The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 19 of 55 / 1620-1621 / 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

Memorial and Relation of the Filipinas

Sire:

I, Hernando de los Ríos Coronel; an ordained priest, and procurator-general of the Filipinas Islands, Maluco, and all that archipelago, declared that, about thirty-two years ago or more, I went to the Filipinas Islands, where I lived a considerable time in the military habit and exercise, and as a citizen of the city of Manila, but with greater desires than strength to serve your Majesty, and endeavoring to give indications of this to all the inhabitants of that kingdom. On that account, they charged me with, and loaded upon my shoulders, in the year 1605, the weight of their cares and troubles. I came to this court, where I prostrated myself many times before the royal feet of his Majesty who is in heaven, and gave him an account of those things. I returned to that kingdom in the year 1610, to give account there of myself, and of my mission, undergoing many hardships and perils. Although such might have been avoided, and I could have made stipulations for my comfort and rest, as I had opportunity to do in your royal Council of the Indias, I confess that I know not what interior force and natural inclination has always induced me to prefer the service of your Majesty, and the welfare and increase of that kingdom, to my own rest or comfort—which, in order to follow your service, I have never regarded as important, or given it any care. Inasmuch as times change affairs, and considering the many casualties caused by the enemy from Olanda, things have come to a very different pass from that in which I then left them. For that reason, that entire kingdom and its estates resolved that I should return again to confer with your Majesty and your royal councils concerning what was most advisable for your royal service and the welfare and relief of that land. And although I found that I needed some rest in a corner, and it was a severe trial for me to consent again to undergo more arduous labors, and difficulties so much greater as are the gravity of affairs in those islands and the multitude of the enemies with whom the seas are infested, yet that desire and inclination [for your Majesty’s service] had so much power over me that I postponed all my rest.

I offer your Majesty this relation, which, when I came to this court about three years ago,[1] I gave to his Majesty who is in heaven, so that he might be informed, as was desirable, of that kingdom so remote from his royal eyes. I felt now that I was obliged to present it to your Majesty, and on this occasion I have taken the opportunity to extend it to greater length, and to give your Majesty a fuller account—being encouraged to do so by seeing the glorious beginnings that your Majesty has given to your monarchy, on which, in the name of that kingdom, I give your Majesty a thousand congratulations, and may you enjoy it very many years, with the greatest happiness and increasing prosperity. I have written this relation with entire exactness and truth regarding all the facts that I have collected during so many years—and thus as well as was possible to me—without considering any human respects, which are what usually obscure such mirrors, in order that they might not give the light that is desirable in such an account. I relate, then, what has occurred in Filipinas, from the time of their first discoverers; their tendency toward, advancement; and the mildest and most advisable measures for the attainment of admirable ends. I trust, through God our Lord, that, if this child and offspring of my intellect has the good fortune to pass before the royal eyes of your Majesty, it will be of great importance to your royal service.

[The present book is divided into three parts. Part first, consisting of ten chapters, is a short résumé of Philippine history from the earliest discoveries until the naval battle at Playa Honda with the Dutch. The second part, consisting of seven chapters, deals more intimately with the needs and resources of the islands, and the importance of their conservation—that is, of matters that fell particularly to Los Rios in his capacity of procurator-general. The third part, in five chapters, relates to ecclesiastical matters in the Philippines, and contains brief remarks on the Moluccas. The first six chapters of part first are here only synopsized, with some extracts, as they deal with matters rather fully presented heretofore in this series. All the remainder of the book is translated in full.]

Part First

[Chapter I treats “of the first discoverers of the Filipinas, and of their location.” In rapid survey Los Rios sketches the expeditions of Magalhães, Loaisa, Villalobos, and Legazpi, although wrongly placing the latter’s death in 1574 instead of 1572. The location of the islands is briefly described and the names of some of the principal ones given, among them “Mindanao, which is the largest, and with which we are at war, although it had formerly rendered your Majesty homage.” Continuing his narrative, the governorships of Guido de Labaçares (whose death is wrongly stated as occurring in 1575), Francisco de Sande, the two Ronquillos (who are mentioned as brothers), and Santiago de Vera, are lightly mentioned. Limahon’s expedition against Manila (wrongly ascribed to the period of Legazpi’s governorship), and Sande’s expedition to Borneo are particularly mentioned. The latter sacked the Bornean king’s city “with but little justification.” In his time also the Chinese trade begins to be steady. Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa on coming to assume the governorship, according to the terms of his contract, brings a number of colonists, “who were called rodeados[2] because they had come by way of Panama ... He was a peaceful man, although—because he had brought two sons with him, besides other relatives, whom he allowed to live with considerable laxity; and because numerous complaints had been written from the city to his Majesty—his Majesty, seeing the great trouble experienced in preaching the gospel, the evil example that those sons and relatives furnished, and the harm that this would cause unless it were stopped, removed Ronquillo from his governorship, and sent the royal Audiencia to govern, and as governor and captain-general its president, one Santiago de Vera.” On the latter’s arrival he finds Diego Ronquillo governing because of Gonzalo’s death. An Indian, in snuffing the candles on the latter’s catafalque, accidentally sets fire to some rich draperies. The fire remains unnoticed and smoulders until, the friars in attendance having left the church, it bursts into flame, and the city is entirely burned, and the site of the fort, Santiago, becomes a lake. Tomas Vimble (Candish), who captures the Santa Ana near California in 1587, sets all its crew ashore, with the exception of a priest whom he hangs. Alonso Sanchez’s voyage to Spain and Rome as procurator-general is influential in the suppression of the Audiencia and the election of Gomez Perez Dasmariñas as governor. Sanchez “wrote some treatises about the justification of the kings of España, and their right of title to the Filipinas, which merit that time do not bury them, although they exist in the archives of the Council of the Indias. He seems a prophet in many of his statements in those treatises.”[3]

In Chapter II some of the leading events of the term of Gomez Perez Dasmariñas are noted, and his unfortunate death. Such is his activity and care “that he alone aggrandized that city more than had all his predecessors, or his successors to this time.” Negotiations are opened with Japan, and the embassy from Camboja begging for aid against Siam is received at Manila. “I believe,” says Los Rios, “that if he had done it, it would have been a great stroke of fortune, and your Majesty would justly be lord of that kingdom and of Sian, which is very wealthy. That is the only thing in which I believe that Gomez Perez erred.”