The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898; Volume 47, 1728-1759: 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 47, 1728-1759: 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
[41] Montero y Vidal says (Hist. de Filipinas, i, p. 463, note) of
the obras pias: "In 1880 they possessed a capital of 2 1/2 millions
of pesos, belonging to the following religious bodies: Discalced
Augustinians, 127,938 pesos fuertes; idem at Cavite, 33,117;
Order of St. Francis, 500,840; Order of St. Dominic, 205,092; the
[archiepiscopal] see, 88,155; House of Misericordia, 811,154; the city,
37,272; the privileged confraternities, 97,617." See our VOL. XXVIII,
p. 298, note 138.
[42] An interesting account of this legacy is given by Uriarte in his
history of the Misericordia (q.v., ante). Lobo, a native of Viana, in
Portugal, died on September 8, 1709, at Agaña in the Marianas Islands,
"having executed a power of attorney for disposing of his estate,
in which he left the board of the holy Misericordia as his executor,
declaring his mother, Isabel Gonzales Lobo--a widow, and a resident
in the said town [i.e., Viana]--the heiress of his property, in case
she had survived him. If not, he named his soul as his heir, with the
declaration that although he had in the said town married Victoria de
Silva he had no children by her, nor had she brought him a dowry at
the time and when they contracted matrimony." The Misericordia made
inquiries in Spain to ascertain whether the mother were still alive,
and the wife brought in a claim for part of Lobo's property; it also
appeared that the deceased had left a sealed will with his uncle,
Francisco Martinez Casados, in Viana. Not until 1723 did the papers
arrive from Spain to settle the difficulties attending this will;
it seems to have been decided earlier that Victoria de Silva was
entitled to one-half of the property gained by Lobo during the period
of their marriage [bienes gananciales], but the Misericordia refused to
pay out any money until the said documents should arrive from Spain;
also that board administered a large sum of money belonging to Lobo,
which was lent to General Miguel Martinez at interest, and could
not be repaid for several years, especially as his estate was long
in probate and greatly decreased in value. "Accordingly, even if the
conveyance of the share belonging to the said Victoria de Silva could
have been made, there was no opportunity for it." Nothing further
is said about Victoria, but the inference is that she had by 1723
died, or dropped out of sight, or was unable to push her claims
further. At all events, the Misericordia, according to Uriarte,
sold the property and distributed the proceeds according to the
terms of Lobo's will--having first consulted the learned doctors
of the Manila universities as to their justification in doing so,
who fully sustained the board's course; it followed, then, that
their procedure was lawful and Christian, and that they were not to
blame for the delays which occasioned the final disposition of the
estate of Lobo. The opinion of the Jesuit university is reproduced in
full; it is dated November 2, 1727, and signed by the licentiate Don
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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