ROYAL DECREE ORDERING THE TEACHING OF SPANISH IN NATIVE SCHOOLS
The King. Don Rafael María de Aguilar, whom I have appointed as my governor of the provinces of the Filipinas Islands, in the district of my royal Audiencia of Manila: My Council of the Indias having conferred in regard to the measures which my royal Audiencia of Charcas,[1] in a report of March 7, 1777, stated that it had given for the establishment of schools for teaching the Castilian language in the Indian villages of their district, and in regard to what my fiscal declared in his report, resolved that when my royal titles are delivered to the governors or corregidors of those my dominions, they be advised in a separate despatch of what they are to do concerning this matter. Consequently, I order you to strictly observe the royal decrees, that have been issued in general on May 10, 1770, November 28, 1772, and November 24, 1774, in regard to the establishment of schools for the Castilian language in all the Indian villages, so that they may learn to read, write, and speak Castilian, prohibiting them from using their native language, and appointing for it teachers in whom are found the qualifications of Christianity, sufficiency, and good deportment that are required for so useful and delicate an employment. They shall be assigned the salary for the present from the receipts of my royal treasury, by way of teaching fund [preceptoría] in the villages where this contribution is current, while what is lacking shall be paid from the communal properties and treasuries. You shall propose to your superiors the means which you consider most fitting for the solid establishment of the above-mentioned schools, and you shall order that no other language be spoken in the convents, monasteries, and in all judicial, extrajudicial, and domestic affairs than the Castilian. The justices, prelates, masters, and patrons of the houses shall keep watch over that. You are warned that if you do not perform your duty in this regard, for every omission which you shall make in the abovesaid, and in what pertains to the district of that province, it shall be made a charge against you in your residencia; and for that purpose, the advisable order is being communicated to the respective, my royal Audiencia.[2] Given in Madrid, December 22, 1792.
I the King
By order of the king our sovereign:
[1] A royal decree given first to the Audiencia of Charcas (January 28, 1778), was extended to the Philippines, November 5, 1782 (See Barrantes, pp. 68–73). The latter decree provides for the establishment of schools for the teaching of Spanish, the expense to be met from the proceeds from foundations, and from communal property. [↑]
[2] On the teaching of Spanish in the Philippines, see Patricio de la Escotura’s Memoria sobre Filipinas y Joló (Madrid, 1882, pp. 1–30). [↑]