Besides the above, each village has a governor [201] who is elected. He and his constables who are called vilangos [202] comprise the usual magistracy among the natives. The governor hears civil suits where a moderate sum is involved; in appeal, the case goes to the corregidor or alcalde-mayor of the province. These governors are elected annually by the votes of all the married natives of such and such a village. The governor of Manila confirms the election, and gives the title of governor to the one elected, and orders him to take the residencia of the outgoing governor. [203] This governor, in addition to the vilangos and scrivener (before whom he makes his acts in writing, in the language of the natives of that province), [204] holds also the chiefs—lords of barangays, and those who are not so—under his rule and government, and, for any special service, such as collections of tributes, and assignments of personal services, as his datos and mandones. [205] They do not allow the chiefs to oppress the timaguas or slaves under their control.
The same customs observed by these natives in their paganism, are observed by them since they have become Christians, in so far as they are not contrary to natural law, especially as to their slavery, successions, inheritances, adoptions, wills, and lawful trading. In their suits, they always allege and prove the custom, and are judged by it, according to royal decrees to that effect. In other causes which do not involve their customs, and in criminal cases, the matter is determined by law as among Spaniards.
All of these islands and their natives, so far as they were pacified, were apportioned into encomiendas from the beginning. To the royal crown were allotted those which were chief towns and ports, and the dwellers of the cities and towns; and also other special encomiendas and villages in all the provinces, for the necessities and expenses of the royal estate. All the rest was assigned to the conquerors and settlers who have served and labored for the conquest and pacification, and in the war. This matter is in charge of the governor, who takes into consideration the merits and services of the claimants. [206] In like manner the villages that become vacant are assigned. There are many very excellent encomiendas throughout the islands, and they offer many profits, both by the amount of their tributes and by the nature and value of what is paid as tribute. [207] The encomienda lasts, according to the royal laws and decrees, and by the regular order and manner of succession to them, for two lives; but it may be extended to a third life, by permission. After it becomes vacant, it is again assigned and granted anew.
The tributes paid to their encomenderos by the natives were assigned by the first governor, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, in the provinces of Vicayas and Pintados, and in the islands of Luzon and its vicinity; they were equal to the sum of eight reals annually for an entire tribute from each tributario. The natives were to pay it in their products—in gold, cloth, cotton, rice, bells, fowls, and whatever else they possessed or harvested. The fixed price and value of each article was assigned so that, when the tribute was paid in any one of them, or in all of them, it should not exceed the value of the eight reals. So it has continued until now, and the governors have increased the appraisements and values of the products at different times, as they have deemed advisable.
The encomenderos have made great profits in collecting in kind, for, after they acquired possession of the products, they sold them at higher prices. By this they increased their incomes and the proceeds of their encomiendas considerably; until a few years ago his Majesty, by petition of the religious and the pressure that they brought to bear on him in this matter, ordered for this region that the natives should pay their tribute in whatever they wished—in kind or in money—without being compelled to do otherwise. Consequently, when they should have paid their eight reals, they would have fulfilled their obligation. Accordingly this rule was initiated; but experience demonstrates that, although it seemed a merciful measure, and one favorable to the natives, it is doing them great injury. For, since they naturally dislike to work, they do not sow, spin, dig gold, rear fowls, or raise other food supplies, as they did before, when they had to pay the tribute in those articles. They easily obtain, without so much work, the peso of money which is the amount of their tribute. Consequently it follows that the natives have less capital and wealth, because they do not work; and the country, which was formerly very well provided and well-supplied with all products, is now suffering want and deprivation of them. The owners of the encomiendas, both those of his Majesty and those of private persons who possess them, have sustained considerable loss and reduction in the value of the encomiendas.
When Gomez Perez Dasmariñas was appointed governor of the Filipinas, he brought royal decrees ordering the formation of the camp in Manila, with an enrollment of four hundred paid soldiers, with their officers, galleys, and other military supplies, for the defense and security of the country. Before that time all the Spanish inhabitants had attended to that without any pay. Then an increase of two reals to each tributario over the eight reals was ordered. This was to be collected by the encomenderos at the same time when they collected the eight reals of the tribute, and was to be delivered and placed in the royal treasury. There this amount was to be entered on an account separate from that of the other revenue of his Majesty, and was to be applied in the following manner: one and one-half reals for the expenses of the said camp and war stores; and the remaining half real for the pay of the prebendaries of the Manila church, which his Majesty pays from his treasury, until such time as their tithes and incomes suffice for their sustenance. [208]
These tributes are collected from all the natives, Christians and infidels, in their entirety—except that in those encomiendas without instruction the encomendero does not take the fourth part of the eight reals (which equals two reals) for himself, since that encomienda has no instruction or expenses for it; but he takes them and deposits them in Manila, in a fund called "the fourths." [209] The money obtained from this source is applied to and spent in hospitals for the natives, and in other works beneficial to them, at the option of the governor. As fast as the encomiendas are supplied with instruction and religious, the collection of these fourths and their expenditure in these special works cease.
Some provinces have taken the census of their natives; and according to these the tributes and the assignment of the two reals are collected.
In most of the provinces no census has been taken, and the tributes are collected when due by the encomenderos and their collectors, through the chiefs of their encomiendas, by means of the lists and memoranda of former years. From them the names of the deceased and of those who have changed their residence are erased, and the names of those who have grown up, and of those who have recently moved into the encomienda, are added. When any shortage is perceived in the accounts, a new count is requested and made.
The natives are free to move from one island to another, and from one province to another, and pay their tribute for that year in which they move and change their residence in the place to which they move; and to move from a Christian village that has instruction to another village possessing it. But, on the other hand, they may not move from a place having instruction to one without it, nor in the same village from one barangay to another, nor from one faction to another. In this respect, the necessary precautions are made by the government, and the necessary provisions by the Audiencia, so that this system may be kept, and so that all annoyances resulting from the moving of the settled natives of one place to another place may be avoided.