Restraining the Augustinians
The King. To Don Diego Faxardo, whom I have appointed as my governor and captain-general of the Filipinas Islands, and president of my royal Audiencia therein. It has been reported in my royal Council of the Yndias that the religious of the Order of St. Augustine are trading in merchandise with whomever they please; and that they make use of the natives of the regions and districts wherever they are and reside, for whatever they need, without paying the poor men who work in their service, or giving them anything else (employing violence for this), and thus obtain great wealth for [their houses in] these my kingdoms. This is all considered to merit severe correction, both because of the traffic and trading that they openly engage in, and because of the oppression that many of the said natives receive. I have thought best to tell you to be very careful in this, and to provide, by the most gentle and prudent measures, all that may be necessary for the correction of those transgressions. You shall regulate yourself by the decrees and orders that have been issued in this regard; and you shall cause those decrees and orders to be observed according to their tenor. Madrid, June 2, 1639.
I the King
By order of the king our sovereign:
Don Gabriel de Ocaña y Alarcon
[From another transcript made from the copy of this decree in the Archivo general de Indias—its pressmark, “Audiencia de Filipinas; registros de oficio; reales ordenes dirigidas á las autoridades del distrito de dicha Audiencia; años 1635 á 1672; est. 105, caj. 2, leg. 2, libro 4, folio 122 verso” we take the following endorsement: “To Don Diego Faxardo, whom your Majesty has appointed governor of the Filipinas Islands, advising him of certain things touching the religious of the Order of St. Augustine, which require a remedy; so that he may know them, and take what measures are advisable, in accordance with the orders and decrees that have been issued regarding it.” This transcript states also that the decree was signed by the members of the Council.]
Regarding ecclesiastical districts
The King. To Don Diego Faxardo, knight of the Order of Santiago, whom I have appointed as my governor and captain-general of the Philipinas Islands: report has been made to me, on the part of the archbishop of that city of Manila, that Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, your predecessor, gave the district of Quiapo (which belonged to the seculars), and the Indians who were reserved for the service of the cathedral and of the archiepiscopal house (which was the sustenance of the cathedral), to the fathers of the Society of Jesus, because of the great pressure that they exerted on him for it, on account of the advantages that would follow to them, as they have many estates of importance near that district. One of the conditions of their removing the said archbishop’s exile, was that he must consent to have that district given to the fathers of the Society. In order to relieve himself from his distressed condition, the archbishop feigned, under compulsion, assent to this—regarding it as certain that, as such action was to the prejudice of my royal patronage, I would not consent to it. He also petitioned that I would be pleased to have my royal decree issued, ordering that the fathers of the Society be despoiled of the said district of Quiapo, and that it be restored to the seculars, together with the adjoining districts of San Anton and Santa Cathalina—which the bishop of Camarines separated from the said district, in the time while he governed the archbishopric during the exile and absence of the said archbishop; and which he gave to the cura of Santiago, who was his creature; also the district of Nauhang, on the island of Mindoro, which has always belonged to seculars. By negotiations effected by the fathers of the Society, those districts have been set aside for them, to the prejudice of so many poor seculars. The matter having been examined by my royal Council of the Yndias, as well as what was written to me concerning the same matter by the said archbishop, I have considered it fitting to issue this my decree. By it, I order you, immediately upon its receipt, to place those districts, exactly, and without admitting any excuse or other reason, in the same condition that they always had and have had, notwithstanding the contract signed by the said archbishop, at the instance and petition of the said my governor and of the auditor then in my Audiencia. You shall advise me at the first opportunity that you have carried out my order. Madrid, July 8, 1639.