[9] “106. The chief aim of the alcaldes-mayor, corregidors, and assistants, is trade. They buy up by wholesale the products of the land, especially rice and other food supplies, exactly as is said above concerning the religious of certain curacies, and their interpreters and helpers.
“111. It is not advantageous for these alcaldes-mayor and corregidors, or their assistants or friends, to receive the royal collections, for they perpetrate the numberless frauds and cheats, both against the royal treasury and against the Indians; and there is no remedy for this, as they themselves administer justice. They hold the collections in their possession for a long time, trading with them, and the royal treasury is the loser.” (Report of Conditions in the Philippines, by Antonio de Morga; Bl. and Rb., Vol. 10, pp. 94–95.)
Referring to the religious men, Morga says in the same report:
“2. They trade and make a profit in their districts, from rice, wax, wine, gold, boats, fowls, cloth, and deerskins, to the great detriment of the Indians, as well as that of the entire country.
“3. They deal openly in merchandise of the above-mentioned articles, as well as in those of China, in the trade with Nueva España.”
“Before the governor Don Gonzalo Ronquillo came, there were not more than three or four alcaldes-mayor in all these islands; but now there are sixteen and most of them are men who came with him. As they came poor, and as the salaries are small, they have taken the Indians—as all affirm, and it is common talk—at the time for harvesting rice; and they buy up all other provisions, and many profit by selling them again. In this way everything has become dear, because, as they have forbidden the Indians to trade and traffic, they sell at whatever price they wish. Formerly the Indians brought their products to the gates, and sold it at very low prices; for they are satisfied with very little gain, which is not true of the Spaniards.” (Affairs in the Philippine Islands, Fray Domingo de Salazar. (Manila, 1593).—Bl. and Rb., Vol. 5, p. 217.)
[10] Rizal, La Indolencia.—“We will not cite our own experiences, for aside from the fact that we do not know which to select, critical persons may reproach us with partiality; neither will we cite those of other Filipinos who write in the newspapers; but we shall confine ourselves to translating the words of a modern French traveler who was in the Philippines for a long time:
“‘The good curate,’ he says with reference to the rosy picture a friar had given him of the Philippines, ‘had not told me about the governor, the foremost official of the district, who was too much taken up with the ideal of getting rich to have time to tyrannize over his docile subjects; the governor, charged with ruling the country and collecting the various taxes in the government’s name, devoted himself almost wholly to trade; in his hands the high and noble functions he performs are nothing more than instruments of gain. He monopolizes all the business and instead of developing on his part the love of work, instead of stimulating the too natural indolence of the natives, he with abuse of his powers thinks only of destroying all competition that may trouble him or attempt to participate in his profits. It matters little to him that the country is impoverished, without cultivation, without commerce, without industry, just so the governor is quickly enriched!”
[11] Resultados del Desarrollo Económico de Filipinas; in “Revista Económica,” November, 1912: