The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898; Volume 50 / 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

STATEMENT VI

Other increases and savings which the royal exchequer can make, in the various directions which are here stated.

1. It is assumed that there are, at the lowest figure, six thousand heads of barangay in the provinces of these islands; for although, by the ordinance, each headship ought to have forty-five entire tributes, it is certain that there are few which reach that number, and that there are many of five, eight, ten, and twenty tributes. Therefore, assigning to each headship, on the average, at most thirty tributes, they make the six thousand above stated, the number of tributes [in them being] one hundred and eighty-three thousand, three hundred and thirty, the lowest computation that can be made of headships and of tributes. As three persons in every headship are exempted [from paying tribute], the royal exchequer is deprived of the value of nine thousand entire tributes, which, at the rate of ten reals, make eleven thousand, two hundred and fifty pesos. Therefore, by abolishing the said headships, and making the governadorcillo or headman of each village responsible for the collection of the tributes therein (as is done in Nueva España), or by allowing the said headships and decreeing that those who hold them shall pay tribute (as they formerly did, by order of the visitor, Auditor Don Joseph Arzadun), this increase in the tribute will result to the advantage of the royal exchequer, by the sum of eleven thousand, two hundred and fifty pesos.

2. It is generally the case that the heads of barangay keep back from the king, at a very low estimate, at least ten tributes each, on account of the dispersion of the houses of the Indians, which renders almost impossible any exactness in the tax-lists which for this purpose are committed to the said headships. Therefore, if the reduction of the villages into parishes[6]—which I have continually urged, and shall ask from this government—could be effected, not only would the aforesaid collection of the tribute be greatly facilitated, especially if it were committed, as I have said, to the governadorcillos and leading chiefs; but the tax-lists would be exactly drawn up by the alcaldes, and the said ten tributes in each barangay which have been mentioned would not be kept back from the king. This, estimated for the six thousand [headships], would come to the number of sixty thousand tributes; at the rate of ten reals each, the royal treasury would enjoy an increase from this source, which would reach the sum of seventy-five thousand, five hundred pesos.

3. By order of the above-mentioned visitor, no exemption from tribute was enjoyed by the officials of the villages, except by the governadorcillos and headmen; and counting six exempt persons [each] in three hundred and sixty villages alone—without including the visitas, which also have their officials—they make the number of two thousand, one hundred and sixty, which make one thousand and eighty tributes. These, at the rate of ten reals, amount to one thousand, three hundred and fifty pesos; consequently, by taking away these exemptions the royal exchequer will be increased by this sum.

4. The singers, sacristans, and doorkeepers of the churches in the villages are paid from the communal treasury of the Indians, and have their fees at all the feasts, burials, etc.[7] By exempting them from polos and personal services, and taking away their exemption from the tribute, [there would be gained] two thousand and thirty-eight and one-half whole tributes, which in the general [statement of] accounts for the year 765 are reckoned as exempted on account of the service of the churches in the villages tributary to the crown; the increase to the royal exchequer would be two thousand, five hundred and forty-eight pesos, one tomin.

5. Those who are for the same reason exempted in the villages of private encomiendas, according to the said general statement, number one hundred and ninety-six and one-half whole tributes. By abolishing this exemption, the increase to the royal treasury will be two hundred and forty-five pesos, five tomins.

6. The confusion in the accounts of the royal revenue in the provinces; the arrears [in despatch of business] which they experience in the offices; the increased losses of ships, with goods belonging to the royal account, which are made a pretext [for not settling their accounts]; losses by fire; uncollectible charges; negligence in pushing the collections that ought to be made; and other damages which follow from the said confusion—all these are reckoned at thirty thousand pesos a year. If the debits and credits were in money, and not produce, and the alcaldes were obliged to supply the royal storehouses, transporting at their own account the commodities from the provinces—these being placed to their credit, according to the stipulation made with each one—with the rest which I have presented before the royal Audiencia and superior government, the royal exchequer would render available the said sum of thirty thousand pesos.

7. Likewise I have asserted in the royal Audiencia that the Indians ought not to be paid for the conveyance of their tributes, [when paid] in kind, from their villages to the capital of their province, as being contrary to the laws (ley 1, titulo 9, libro 8, and ley 63, titulo 5, libro 6, in the Recopilación de Yndias) which treat of the tributes of the crown, and plainly show the obligation of the Indians to carry their tributes to the said capitals—differently from the tributes of encomiendas and from general appraisements, which are mentioned in ley 44, titulo 5, libro 6, in which it is commanded that the tributes be paid in the villages. Consequently, if the aforesaid conveyance is at the cost of the Indians, as seems just, and not at that of the royal exchequer, not only will the frauds arising from such entries in the accounts of the alcaldes be avoided, but his Majesty will save the expense which is mentioned in the third item of statement iv, which amounts to the sum of six thousand pesos.

(In case the method which is suggested in the sixth item preceding this be established, the said sum will inure to the benefit of the alcaldes-mayor, who should at their own account and risk render a statement, with payment, of the entire proceeds of the tributes; and in the obligation or contract with each one the said benefit should be kept in view, in order that it may inure to the benefit of the royal exchequer.)

8. There has always been an outcry in España against the purchase of public offices in the Yndias, notwithstanding that these have been placed on sale only in the exigencies of the crown. If the sale of these offices on the royal account is a question involving much scruple, it necessarily follows that it would be an injustice to sell them on the account of those who have authority to make appointments to those offices ad interim. Consequently, by reëstablishing the oldtime method—by which the candidates for the posts of alcalde must present themselves before the royal Audiencia with documentary evidence of their merits, in order that three qualified persons might be presented to the superior government, in the first, second, and third places respectively, for each post of alcalde—the dangers arising from the sale of offices which has been practiced in some governments would be avoided; and the selection [of officials] would be more conformable to justice and less mercenary (as I represented to his Majesty in the year 760). The royal exchequer could thus save the salaries of the alcaldes and magistrates (as is done in Nueva España), which saving would amount, as in the second item of statement iii, to the sum of seven thousand, five hundred pesos.

(If the alcaldeships were knocked down to the highest bidder in the auction-hall, together with the farming of the tributes, it would result in even greater profit to the royal exchequer.)

9. The offices of commander and military officers of the ship which goes annually to Acapulco are bestowed on citizens of this city; and the appointments to these offices can be made without giving them the salaries which hitherto they have enjoyed; for they are sought not so much for the salaries as for the honor, and for the free passage, with comfortable berths and conveniences, [which is furnished to officers]. Consequently the royal exchequer could save the amount of the said salaries, which exceeds ten thousand pesos.

10. In the paper of suggestions and the report which I cited in the first item of statement v, are mentioned the many advantages which would result from the establishment of guilds [gremios] which I propose; and from the increase of the royal revenues by the half-annats from the officials [of the crown]; and by the duties of one-fifth on silver and gold. These metals are wrought, at the will of the silver-smiths, of various standards and degrees of purity, contrary to the provisions of the royal decree of March 17, 1735; and as I cannot fix the exact amount for the aforesaid duties, a moderate estimate is made, at the lowest [standard], that the increase of the royal revenue would amount to some seven thousand pesos.

11. In each village there is a governadorcillo or headman, a deputy (and, if the village is a large one, two or three), a constable (and likewise two others, in large villages), an inspector of grain-fields [juez de sementeras], another of palm-trees, and a notary. In the visitas of the villages there are likewise deputies, constables, and inspectors of grain-fields. The large villages are more numerous than the small ones. If we allow for each one of the three hundred and sixty villages one headman or governadorcillo, only one deputy and one constable, one inspector of palm-trees and another of grain-fields, these make in each village, on the average, six offices which annually pay the half-annat, by a custom which was introduced into these islands in violation of the law of the Indias, which exempts the Indians from this royal impost. But in the settlement of its amount there is an unusual variation and difference, by which in the provinces of Tondo, Bulacan, Balayan, and Laguna de Bay (which are close to Manila) a governadorcillo pays twelve pesos, a deputy six pesos, and the constables, inspectors, and notaries four pesos [each]; while in the other provinces which likewise are close to this capital—Pampanga, Batahàn, and Cavite—a governadorcillo pays six pesos, a deputy four pesos, and the constables, inspectors, and notaries three pesos [each]. In all the other and remote provinces, a governadorcillo pays only one peso, six granos; a deputy, six and one-half reals; and the constables, inspectors, and notaries, three and one-half reals. From this it results that each village in the four first-named provinces pays thirty-four pesos, and each village in the three other provinces close by pays only twenty-two pesos; and in the thirty-seven villages of these three provinces the difference which there is between paying twenty-two pesos each and (as in the former) thirty-four, is four hundred and forty-four pesos—which is the increase for the said royal impost, if the payment is fixed at thirty-four pesos.

12. The seven provinces above mentioned have one hundred and eleven villages, and to fill up the complement of three hundred and sixty there remain in the remote provinces two hundred and forty-nine villages. Each one of these pays only five pesos, one tomin; and by ruling that they shall pay twenty-two pesos this impost will be increased by sixteen pesos, seven reals in each village. Multiplying this by two hundred and forty-seven, the number of villages, the said increase will amount to the sum of four thousand, two hundred and one pesos, seven tomins; and by equalizing [the payments of] all the provinces, at the rate of thirty-four pesos for each village, the aforesaid increase will rise to seven thousand, one hundred and eighty-nine pesos, seven tomins.

13. In my report of May 10, 760, in which I demonstrated the defective foundation of the commerce here, I proposed the increase of sixty thousand pesos every year, [in the amount of the permission?] his Majesty to permit the return of the silver from Acapulco with the impost of eight to ten per cent; and it is certain that the ten per cent will produce to the royal exchequer annually, on the average, one hundred thousand pesos, which is the amount in which the royal officials at Acapulco are interested.

14. In a report of June 25 in the same year, I proposed that the boletas should be applied to the benefit of the royal exchequer;[8] this increase would be at least fifty thousand pesos.

15. In a report of June 5 of the same year, I proposed to save the expense of one [university] chair of civil law [Instituta], which would yield an increase of four hundred pesos.

16. In a report of July 14 of the same year was mentioned the abandonment of the sale of [papal] bulls; and it was shown that this could produce at each publication at least one hundred pesos, which would be an annual increase of fifty thousand pesos

17. The contract for working the iron mine called Santa Ynes[9] was knocked down to the highest bidder at the royal auctions, before the late war, and afterward its operation ceased entirely. Consequently, by working the said mine on the royal account, on the terms which I proposed in the cited paper of suggestions, and in a written statement which I presented to the government (from which no action has yet resulted), the royal exchequer will gain the increase and profit of more than fifty thousand pesos.

18. By reëstablishing the farming or monopoly of playing-cards, either (preferably) by contract or by its administration or the royal account, as is commanded by the royal decrees of February 5, 730 and November 28, 1734, it could produce in all the provinces more than twenty thousand pesos, at the lowest estimate, in increase of the royal revenue.

19. By establishing the monopoly of cock-fighting[10] in these islands (as in Mexico), with the charge of one grano for each Indian who resorts to the said sport, and reckoning forty-eight granos (which make four reals) for forty-eight times[11] when each, at the least, would bet each year, four hundred thousand persons would share [in contributing to] the royal exchequer two hundred thousand pesos, at the least reckoning. For it is certain that there are more than eight hundred thousand souls who are able to bet on the cocks, and that, on account of their vicious dispositions and extraordinary addiction to this sport, it might be reckoned that each one would gamble more than eighty times a year; in that proportion the proceeds of this income, which here is estimated at only two hundred thousand pesos, would exceed four hundred thousand pesos.

20. By establishing similarly the monopoly of tobacco,[12] there would be an enormous increase in the royal revenue, since in the form of snuff [polvos] it is used by nearly all the Spaniards (both ecclesiastical and secular) in the islands. By establishing monopoly shops in the villages of the provinces, the consumption [of snuff] would be great; but that of leaf tobacco and cigars would be incomparably greater yet, on account of being used by more than a million of souls; for it is certain (as is the case) that even the boys and girls use the said tobacco before they [are old enough to] exercise their reason [antes de tener vso de razon]. It can be asserted without exaggeration that this traffic would produce more than four hundred thousand pesos.

21. In a report of June 5 of the aforesaid year 760, I explained the increase which the royal revenues might obtain, and in the cited paper of suggestions I proposed the means, by which the monopolies of buyo and wine [13] could be augmented by more than a hundred and thirty thousand pesos; for it is certain that if these were extended to all the provinces (they now have no wider limit than five leguas from this capital) they would produce for the royal treasury enormous sums.

22. The casting of plows is permitted to one person only, who is appointed by the government; if this were sold at auction it certainly would produce, at the lowest estimate, the sum of seven hundred pesos.

Thus the savings and increases of revenue contained in this sixth statement would produce to the royal treasury the aforesaid sum of one million, one hundred and fifty-seven thousand, one hundred and thirty-nine pesos, five tomins every year.

Summary

	Pesos	tomins
The savings and increases of revenue contained in this statement amount to the sum of	1,157,139	5
Those contained in statement v amount to	155,693	6
Total	1,312,833	3

Accordingly, the savings and the increases mentioned in the two foregoing statements are worth to the royal exchequer the sum of one million, three hundred and twelve thousand, eight hundred and thirty-three pesos, three reals; and even if it be reckoned at no more than a million, this annual product will be more than enough to maintain the islands with respectable forces, and to make good the expenses hitherto caused to the royal revenue, without the necessity of increasing the royal tribute from the Indians. And, in case it be thus increased, in the following statement will be set forth the value of the said increase.

Note

1. In the said savings and expenses have not been included the royal customs duties—on which I made a report to his Majesty under date of March 4, 760—because they are at the present time levied and collected with great increase of the royal revenue, time having confirmed what was contained in the report here cited. For, notwithstanding that the collections are now made on the Spanish ships only at the rate of three per cent, the royal exchequer has an increase of two hundred per cent, more than in past times when these duties were levied, either really or nominally [se exigia, ô se aparentava la exaccion], at eight per cent.

2. Reference can be made to the information which I furnished to his Majesty under date of June 5 in the aforesaid year of 1760, in which were discussed the savings which the royal exchequer could make in various directions, especially in the timber-cutting and in the royal storehouses, for the damage that the royal interests suffer [therein] is very evident; but no definite amount is set down for the value of the said savings, nor are they included in this account, since it is difficult to compute them.

3. For the same reason, the large retrenchments have not been included herein which can be made in the ribera of Cavite, and in the stricter examination of the accounts pertaining to military supplies, provisions, implements, and reserve supplies for the Acapulco ships and other vessels belonging to his Majesty; for there is great waste, and little care is exercised in what is furnished for consumption.[14]

These and many other economies can be facilitated only by disinterestedness, zeal, and application to the affairs of the royal service.