe between Spain and Portugal.^[3] The Portuguese threatened to attack if the Spaniards did not abandon their colony but Legazpi refused their demands. The last communication between Legazpi and Pereira was on October 31. Faced with the risk of being blamed for hostilities, Pereira decided to blockade Cebu instead of directly attacking it.

During the following months, the Portuguese ships fired upon neighboring villages and killed native inhabitants, including women and children.^[4] When it became clear that the Spaniards would not leave the Philippines and with the Portuguese fleet suffering from typhoid fever, Pereira lifted the blockade on New Year's Day in 1569 and sailed to the Maluku Islands.^[5]

After the Portuguese blockade, Legazpi held a general meeting of officers and priests. They agreed that a second Spanish settlement should be established in Panay due to its plentiful food supply and several outlets to the sea. It was on the bank of the Panay River that the Spaniards founded what is present-day Roxas City in 1569.^[6]

Legazpi would subsequently transfer the colonial government to Manila, which he proclaimed to be the new capital of the Spanish East Indies in 1571.