16 JULY

Gov.-Gen. Claveria

1844 - Narciso Claveria y Zaldua becomes governor-general of the  Philippines during the Spanish colonial rule; his administration will  be responsible for correcting the Philippine calendar; establishing the Sociedad de Recreo (Recreation Association);  the founding of papers such as Diario de Manila and La Esperanza; constructing a military library; the purchase of the first steam  war-vessel  for the Southeast Asian colony; and issuing a decree obligating the  natives to adopt Spanish surnames from a catalogue (Catalogo de Apellidos) for the purpose of easier taxation and identification, exempting  only pre-Spanish royalty and Chinese with pre-existing surnames; Claveria would also be responsible for granting Jose Oranguyen, Spanish lawyer-turned-businessman-then-(Tondo)judge-and-explorer, the permit to colonize Davao--a 'mini-conquista'--eventually leading to the area being constituted as a province (Nueva Guipizcoa) with Nueva Bergara (future Davao City) as capital; the 62nd Spanish colonial governor in the Philippines would also be responsible for the conquest of the Sulu island of Balanguingui some four years into his term, overcoming the Moros for which he would be accorded the titles viscount of claveria and count of Mnaila along with the cross of San Fernando.