Auditorship of Accounts in Manila, 1595–1637
Sire:
The Council, on examining in the hall of justice the [records of the] official visit which Licentiate Don Francisco de Rojas made of the Audiencia and royal officials of the Filipinas Islands; and having examined therein charge three made against the said royal officials regarding the general account for each year to be taken from them by an auditor of accounts [contador de cuentas]—namely, that they have not given him sworn statements; and, in particular, that they refused to give a sworn statement of the amounts that ought to be collected, and of other things which the auditor of accounts ordered—commanded me to make a comprehensive report from what should appear in the records of the visit, and in the other papers resting in the secretary’s office concerning the matter; so that, having been examined in the government where they are considering whether it is advisable or not to appoint one for life to that office of auditor of accounts in those islands, and with what conditions, the advisable measures may be taken. In fulfilment of that command, having attended to that matter as was fitting, I have drawn up this paper, in which, as briefly as possible, and as was required by the gravity of the matter, I have compiled what treats of it, dividing it for greater distinctness and clearness into the four following points.
Point 1. Of the beginnings in those islands of the office of auditor of accounts, and of the variations and changes that have occurred in it, down to the present.
Point 2. Of the litigations that have occurred between the royal officials and the auditor of accounts, in regard to the manner of exercising the duties of that office.
Point 3. Of the disadvantages, as seen from the records of the visit, that arise from the existence of that office in those islands.
Point 4. Of the advantages that are found for the existence of that office in those islands, and what has been enacted and decreed in the Council regarding it, up to the present.
[Point 1]
Book 7, folio 284, verso. In regard to the first point, I presuppose that, as appears from the certification of the government notary of those islands, there is not in it the particular reason of an order from his Majesty for the governor of the islands to appoint an auditor of accounts, as all the governors have done for many years past. What appears is, that in years preceding that of 1595 (although it does not appear when this practice was first inaugurated), the governor made an annual appointment of an auditor of accounts, in order that he might audit the general account of the royal officials for the preceding year—as is mentioned by the governor Don Luis Perez Dasmariñas in the first perpetual title that he gave as auditor of accounts, in the year 595, to Bartolome de Renteria, who was the first to whom it was given with this title. The governor says the following in regard to it:
“Inasmuch as his Majesty has ordered the governor of these islands to audit the account of the royal official judges of the islands annually, by means of an auditor of accounts who should be appointed for that purpose, and to send each year the report that he should make to his Majesty, as has been done; and inasmuch as I am informed of, and see, the disadvantages and dangers that result to the royal estate of having the governors appoint, as is their custom, a new auditor [contador] for the said accounts each year, in order to give him that profit that is due him for other services: there is no one in that calling as competent as is necessary. Thence it results that the said accounts are not audited with the clearness and completeness that is advisable, or in the good order and style in which an expert auditor would leave them, and who would learn by experience and by special acquaintance from the times when he should have audited them before, or by his knowledge through the condition of other accounts that he might have audited, the condition of the royal estate. Such a person will try to understand the royal treasury thoroughly, while he who audits the accounts once will do it more carelessly. All that carelessness would cease, as would many other disadvantages which experience has shown; and we could achieve the results that are desirable for the service of his Majesty by appointing an auditor to audit the accounts every year, without changing or removing him for another, but allowing him to hold the said office continuously.”
The title continues with the appointment of the said Bartolome de Renteria as auditor of accounts, as long as it may be the will of his Majesty and of the said governor in his royal name; and orders that the uncertainties, additions, and results [resultas] that shall arise be communicated to the said governor, so that they may be concluded and executed with his decision. The title assigns him a salary of five hundred pesos of common gold, payable from the royal treasury.
Book 7, folio 235. His Majesty despatched a royal decree in the year 596, ordering the establishment of the Audiencia of the said islands. In that provision were inserted the ordinances pertaining to this point, namely, the sixty-seventh, the sixty-ninth, and the ninetieth.[1] They read as follows:
“Ordinance 67. Item: My president shall, together with two auditors [oidores], audit the accounts, at the beginning of each year, of the royal officials who shall have had charge of my royal treasury for the past year. They shall conclude it within the months of January and February; and when they are completed, a copy of them shall be sent to my Council of the Indias. I order that if the said two months pass, without the said accounts being completed, the officials of my royal treasury shall receive no salary until they shall be concluded. Each of the auditors who shall be present at the auditing of the said accounts shall have a gratification of twenty-five thousand maravedis, provided that that salary or gratification be not given them—and it shall not be given them—except for the year for which they shall send the said accounts concluded to my royal Council of the Indias.”
“Ordinance 69. Item: I order that when my president and auditors commence to audit the accounts of my royal estate, in accordance with the provision in regard to it, they shall go first of all to my royal treasury, and weigh and count the gold and silver and the other things that may be there, and take account of it [In the margin: “Sic.”]. Then they shall begin the accounts, and, having finished them, shall collect the balance within the time ordered by the said decree. [In the margin: “I do not find any account, in the records of the visit, of this provision which is cited.”] The amount collected shall be placed in the chest with three keys; and orders shall be given that the balance from the past year shall not be made up from what shall be collected during the time in which the accounts shall be audited.”
“Ordinance 90. Item: The said fiscal shall be at all the meetings which shall be held outside the ordinary Audiencia by the president and auditors, whether of justice or pertaining to my royal estate, with the officials of it, either for matters of government, or in any other manner.”
Book 7, folio 239. In a royal decree of January 25, 605, directed to the royal officials of the said islands with the ordinances of their offices, the two following touch on this matter:
“Ordinance 29. The accounts that you shall be obliged to give of what is in your charge during the administration of your offices, shall be given annually in the accustomed manner. For that purpose, you shall deliver as an inventory to the person who shall audit them, all the books and vouchers pertaining to them, and those that shall be requested from you, and that shall be necessary for the clear understanding of the accounts. You shall continue the administration of your offices with other similar and new books. The accounts shall be balanced in the presence of my governor, and of an auditor of my royal Audiencia who shall be appointed by the governor and the fiscal of the Audiencia. Should any doubts and additions result from the said accounts, the said my governor and auditor shall adjust and decide them, so that they may be balanced and completed.”[2]
“Ordinance 42. You shall send annually the final account of the receipts and expenditures of my royal estate, declaring the same in its distinct heads. In case that an auditor of accounts appointed by the said my governor shall audit your accounts, he shall be obliged to have them made out in accordance with the aforesaid, for the said end.”
Book 7, folio 2. August 24 of the same year 605, his Majesty despatched a royal decree, ordering three tribunals of the exchequer to be established in the three cities of Lima, Santa Fe [de Bogota], and Mexico, so that the accounts of all the provinces of their [respective] districts might be audited in each one. Its beginning is as follows:
“Don Felipe, etc.: Inasmuch as the accounts of the income and duties that belong to us and which we are to receive in our kingdoms and provinces of our Western Indias, as king and seignior of them, have been and are audited by the persons who have been and are appointed for it by our viceroys and presidents of the audiencias of the said our Indias, and by the corregidors and governors of some districts of them, who have been and are appointed for it; and inasmuch as they are sent to our royal Council of the Indias, so that they may be reviewed and examined therein; and inasmuch as the persons who audit the said accounts do not possess the skill and experience that is required for such an employment, and the accounts, as they are not furnished every year, do not show the accuracy, clearness, and distinctness that is necessary—whence have resulted many disadvantages and losses to our royal estate, as has been shown by experience: in order that such may cease now and henceforth, and the necessary precaution be exercised in everything, we have decided, after conference, examination, and discussion of the matter in our royal Council of the Indias, and in other meetings of ministers of great intelligence and long experience, that there shall be, and shall be established tribunals of the auditors of accounts who live and reside ordinarily in the said our province, so that they may audit the accounts of whatever pertains to us in any way, or that may pertain in the future to all or any persons into whose possession has entered or shall enter any of our possessions, of which they must and shall inform us. In order that this may be done as is fitting to our service, we have decided, and we will and command, that the following order and form be kept and observed.”
The said decree proceeds, by ordering in its first section that the said three tribunals be founded, in each of which there shall be three auditors [contadores], who are to be called and styled “auditors of accounts.” They shall attend to their business by virtue of letters and warrants sealed with the royal seal. Each tribunal shall also have two officers known as “arrangers of accounts” [ordenadores de cuentas] and other things that pertain to this. The following declaration occurs in section twenty-two:
“Furthermore, the said our auditors of accounts shall audit and conclude the final account of the said our royal officials and treasury of the said our Yndias for the preceding year, in the year immediately following, without protracting or extending it under any considerations—except that of our royal officials of the province of Chile, and of the persons into whose possession enters the money which we order to be supplied from Piru for the expenses that must be incurred there; and that of the Filipinas Islands, which, as they are so remote and out of the way, must be audited every two years. All the said our officials of the said our royal treasuries in the said our Western Yndias shall be obliged to go, or to send persons with their powers of attorney and adequate documents, to render their accounts before the said our auditors of accounts.”
Book 7, folio 28. The ordinance of the above section does not seem to have been observed; for on May 16, 1609, a royal decree was despatched which declares that inasmuch as certain doubts have resulted from the foundation of the three said tribunals, in regard to the exercise of the said offices and their jurisdiction, and other things, the following is declared and ordered anew. And in the said decree many of the ordinances contained in the above-cited decree of the year 605, are declared by sections. Section twenty-four, which concerns this point, reads as follows:
“Section 24. Having examined and considered the difficulties which have been represented in regard to [the officials] being able to go to give the accounts to the said tribunals, for the treasuries of the provinces or islands which are very remote and over seas, I have decided and resolved that the accounts of the provinces of Chile and the Philipinas Islands shall be audited as heretofore, in accordance with the ordinances of the audiencias, notwithstanding any rulings of the said ordinances for the auditors of accounts in regard to sending someone to give it at the tribunals. The accounts which shall be thus audited in the said provinces of Chile shall be sent to the tribunal of accounts at Lima, and those of the Philipinas Islands and Maluco shall be taken to that of Mexico. At the beginning of each year, my officials of those treasuries shall send the lists and muster-rolls of the soldiers to the said tribunals.”
Book 7, folio 247. In conformity with the above-cited section, the tribunal of accounts of Mexico despatched a decree in the year 612, ordering the royal officials of the Philipinas to observe and keep it. Notification was given to them, and they obeyed it in the same year.
Book 7, folio 305. It appears in the fulfilment of the said royal decree, and of section twenty-four of it, that the governor of Philipinas gave the title of auditor of accounts and results [resultas] to Francisco Lopez Tamayo, October 6, 610, in the following words:
“Inasmuch as his Majesty has ordered that the office of auditor of accounts be again established in this city, so that the accounts of the royal officials of all the royal estate and other royal possessions that ought to be given might be audited, etc.”
The title proceeds, appointing him for such time as may be the pleasure of his Majesty and of the said governor in his royal name; and the latter assigns him an annual salary of one thousand pesos of common gold, to be paid from the royal treasury in accordance with the resolution made at the preceding meeting of the treasury on September 30 of the said year.
The above-mentioned tribunal of accounts of the governor and two auditors has punctually fulfilled its duties; and, as well as the said office, still exists—although there has been a change in regard to the title of “auditor of accounts,” as will be stated later.
Point 2
In case that your Majesty may be pleased to order that this office exist, will you be pleased also to ordain and determine the manner and form in which it is to be exercised, in order to avoid the differences and encounters that there have been and that may occur between the auditors of accounts and the royal officials. I shall relate in general terms the litigations that they have had hitherto, and the decisions therein of that Audiencia and the tribunal of accounts.
Book 7, folio 252. The first instance of litigation that I find was for the year 620, when the auditor of accounts claimed that the royal officials ought to deliver to him, not only the books and papers that he asked, but also the account in orderly form, in order that he might audit their general account of the preceding year. The royal officials answered thereto that they had never rendered that account, and that they were not bound to do so, but only to deliver to him the books and papers necessary for the verification [of accounts]. The tribunal decided in favor of the royal officials.
Book 7, folio 261, et seq. The second instance of litigation was in the year 625, the auditor of accounts claiming that the royal officials must deliver to him all the books, vouchers, and papers of the treasury for which he asked; and that he could take them to his house, without any time-limit in which they must be returned. The royal officials claimed the very opposite to the above. Therefore, the Audiencia decreed an act on January 2, 626, ordering the auditor of accounts not to take the said papers from the treasury, but to audit the said account there. The auditor of accounts (at that time Luis de Vera Encalada) having entered a petition, the Audiencia enacted on the twenty-seventh of the said month and year that, notwithstanding the above-mentioned act, the said auditor of accounts, in consideration of the ill-health that he alleges, may exercise his duties in his house; but that he may not demand any paper by act from the royal officials except in virtue of the act from the tribunal of accounts for this purpose which proceeds, in which he is under obligation to ask for the papers which shall be necessary. From those which shall be ordered to be delivered to him, he shall select what shall be necessary, and shall return them to the treasury in accordance with the ordinance.
Book 7, folio 344. The third instance of litigation was at that same period, on the question whether the auditor of accounts was to audit the accounts of private persons, who should have to account for royal revenues, or whether he was to review those concluded by the royal officials. The Audiencia ordered that the said auditor of accounts should not audit accounts of that class.
Book 7, folios 77–79. After the year 628, the said tribunal of accounts ordered by an act that the auditor of accounts could make additions to and draw up results [resultas] from the accounts concluded by the royal officials, provided he do it in a separate blankbook without making notes in the royal books.
The fourth instance of litigation was in regard to the question whether he was to be entitled “auditor of accounts” [contador de cuentas] or “auditor-arranger of accounts” [contador ordenador de cuentas]. The royal officials claimed that it should be the second, saying that the name “auditor of accounts” belongs only to those of the three tribunals of Lima, Santa Fe, and Mexico, according to the provision of August 24, 605, and the ordinances therein cited. The auditor of accounts claimed that this name belongs to him by virtue of his office, and because he has always been so called. The ordinances give him that name, as appears by ordinance forty-two given above, and in the warrants despatched by the governors. The Audiencia decreed an act February 14, 626, ordering that he shall not be called “auditor of accounts,” but “auditor-arranger of accounts of the royal treasury;” since the auditing of the accounts does not belong to him, but only the arranging of them, so that the president and auditors, the judges of the accounts, may audit them, and conclude and remit them, as is ordained. Thus was he styled until the visitor altered it.
The last and most acrimonious lawsuit was in regard to the form of the sworn relation which the royal officials must give to the auditor of accounts, in order that he may audit the general accounts of each year. Upon this point arose the charge in the visit, the examination of which was the cause of my being ordered to compile this paper. In that contention, the royal officials have claimed that they do not need to give a sworn statement of the amounts that ought to be collected; but that the auditor of accounts must charge himself with that duty in the general account of each year. In case that the royal officials have to give a sworn statement, [they claim] that it is to be only of the debts incurred during their time; and that they do not need to give a general sworn statement, but only a statement of those kinds of royal revenue which are received into that treasury, and are current through their administration—and not of other things which, although they belong to his Majesty, do not enter into that treasury; and which are disbursed before they enter it, and pass through other hands. They allege that in these islands a very different account of the royal revenue is usual from that furnished in other provinces. They availed themselves, for all three points of this claim, of the same sections of the ordinances on which the charge was founded, namely, the sections 14 and 22 of “tribunals of accounts, the decree of the year 605,” and section 20 of the decree of the year 60 [sic] explanatory of the tribunals—which, copied word for word, are as follows:
“Book 7, folio 5, section 14. Item: We ordain and command that at the time and when the said accounts are to be audited and completed, and before anything else, both the said our royal officials and other persons—of whatever estate, rank, and condition they may be—who may have received, and have had or have, the duty of receiving and collecting our revenue, must deliver—and they shall deliver—to the said our auditors of accounts, sworn statements, signed with their names, of all that they have received, and all that has been delivered to them, as well as what they have disbursed and distributed. They shall take oath, in the form required by law, at the foot of the said sworn statements, that everything therein contained is accurate, faithful, and true; and that they have not received more maravedis than those entered in their accounts, and that they have [actually] paid out all that which is entered therein as spent and disbursed. They shall bind themselves, with their persons and possessions, that if at any time it appear and be found that they have failed to enter anything of what they have received, or have entered as disbursed any sum in excess of what they have honestly and truly paid out, they shall pay such sum, together with a fine of a sum three times as large—to which we declare them immediately condemned, and order that the penalty be executed on their persons and possessions. One-third part shall be given to the denouncer, one shall be placed in our exchequer, and the remaining third shall be given to the judges who sentence and decide the matter.”
“Section 22. Furthermore, the said our auditors of accounts shall audit and conclude the final account of the said our royal officials of the said our Indias for the year preceding, in the year immediately following, without delaying or extending the time, under any consideration whatever—except that of our royal officials of the province of Chile, and of the persons in whose possession enters the money that we order to be supplied from Piru for the expenses which shall be incurred there; and the accounts of the Filipinas Islands, which, as those islands are so remote and out of the way, shall be audited every two years. All the said our officials of the said our royal treasuries which we possess in the said our Western Indias, shall be obliged to go, or to send persons with their powers and sufficient authority, to render their accounts before the said our auditors of accounts, except those who shall audit the accounts of our royal officials of the imperial city of Potosi, which shall be done as will be declared hereafter. And in the said accounts that shall be audited and concluded for all, entry shall be made of all the said our incomes and duties, which pertain and ought to pertain to us in any manner, in the said year as abovesaid, notwithstanding that they may say and allege that they have not collected nor can collect it; and the balances of their total shall be struck. If they shall present sufficient evidence from which it appears that they made the efforts necessary at the time when they were obliged, and that they were unable to collect it, they shall be given a brief respite from paying such balance, which, as above said, shall have been struck against them, which time shall be long enough for them to collect it or place it in the said our treasury. And should they, upon the expiration of that time, not have executed it or presented sufficient evidence that they have made the efforts necessary for its collection, they and their bondsmen shall be proceeded against by the full rigor of law, in order that they may place and deposit the amount due in the said our royal treasury. In regard to this action, the necessary executions and investigations shall be made, and by maravedis of our treasury. If it shall appear from the evidence that they shall present, that they have made the necessary efforts, and have been unable to collect, and that they have discharged their duty in this regard, the amount of their accounts shall be received on account, and the said our auditors of accounts shall make the new efforts that appear expedient for its collection, until it shall have been paid into the said our treasury.”
“Section 20 of the explanatory decree. Book 7, folio 16. By section 22 of the ordinances of the said auditors of accounts, and by other royal decrees, is ordained the manner in which my royal officials of my royal revenues, and of the rest of my estate which is in their charge, with obligation to collect those revenues, or show sufficient efforts, shall be held responsible. I have been informed that the said auditors of accounts undertake, when they audit the accounts of the said my royal officials, to proceed according to this order; but that the said my royal officials are generally accustomed to appeal from some things, and bring a suit. That causes delay and other troubles, for the correction of which I ordain and command the said auditors of accounts to audit the accounts of the said my royal officials, charging them with all my incomes and the other property which must enter into their possession with obligation of collecting it, or else proving [that they have made] sufficient efforts for what shall not have been collected, in accordance with what has been enacted by the said ordinances for auditors [contadores] and other decrees; and in no manner shall the said my royal officials be allowed to appeal to the law until what has been ordained regarding this matter be observed and executed.”
Book 7, folio 87. On those three sections the visitor based his charge and the royal officials their rebuttal. The visitor ordered that, notwithstanding what they alleged, the royal officials should give a sworn statement of the collections made and of those still due, for the general account of the year 631.
In charge 3. The disadvantage and loss to the royal treasury alleged by the visitor, because the statements are not so given, is that that has resulted in there being more than sixty thousand pesos of royal revenue to collect, of which results [resultas] have been made in the visit against the said royal officials, besides others that are being made.
Point 3
In regard to the inconveniences from having this office or tribunal in those islands, I do not find that the royal officials of the islands, who are the ones who could best make such a representation, have made it. They have only opposed the jurisdiction and authority that the auditor of accounts has possessed or claimed to possess for the exercise of his duty; and they declare that the tribunal of accounts of those islands, which is composed of the governor and two auditors [oidores] is the one that truly holds and exercises this ministry of the auditing department of accounts, and that the auditor [contador] whom they call “auditor of accounts” cannot be that official, and cannot be so called, but only “auditor-arranger of accounts.” They say that it is not fitting for one man alone to be superior to the tribunal of the royal officials, for thereby is lost their authority and the superiority and influence that they ought to have for the efficient management and exercise of their duties; and that the expenses incurred with the said auditor of accounts and his clerks ought to be dispensed with, for the said reasons. In this regard what appears from the records of the visit is that Governor Don Juan de Silva, in a treasury meeting held in the year 610 (Book 7, folio 301), resolved to assign to the auditor of accounts and results [resultas] (joining those two offices, which had up to that time been divided) a salary of 1,000 pesos of common gold per annum, payable from the royal treasury, for the work of both offices. Until that time, it appears that the auditors of accounts had had only one official notary of accounts, with 250 pesos of salary per annum. By the said resolution it was raised to 300 pesos; and the clerks were increased by three, each with 200 pesos salary per annum—in consideration of the fact that there were many accounts in arrears to catch up with, and that the said two offices were joined into one. Other appointments resembling the one aforesaid were made in the persons of Pedro de Leuzarra, in the year 618, and Luis de Vera Encalada, in the year 620. At this time the said chief official notary of this exchequer was given a salary of 450 pesos, without its appearing when or why this increase was granted; and that same practice was continued. In the year 626, Alonso Garcia de la Vega was appointed with the title of “auditor-arranger” (Book 7, folio 65), in accordance with the act of the Audiencia above mentioned. In the year 629, Juan Baptista de Zubiaga was appointed [In the margin: “Memorial, folio 266, Book 1, folios 49, 128”] with the title of “auditor-arranger,” and four clerks, of whom we shall treat at the end of this paper, its proper place.
Against the statements of the royal officials, in regard to its being possible to avoid those expenses, the auditor of accounts, Luis de Encalada, stated in the year 625, in the suit that he had with them, that they could not be avoided, for the tribunal of accounts, consisting of the governor and two auditors [oidores] cannot personally arrange or audit them, both because of their occupations and because it is outside their profession; and their only duty is to dispose of the uncertainties and results [resultas] which may be proposed to them by the auditor of accounts.
[Point 4]
Papers of the secretary’s office. In regard to the advantages in having this office or tribunal, it seems that Governor Don Alonso Faxardo, in a letter of August 10, 619,[3] petitioned your Majesty to have intelligent persons sent as clerks; and informed your Majesty that he had appointed Pedro de Leuzarra, a trustworthy person, auditor of accounts, because of the incompetency of Francisco Lopez Tamayo. The Council, upon examining that letter, decreed, November 17, 620, that persons be named for that office, and that it was to be filled from that time thenceforth by his Majesty; and accordingly the appointment by the governor must cease.
That decree does not appear to have had any effect; for since that time and until the present, as has been seen, the governors have filled that office, notwithstanding that the Council gave that advice in the said year, and your Majesty granted the office to Alvaro de Revolledo. As it was then believed that the salary of this office was 500 pesos, the said Alvaro de Revolledo petitioned that it be increased to 2,000 ducados or to 510,000 maravedis, the same as that of the royal officials of those islands, so that he could exercise the said office with greater authority. No decision was made on the petition, and the said Alvaro de Rebolledo was afterward appointed to the accountancy of San Miguel de Piura, with a salary of 300 pesos ensayados.
The tribunal of accounts of Mexico state, in a letter of June 27, 625, that they have seen the necessity, from what they have examined of the accounts of the said Filipinas Islands, of sending a person to visit them who can adjust affairs pertaining to the expenses of the royal estate of those islands, and lay down a system [of conducting them] for the future. The person who must go should be of the ability, authority, and qualifications that the matter demands. He should be highly compensated and honored, in order that his office be respected and the end in view obtained. It is the most important action for your Majesty’s service, and has most need of reform.
It appears that the said Alvaro de Rebolledo again petitioned, in the year 626, that his warrant be despatched to him, with the salary that your Majesty might be pleased to grant him, so that, its value being known, he might be able to fulfil his duties. February 19, 626, it was decreed by the Council that he should be heard. Thereupon, the Council ordered the viceroy to investigate this matter, and to submit a relation of whatever had happened in regard to the office of auditor of accounts of Manila, and whether this office is necessary, whether it be for life, and what are its qualifications and duties; and of the tribunal of accounts. In obedience to this order, the viceroy, Marquis de Cerralbo, in a letter of May 22, 627, states that what he understands is that it is necessary that this office be permanent, and that very suitable persons trained in the tribunal of accounts and the other duties of the royal estate, should be found [for it]; and that it will be advisable that the official who should exercise it be approved by the governor of Filipinas.
The tribunal of accounts of Mexico, in a letter of May 28, of the same year 627, sent a report regarding the aforesaid which had been drawn up, by order of the viceroy, by one of the auditors [oidores] of the tribunal, Gaspar Bello de Acuña. In this it is declared that it is necessary that not only should the accounts of the royal treasury in Manila be audited, but also the accounts of all the royal estate which should be in the keeping of any person whatever; for this was a thing that has never been customary there, or had regular course, because of the resistance offered by the royal officials. The said accounts are of much more importance than any others; and it is therefore important to appoint a person who is thoroughly competent and reliable to inspect everything pertaining to the royal estate of the said islands; for the accountants hitherto appointed have been remiss in their proceedings. That has arisen from the poverty of the country, and from all being united there; or because those who try to proceed with any show of thoroughness in your Majesty’s service do not find aid in those who can give it in a matter that is of so great importance; and because this office, from what is understood of the condition of the royal estate in those islands, is subject to ordinary occupation and residence, and has a salary of one thousand pesos per annum. Since not more than one is appointed, he will need a clerk to help him in the methodical arrangement of the said accounts, and what is dependent on them. For the said office of accountant, a fully competent person, and one of abilities, will be needed. He should be well equipped, and honored with the necessary writs of prohibition for matters pertaining to his office, and with the privileges that may pertain to it. It is advisable that he should be sent as visitor of all things that concern the royal estate, to audit the accounts that are to be audited, and review those that are concluded, notwithstanding the visitor-general appointed; for the latter cannot have the intelligence, experience, and method which your Majesty orders to be exercised in such matters—which are understood only by those who have gained their knowledge in the chief bureau of accounts of those kingdoms. Such a person can be appointed with a time-limit, and, at the expiration of that time, he may return; and another man of skill and experience may remain as the ordinary and usual one, with the title of “auditor of accounts” for your Majesty; and he should receive the ordinary salary that your Majesty cares to grant him, and have a clerk to help him.
The Council, upon examination of the above-mentioned reports, decreed on December 6, 627, that the papers that occasioned them should be collected, and taken to the Council. From that time, it does not appear that anything pertaining to this matter has been done in or out of the Council until the year 631, upon the arrival of the visitor, Licentiate Don Francisco de Rojas, at the said islands. He having found Juan Baptista Zubiaga holding the said office of auditor-arranger of accounts and results [resultas], by the appointment of the governor in the year 629, ordered the said Juan Baptista to cease to exercise his duties, and to bring the papers in his charge to the visitor’s office; and ruled that there the said Juan Baptista and Diego Ortiz de Vargas, auditor [contador] of the visit, should together review all the accounts of the royal treasury and estate, with four other clerks. They were to receive the following salaries: the said Diego de Ortiz de Vargas, 2,000 ducados; the said Juan Baptista, 1,000 pesos, the same as he had received before [when exercising his office]; to one clerk 400 pesos, to another, 350, to another 300, and to the fourth 200.
Later, at the end of the visit in the year 633, the said visitor gave the said Juan Baptista de Zubiaga the title of “auditor of accounts and results” [resultas] with a salary of 1,000 ducados per annum, increasing his salary [In the margin: “Memorial, folio 266”] because of the extra work which he would have in collecting [the amounts due from] the results [resultas] which remained drawn in his possession. He was to get a confirmation from your Majesty for the increase, namely, from the 1,000 pesos which he received before to the 1,000 ducados assigned to him by the visitor, within six years. Besides the above, he was to have two clerks to assist him and commission to audit all the accounts, both general and private, pertaining to the royal estate. [In the margin: “The title is to be found in the collection of papers for the claim of this man in regard to the confirmation.”]
He made rules in regard to its execution, and ordered them to be obeyed and observed, and to be inscribed in the royal books for that purpose. Although the royal officials were opposed to both things, the visitor ordered them to obey the enactment. Because the said royal officials refused to inscribe the said ordinances in the royal books, he fined them five hundred ducados apiece, which remained in the royal treasury. He had those ordinances inscribed in the books, getting the books for that purpose from the royal treasury, for the royal officials refused to do it [In the margin: “Memorial, folio 266”]. In the report made for your Majesty by the said visitor in the year 634, regarding the visit, he states that he thinks that those islands have the greatest need of a tribunal of the bureau of accounts, so that the accounts of the royal treasury may be audited there annually for the preceding year, and results made of all for which warrants have been improperly issued, and that has failed to be collected, thus avoiding the delays which have occurred hitherto. It is very necessary to have not only the said auditor of accounts appointed by him in the said bureau of accounts, but also a greater force of men and more authority in the said bureau of accounts. If that course had been pursued hitherto, it is undeniable that so great a quantity of funds would not have been badly administered, lost, and uncollectible. In his opinion, those islands have much greater need of a tribunal or a bureau of accounts than of an Audiencia, president, and auditors [oidores].
By a certification given by the said auditor of accounts and of the visit, Juan Baptista Zubiaga, it appears that the results [resultas] drawn up against the royal officials and other private persons during the visit amounted to six hundred and ninety-five thousand and sixty pesos.
The governor of Filipinas, in a letter written to your Majesty August 10, 634,[4] declares that it will be advisable that your Majesty be pleased to send an auditor of accounts, and that such auditor should be a person of authority, who shall receive an adequate salary; and states that he who is holding that office ad interim was a servant of one of the auditors [oidores] of those islands, and thinks more of spending his time in maintaining his friendships than in attending to what is necessary. He thinks that with the above appointment, and the correction of some recent ordinances, the condition of affairs would be improved.
A report made from the secretary’s office having been examined in the Council on September 26, 635, regarding what appeared to be there on this matter, it was ordered that your fiscal should examine it; and that, after also examining what advices had been received concerning it and the letters of the visitor, he should inform the Council in regard to it all. The said your fiscal declared that the ordinances and papers sent by the royal officials had come without authentication; and therefore, until they should come with that requisite, he had nothing to say.
This defect no longer operates, for the above-mentioned ordinances have arrived duly authenticated, in the body of the [records of the] visit; and the officials, in a letter in which they set forth the objections to those ordinances, have sent some authenticated papers for the proof of their statements.
On February 20, 637, the papers on the matter having been examined in the Council, it was ordered that they be taken to your fiscal, with the rest of the papers concerning the visit that touch the royal estates and its accounts—so that, upon receiving his statement, the advisable decision may be made as to whether it is best to send an auditor of accounts to Filipinas, or not. It does not appear that the said your fiscal has as yet answered. This is the condition that appears from the above-cited records; and your Majesty will ordain the measures that seem best to you.
[1] Arts. 67 and 69, here cited, are respectively 60 and 62 in the original document (May 5, 1583) founding the Audiencia at Manila—for which see vol. v of this series, pp. 294, 295; cf. duties of fiscal, p. 302. These differences of numbering, and some additional matter in No. 67, show that considerable additions to the old decree were required at the reëstablishment of the Audiencia.
[2] This ordinance is contained in the first part of ley x, titulo xxix, libro viii, of the Recopilación de leyes. See Vol. XVI of this series, p. 193, note 251.
[3] See the letter by Fajardo, here referred to, in Vol. XVIII, pp. 247–279.
[4] See this letter in Vol. XXIV, p. 301.