The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 24 of 55: 1630-34; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, As Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 24 of 55: 1630-34; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, As Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
The disputes which generally arise between the governor and the
auditors of this royal Audiencia are usually more prejudicial in these
islands than in the rest of your Majesty's monarchy, as these are
the most remote; for their preservation lies in the governor being
obeyed and respected, and in his orders being executed and entirely
observed, without the auditors hindering him, or casting any doubt
on his supremacy, as they are often wont to do.
The jurisdiction of this Audiencia is set at rest from the
ecclesiastical fuerzas and the litigations of these inhabitants--who,
as is seen from the chart which I am sending under other covers, amount
in all to 151 married men, 81 single men, 45 widows, and 160 children,
besides fifty other men who live in other places. All the rest are
paid sailors and soldiers, with whom the Audiencia has nothing to do;
and from that one can infer how few affairs of justice arise. That
is the cause of the disputes, and of the auditors actually deciding
the affairs of government under pretext of appeals, without waiting
until the governors grant or deny them, in accordance with law--to
the considerable discredit, of the authority that your Majesty has
conceded to the government. That results in nothing that is ordered
being executed. And although your Majesty has provided a remedy for
these accidents with decrees, so that, in case of doubt, the governor
may declare what occurs to him, and that the auditors may pass for
this purpose into Philipinas, still that has not sufficed; for they
take care to give the decrees a different meaning, and will not be
subdued by any means that I have used. In proof of this I cite the
following examples.
Your Majesty has prohibited the Audiencia from trying causes concerning
the Sangleys of the Parian, and ordered that they be tried only by
the alcalde-mayor and the governor, reserving only the sin against
nature to the Audiencia. Nevertheless, they meddle by taking the
[trial of] first instance from the alcaldes-mayor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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