In the city of Manila, on the nineteenth of January, one thousand five hundred and ninety-nine, the president and auditors of the royal Audiencia and Chancillería of these Philipinas Islands declared that, whereas by the ordinances, decrees, and instructions of his Majesty, orders have been given to the official judges of the royal exchequer of these islands, regarding their obligations in the exercise and discharge of their duties, and, because it is fitting that his Majesty's orders in those decrees be observed and fulfilled, they ordered, and they did so order, that the said royal officials should be notified that in the exercise of their offices they should observe the said royal ordinances, decrees, and instructions of the king our sovereign, who has given them, as they are held, exercised, and observed, and as they must be exercised and observed, by the royal official judges of the City of Mexico in Nueva España, especially section seventeen of the said royal ordinance. By this act they so provided, ordered, and decreed. Before me: _Pedro Hurtado Desquibel_ _An act ordering the commissioners to be present at all sessions of the Audiencia._ In the city of Manila, on the twenty-first of January, one thousand five hundred and ninety-nine, the president and auditors of the royal Audiencia of the Filipinas Islands declared that, whereas, although by the royal ordinances the commissioners of this royal Audiencia are obliged to be present at the assemblies, they are not there; and thus many cases that come up, both civil and criminal, are delayed in settlement, so that considerable harm and annoyance result to the parties concerned; and furthermore, that official and fiscal cases are delayed, because the said commissioners to all appearances do not employ therein the necessary diligence: therefore, to remedy this condition of affairs, they decreed and ordered that, now and henceforth, all the said commissioners, unless they have legitimate occupation or obstacle, shall be present without fail in the hall at all the sessions of the Audiencia with the greatest punctuality, so that in all matters there may be the prompt action which is desirable, under penalty of a fine of one peso from him who shall disobey this decree, the fine to be applied immediately upon condemnation, in this manner--six reals to the poor in the prisons, and two for the bailiff who has to execute the decree. By this act they so provided, ordered, and decreed. Before me: _Pedro Hurtado Desquibel_ _An act decreeing that orders shall be given regarding the sworn memoranda of the collector of fines._