 The successor of Juan de Silva, who died in his expedition to Malacca, as Governor-General was supposed to be Jeronimo de Silva, his uncle, but the latter was fighting the Dutch in the Moluccas so the Audiencia Real takes charge of political affairs and Auditor Licentiate Alcaraz takes charge of military affairs by royal decree in March 1616.The Philippines, being a Spanish colony, had been involved in the Eighty Years' War.At the start of his term, Alcaraz sought to raise an army to equip a new fleet of galleons and galleys to battle the Dutch fleet, which had been a menace to the archipelago for years.