As thereafter fuller instruction was given because of what was shown in the reply of his Excellency, the bishop of Nueva Segovia, in regard to the building of the seminary of his diocese; and considering the information given by the royal officials in regard to the method to be observed for putting into practice the abovesaid exaction: I have resolved in general upon the following, which I send to you with that superior determination for its fulfilment and observance in the part touching you. Manila, March 26, 1803. Since the collection of the three per cent, assigned to the seminaries in the manner prescribed by the royal decree of February twenty-two, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six, is now determined to include all the parish priests of these islands with the exception of the hospitals, according to the declaration of June first, ninety-nine; and that in the cathedral churches where said seminaries are not established, they be founded, without prejudice to the fact that the above-mentioned three per cent shall be collected in the meanwhile, and deposited in a chest with three keys: it only remains to advise that one of these keys shall be held in Nueva Segovia, by the bishop of the diocese, another by the alcalde-mayor, and the third by the father sacristan placed or appointed in that church. It is to be noted that the chest shall be kept in the episcopal palace, and when the see is vacant it will go to the royal house, where the alcalde-mayor lives, for its due safety. This same order must be kept in the bishoprics of Cebú and Camarines, and information shall be given in this regard to the respective bishops; although since the first see is vacant it shall be given for the present only to his Excellency, Don Fray Domingo Collantes, who has charge of its government; and in case anything inconvenient is found in its execution, he shall have the goodness to inform this superior government in regard to what he should esteem convenient according to the situation of each church. The three per cent shall be collected by the alcaldes-mayor of Ilocos, Camarines, and Cebú, as subdelegates of the government, and the proper discount shall be made for each of the parish priests at the time of paying them their stipends, and the sum shall be placed in the above-mentioned chest in the presence of the other keyholders. For that purpose they shall send to them the proper advice, with the assignment of the day and hour in which it must be done, at the disposition of his Excellency, the prelate, and when the see is vacant, to those who shall have his key. Inasmuch as the amount collected must be placed in said chest with three keys, as ordered, a balance shall be struck at the end of each year, in the presence of the three keyholders, and a copy of it shall be sent by the subdelegates to the general superintendency, with expression of the assets which are pendent. The governors, corregidors, and alcaldes-mayor of the other provinces, shall send