On the other hand, Teodoro Agoncillo, a Filipino historian from the University of the Philippines, mentions that the collaboration enabled the Spanish to readily subjugate the Indios (natives of the Philippines) by a potent combination of secular and religious might. The successful Legazpi conquest of the Philippines in 1565 recognized the power of clergy by bringing along the Augustinian friar, navigator and priest Andrés de Urdaneta, to help control the natives. Other Spanish rulers acknowledged the importance of clergy. A Mexican viceroy (quoted in Agoncillo) said that in each friar in the Philippines, they had a captain and a whole army. However, Church involvement had numerous ill effects, as anti-friar Marcelo H. del Pilar of the late 19th century complains: "... the friars control all the fundamental forces of society in the Philippines. They control the educational system, for they own the University of Santo Tomás, and are the local inspectors of every primary school. They control the minds of the people because in a dominantly Catholic country, the parish rectors can utilize the pulpit and confessionals to publicly or secretly influence the people."
