 It was not the first time that the Audiencia had assumed responsibility for the defence of the Philippines in the absence of a higher authority; in 1646, during the Battles of La Naval de Manila, it temporarily assumed the government and maintained the defence of the Philippines against the Dutch.As Francisco Leandro Viana, who was in Manila during the 20-month occupation, explained to King Charles III in 1765, "the English conquest of the Philippines was just an imagined one, as the English never owned any land beyond the range of the cannons in Manila".Citations

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