Qualla: Twin Forts of Romblon https://qualla.com/twin-forts-of-romblon en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:37 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/d/n/z/twin-forts-of-romblon-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Twin Forts of Romblon https://qualla.com/twin-forts-of-romblon Twin Forts of Romblon: Introduction https://qualla.com/twin-forts-of-romblon/ Photo credit Mary H. Fee, Public domain. They called him El Padre Capitan -- the Priest Captain. Agustin de San Pedro was an Augustinian Recollect missionary who arrived in Romblon in the 1630s to save souls, but the geopolitics of the 17th-century Philippines had other plans for him. By 1644, with Dutch East India Company raiders pillaging coastal settlements and Moro pirates from Mindanao striking without warning, San Pedro found himself supervising the construction of twin fortifications on the hilltops overlooking the town he had come to evangelize. The forts he built from local coral and limestone still define the skyline of Romblon -- or at least one of them does.

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Image: Mary H. Fee | Public domain

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/d/n/z/twin-forts-of-romblon-wp/wdnz-twin-forts-of-romblon-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Twin Forts of Romblon: Conquistadors and Census Takers https://qualla.com/twin-forts-of-romblon/ Photo credit Joannerfabregas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Spanish contact with Romblon began in 1569, when conquistador Martin de Goiti sailed into the archipelago on orders from Miguel Lopez de Legazpi to map the western and northern Visayas. The Spanish carved the islands into three encomiendas administered from Arevalo. Thirteen year...

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Image: Joannerfabregas | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/d/n/z/twin-forts-of-romblon-wp/wdnz-twin-forts-of-romblon-conquistadors-and-census-takers.mp3 0:06 2 full Twin Forts of Romblon: Between the Dutch and the Deep Blue Sea https://qualla.com/twin-forts-of-romblon/ Photo credit Joannerfabregas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Romblon's position in the central Philippines made it vulnerable from two directions. The Dutch East India Company, already at war with Spain across the Eighty Years' War, sent raiders into Philippine waters who pillaged and destroyed the town of Romblon in 1646. From the south, ...

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Image: Joannerfabregas | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/d/n/z/twin-forts-of-romblon-wp/wdnz-twin-forts-of-romblon-between-the-dutch-and-the-deep-blue-sea.mp3 0:06 3 full Twin Forts of Romblon: Santiago and San Andres https://qualla.com/twin-forts-of-romblon/ Photo credit Joannerfabregas, CC BY-SA 4.0. The forts were completed in 1650 and dedicated to Saint James the Great and Saint Andrew: Fuerza de Santiago on Calvary Hill and Fuerza de San Andres on San Antonio Hill. Fort San Andres, the survivor, is a compact quadrilateral structure covering 290 square meters, with a turret...

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Image: Joannerfabregas | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/d/n/z/twin-forts-of-romblon-wp/wdnz-twin-forts-of-romblon-santiago-and-san-andres.mp3 0:06 4 full Twin Forts of Romblon: Coral Stones Restored https://qualla.com/twin-forts-of-romblon/ Photo credit Joannerfabregas, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 2012, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts invested 2 million pesos in restoring Fort San Andres. Workers replaced missing coral stones in the interior and exterior walls, cleared earth fill from the interior chambers, reinforced foundations, and rehabilitated two ...

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Image: Joannerfabregas | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/d/n/z/twin-forts-of-romblon-wp/wdnz-twin-forts-of-romblon-coral-stones-restored.mp3 0:06 5 full