The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 23 of 55 / 1629-30 / 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.

by Unknown

Chapter XXIV

Of the chapter held in the islands, in which was elected the fourth provincial, our father Fray Andrés de Aguirre.

When the time came, as ordained by our rules, namely, April 22, 1581, the fathers who were now in greater number, and as as we have related, had a greater number of missionaries and convents—assembled. Peacefully and harmoniously they cast their votes for father Fray Andrés de Aguirre—of whom one may not say little, and, if we say much, it will grow wearisome, and we shall never fill the measure of his deserts. Let the religious who reads this remember the mention which we have given this servant of God, and he will find that father to have taken part in the most important things recounted in this history; for he will see how he was one of the six who first came to this country in the adelantado’s following, November 23, 1564. He will find this father the associate of Father Urdaneta, when the latter discovered the return passage to Nueva España. He will see him at the court, together with the aforesaid [Urdaneta], informing King Felipe II about events in Filipinas, and of the fortunes of that fleet, which we have related. Although he returned to Méjico with the same Father Urdaneta, and stayed there many years, yet, thinking that he was ill employing the health which our Lord gave him, and that his person would be more useful in the country which he had discovered for the honor of God, and thus renewed in courage and spirit, he determined to return to Filipinas. For that purpose he petitioned the father provincial of Méjico to aid him on that journey with some religious, who were the jewels of greatest value that he could take. His request was conceded, and those religious were such that truly this province of Filipinas owes what luster it possesses to them. For as they were all excellent persons for the ministry, and came from a place, namely, Méjico, where so great care and solicitude was the rule, they tried to reduce this province to the fashion of that one, by settling the Indians, gathering them together, and making them observe civilized laws. And I am very certain that that is the difficulty of christianizing these islands. If the desired gain in the harvests is not seen today, it is because there has been no firmness in that plan; but the natives are allowed to live in their small settlements, whither the religious goes but seldom, and the Indians cannot see what is preached to them put into practice. I have said somewhat on this subject previously, and whenever opportunity occurs, I shall again discuss it, as it is very dose to my heart. Besides, it was, and is, better for the Castilians themselves to have the Indians living in communities; for in matters requiring despatch, they have the latter close at hand, and keep them more tamed, and richer in what concerns their advantage. “But,” I ask, “what difference is there between the Zambales of these islands, and the Chinese? Are the former not, like the latter, rational beings? If then they agree in the chief thing, which is excellency, how do they differ so much in the manner of living? Why do some have an organized state, and others not?” And if this so brave people settle in communities and bind themselves with laws and government, they will in time lose that natural haughtiness and adopt different customs. For if animals incapable of reason are domesticated by human intercourse and lose their fierceness, men capable of reason will do it much more. The negroes furnish us with an example of this. Although they appear a race that seems the scum of the world—so wild[90] when they are brought, that they even appear more bestial than the beasts themselves—yet, after intercourse with a civilized people, they learn at last to act like human beings. Now how much better would the Indians of these islands do this, in whom has been found much capacity for whatever we have tried to teach them! Those only who are unwilling do not learn—through laziness, and because they see what little gain they derive from it. Who will doubt that some of them make excellent scribes, so that even the Castilians are children compared to them. Some are excellent singers, and there are choruses of musicians in Manila who would be notable in España. For one to become an excellent tailor, all that is needed is for him to see the work. They make very good carpenters; and this trade is not taught them, but they only have to see it. For in what pertains to agibilibus[91] they are better than we, for they are more phlegmatic. The Indian women have more capacity, and learn easily to use the needle, when they see it, thus they are more skilful than the Spanish women reared here; therefore the articles of handiwork that have been exported from these islands are numberless. And all these Indian women live where there are religious, which is quite different from the visitas, with which there is no comparison.[92] The women of the visitas tremble before a religious. When the religious talks to them in the church or elsewhere, they do not understand him. They are thoughtless beings, and seem even more heedless than beasts. I shall prove this proposition. While I was visiting the Sibuyan Islands, I was trying to confess those people, who, although truly many of them were Christians, had never been confessed, perhaps because no more could be done with them. I performed all my duties in order to persuade a people so rustic and rude, and without sense, to make confession. At that time an honorable Spaniard, one Alonso de Barco, who was married to a native woman of Panay, went to those islands to collect his tributes. He was walking through the church court when I was hearing confessions. I had sent away one of the chief Indian women, because she did not pay attention or answer questions, and had told her to meditate thoroughly over her sins and return later. She went out and the Spaniard asked her if she had confessed. She replied that she had not, because the father had asked her how many feet a hog had, and she had been unable to answer me. The Spaniard laughed heartily, and, upon my coming out, told me about it. Whereupon I crossed myself many times, at seeing that the people were so thoughtless there, and that she should have understood me so ridiculously. Those who live where the father is stationed are not so, but even the little children come to the convent and are assembled. And in matters of the soul—the chief thing—they go to confession; and in truth I would rather confess a hundred Indians in the Filipinas, of those thus rendered fluent, than one Spaniard. The Indian women confess remarkably well, and with many tears, and take communion with devotion. They give account of themselves, respect the father, and recognize his courtesy. Who has not experienced this? The Spaniards understand it all, but when an effort is made to settle the Indians in villages, all the Spaniards resist the religious as if the latter were taking something from their pockets. And surely, as I am advised, the greatest warfare that the devil wages against the ministry is by the hands of the Spaniards, so that all those who should favor this cause are opposed to it. Consequently, the religious tire themselves out, and the devil reaps what harvest he wills. All the evil is laid to our door, and the good the Spaniards attribute to themselves. If the Indian flees and the encomienda is deserted, it is the fault of the religious. But if it increases, it is due to the alcalde-mayor, the encomendero, and the collector. This is a thing so beyond reason, that truth itself cries out. If it were not for the protection of the religious, there would not now be an Indian, or any settlement. The Indians understand this fact very well, as will be seen by the statement of one of them.

The bishop of Nueva Segovia, Don Fray Pedro de Soria, collected those Indians together, by order of his Majesty, and told them of the advantages of the Spanish monarchy, and how beneficial it would be for them to have Don Felipe, the king of the Spaniards, as their king, who would protect them peacefully and with justice. The chiefs answered not a word to this. Thereupon, the bishop spoke again and asked them whether they had understood the words he had spoken to them, and if they would answer. Thereupon a clownish Indian arose and said: “We answer that we wish the king of España to be our king and sovereign, for he has sent Castilians to us, who are freeing us from the tyranny and domination of our chiefs, as well as fathers who aid us against the same Castilians and protect us from them.” Further, suppose that it were possible to make the religious withdraw, so that their ministries should cease; within a few days their lack would he bewailed, to the greatest extent possible. But this fact is true, that while one enjoys a blessing, it is not esteemed, nor is any thought given to a present virtue. However, let it be lacking, we feel that lack immediately, and we seek alter it enviously. As says Horace: virtutem incolumen odimus, sublatam ex oculis quærimus invidi.[93] Spaniards may ask me: “Who has pacified the country? Who domesticated the Indians, so that one can go through the whole country with more safety than by the highways of España? For there neither the machine of justice, nor the severe punishments, nor the grave penalties secure any safety. Nor do the lofty houses, nor their tightly barred doors at all prevent the evils committed by the thief and murderer; for all is open to the execution of their desires. Here one sleeps with the door open, with entire safety, and just as if many legions of soldiers were watching it.” And in fact, I do not recall ever having locked a door during my ministry.[94] I ask then, whence proceeds this except from the religious, who are gradually taming these peoples as fathers, and teaching them for temporal interests also? It there were no religious, how could the tributes be entirely collected? For the tributes seemed to be only what the chiefs chose to give, without its being possible by any severity to make them give more. This is proved, because in the encomienda of Dapitan, a district of Mindanao, although tribute was paid to Diego de Ledesma, son of one of the conquistadors, it amounted to nothing, all told being no more than the value of forty pesos. But at the end of one year after it was given to the fathers of the Society, tribute was collected from more than one thousand Indians. For, as we have, during the course of the year, made them resort [to church], the chief cannot afterward conceal any of them.

Truly, when I see the duties that we are performing, and at so great danger (for we are the object of the watchfulness and censure of the governors and all the people of the country), if we undertake to defend the Indians, they say that we are usurping the royal jurisdiction—just as if we were not serving his Majesty the king, our sovereign, with all our strength. If we make agreements with them as fathers, in order that their suits may not last ten years, they say that we are playing the justice. If we try to prevent offenses to the Lord, they say that we are interested in the matter. If we restrain the heavy trading, they say that it is to profit more. And truly, we might say that spectaculum facti sumus mundi, angelis et hominibus.[95] If love of God and our neighbor did not guide us, of a truth there would be opportunity for some one to say “Pereat dies in qua natus sum, et nox in qua dictum est, ‘conceptus est homo?’.”[96] For the accusations and misrepresentations in vogue concerning the religious are innumerable.[97] I knew a venerable old man, by name Fray Juan de Villamayor,[98] whose head and beard contained not one single black hair. He was prior in Aclán, where some Spaniards of evil life then resided; and because he tried to put an end to the offenses to the Lord, one of the Spaniards defied him, and laying his hand upon his sword, said to him: “Come down here, my poor little father, and I shall tell you who you are.” The religious answered him very humbly, and bade him farewell, saying that what he was doing was in the service of the community. He said that he would talk with him later, when he had recovered from his anger.

While father Fray Lúcas de la Reina, who was one of the foremost religious in the Bisayan province—a fine linguist, and one who added much to the sacristies, and was very discerning in things pertaining to the altar—was prior in the same village, he heard that a wretched mestizo woman in his district was leading a dissolute life; for on that occasion the encomendero Don Agustín Flores was there. This man came at the head of a number of blinded and unruly Spaniards. The religious had the woman seized and placed in a private house. A mestizo brother of hers grieved so sorely over this that, trusting in the favor of the encomendero, he tried to kill the religious. For while the said father was standing at the church door after the Salve on a Saturday, surrounded by Spaniards, the mestizo came in at one side, and struck at him with a dagger. The father warded it off, and protected himself from it with his hands, without a Spaniard offering to aid him. A lay brother, named Fray Andrés García,[99] was coming toward the convent; he was making a small flat-bottomed boat [chatilla] there for the house at Manila. He was truly a religious of great virtue and example. He had formerly been a soldier in Flandes and Italia, and was one of the chosen men sent to Ginebra [i.e., Geneva] by Felipe IV, to carry despatches to the duke of Saboya [i.e., Savoy], the king’s brother-in-law, who was trying to take that rebellious city. As soon as father Fray Lúcas spied the brother, he cried out and begged for aid. Fray Andres hastened to him, and although now a man well along in years, he had not forgotten the vigor of his youth. And in such manner did he comport himself, that those Castilians went away. The mestizo was punished, and the father was healed. The religious have suffered, and still suffer, innumerable things like the above, for making those Indians sincere Christians, for teaching them civilization, and for serving your Majesty in pacifying the country for you. Eight religious, who accompanied father Fray Andrés de Aguirre hither, began this work. Although that father returned to the Filipinas Islands simply to aid Ours in the work here, and to die in the country discovered by him, yet the province, finding that its affairs, past and present, were known to him, elected him provincial; he was therefore constrained to bend his shoulders to receive that load—which is not light, to one who knows it.

This chapter named many other places as priorates, which, although under administration, were only visited, and had been waiting until there should be religious [to place in charge of them]; as religious were obtained from time to time, the convents were being supplied—not only with those coming from España, but with those professing in Manila. For in this manner the natives could be ministered to more readily, and the religious would fulfil their duties better; and their responsibility was very heavy.

Religious were established in Pangasinán. 1 have referred to this before, and mentioned that this province is in possession of the most religious fathers of our father St. Dominic (who keep it in a very flourishing condition), by reason of the cession of it that we made. Finally it has many excellent convents, built by those who administer them so carefully.

Religious were established in the island of Bantayan, located between the island of Panay and that of Sugbú, but farther from that of Panay. However, if one wishes to go to the island of Sugbú without sailing in the open sea, he may coast from islet to islet, although the distance across is not greater than one or one and one-half leguas. These Bantayan islets are numerous, and are all low and very small. The largest is the above-named one. When Ours acquired it, it had many inhabitants, all of very pleasing appearance, and tall and well-built. But now it is almost depopulated by the ceaseless invasions from Mindanao and Jológ.[100] We abandoned this convent (which had a thousand Indians) years ago, in order not to be changing from place to place. This island is the mother of fish,[101] and those that are caught in their season at these islets are innumerable. They are taken in boats among the islands. After we abandoned it, the island was given over to beneficed seculars. Although they have done their duty as zealous men, they have been unable to do more, because of being exposed to great risks. The above-named enemies have made great slaughter in these islands, and have taken even a greater number of captives. For these people have no abiding-place; and, however quickly the news arrives at Sugbú, when help comes the enemy has already left. For, although the distance across is not more than three or four leguas, and even two in parts, the help, as it must travel by sea, must go far—namely, twenty-five leguas. Lately, in the year 1628, men from Jológ did very great damage in that island. Admiral Don Cristóbal de Lugo was governing at Sugbú as lieutenant-governor. He could have sent men, since he had news of the enemy in time. The chanter Juan Muñiscripo, beneficed clergyman of the island, and another secular (who had been expelled from the Society), by name Alonso de Campos, and six Spaniards—who, it is known, fulfilled their duty—were in the island. But finally, as they lacked all necessary ammunition, they had to retire and take to hiding, and seek new locations. By God’s mercy they were not captured, but the people of the island who were captured and killed numbered more than one hundred and fifty. The attempt has been made to withdraw the Indians thence, and settle them on the mainland of Sugbú, which is more suitable in every respect; but the attempt has failed, for the Indians would rather die there than to have a thousand comforts elsewhere. These islands contain many cocoa-palms, but no water or rice. The water comes from wells, and is very bad. The incumbent of the benefice has now built a small fort; but I believe in my soul that, when the Indian catches sight of the enemy, he will abandon it instantly.

This island has a village called Hilingigay, which it is said was the source of all the Bisayan Indians who have peopled these shores, and whose language resembles that of Hilingigay. The Indians remember quite well when they were under our tutelage and teaching, and desire to return to it. For they assert that since we have left them they have not passed one good day. They talk in this vein because always the past was better. That benefice has now about four hundred Indians. They pay tribute to the king, and belong to the bishopric of Sugbú, being of its jurisdiction in secular matters as well. It is more than seventy leguas from Manila to Bantayan to the south.

The father provincial established religious in Jaro, on the coast of the island of Sugbú, a place at present called Carcar. It has in charge more than one thousand two hundred Indians. It has been visited at times from San Nicolás, and at others from the house of Nombre de Jesús of the Spaniards. But it seemed best at this time for it to have a prior with assistants, because of the conveniences which were found there, which are not few—and much more [are they to be considered] in the case of the ministry. It is about six leguas from the city of Nombre de Jesús, and more than twenty from the end of the district. The distance can be made in four hours, with the brisa.

The provincial established religious in Hantic[102] on the opposite coast of Panay. It was an excellent village. The holy martyr Melo[103] was prior of it. Now it is fallen back because we left it; and we have taken it once more. It has about three hundred Indians, and is a visita of Guimbal, which is one legua from Tigbauan, and more than fifty from Manila.

Resident religious were established in Aclán, on the island of Panay, on the coast that looks toward Manila, which is more than fifty leguas away. This is the best convent of the island. The provincial thought best to change it for another which is inland from the river of Panay, called Barbarán, a village of people possessed by the devil. The exchange was effected, and it happened that the secular who was there, died as soon as he reached Aclán, and that the first religious established in Barbarán also died very soon, the one being but little behind the other. I have never believed in this changing of districts, for since all are of Indians, the betterment is slight, while the damage suffered by the ministry, which is the chief thing, is vast. I omit to mention other and no less damages that exist, which are not for this place, as they do not concern us.

The father provincial established religious in Batangas, which is more than twenty leguas’ distance from Manila. It has a stone church and house, although these are much dilapidated from the weather. It was a great district, but now it is much less because of the men drafted for Manila. It has about six hundred Indians as tributarios. Two religious live there generally. Service is performed in the Tagál tongue. We have mentioned this convent in our description of the lake of Bongbong or Taal, which is the nearest convent to Batangas, from which it is even distant only one day’s journey; the road passes through certain most excellent meadows, resembling those of España; where one may rear an immense number of cattle. The Indians through all this district, which they call the Comintan, make use of domestic cattle on which they travel and carry their loads. The language used there is much like the Bisayan, for one can cross from this town of Batangas, which is located on a very beautiful bay, to the Bisayas with great ease during the brisas. This district belongs to the archbishopric of Manila.

Moreover, the provincial established a convent in Malolos. This place lies two leguas by land from Bulacán, and there is an excellent highway. From Manila it lies little less than one day’s journey. This village has greatly decreased; it has about three hundred Indians. It is a priorate and has a vote, but has only one religious. It has a wooden house, and has never had one of stone.[104]

The father provincial established religious in Agonoy, where Tagál is spoken. It is on the way to Pampanga, on a branch of that river called Candaba. It is a very large priorate, for it has more than one thousand rich and influential Indians. Three religious live there. It is quite near to Macabebe and Calumpit, for one can ascend to either place by the river in two hours. This town is not farther from Manila than one day’s journey. A quantity of wine is made there from a tree that grows in its marshes, called palm or nipa. The house is wooden and very poor.[105]

Moreover, the father provincial established religious in México, a town of Pampanga. It receives its name from its great abundance of water. A great quantity of rice is produced there, and it has a fine plain. The house and church are of stone. It has about three hundred tributes.[106]. It is a priorate and has a vote, and one or two religious generally live there. This town is quite exposed to the inroads of the Negrillos and Zambales, and there are continual misfortunes of murders, and it is quite common to find headless bodies in the field. It belongs to the archbishopric of Manila, and lies more than one day’s journey from the city, either by sea or creek.