Sande informs the king (May 30, 1579) of the result of his efforts to subdue other and neighboring islands.  The city in Borneo which he attacked in the preceding year has been rebuilt, and the king of that land is ready to submit.  The king of Jolo (Sulu) has become a vassal of Spain, and peace has been made with the people dwelling on the Rio Grande of Mindanao.  Sande is still eager to set out for the conquest of the Moluccas and of China, and is doing all that he can to accumulate shipping and artillery for that purpose.

This letter is accompanied by a bulky document containing the official notarial record of the expedition which Sande mentions.  The governor learns from Filipino natives of Luzon that the king of Borneo oppresses and plunders their countrymen who visit his land—­thus wronging vassals of Spain; and that the Borneans, being Mahometans, are spreading their heresy among the peoples of the archipelago.  Sande writes a letter to this ruler, announcing his desire to confer with him, and to make a compact of peace and friendship.  He demands from the king not only free opportunity for Christian preachers to evangelize the Borneans, but also the cessation of any further Mahometan propaganda by Borneans among the Filipinos.  The king must also surrender any persons whom he has forcibly detained, with all their possessions; and must provide the Spaniards with food—­for which, however, he will receive pay.  No answer being made by the Borneans, and Sande’s envoys not returning to the fleet, he enters the port, despite the resistance of the native vessels therein.  The people thereupon flee inland, and the Spaniards enter the town, seizing there various possessions of the king—­among them letters from the Portuguese, one of which is signed “El Rey” ("the King").  Sande takes possession of all Borneo for Spain.  He then sends (May 23, 1578) one of his officers, Estevan Rodriguez de Figueroa, to subdue the Sulu Islands.  He is instructed to reduce, as gently as he can, the pirates of that group to peaceful agriculturists, and secure from them the payment of tribute.  Next, he is to go on a similar errand to Mindanao; and, as many of its inhabitants are Mahometans, he must strive to uproot “that accursed doctrine” there.  Sande returns to Manila, whence in the following year (February 28, 1579) he despatches Juan Arce de Sadornil with a fleet to Borneo, giving him detailed instructions for his conduct on this expedition.  He is to ascertain the condition of affairs there, and gently endeavor to gain the submission of the king as a vassal of Spain.  Sadornil goes to Borneo, and conducts various negotiations with the king, but cannot induce the latter to confer with him in person.  Finally, seeing that he can accomplish nothing, and that his men are suffering from confinement and illness, he decides to return to Manila; and he advises Sande that a settlement of Spaniards in Borneo must, to be successful, be made in the town where the Moro court resides.  In June, 1578, the king of Sulu submits to the Spanish power.  From the Moluccas comes the news that the people of Ternate have revolted against the Portuguese, who have been compelled to abandon their fortress there and retreat to Amboina.  Their trade in spices is therefore greatly injured, for the time; and other Malayan peoples are also hostile to the Portuguese.