The only person in the Philippines who exercised any sort of check on the governor was the bishop, with whom he was ordered to consult frequently. These consultations were often productive of bitter quarrels. The first prelate of the Philippines, Bishop Salazar, arrived in 1581, and throughout his ecclesiastical administration exercised influence of a far-reaching character. It was he who first showed the need of a royal audiencia to check the encroachments of the governor on the prerogatives of the church, for the protection of the natives, and for the safeguarding of the royal interests. Bishop Salazar was a determined opponent of Governor Sande, whom he accused of excessive indulgence in trade and the extortion of large sums from the encomenderos. On June 20, 1582, he wrote to the Council: “if I were as rich as Governor Sande, I would engage to pay any sum of money.” He also testified that “the government here is a place for the enrichment of governors; they carry away as much as 400,000 ducats, knowing that they will have to pay a share of it at the residencia, but they steal enough to do that also.”[10]
The government of the Philippines, prior to the establishment of the Audiencia of Manila, during the period 1565–1584, was subordinate to the viceroy and to the audiencia in Mexico. The time required for the transmission of documents and correspondence, the fewness of ships available for the voyage between the Philippines and New Spain, and the unsatisfactory means of communication resulting therefrom, seriously inconvenienced the residents of the colony. In matters of government and justice appeals had to be taken to Mexico. This proceeding involved great loss of time and expense, and was especially inimical to the administration of justice. The assignment and regulation of encomiendas, the supervision of financial affairs, the control of the Chinese trade, the dispatch of the galleons to New Spain, and the assignment of cargo-space on these ships, were all matters which, at that great distance, and at that time, called for divided control. The execution of all these duties was too great a charge for the human frailties of one man; the governor could do it neither honestly nor well. The necessity was apparent of having a central government in Manila which would be self-sufficient in itself; that is, independent of New Spain, and at the same time capable of repairing its own defects.
The relations which existed between the Manila government and the authorities of New Spain are illustrated by a letter which Governor Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa wrote a month later than the correspondence above alluded to. In this letter he announced the arrival of a ship from Mexico, which, he said, bore nothing but charges against him. These complaints, he alleged, had been formulated by agents of Dr. Francisco de Sande, his predecessor, whose residencia he had conducted and whom he had deprived of his office as governor. Ronquillo wrote that
nevertheless, Sande has been received in that royal audiencia of Mexico as oidor, as a result of which all those who love justice may well despair. They meddle with my government from Mexico, giving orders to my corregidores without consulting me, and addressing private individuals in regard to the supplies, directing them to keep watch over this or that matter; they impose grave penalties upon me, and no matter how small the affair may be, they refuse to listen to me or to hear my side of the question.[11]
He concluded by pointing out the inconsistency of his position, subject as he was to Sande, the man whom he had displaced because of the former’s unfitness to occupy the post of governor. Although Governor Ronquillo de Peñalosa did not ask for an audiencia on this occasion, he did petition for an educated assistant to aid him in the administration of justice. “The trouble here,” he wrote to the king, in the letter above quoted, “is that the people are of such a nature that, at the same time when justice is done to one, an enemy is made of another person.” The rule of Ronquillo de Peñalosa as governor was distinctly typical of the possibilities of an absolute executive, far removed from the restraining influence of the courts, with scarcely any limitation upon his operations. Appointed as he had been for life, with proprietary attributes, and with the power of naming his successor, Ronquillo de Peñalosa was the first governor sent out from Spain in pursuance of the policy of entrusting frontier commands to military men who were fitted by profession and experience to deal with situations which demanded the qualities of the soldier, rather than those of the administrator and politician. An attempt thus seems to have been made to remedy the ills which had been characteristic of the administration of Lavezares and Sande by entrusting the governor with more centralized power—an attempt to correct the evils of absolutism with the mailed fist and more absolutism, backed by military power.
The bishop, who at this time kept the court well informed of the weaknesses of the government, as they appeared to him, sent many complaints against Ronquillo de Peñalosa, as other churchmen had done against former governors. Not only did the bishop himself write repeatedly, but he influenced the municipal and ecclesiastical chapters of Manila to send protests against the governor’s misrule. It was largely owing to Salazar’s influence that Captain Gabriel de Rivera (or Ribera) was sent to Spain with a petition signed by most of the influential men of the colony, asking for various reforms. Among these the establishment of a royal audiencia was especially requested.[12]
On the occasion of Ronquillo’s death in 1583, the bishop called attention to the straits into which the colony had fallen as a result of the tyrannical methods of the deceased governor.[13] He described Ronquillo’s efforts to prevent residents from appealing to the audiencia and viceroy of New Spain. He stated that the Indians had been unjustly treated by the encomenderos and alcaldes mayores, for when appeals had been made to the governor, the latter, on a plea of being too busy to occupy himself with such minute details, had ordered the alcaldes mayores to settle the questions at issue without disturbing him. Ronquillo was said to have engaged extensively in commerce, monopolizing the ships to the exclusion of the merchants, and forcing large loans from the officials and residents, who did not dare to refuse him, lest all their privileges be taken from them. He had established private encomiendas in nearly every town in Luzon, appropriating the income therefrom, instead of turning the proceeds into the royal treasury.[14] This the prelate conceded to be in accordance with the conditions of the governor’s appointment, but it was nevertheless unjust, as the privilege of holding encomiendas was denied to other officials, and the treasury of the colony was in need of the revenue which had been daily enriching the governor. The bishop accused the governor of seizing Indians, placing them en encomienda wherever and whenever he found them, irrespective of whether they were already free, or whether they belonged on other encomiendas. These acts, he said, had caused the Indians to be dissatisfied and rebellious, and he evidently was of the opinion that a revolt was impending when he penned this memorial. “Many times I have prayed,” he wrote, “that God should close the natives’ eyes in order that they may not see the weakness and the little power with which we might resist them in case they should arise to put down these evils.” The bishop closed this memorial with a vigorous protest against the continuance of the hereditary principle in the succession of governors in the Philippines. He made the general recommendation that in the future governors should be appointed by the king, with a view to securing men of administrative and executive ability. He brought forth strenuous objections to the accession of the ex-governor’s nephew. Diego Ronquillo de Peñalosa, who was not fitted to occupy the post of governor. If the latter assumed the government, the bishop could see nothing in store for the colony but a continuation of the evil days which had been extant throughout the administration of the elder Ronquillo, “who had spent all his time in gathering wealth for himself by means of trade, shutting his eyes and ears to those who asked justice of him.” Salazar expressed the opinion that “had Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa spent as much of his time in making conquests and discoveries as he had in making packages [of merchandise], the prosperity of the Islands and the general welfare would have been his chief aim.”[15]
Although the decree establishing an audiencia in the Philippines was promulgated before the above memorial reached court, there is no question but that the influence of Bishop Salazar did much towards bringing about the creation of a tribunal in the Islands. Indeed, Salazar has been given all the credit for this by more than one authority.[16] While the bishop did exert an important influence in bringing about this change, the support which he received from residents of the colony was also of immense advantage. Many individuals, aggrieved by the abuses of the executive, wrote vigorous complaints against “the tyranny of an absolute governor, who alone and unchecked, reserves to himself excessive power.” Their letters emphasize the injustice of having appeals carried to Mexico, “where the people of Manila never get their deserts, and where they suffer on account of the distance.” Various encomenderos had been wronged by the acts of the governor in dividing their encomiendas, and reducing the number of Indians thereon; they had appealed to Mexico, and after waiting over two years, had despaired of ever getting any return for the money and the time which they had spent in litigation at the distant capital. As a possible means of relief they requested the establishment of a royal audiencia at Manila.[17]
Another person who exerted considerable influence toward the establishment of an audiencia in the Philippines was Captain Gabriel de Rivera, who went to Madrid for that purpose. He was the first procurador general de las islas del poniente, and it was his duty to represent at court the needs of the colony, and of its inhabitants.[18] Rivera acted as the personal agent of Salazar in his advocacy of the establishment of an audiencia, and it was largely due to his efforts that the institution was established when it was. In his memorial of February 16, 1582, Rivera criticized the existing administration in the Philippines, the proprietary governorship, and the control over commerce which the governor had exercised. The latter had levied the almojarifazgo and other customs duties in defiance of the royal cédulas forbidding them, and without consulting the wishes of the merchants or officials. Rivera alleged that the almojarifazgo and the alcabala were ruining the commerce of the Islands.[19] His memorial treated extensively of the abuses which had occurred in the administration of the encomiendas, and he pointed out numerous defects in the judicial system of the colonies.
He suggested the establishment of a royal audiencia to consist of three judges, having criminal and civil jurisdiction, without appeal to any other tribunal than the Council of the Indies. The audiencia as outlined by him was to have administrative powers as well as judicial; it was to govern as a commission, with a governor at its head, chosen for a term of six years.[20] This scheme, he said, if put into operation, would result in no increased expense to the crown or colony. He proposed the abolition of the three oficiales reales, suggesting the substitution of three oidores in their places, thus extending the jurisdiction of the audiencia to matters of finance. The new tribunal should likewise take cognizance of the assignment of encomiendas, and see that in all cases the royal will was obeyed. The audiencia should exercise supervision over the alcaldes mayores in their relation to the encomiendas, with a view to remedying the existing abuses and seeing that justice was done to the Indians. The audiencia should hear cases appealed from the alcaldes mayores and corregidores instead of allowing these suits to be heard by the governor or sent to Mexico. Rivera also urged that there should be a special defender of the Indians as a part of the audiencia.[21]