Plot discovered Tondo polity Spanish Empire The Tondo Conspiracy of 1587, popularly known as the Conspiracy of the Maginoos (Spanish: La Conspiración de las Maginoos), also known as the Revolt of the Lakans, was a revolt planned by Tagalog nobles known as maginoos, led by Don Agustin de Legazpi of Tondo and his cousin Martin Pangan, to overthrow the Spanish government in the Philippines due to injustices against the Filipinos.

[2] Legazpi sought help from a Japanese sea captain named Juan Gayo who was a Christian and asked for arms and warriors to fight alongside them in exchange for one-half of the tributes collected in the Philippines.

[1] They also requested help from places such as Borneo, Laguna, and Batangas with a plan to assault the city of Manila and assassinate the Spaniards.

[3] Martin Pangan, who was accused of adultery, Agustin de Legazpi, who was accused of not paying fees as governor of Tondo (his Bruneian Muslim name before Baptism to Catholicism was Rajah Muhammad Zahir al-Din[4]), Gabriel Tuambasan, and Pitonggatan all met in jail, where they made a pact of the datus to aid each other in times of need and hardship.

After they got out of jail, Martin Pangan (who was exiled from Tondo) went to live in a village in Tambobong (known today as Malabon), where he, along with Legazpi, planned a secret meeting.

They reached out to the datus of Pandacan, Navotas, Taguig, Maysilo, Catangalan, and many others in the Manila area and of nearby provinces such as Candaba, Pampanga who had been thinking of starting an uprising for quite some time then.

Subsequently, they agreed that they would always protect each other and if the Spaniards' initiatives toward the freedom of the datus' slaves were reinforced, they would unite in preventing this to come into fruition.

[6] They waited for him to arrive in hopes that he would act on his threat to fight the Spaniards; once he did, they planned to overthrow the government by overpowering them on land.

Thus, Pangan went to approach datus from Pampanga hoping they could unite their cause because several Pampango chiefs were about to file a petition asking the government to suspend the freeing of their slaves.

[7] While they were waiting in vain for help that did not come, the conspirators were caught when Magat Salamat revealed their plan against the Spaniards to Antonio Surabao.

On his way over, Salamat stopped at Cuyo island, where he was able to recruit a native chief named Sumaclob to join the uprising.

There were harsh penalties given to the conspirators, especially to the leaders Agustin de Legazpi and Martin Pangan who were brutally hanged while their heads were chopped off and placed in iron cages.

Notable members who were exiled to New Spain were Pedro Balunguit, Pintonggatan, Felipe Salonga, Calao, and Agustin Manuguit.

[11] The conspiracy is also worth noting for it is the only recorded plot during the Spanish colonial period where Luzon chiefs attempted to enlist help from the Muslims.

[2] Furthermore, it was different from other uprisings in the seventeenth century because the primary goal was to overthrow the Spanish rule rather than to protest the oppression of a tribute collector, alcalde, or friar.