intervene actively in affairs of government, checking the abuses of the governor and protecting the community from his absolutism. The proposition to establish an independent audiencia in Manila was opposed by the viceroy and audiencia of New Spain. The latter tribunal wrote a letter of protest to the Council of the Indies, demanding that in matters of government and justice the colony of the Philippines should continue to bear the same relations to the viceroyalty of New Spain as did Guadalajara. [69] Rivera answered these objections in a special memorial, stating that the isolation of the Philippines alone justified the establishment of an audiencia and an independent government. He also pointed out that the nearness of Japan and China and the necessity of dealing with them required the presence of a sovereign tribunal in Manila. He asserted that the colony could deal directly with the Council of the Indies more profitably than through the Audiencia of Mexico. The latter mode of procedure was indirect and cumbersome and it exposed litigants to the meddling of the oidores of Mexico in matters which they did not understand. [70] Finally, the Audiencia of Manila was established by decree of Philip II on May 5, 1583, in the following terms: Whereas in the interests of good government and the administration of our justice, we have accorded the establishment in the city of Manila in the Island of Luzon of one of our royal audiencias and chanceries, in which there shall be a president, three oidores, a fiscal, and the necessary officials; and whereas we have granted that this audiencia should have the same authority and preeminence as each one of our royal audiencias which sit in the town of Valladolid and the city of Granada of these our realms, and the other audiencias of our Indies: now therefore we order to be made and sent to the said Island our royal seal, with which are to be stamped our decisions which are made and issued by the said president and oidores in the said audiencia. [71] The jurisdiction of the tribunal, it is to be noted, extended throughout the Island of Luzon and the rest of the islands of the Archipelago, as well as over "the mainland of China, whether discovered or yet to be discovered."