The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898; Volume 49: 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 49: 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
Not less ruined are the Bisayas, as they are without stipends,
and cannot be helped from here, since they have no boats which can
resist the Moros, for the governor has not made a grain of powder
nor a single boat, although it is a fact that he has cost the king
almost a million pesos. The fathers are compelled to go almost
naked, and they have had to make shoes out of the parchment of their
books. They have been assisted as much as possible, and already
those missions owe thirty thousand pesos to the province. Of the
ten churches built of stone and mortar, and a like number of houses
in the residence of Hilongos, only two are left, and all the rest
are ruined and burned by the Moros. Your Reverence may conjecture
almost the same thing of other less defensible villages. All [the
inhabitants of] the two villages which were formed under the charge
of Samboangan are dead or captives, and I am sure that the missions
of the Recollects have suffered greater ruin, proportione servata;
for I am told that the entire jurisdiction of Caraga is reduced to one
thousand tributes. Since your Reverence left, one-half the Indians of
Bisayas have been captured or killed. May God bring us a governor,
may God bring us some auditors, who shall recognize and appreciate
the defense of the Catholic religion and of the poor Indians!
The estates of Calatagán and Looc, burned and sacked by the Moros; the
estates of Meysilo and La Piedad, burned and sacked by the Christians;
that of San Pedro Tunasan, sacked by the Indians, commanded by six
Franciscan friars; Lian and Nasugbú delivered to the Joloan [? Jelaco
in transcript] king by treaty; that of Naic abandoned to the robbers;
San Pedro Macati burned by the English, with the exception of the
house and church! Those which have suffered less are Marquina, Payatas,
and Calamba, although they have suffered considerably.
Don Manuel Fernandez Thoribio has been appointed governor of
Samboangan, and has secret instructions to ascertain what estates
and what manner of livelihood the Jesuits have. In general, all
the alcaldes who have been sent out carry instructions against
the regulars. The fact is that stipends are not to be paid to the
ministers, and no alms or aid is to be given to carry on the missions.
Since my arrival, neither from the royal treasury of Mexico, nor
from these [in Manila], has the least stipend [been given] to the
four subjects in Samboangan ... treasury, by royal decree, that they
be paid here, and from those of here, for ... in order to pay from
the treasury of Mexico. Consider, your Reverence, what must be the
condition of this po[or] province.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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