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Young Francisco was only eight years old when his father died, but his mother and sister Potenciana looked well after him. First he attended a Biñan Latin school, and later he seems to have studied Latin and philosophy in the College of San José in Manila.
The captain and sargento-mayor, Joan Xuarez Gallinato, with the ship "Santa Potenciana" and the men whom he had taken in it to Maluco in aid of the Portuguese fleet which Andrea Furtado de Mendoca had brought to assault the fortress of Terrenate, found this fleet in the port of Talangame.
Potenciana, the 19th of May, the year 1571; upon which the natives and their chiefs gave in, and made submission, and many others of the same island of Luzon did the same.
In another part of the city stands a handsome house, walled in, with its stone church, called San Andres and Santa Potenciana. It is a royal foundation, and a rectoress lives there. It has a revolving entrance and a parlor, and the rectoress has other confidential assistants; and there shelter is given to needy women and girls of the city, in the form of religious retirement.
In 1847 the Mercados had funerals, of brothers and nephews of Francisco, and, chief among them, of that elder sister who had devoted her life to him, Potenciana. She had always prompted and inspired the young man, and Francisco's success in life was largely due to her wise counsels and her devoted encouragement of his industry and ambition.
At the end of the year six hundred and two they were despatched from the Filipinas, taking with them the ship "Santa Potenciana" and three large frigates, with one hundred and fifty well armed Spanish soldiers, ten thousand fanegas of rice, one thousand five hundred earthen jars of palm wine, two hundred head of salt beef, twenty hogsheads of sardines, conserves and medicines, fifty quintals of powder, cannon-balls and bullets, and cordage and other supplies, the whole in charge of the captain and sargento-mayor, Joan Xuarez Gallinato who had now returned from Jolo and was in Pintados with orders and instructions as to what he was to do, namely, to take that help to Terrenate, to the Portuguese fleet which he would find there, and to place himself at the orders and command of its general.
Dated at Manila, July 15, 1604. Don Pedro de Acuña Sire: There is in this city a seminary named Sancta Potençiana, of which your Majesty is the patron, where the daughters of the citizens of these islands are sheltered, and carefully taught and instructed.
The Spaniards entered the land by force of arms, and took it, together with the forts and artillery, on the day of St. Potenciana, May nineteen, one thousand five hundred and seventy-one. Upon this the natives and their chiefs made peace and rendered homage; and many others of the same island of Luzon did the same.
Morga next sketches the condition at that time of Spanish colonies in the islands. He describes the city of Manila in detail, with its fortifications, arsenals, government and municipal buildings, cathedral, and convents; also the seminary of Santa Potenciana, and the hospitals.
A sister, Petrona, for some years had been a dressgoods merchant in nearby Kalamba, on an estate that had recently come under the same ownership as Biñan. There she later married, and shortly after was widowed. Possibly upon their mother's death, Potenciana and Francisco removed to Kalamba; though Petrona died not long after, her brother and sister continued to make their home there.
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