[11] “It is also suspected that, with the information and account that the father commissary will send to the tribunal of Mexico, they will seize there the great wealth which the said governor had during late years sent to his correspondents, which, according to common report, exceeds 200,000 pesos; and this consignment of funds entirely refutes the suspicion that the said governor might intend or attempt to flee to Holland by way of Batavia, as the father commissary and his accomplices in the governor’s imprisonment have tried (although without reason) to induce people to believe, [as a pretext] for his arrest.” (Ventura del Arco MSS., ii, pp. 586, 587.) [↑]
[12] The royal officials of that time are accused of plundering and defrauding the royal treasury—especially the treasurer, José Manuel de la Vega, who drew from it 40,000 pesos, which he used in trading at Batavia, making no return to the treasury—and altering entries in the books, to cover their steps. These acts, however, were notorious to the public, and the auditors and fiscal attempted to secure redress; but the usurper Bonifaz (who aided the plundering officials) availed himself of legal quibbles and public calumnies against the auditors and fiscal to shut off proceedings by them. (Ventura del Arco MSS., ii, pp. 573–575, 591. [↑]
[13] The name sarasa is applied by Blanco to a shrub, Justicia ecbolium, also called morado; he does not mention it as of use in medicine, although he ascribes such properties to other species of the same genus. The Official Handbook of the Philippines (Manila, 1903), pp. 395, 399, says that sarasa is the Tagálog appellation of the Visayan pasao (Graptophyllum hortense); its leaves are used “in topicals for the maintenance of fonticulus piezas may be translated “packages;” but sarasas (evidently some product of Siam) here may have some other meaning. [↑]
[14] Apparently referring to the technical use of this word (VOL. XI, p. 43), the legal office of relator being transferred to the ecclesiastical court. [↑]
[15] Mansilla’s release was ordered by Coloma; and on Christmas eve the superiors of the religious orders and the dean of the cathedral went to demand it from Bonifaz. This excited the tyrant’s fears, and he determined to banish the imprisoned auditor. (Ventura del Arco MSS., ii, pp. 601, 602.) [↑]
[16] The above-cited document in Ventura del Arco MSS. states (p. 601) that this post was held by Francisco de Figueroa. [↑]
[17] Mansilla was shipwrecked near Verde Island (between Luzón and Mindoro), to which he escaped in a half-dead condition; on January 27 news of this was received at Manila, and champans were immediately sent to convey him to Iloilo, where he was kept in prison under guards. He managed to escape from this durance a few months later, and found refuge in a Jesuit church there. (Ventura del Arco MSS., ii, pp. 602, 603, 613.) [↑]
[18] The commissary was accused of ill-treating Salcedo while in prison—even going so far as to refuse him permission to draw up a will, to confess, and to receive the sacraments, although Salcedo was very ill, and his physician reported that he was in danger of death; and during at least a part of his imprisonment he was kept in fetters, and fastened to a chain. (Ventura del Arco MSS., ii, p. 590.) [↑]
[19] On St. Lucia’s day, December 13, the usurper and the commissary of the Inquisition arrested more than twenty persons of high standing, who had disapproved of his illegal acts and had adhered to the Audiencia. These men were fettered and placed in dungeons, and their goods confiscated. They were proclaimed as traitors, and their relatives and friends were regarded as suspects. Many other arrests and acts of oppression were prevented by Coloma’s interference. (Ventura del Arco MSS., ii, pp. 594–600.) [↑]