Debunking Teleportation From Manila to Mexico

It's been a while since I was inspired to crack open Mysterious Powers and Strange Forces (1979). I recently happened upon an article discussing a topic I remembered from the Usborne book, which prompted a quick reread:

In October 1593, a soldier suddenly appeared out of thin air in front of the Palace in Mexico City. He looked confused and did not seem to know where he was. When arrested, the soldier claimed that his orders that morning had been to guard the palace in Manila, a city in the Philippines.

It turns out this was (supposedly) Gil Pérez, as explained in (of all places) Esquire back in 2019:

Gil Pérez was a Spanish soldier during the early years of Spain's rule in the Philippines. As a member of the Guardia Civil, he worked for the Gobernador-General as a palace guard. One day, however, in October 1593, the seventh Gobernador-General Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas was assassinated by Chinese pirates during an expedition in the Moluccas. Dasmariñas' death made for quite a hectic time considering he hadn't decided on a successor, with several prominent Spaniards vying for the spot.

With such tense conditions, Pérez was guarding the palace when he reportedly began to feel dizzy and exhausted. He then leaned against the wall and dozed off for a few seconds, but when he opened his eyes he was surprised to see that he was in a completely different place. When he asked a bystander where he was, he was told that he was in Plaza Mayor (now known as Zocalo) in Mexico City. Soon, guards in New Spain got wind of Pérez thanks to his claims and his strange Manila uniform. He was brought to the authorities, including the Viceroy of New Spain, Luis de Velasco, whose palace was where he was transported to [1].

Wikipedia says his name comes from a 1908 version of the story told in Harper's Magazine by American writer Thomas Allibone Janvier (1849-1913). From there:

Janvier's 1908 account was based on a Spanish version by Mexican folklorist Luis González Obregón, published in 1894 under the title "Un aparecido" ("An apparition") in his series México viejo: noticias históricas, tradiciones, leyendas y costumbres ("Old Mexico: historical notes, folklore, legends and customs"). Obregón traces the story to a 1698 account by Fray Gaspar de San Agustín of the Spanish conquest of the Philippines, which recounts the story as fact; San Agustin does not name the soldier and ascribed his transportation to witchcraft.

I find it interesting that the story predates the Usborne book by just over 280 years, but, most frustrating, the event occurred 105 years before Fray Gaspar de San Agustín's account.

Your thoughts?

References

• [1] "The Mysterious Case of Gil Pérez, the Man Who Allegedly Teleported From Manila to Mexico." Paolo Chua, Aug. 8, 2019.
• [2] Wikipedia: 1593 transported soldier legend