The expedition against Mindanao having been arranged during the year ninety-five with Captain Estevan Rrodriguez de Figueroa, who was under obligations to carry it out, he began to do so, going thither in his own person; but in the year ninety-six he died, at the first assault. The army being unprovided with a commander, the governor of these islands, Don Francisco Tello, selected one. For the continuation of this expedition a very great expense was incurred by the command of the said governor, with the assent and advice of Dr. Antonio de Morga, his assessor and lieutenant. A suit from the heirs afterward followed, on the ground that they were not obliged to continue the expedition, and were not responsible for the expenses thereof. The Audiencia, as a court of appeal, revoked the governor’s command, and declared the estate free from obligations. I appealed the case to your Majesty, and sent the original documents. This I did, not only that the principal case might be decided, but also because the heirs claim that your Majesty should cause them to be paid for the expenditure of their property. I offer the advice that even if they were not obliged to carry out the conquest, your Majesty is not their debtor, since you have commanded that such conquests are not to be made on your account and at your cost. Hence these expenses are owing by him who commanded them to be incurred. Since I have been in your Majesty’s service I have placed this matter in a clear light, as was not previously the case. When claims were made for wages and other expenses, the Audiencia commanded them to be paid from the royal treasury; and thus many such payments have been made on the account of those who really owed them. At the present time the judges, being informed in regard to these claims, have decided that they are not due from your Majesty. Accordingly your Majesty is not only not obliged to pay them, but has a right to claim satisfaction, for the expenditures from the royal treasury, from the property of the governor Don Francisco; and, in case it is insufficient, from the property of the assessor by whose advice they were incurred.
As to the provision of an incumbent for this office, it should be noticed that most affairs in this country depend upon it—especially the proper care of the Indians, which is most important; for with this office is united that of being their protector. I have always striven to attend to this matter carefully, as I have done in other matters pertaining to your royal service. This I shall continue to do in these islands until an appointment is made: and I petition your Majesty to grant me, when that shall come, permission to leave this kingdom, the governor that shall be in office making me a sufficient allowance for my passage hence. God keep the Catholic personage of your Majesty, with the increase of your realms. Manila, July, 1606.
The licentiate Rodrigo Diaz Guiral
[1] Recopilación de leyes, lib. vi, tit. vi, ley viii, contains the following law in regard to the appointment of the protector of the Indians; “The bishops of Filipinas were charged by us with the protection and defense of those Indians. Having seen that they cannot attend to the importunity, and judicial acts and investigations, which require personal presence, we order the president-governors to appoint a protector and defender, and to assign him a competent salary from the taxes of the Indians, proportioned among those which shall be assigned to our royal crown and to private persons, without touching our royal treasury, which proceeds from other kinds [of taxes]. We declare that it is not our intention by this to deprive the bishops of their superintendence and protection of the Indians in general.” (Felipe II, Madrid, January 17, 1593, in a clause of a letter).
[2] The hospital order of St John of God was originally founded by a Portuguese soldier (named Joan), who at the age of forty years devoted himself, as a religious duty, to the care of sick persons. He began a hospital in his own house at Granada (1540), and his bishop permitted him and his associates to wear a habit. After his death (1550) similar hospitals were formed in Spain, and even spread to Italy. In 1585 all these were organized into an order, with constitutions, under the papal sanction; this order is still in existence, and has establishments in many countries. It did not reach the Philippines until 1649.
[3] Fray Diego Aduarte, Bishop of Nueva Segovia, wrote to the king (July 7, 1606), as follows: “Your Majesty possesses here a royal hospital which is one of the most necessary and useful things in this country for the welfare and care of the poor soldiers and others who serve your Majesty. Although the income which it has is small, it would be sufficient aid, with the many alms given by the citizens who are well to do, if there were some one who could distribute it well and take it in charge as his own affair. It is a most necessary thing for its good government and maintenance that your Majesty should send four or five brethren of the order called Juan de Dios, with the authority of your Majesty and his Holiness, and with power to receive others. For the institution is already founded and everything necessary supplied; and these brethren might come with the religious whom your Majesty sends here, either Franciscan or Dominican; or you might command that some of the excellent hospitallers who are settled in Nueva España should come to these islands, which would economize in expense and hasten their coming, and make it more certain.” [Endorsed: “September 24, 1607. Have the four brethren whom he mentions sent, and entrust the matter to Señor Don Francisco de Tejada, that he may arrange it with the elder brother of Anton Martin. Have a copy sent to Señor Don Francisco.”]
The Terrenate Expedition
Sire: