The Spanish withdrew from the Moluccas to Manila in 1662 due to the looming threat of Koxinga’s attack to Manila, tagging along around two hundred Merdeka military auxiliaries. The Merdekas were converts to Christianity from the south of India who had moved to the Moluccas with the Portuguese. Those who were unable to leave with the Spaniards faced the problem of dealing with the Muslim native majority who were naturally hostile to them. One particular Merdeka, Mathias Melo, converted to Islam to avoid all the harassments he was subjected to. In 1671, he made it to Manila as a servant to an unidentified master. He then voluntarily returned to Christianity by presenting himself to church authorities, who referred the case to Fr. Juan de Paz. In his argumentation, Paz described the story of one of those members of the foreign community of Manila that hardly appear in history books. The Dominican also balanced the church rules dealing with apostasy with conversion arguments leading to the preferred outcome of his returning to the true faith. Aside from its historical value, Melo’s case intersects with sociolinguistic studies, as Merdeka’s presence may play an important role of the birth of the Chabacano language.