The Audiencia in the Spanish Colonies: As illustrated by the Audiencia of Manila (1583-1800)Cunningham, Charles Henry
History
The Audiencia in the Spanish Colonies: As illustrated by the Audiencia of Manila (1583-1800)
Cunningham, Charles Henry
Philippines -- History -- 1521-1812; Spain -- Colonies -- Administration
The regent fined him 40,000 pesos outright and, moreover, he was
condemned to pay into the royal treasury an additional fine of 16,000
pesos to cover certain illegitimate profits made through granting
unlawful trading concessions to an Armenian merchant. This sentence
was not executed immediately, as it had to be confirmed by the Council
of the Indies. On review of the findings and recommendations of the
regent, the Council declared that since the proceedings at the trial
of Marquina had been irregular and the governor had already suffered
the consequences of his own misdeeds, the fine imposed by the judge
of the residencia in Manila might be reduced to 2000 pesos with costs
of trial. Marquina on October 12, 1797, asked to be excused from
the payment of the 2000 pesos, but the Council denied his petition,
declaring that he had been treated with great consideration and mercy
and that nothing more could be done in his behalf, especially since
he had not been adjudged innocent of the charges which had been made
against him. [265]
Marquina's trial illustrates all the characteristics, the delays,
terrors, and ramifications of a typical residencia of the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries. Continued complaints against him caused
Marquina's residencia to be taken before the expiration of his
official term. The regent of the audiencia was commissioned by the
court to conduct the investigation because Marquina's successor
had not arrived. That magistrate was prejudiced against Marquina on
account of having witnessed the governor's continual malfeasance in
office. He was unable to conduct an impartial investigation, and
the audiencia, likewise prejudiced, would not intervene in behalf
of the ex-governor. The wrongs done to Marquina in his trial were so
patent that the Council of the Indies ordered a new hearing. A severe
sentence was finally passed by the judge in Manila, but it was modified
by the Council of the Indies through considerations of justice. The
residencia occupied ten years, and during the greater part of that
time the ex-governor remained in exile--a victim of his own misdeeds,
the faulty residencia system, and the hostility of the audiencia. The
customary severity of the residencia was only mitigated in this case
by the presence of an impartial governor, who, unlike most governors
whose desire was to harass their victims, sought to secure a fair
trial for his predecessor. To accomplish this he was obliged to work
against, rather than in co-operation with the audiencia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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