Chapter 13

Not long ago you acquainted us with the fact that, some time before, Paul Conestabile, master-general of the entire order of Friars Preachers, gave you leave--with thirty or forty professed members of the said order, to be gathered by you from the provinces of Spain, Aragon and Andalusia, and ten from the province of Mexico and from Chiappa, [22] to go to the Philippine Islands and to the kingdom of China. Moreover, appointing you his vicar-general in the said Philippine Islands and kingdom of China, etc., he granted to you, all and singular, the privileges which had been granted by former generals to the province of Santiago of Mexico--to the end that you might there establish a rule of life in accordance with the same, and found provinces, etc.

But since, as you also told us, the said General Paul is dead, and there are some who are doubtful of your power in the premises, and therefore you have humbly petitioned us to determine what through our apostolic bounty you should do in the premises: therefore, holding that you are free from any sort of excommunication, etc., and by these presents decreeing that the tenor of the said letters is to be considered as if herein expressed; moreover, being not unwilling to hearken to your petition, we by our apostolic authority, in virtue of these presents, approve and confirm the things contained therein, all and singular; and, as far as needs be, do again depute you to the aforesaid charge, [23] etc.

Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, under the seal of the Fisherman, on the twentieth day of October in the year 1582, the eleventh of our pontificate.

REPORT ON THE OFFICES SALEABLE IN THE PHILIPPINES

The following are the saleable offices in these Philipinas islands, from which some gain may be derived.

Seven positions as city magistrates in Manila; because, of the twelve which are available, three are filled with officials of his Majesty, and two by Captain Juan de Moron and by Pedro de Herrera, both possessing titles from his Majesty.

Two offices as notaries-public in the same city; for, of the three available, one is filled by Diego Alemán who was appointed by his Majesty, and the other two are appointed by the governors, and therefore are not royal notaries.

A notary of the cabildo, for no one has been supplied by his Majesty.

The office of alguacil-mayor [high constable] in this city was held by Hernan Lopez: he has lived during the last three years in Mexico, where he has married, and has not attended to his office; and consequently the governor disposes of this position. More will be given for this office on account of its dignity, as holding a seat in the cabildo next to the royal officials.

The office of chief clerk of registers and mines of these islands; for no appointment has been made by his Majesty.

Six magistrates for the town of Zubu, which is the required number. No one has been appointed by his Majesty.

In the said town, two notaries--one public, and the other for the cabildo; for they have not been filled by his Majesty.

In the said town, the office of alguacil-mayor; for his Majesty has made no provision for the said dignity.

The offices which are available in the town of Zubu are also available in the town of Caçeres, in the province of Camarines; and in the town of Arevalo, in the island of Panai.

The town of Fernandina in the province of Ylocos has proved to be so unhealthy a region that, from being the richest town of these islands, it has now only a few inhabitants with no organized cabildo or government.

The city of Segovia, in the province of Cagayan, is a newly-settled city. The offices have been filled by the governor with the early conquerors; it will therefore be convenient for his Majesty to confirm them, in order that the community may become permanently settled.

Concerning the office of alcalde-mayor in the villages and provinces of the Indians, the following method is carried out. The alcalde-mayor, who goes there for a year or two, takes with him his own alguacil and clerk, appointed by himself. The lawsuits which take place before them are seldom made public; and they can keep the fines forfeited to the royal treasury--which are not slight, for they fine the natives even for treading the ground. They keep neither archives nor record of anything, so that his Majesty is ill served in their office; the natives suffer, and the officials condemn themselves. In view of all this, it would be better for each province of Indians possessing the office of alcalde-mayor to have a permanent alguacil and clerk appointed by his Majesty; for if they are not appointed by the alcalde and are not his servants, they will not conform so thoroughly to his will. Thus light would be shed upon the legal proceedings, of which an account would be kept; and the fines forfeited to the royal treasury would not be lost, together with the expenses of justice. Finally, if they are appointed permanently, they will aim at the preservation of the Indians for their own benefit, and will not plunder and then go away, as they do now. The three most important provinces in which an alcalde resides are: the province of Pampanga, which is the most fertile region of these islands, and which has about thirty thousand Indians; the province of La Laguna de Bai, with a like number of Indians; and the province of Bombon, Balaian, Mindoro, with about twenty thousand Indians. I believe that in these three provinces the offices of alguacil and clerk will be of no less value than they are in Spanish communities. In the other provinces, these offices are of little importance at present.

DOCUMENTS OF 1583

Complaints against Peñalosa. Gabriel de Ribera; [1583?] Affairs in the Philipinas Islands. Fray Domingo de Salazar; [1583]. Instructions to commissary of the Inquisition. Pedro de los Rios, and others; March 1. Foundation of the Audiencia of Manila. Felipe II; May 5.

_Sources_: These documents are obtained from MSS. in the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla--excepting the third, which is from the Archivo general at Simancas.

_Translations_: The first and third documents are translated by Alfonso de Salvio, of Harvard University; the second, by Herbert E. Bolton, of the University of Texas; the fourth, by Henry B. Lathrop, of the University of Wisconsin.

COMPLAINTS AGAINST PEÑALOSA

Most powerful lord: [24]

Captain Gabriel de Rivera [25] beseeches your Highness on behalf of the Filipinas islands, kindly to see that due attention and consideration be given to the advancement and preservation of those islands, upon which his Majesty has set his eyes so fixedly, and which have cost so many thousands of ducats and Spanish lives. May what has been asked be provided, according to the memorials which I have presented to the royal person and to your Highness; for it befits the service of God our Lord, that of your Highness, and the advancement and good government of those islands.

The appointment of Don Gonzalo Ronquillo [26] by your Highness as governor for life, and the many sentences, decrees, and favors in his behalf, greatly injure the said islands in their advancement; they harass and totally ruin them as we have seen with our own eyes. Such an appointment is contrary to the orders and laws given for the new discoveries; for the Filipinas islands were discovered more than fifty years ago, and were settled at the time of the emperor (may he rest in peace). Since a way of return to Nueba España had not been discovered, the settlers for lack of sustenance abandoned the land, until the viceroy, Don Luis de Belasco, by order of your Highness despatched a fleet to the said islands, and sent Miguel Lopez de Legazpi as governor, who made a settlement and discovered a way of return. He went there at his own expense. All favors granted him in the meantime were so small and inadequate that he was not even allowed to take a repartimiento. The islands have been settled for twenty years, and have enjoyed peace and quiet. [27] The appointment may have been a very lawful one, but it should not be forgotten that it is injurious to the said islands and their advancement. God alone can remedy the abuses perpetrated every day, for, as is well known by your Highness, they are beyond any other remedy--inasmuch as Don Gonzalo has carried out no part of the agreement he made with his Majesty. In regard to this, and the papers and memorials which I have presented, may your very Christian Highness take the measures befitting the service of God, and the advancement and good government of those islands.

_Gabriel de Ribera_

AFFAIRS IN THE PHILIPINAS ISLANDS

_By Fray Domingo de Salazar_

_Memorial regarding occurrences in these Philipinas Islands of the West, also their condition, and matters which require correction; written by Fray Domingo de Salazar, bishop of the said islands, in order that his Majesty and the gentlemen of his royal Council of the Indies may see it._

At first, when the Spaniards came to these islands, there was a great abundance of provisions, such as are produced in the country; namely, rice, beans, fowls, swine, deer, buffaloes, fish, cocoanuts, bananas and some other fruits, wine, and honey. Of these a large quantity could be bought from the natives with very little money. Although among them there was gold, with which they traded and trafficked, yet it was most usual to barter eatables for rice until the Spaniards introduced the use of money, from which no little harm has come to the country. Wine and rice are measured by the ganta, which is equivalent to a quarter of a celemín in our measure.

The prices which articles brought after the Spaniards introduced silver coins--which are, as a rule, tostóns, as the four-real pieces are called--were as follows: [four] [28] hundred gantas of rice [for one tostón]; for another, a hundred of wine; and for another, twelve, fourteen, or sixteen fowls; and other things in proportion. These rates continued until a year and a half or two years ago. Then products began to be scarce in this country, and articles which were formerly cried through the streets have today reached so high prices and such scarcity that there is now no one who can obtain them, even when they go to search for them in the Indian villages. For what is thus found the common prices are forty or fifty gantas of rice, or eight or ten gantas of wine, for one tostón; fowls have advanced to two reals apiece, although the usual price is one real; while a hog costs four or five pesos, or six or eight for one of considerable size. Oil of agenxoli [sesame], cocoanuts, and butter, which formerly could be bought very cheaply, cannot now be obtained--although in this there is variation, as little or much comes to the market.

I have tried to ascertain the reason for so great a change, and for the dearness of food; and after thoroughly informing myself through persons who know, and through what I have seen with my own eyes, I find the following reasons therefor. First: When Don Gonçalo Ronquillo came here as governor of La Pampanga, [29] whence all this country used to be supplied with rice, wine, and fowls, a great number of Indians went to the mines of Ylocos, where they remained during the time when they ought to have sowed their grain. Many of them died there, and those who returned were so fatigued that they needed rest more than work. As a result, in that year followed a very great scarcity of rice, and for lack of it a great number of Indians in the said Pampanga died from hunger. In Luvao alone, the encomienda of Guido de la Vaçares, the dead exceeded a thousand.

Second: in regard to the many occupations in which the Spaniards employ the Indians, such as setting them to row in the galleys and fragatas despatched by the governor and officials on various commissions, which are never lacking. At times they go so far away that they are absent four or six months; and many of those who go die there. Others run away and hide in the mountains, to escape from the toils imposed upon them. Others the Spaniards employ in cutting wood in the forests and conveying it to this city, and other Indians in other labors, so that they do not permit them to rest or to attend to their fields. Consequently, they sow little and reap less, and have no opportunity to attend religious instruction. It sometimes happens that while these miserable creatures are being instructed for baptism the Spaniards force them to go to the tasks that I have mentioned; and when they return they have forgotten what they knew; for this reason there are today many Indians to be baptized. In some cases when I have gone to a village to administer confirmation, I have returned without confirming any one, because the Indians were not in the place, but were occupied in labors ordered by the alcalde-mayor, and I could not collect them together. In proof of this, I send a mandate issued by a deputy of Tondo. (I was present at the time, and all the people were away, occupied in the tasks assigned to them; and the only Indians in the village were those who were being instructed for the reception of baptism.) This ordinance commanded all the Indians of the said village to cut wood, and those who were receiving instruction to quit it.

Third: Before the governor Don Gonçalo Ronquillo came, there were not more than three or four alcaldes-mayor in all these islands; but now there are sixteen and most of them are men who came with him. As they came poor, and as the salaries are small, they have taken away the Indians--as all affirm, and it is common talk--at the time for harvesting rice; and they buy up all other provisions, and many profit by selling them again. In this way everything has become dear, because, as they have forbidden the Indians to trade and traffic, they sell at whatever price they wish. Formerly the Indians brought their produce to the gates, and sold it at very low-prices; for they are satisfied with very little gain, which is not true of the Spaniards. But, not to ascribe all the guilt to men, but to our sins, the cause of this dearness has in part been that these years have not afforded as good weather as others. This is the state in which the country has thus far been up to the present.

_Injuries inflicted upon the Indians_

First: When a long expedition is to be made, the wrongs which they suffer are many. One is to despatch for the Indians who are to row in a galley or fragata a sailor who has neither piety nor Christian feeling. Moreover, it is notorious that, without inquiring whether an Indian is married or single, or whether his wife is sick or his children without clothing, he takes them all away. It has happened that when a husband has led this deputy to his wife, who was great with child, and has asked with tears that he might be left behind as she had no one to care for her, the sailor has beaten her with cudgels in order to make her go, and the poor husband also, despite his resistance. In other cases, their wives are abandoned when dying, the husband being compelled to go away to row. The Indians are put into irons on the galleys, and flogged as if they were galley-slaves or prisoners. Moreover, the pay that is given them is very small; for they give each man only four reals a month--and this is so irregularly paid that most of them never see it. The [officials of the] villages from which they take the rowers divide the pay among themselves, or give it to those whom they impress as oarsmen. This statement is thoroughly authenticated; for when the governor, Don Gonçalo Ronquillo, sent to the mines, in Vitis and Lobao alone they divided three thousand pesos belonging to the Indians themselves; and when he sent to Borney, in Bonbón they divided more than two thousand. They say that in all Pampanga five or six thousand pesos were taken, and similarly in all towns where they get recruits.

Sometimes they do not go at harvest-time to collect the rice which they say belongs to your Majesty, but only when it is very dear; and then they require it to be sold for the price which it was worth when they harvested. Sometimes the Indians buy back for five or six tostons what they sold for one. The past year, when the Indians ate shoots of palms and bananas because they had no rice, and many Indians died from hunger, they made them sell the remaining rice at the price which it was worth at harvest-time. Sometimes the entire quantity of his rice is taken from an Indian, without leaving him a grain to eat. One poor widow, seeing that they were carrying off all her rice without leaving her a grain to eat, took, as best she could, two basketfuls to hide under the altar, and there saved them; but it is certain that if the collector had known it, they would have been taken from that place.

Another injury that they do to this poor people, under pretense of its being for your Majesty, whereby your royal name is detested among them, is as follows. Formerly, when rice was plentiful, four hundred gantas were worth one tostón; your Majesty's officials of La Pampanga furnished me with the price which it was worth. Last year the governor ordered that twelve thousand fanégas of rice be taken from La Pampanga for your Majesty, and that the Indians should give three hundred gantas for one tostón. It was then worth among them about a peso of gold, because it could not be had at any price. Many Indians died of hunger. The three hundred gantas which they took from them for one tostón were worth about six tostóns, and a person who wished to buy it could not find it. This present year, when they have so little grain and the famine is so great in La Pampanga, the Spaniards might have sent to other districts to buy rice, where--although they must go farther--it is more plentiful, and could be taken without injuring the Indians. Yet the Spaniards have chosen not to do this, but rather to order that it be taken from La Pampanga. And while the price among the Indians is fifty gantas for one tostón, they require them to give for your Majesty at the rate of two hundred and fifty gantas. At the season when this was collected, I was visiting La Pampanga, and I saw so much weeping and moaning on the part of the wretched Indians from whom they took the rice, that it moved me to great pity--and all the more since I could see so little means to provide a remedy; for although I wrote about it to the master-of-camp, who was at that time lieutenant-governor, it profited me little.

As for the means of collecting this rice, the alcalde-mayor or his deputy divides among the chiefs two, three, four, or more taes of gold (which is a certain weight worth five pesos), and orders that so many gantas of rice be collected for one tostón. Afterward they send, to collect this rice, men without piety; who, with blows, torture, and imprisonment enforce compliance with the rate of three hundred and fifty gantas for a tostón; and, in other years, one hundred of wine, and this year, sixty. It is a fact well established, for I have learned from the very persons who collect it that it often happens, that the Indian, not having so much rice as is demanded, is obliged to go to buy at the rate of fifty gantas for a tostón, and fifteen gantas of wine; and from him, as is said, they take two hundred and fifty of rice and seventy of wine for one tostón. If this occurred only with respect to rice, which is necessary for the expense which your Majesty incurs in this city, it would be but half a wrong, although I do not know what law permits them to invent one price for your Majesty and another for others. However this may be, I will pass on. But the real evil is that the governor, master-of-camp, alcaldes-mayor, your Majesty's officials and other persons to whom these wish to give it, all consume it at this same price, and they also collect it at this price for the hospitals of the city. Although the governor, in the orders which he gives for the hospitals and for other persons, such as alcaldes-mayor, does not name the number of gantas to be given for a tostón, yet the rate is not higher than for your Majesty. He is at fault, in that--knowing that they collect at this price--he neither causes what has thus been taken to be restored, nor punishes him who transgresses in this matter; thus many dare to take rice from them at these same prices, knowing that they will not be punished. I know that many alcaldes-mayor, having orders from the governor to buy from the Indians of their districts three hundred fanégas from each single man and five hundred from each married man, take it at the aforesaid price, and even much more than they are permitted to take, and sell it again at the current price. I know that they also go to collect, at the price fixed for your Majesty, for themselves and their friends, much more rice than they have a right to take according to order. The same is true in regard to cutting timber.

They compel the Indians to work at tasks in the service of your Majesty, paying them but little, and that irregularly and late, and often not at all.

I do not mention the injuries which the Indians received from the Spaniards during the conquest, for from what happened to them in other parts of the Yndias can be inferred what would happen here, which was not less, but in many places much more. I speak of what has happened and now happens in the collection of the tributes, so that your Majesty may see if it is right to overlook or tolerate things which go so far beyond all human justice.