Spanish–Moro conflict
The Spanish initiated the conflict by conquering the Philippines and invading Moro territory in an effort to subjugate the region to their rule since the 1500s. When the Spanish conquered the Muslim Kingdom of Maynila, a vassal of the Sultanate of Brunei, the Islamic rajah, Rajah Sulayman resisted the Spanish. Manila then became the capital of the Spanish Philippines after the conquest, with the Spanish forcibly converting people to Catholicism. The Spanish–Moro Wars started with the Castille War, a war between Spaniards and the Sultanate of Brunei. (The term "Moro" at this time included Muslim Tagalogs who were ruled by the Sultanate of Brunei).
Federal State of the Visayas
The Spanish–American War which sparked in Cuba reached the Philippines. On May 1, 1898, US Commodore George Dewey defeated the Spanish Navy in Manila. The Spanish designated Iloilo City as the colonial government's capital after Manila fell to the Americans on August 13, 1898, and later installed Roque Lopez as president of the provisional government in Santa Barbara town in Iloilo. Diego de los Ríos was named Governor General over the Philippines. The Spanish armed the Iloilo Voluntarios, a battalion composed mainly of Ilonggos believing that they are loyal to the Spanish crown. However, Ilonggo revolutionaries, calling themselves the "Ejercito Libertador", started a revolt gaining control of all of Panay within days, except for Iloilo City, Jaro, La Paz and Molo.