 On June 24 , <unk> , Spanish <unk> Miguel López de <unk> arrived from New Spain ( now Mexico ) , and then exercised rule of the Spanish city of Manila as a territory of New Spain with the establishment of a city council in what today is the district of <unk> . López de <unk> had the local royalty executed or exiled , after the failure of the <unk> <unk> ; a plot wherein an alliance between Japanese merchants , Luzon 's <unk> with several <unk> and <unk> plus the <unk> Empire would band together to execute the Spaniards and their Latin @-@ American mercenaries , and <unk> allies . At the conclusion of which , the victorious Spaniards made Manila the capital of the Spanish East Indies and of the Philippines , which the empire would control for the next three centuries , from <unk> to 1898 . 
