"The islands of Samar, Ybabao, and Leyte were also in disturbance, and the encomendero of Dagami, pueblo of Leyte, was in peril of losing his life, because the Indians were incensed by his thievings in the collection of tribute, which was paid in wax, and which he compelled them to have weighed with a steelyard which he had made double the legal amount, and wanted to kill him. They would have done so if he had not escaped into the mountains and afterwards passed by a banca to the island of Cebu. The governor sent Captain Lorenzo de la Mota to pacify these disturbances; he made some punishments, and with these everything quieted down." [38] Three years later, however, the natives of Leyte were again in revolt. In 1589 Cagayan rose and killed many Spaniards. The revolt seems to have spread from here to the town of Dingras, Ilocos, where the natives rose against the collectors of tribute, and slew six Spaniards of the pueblo of Fernandina. (Zuñiga, Historia de Filipinas, p. 165.) [39] Effects of the Spanish Government.--The Spanish occupation had brought ruin and misery to some parts of the country. Salazar describes with bitterness the evil condition of the Filipinos. In the rich fields of Bulacan and Pampanga, great gangs of laborers had been impressed, felling the forests for the construction of the Spanish fleets and manning these fleets at the oars, on voyages which took them for four and six months from their homes. The governor, Don Gonzalez de Ronquillo, had forced many Indians of Pampanga into the mines of Ilocos, taking them from the sowing of their rice. Many had died in the mines and the rest returned so enfeebled that they could not plant. Hunger and famine had descended upon Pampanga, and on the encomienda of Guido de Lavazares over a thousand had died from starvation. [40] The Taxes.--The taxes were another source of abuse. Theoretically, the tax upon Indians was limited to the "tributo," the sum of eight reales (about one dollar) yearly from the heads of all families, payable either in gold or in produce of the district. But in fixing the prices of these commodities there was much extortion, the encomenderos delaying the collection of the tribute until the season of scarcity, when prices were high, but insisting then on the same amount as at harvest-time.