[Words illegible in MS. The assembly hall?] has been shut often because of the sickness of these auditors, and more than two months have gone by without any session. Although the business that arises is but slight, it is well for the governors to know what is their obligation when there is a deficiency of auditors in a district so remote from your Majesty; and whether the progress of the suits ought to be stopped on account of death or long illness, for three or four years, until the remedy comes from España; or whether one can proceed as was done when there was no Audiencia. Also it is desirable to know whether it is exactly and legally necessary for an auditor to preside every year at the elections of alcaldes; or whether it will be sufficient, in the absence of auditors, to appoint a person from the number of the influential persons of Filipinas, since the auditor did not per se possess jurisdiction to preside, except by virtue of the commission given him by the government; or whether the said election of alcaldes must cease because there is no one to preside.
By decree of June 8, 1621, your Majesty orders, under severe penalties, that those who still owe anything of the proceeds from saleable offices can neither vote nor be elected as alcaldes-in-ordinary. This has been observed; but certain persons, because of their revengeful dispositions and passions, have extended the decree to [cover] other and different debts. Especially this year has the fiscal tried to prevent the votes of some regidors by obtaining statements [of their accounts] from the accountancy department—some of which debts the visitor brought forward, although that had not been done hitherto, except when only royal officials have (and only in a few years) given a memorandum of those disqualified by evident debts; and in the three preceding years none of these same exhibits were of this sort. They were a disqualification while the visitor was present here, and the interested parties demanded a declaration as the said royal decree did not concern them, and these statements were not obtained from the visit; they have made an appeal, in regard to these points, and they are pending in the royal Council. None of those debts are regarded as evident while they are in litigation, and while the royal officials do not begin to investigate them. I referred their petitions to the said royal officials, so that they could investigate and give their opinions. Having examined it, I declared that those therein contained were able to vote and to be elected, in accordance with the aforesaid; and that, in a community so limited as this, it is not right to give permission to avenge one’s passions under pretext of this royal decree. That extends, according to its terms, only to the debts for saleable offices. Few would be the former regidors and alcaldes who would not be included; and it is advisable for your Majesty to be pleased to have the proper decision made known.
During disputes in this Audiencia, it is the president’s privilege to appoint judges; and when the auditors are challenged, he alone remains unchallenged. Moreover, he has appointed them without any opposition, basing his action on the old custom of this Audiencia, and on the words of the law: “The president, the members of my Council, and the auditors who shall remain unchallenged, shall appoint lawyers.” But recently they have tried to make an innovation and to read the petitions of the recusants and to ascertain the causes that they give. That they did in opposition to the accountant, Martin Ruiz de Zalazar, in regard to a plea of appeal. As they were not in harmony, I appointed as judge an advocate of this royal Audiencia, who having been summoned to the session, and being asked whether the case had right of appeal, declared in favor of the said accountant: without allowing him to vote the auditors made him leave the session, and proceeded by act against the party. The said accountant again challenging him, because of these and other injuries, the said auditor, without allowing him to read the appeal, declared that his associate was not challenged; and the latter, as his alternate, proceeded to try the new challenge, without its being sufficient to contradict it in writing in the session. The so open enmity between the Audiencia and the royal officials being evident, I have withdrawn the papers until your Majesty be pleased to provide the remedy. A similar difficulty has happened to me in regard to the appointment of a lawyer in the challenge of the said Don Juan Sarmiento; and it is necessary for the governors to know what pertains to them in such cases, since the appointment of lawyers is not a point of law, but of the direction of that Audiencia as president; and when he is not there they appoint, without considering whether or not there have been judges in the cause.
The two auditors whom Don Francisco de Rojas suspended have died. Those who are left will attend better to the service of your Majesty anywhere else than in Philipinas. That will mean the cessation of many challenges and other indignities, as well as the vengeance feared by those who have made depositions against them during the visit.
Your Majesty orders me, by a decree of August 26 of the past year, that in matters of government and expenses of the royal treasury, when at the request of part of my [word illegible], I refer them to the fiscal, so that he may advise according to his judgment. I have observed that from the commencement of my government, and I shall observe it with greater care in the future; but it will be advisable to have the fiscal ordered to defend, in the disputes with the Audiencia over jurisdiction, the royal decrees which are in favor of the jurisdiction of the government.
Your Majesty orders me by another royal decree of the same date to see that the ships which are despatched from all these islands to Nueva España leave every year from this port in the beginning of June. That is advisable, but it is impossible to establish it this year; for never have these ships left without having to wait for the arrival of the others [from Nueva España], in order that [the inhabitants] answer their agents in regard to their [commercial] relations, and because no other opportunity for this arises during the year. Consequently, although the ships have been, as far as I am concerned, prepared in time with all that is necessary, the inhabitants have not begun to lade them until they have seen those which arrived safely on the twentieth of July. Since that, the fulfilment of this royal decree touching the two per cent has been discussed, as appears more in detail from the sworn statement of the acts, which I enclose. From now on I have commenced to order that the ships in the coming year are to set sail without those which are now departing; and that the royal decree of your Majesty must be inviolably kept and observed; but even with this warning in advance the early despatch has many inconveniences.
This year no ships have come from Macan, so that the Chinese have brought more merchandise than usual. Their main deficiency has been that of not coming laden with woven stuffs; but with the fair treatment that has been given them, it is hoped that a great abundance of cloth of all kinds will come in the first champans.
The loan of 60,000 [pesos] made to the royal treasury by the inhabitants of Macan, which I ordered to be paid, was opposed by the fiscal, because the Portuguese have kept a quantity of the goods of our citizens. Consequently that sum remains on deposit, in a separate account, so that, when the account is adjusted, their money may be returned to them.
The reënforcements for the island of Hermosa, which left here during the last part of August of last year, sought shelter because of bad weather, and went to anchor at Macan, for there was no other place wherein to take shelter. Although the ship bore the [new] governor of the island of Hermosa, namely, the sargento-mayor Alonso Garcia Romero, with his wife and family, and the provincial of the Order of St. Dominic, Fray Domingo Gonçalez, together with other religious, the Portuguese attempted their accustomed discourtesy, endeavoring to give it color by the pretext that the ship had put in there in order to invest a quantity of money that they were carrying. And although [the said Romero] maintained his men at a great expense, only awaiting suitable weather to carry aid to the island of Hermosa, the Portuguese maliciously detained your Majesty’s ship, and did not allow it to depart until the first of April, when the said governor determined to leave the port at all hazards. He put his determination into effect with the secret permission of the captain-general [of Macan], who, as was right, assisted him; but the Portuguese render so little obedience toward him that they fired twenty-three pieces charged with balls, and it was only by good fortune that the vessel was not sunk. That is the usual practice of the Portuguese toward all the vessels that arrive there from these islands. That is the reason why the governors of Philipinas refuse to send any ships there for supplies, except in a case of extreme necessity. Will your Majesty be pleased to order the inhabitants of Macan to give a different welcome to the vassals of your Majesty who belong to the crown of Castilla.
I have until the present refrained from writing about the island of Hermosa; but now, after a year of residence here, I am obliged to do so. [Word illegible in MS.] that it was settled, and some forts have been built. They are occupied by three companies of infantry, and together with the Pampango soldiers and the other men of service they number more than four hundred, counting the rations which are given them. During the year two pataches ply back and forth in August and April with the reënforcements, and carry what is necessary for the said presidio. The climate is mild, as the island lies in twenty-five degrees of latitude. The soil is fertile, but the natives so intractable that they do not allow us to avail ourselves of the fruits of it; and as yet the religious have not reduced a single reasonable person to holy baptism. They are so treacherous a race that, when we believe that they are most peaceful, they suddenly revolt, and kill whomever they meet unprepared.