5. It is said that God honored the place of his death or where he was wounded, by marvelous occurrences. For instance the large river on whose shore he was shot, dried up, and was swallowed up by the earth, and no trace of it was ever found later, neither did it take a course elsewhere; while the bed of the river became full of agoso trees. And although the above tree is large, and needs more than ten years to grow tall, those trees grew up in so short a time that that place appeared a dense forest, so that they choked and parched the reed-grass, which never sprang up again. It was said that the earth which was dyed with his blood has never allowed any grass to grow since, although the grass about the agoso at whose foot the father fainted is abundant and very green. That tree is always more flourishing and luxuriant, so that in comparison with it the other trees seem like withered things. Also another smaller river which ran past Aglao and Baubuen dried up, and the earth was left very sterile. It is true that these things were said, but without any foundation. The large river still remains and flows in the same course, and that of Aglao has the same course, and there is no notice or tradition that it had ever dried up; and it is not possible that so remarkable a thing could be forgotten. It was true that the agoso under which he rested was preserved and is still preserved; but in that story are not registered the exaggerated circumstances, such as that of the grass and of the reed-grass. I say this with assurance because I have seen it at various times, and I have passed the large river with some risk. On the bank of that river I was shown the spot where the father was wounded, and the agoso in question, in which I found nothing worthy of wonder. In regard to the other agosos and those newly produced, I proved that there are both old and new trees, for they are produced without any cultivation, and are conserved from time immemorial, and their very great age is recognized by their failing condition.[70]
6. The Augustinian Recollect fathers, who had not left that administration [of Zambales] voluntarily, although they could not resist the change with Mindoro, asked for testimonies that they might present them at court. They protested in due form, and appointed ministers in their chapters, of whose election they apprised the Dominican fathers in legal form. Their recourse to court had the result that the parties [in the matter] were referred by the Council of the Indias to this royal Audiencia. The testimonies were brought to it, and it became sufficiently public. On that account the father procurator-general of the Order of St. Dominic, Fray Juan Peguero[71] appeared before the superior government. He stated that his Excellency the archbishop and the governor had removed the Order of the Augustinian Recollects from the province of Zambales for reasons that they considered just, necessary, or reasonable, in accordance with the rulings of the laws of the new Recopilación,[72] and had given it to his province, they on their part having first made no efforts to get it. His order had received it only that they might serve God and the king. The Recollect fathers had received the island of Mindoro as a recompense, without offering any objection, and had expressly given up their rights to the province of Zambales. Nevertheless father Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios had presented a writing before the supreme Council, which was sent to this royal Audiencia, where as yet, more than eight months after the arrival of the galleons at the islands, it did not appear to have been presented. Without petitioning in any tribunal, [he said], a rumor was spread to the discredit of his province and to the prejudice of the propagation of the faith among the Zambals. The latter, in the hope which they had received from their former ministers that they would soon return to take charge of them, were fleeing to the mountains to become infidels, apostates, and idolaters, as they were formerly. Consequently, the ministers of his province found themselves hindered in the conversions and the administrations of the sacraments, as they were so disturbed that it was necessary for the commandant of the fort to seize some persons who returned from Manila and spread such a report. Not even this was a sufficient relief for the continual flights of the natives. On that account he petitioned his Lordship, in the name of his province, to be pleased to employ suitable means, and what he believed best, for the avoidance of those scandals. His Lordship furnished a copy of the judicial proceedings[73] to the Recollect side, ordering that they, with the reply that they should make, should give account of the royal decree mentioned in the allegation [aforesaid, by Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios]. Notification of this was communicated, on May 2, 1685, to father Fray Joseph de Jesus Maria, procurator-general of the discalced religious of St. Augustine. The latter said that he heard it and would answer in due form.
7. He did so, and presented himself with the copy authorized in public form, of the proceedings of the royal and supreme Council of the Indias in the cause prosecuted by the father procurator-general, Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios, asking that his province should be restored to its former possession of the ministries of Mariveles, Masinloc, Bolinao, Puquil, and Playa-honda, and the rest of the province of Zambales. The decision thereon, as appeared from the said proceedings, was referred to the royal Audiencia of Manila. In regard to the contents of Father Peguero’s memorial, notwithstanding what he might petition, it should be refuted as outside the truth, as a calumny, and as grievously offensive to his province—which with excessive and continual work, and equal zeal in the service of both Majesties, had assisted in the administration of the Christians and the conversion of the infidels in the aforesaid districts, from the year one thousand six hundred and seven to the year one thousand six hundred and seventy-nine, when it was despoiled actually and contrary to law, and the Dominican religious introduced into those missions. Notwithstanding the above, the said memorial, proceeding by malicious reports, and with a lack of accurate information, says that in the year seventy-six the said Father Peguero informed the government of these islands that the conversion and reduction of the Zambals—both the light-complexioned ones and those with the kinky hair, on both sides of the mountains that extend from Batan to Pangasinan, especially in the localities of Aglao, Buquil, Alupay, and Culianan, and many others—had not been thitherto in charge of any of the orders of these islands. In consideration of that, he petitioned that that care be assigned to his order. Despatches were given him in accordance with the terms of his petition, without summoning the party of the Recollect province, which was in possession [of that territory] from the time mentioned above. That order was then especially extending its labors, and working in the reduction of the infidels of those very same places, and in the administration of a great number of Christians in those districts, who paid tribute to their encomenderos. His order having offered opposition, and having made a petition before the royal Audiencia to be protected in its ancient possession, this was done, and the Order of St. Dominic was excluded from its demand, as appeared from royal provision and proceedings, which would be presented if it were necessary. After his order had been placed in charge of the administration of Mindoro, the Dominicans succeeded in getting the governor, then Don Juan de Vargas, to ask the father provincial, Fray Joseph de San Nicolas, to make a renunciation [of those districts]. The father provincial did it unwillingly, for it was a thing that he neither could or ought to do in regard to such districts, in order that other religious might be instituted—as were those of St. Dominic, in the year eighty. Two grave [Recollect] religious protested in the name of their province, against the renunciation made by their Recollect provincial; and all the ministers of Zambales protested against the violence with which they were despoiled of that administration, without their province having until then made any other judicial or extrajudicial effort than the conservation of their right, in order to demand it where and to what extent it may behoove them to do so. The provincial of his province had formally ordered his subjects not only not to solicit the natives of those districts to ask for, or allow them to ask for, these or other ministers; but they were to admonish them always to live consoled and contented, and to understand that the instruction which they received from the fathers of St. Dominic was the same, and [given with] the same zeal for the welfare of their souls. That order was obeyed, and there was no notice of its infraction. On the contrary, information was received that the present Dominican ministers told the natives that they were returning to carry forward what had been commenced by the Recollects. That proved that the Recollects did not keep their convents and churches, which they had abandoned to the Dominicans; as does the suggestion that father Fray Raymundo Verart[74] said that Captain Marcos de Rosales, encomendero of Marivelez, had made to him, for the latter earnestly entreated him to ask that the Recollects should be restored to the possession of those ministeries. He offered to make that request to him in writing.
8. Even though the religious of his province had represented to those natives that they would return to their ancient administration, one could not argue from that that any injury to the propagation of the faith, or to the credit of so holy an order [i.e., the Dominican] would follow, as the memorial declared—in formal prejudice to his own order [i.e., the Recollect] (in regard to which that order was protesting, in order to demand whatever was proper for its side). The proposed hopes of the restoration, however, would hinder the flight of the natives, which, it was known, proceeded from other reasons, through a great part of the villages of Zambales having been depopulated. That they had been living in idolatry from their first conversion, besides being an implicatory proposition, did not appear from the sentence of a competent tribunal, nor was it credible of all. And it was no new thing, that after some years, a few superstitions should be discovered [among the Indians], as was usually the case, and happened at every step; for it was not an easy thing to reduce mountain infidels to a civilized life, in which task the ministers must acquire thorough knowledge of their customs. Consequently, it had been impossible to eradicate their barbarous ferocity in committing murders, as they had done to a religious of the Order of St. Dominic. And because his province had shirked no labor for the service of God and the king, in the welfare of souls, especially in the administration of the Zambals during the space of sixty years, it desired to reap the fruit [of the harvest] that had been commenced; wherefore in furtherance of its claim he prayed his Lordship to order and command that the pleadings which had been presented be referred to the royal Audiencia, to the end that whatever should be ruled therein be considered as law. The decree enacted (with the opinion of the assessor) was, that the cognizance of the entire matter be referred to the royal Audiencia, so that the parties to the suit might there plead their claims in equity, and in fulfilment of the decree of the supreme Council of the Indias. The Recollect procurator general having been notified, appeared before the royal Audiencia with his claim together with the rest of the papers annexed, which, having been presented, were considered as referred to that tribunal for official action therein. Notice of that decision having been given to father Fray Juan Peguero, he said that he heard it, and pleaded that the papers be given him for his reply as was done. But I shall not give his answer here, because of the irregularity of his pleadings, his rashness of speech, his boldness of opinion, and his disrespect for the royal power, since his Majesty does not allow causes to be conducted in rude fashion, especially when they do not bear on the case in point, while personal defects of ecclesiastics were not under consideration in the present case, nor in the cause which was being prosecuted, as it concerned ministries only.
9. In conclusion his reply was that while maintaining the contrary of what was advanced by the Recollect fathers, as their province was not a party [to the suit]; he petitions and prays that his Highness deign to issue a citation on the party [of the Recollects], to the end that an investigation be made of all the aforesaid, as was necessary, and becoming, etc. The ruling was that the decree be communicated to the father procurator of the Recollects, who answered as follows, namely, that he acknowledged the indecorous manner in which, in view of the sovereignty of the royal Audiencia, the good name of his side and his subjects was injured. But that although he could answer point by point, he would avoid doing so, as it was a matter in which, leaving aside the requirements of law, which were to be complied with, the subject matter was getting to be a bone of contention, and a partisanship dispute—a matter which ought to be held in abhorrence by religious, who are placed as models for all in these regions, and because law enjoins the manner in which one ought to speak in the royal courts of justice, where it is expressly forbidden to bring forward incriminating libels in place of actions of laws; for these wound not only the sacredness of the religious orders, but even the sovereignty of such a tribunal, to which is due the highest respect. On that account they ought to order the withdrawal of the two allegations presented by Father Peguero as being indecorous, and notice ought to be given to the said father to answer as was fitting, by representing the authority that his province had in the administration of Zambales; in default of which, the court was to record them as having been duly pleaded. To this motion, the gentlemen [of the Audiencia] agreed that the decree should issue, and the clerk of the assembly summoned the said Father Peguero in due form for the examination, who thereupon refused such style of procedure until he had presented his grounds for opposing such action [i.e., the above decision of the Audiencia].
10. The said father procurator pleaded before his Highness that Doctor Calderon, the senior auditor, during his week had refused to sign a paper in which he [i.e., the Recollect procurator-general], pleaded in regard to the pending article; and having been ordered to present himself in the royal Audiencia, he did this by means of two religious at a time when the said doctor was the only member present in the Audiencia, because of the illness of his associate judges. There a decree was entered which ordered that the writ and other papers pertaining to this matter be presented by a procurator of the royal Audiencia, who could be punished in default for his negligence. And in view of the fact that he considered this measure burdensome and harmful to his order and person, as he was condemned before sentence was passed on the point, and the order was prevented from prosecuting this or any other cause in the royal courts, because of their well-known poverty, he prayed his Highness to deign to repeal the said act, and to allow his province the liberty of having it prosecuted by its own prosecutors. A decree to that effect was passed and the trial set for the first day, when the said Doctor Don Diego Calderon should be present.
11. The auditor, in order to justify his act in the royal Audiencia, related that Father Peguero had brought a paper to his house for him to fill out to the effect that the petition, which as he declared, he was going to present to the royal courts, should come before him, the said auditor, during his week; and that in consideration of the fact that it was a matter that concerned priests against priests, of religious missionaries against religious of the same institute, it could not set forth allegations that were wanting in fraternal charity and profound humility. This he signed without reading it, while charging the father procurator to present it in the royal courts, as was done on the day when his Lordship was the only member present [in the Audiencia]. The petition was granted and an order issued to have the papers served on the Recollect father procurator, who was bid to file his answer thereto; furthermore, in order to determine this point, the abovesaid auditor ordered that the case so far as concerned the examination of the same be laid before him. Peguero, not content with what was done, presented another petition in regard to the same cause, that it might be signed officially and passed. But having glanced over it, he found that this should not be done, as it contained other unbecoming expressions based on the one that had been presented previously, and therein at variance with the laws and ordinances of the royal Audiencia, wherefore he told the said father procurator to hand his petition back and present it when all the members [of the Audiencia] were assembled. The result was that their illness still continuing, two lay-brethren, religious of the Order of Preachers, entered the chamber and requested that the petition that they presented be granted, which was the same as had been presented by the father procurator Peguero, in which his Highness was able to recognize the irregularity of the statements, and his inability to sanction such proceedings, through his desire for public peace, and to the end that such holy orders be not embarrassed with injurious writs. Consequently, in order to prevent disrespectful petitions from being presented in those tribunals, his Highness had to decree what was most in consonance with loyalty to both their Majesties, and the public peace.
12. This decree was as follows: “Decision of the royal court this day, September eleven, one thousand seven hundred and five.[75] The measure passed by Señor Calderon is approved, and in accordance therewith, a decree to that effect shall be issued. Because of their great poverty, only the first petitions of the Indians shall be received without attorney.”
13. The decree so enacted had the effect that the office of procurator-general of the province of Santissimo Rosario was changed and given to father Fray Domingo Escalera,[76] who together with the procurator-general of the Recollects, presented a joint petition to his Highness to deign to have the preceding writs annulled, as they were not suitable and germane to the case, nor respectful to the royal Audiencia and the parties [in the suit]. This was handed to the fiscal for review, who said that, because of their joint agreement, and moreover, because the writs were not germane to the case in the chief point of the pending suit, greater harmony would result to the two orders which were at law, and to the public cause, and that if the writs were juridically annulled because of their contents, his Highness could order the execution of what the parties petitioned, and such decree would be valid and efficacious—an opinion however that had no definitive result. Then in regard to the writ presented by the Recollect procurator Father Escalera rejoined that, inasmuch as such ministries were handed to his province by the government, if his Highness were pleased to order that they be restored to the plaintiff province his province was ready to do its part, and for that purpose he renounced this copy of the proceedings, and any other, as he had nothing to petition or plead. Therefore, in consideration of the decrees already passed in which he considered himself as cited, his Highness should deign to issue an order for whatever should be his pleasure. Consequently, a decree was drawn up embodying the ordinances that had been made in which the parties were recorded as having been cited, as they considered themselves as cited, and the Recollect procurator presented proofs to the effect that his province had never renounced such ministries, but had always violently protested against the fact of their having been despoiled thereof, in support of which it had been prosecuting the cause in the Council. For the Dominicans, their prior provincial, father Fray Christoval Pedroche, answered the citation by saying that his province had held those ministries in encomienda and trust in the name of his Majesty through the vice-patron, and consequently, if any act of spoliation had been committed, his province was not a party thereto, just as it was not a party to the present proceedings. Therefore he was ready to return them whenever his Highness so ordered; and hence he did not oppose the claim of the Recollect fathers. In answer to their statement that they had elected priors for those missions in all their provincial chapters, and that therein they had no other consideration than the service of God in those missions and the spiritual welfare of souls, he petitioned that his province be adjudged as not a party in the said suit, protesting moreover that he would not plead, or in any way oppose his Highness’s decision. When the parties were cited, an order was issued by the court that with these decrees be united those which were enacted by the master-of-camp, Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado, for the assignment of the Zambals to the Dominican fathers. The decrees having thus been brought together, various motions were made, in which proceedings the Dominicans always by joint action refused to be recognized as a party thereto. Whereupon the members of the court having examined the proceedings after their previous examination by the fiscal, declared, that notwithstanding the reply of the father provincial of the Order of Preachers in which he petitioned that his order be declared not to be a party, they maintained, as they now maintained, that he was a legitimate party in these proceedings; moreover that they ordered him, as they now repeated their order, that he notify the father procurator-general of the said order to answer to the summons within three days, and to make full return thereto. He was also warned that if, at the expiration of said limit, he had not done so, the royal courts would declare the proceedings so far as taken as sufficient, and the case would be prosecuted in them. The Dominican procurator having been cited and notified, said that he obeyed the decree of his Highness, that he heard it, but that there was no answer to be given, as he was not a party, as he had already declared, and that in case that it was necessary he would repeat the same answer of his father provincial. This occurrence took place on November twenty-four, one thousand six hundred and ninety.
14. Thus this matter [expediente] rested until the year one thousand seven hundred and ten, when the alférez, Nicolas Guerrero, one of the ordinary attorneys of the royal Audiencia, presented a certificate empowering him as the chief authorized agent of the province of San Nicolas, to act as their attorney in the matter in hand. Thereupon, he declared that in maintenance of the claim of the said province, it was advisable to examine the minutes of the proceedings hitherto conducted in the royal courts, in regard to the restitution of their former missions of Zambales and everything pertaining to them. Accordingly, he prayed his Highness to deign to order the secretary to produce the said minutes, which on being given to the said attorney, he appeared before his Highness and stated that in accordance with the last royal order of six hundred and ninety, whereby the other party was required to answer fully, this had not been done, but that the party had merely referred to its former pleadings, and that any other answer had not been made during the space of twenty years, so that the suit had been unduly prolonged; and moreover, that the matter having been recently investigated, his side has a paper (which he now presents with all solemnity), namely, a private letter from the father provincial of the Dominicans, Fray Pedro Mejorada,[77] in reply to one from the provincial of the Recollects, Fray Francisco de la Madre de Dios, in which he declares, that he answered in the same manner as his province had done on former occasions; that he would not oppose the abandoning of the said missions as he was not a party thereto, for his province had taken these under their charge solely in compliance with the orders of Governor Don Juan de Vargas and Archbishop Don Phelipe Pardo; that, moreover, at the present time when his province was so straitened through the lack of religious, if they were not succored in that regard it would be necessary for them to take other steps. Wherefore (he added), so far as matters have now gone he might do what he pleased, for his province would offer no opposition, and was prepared to give up those missions if so requested and charged to do. In this letter, moreover, among other points, it was inferable that his province was ready to leave the said missions of Zambales. Therefore the attorney petitioned and prayed his Highness to deign to have the case brought up for final trial, declaring his client as entitled to the possession of such missions, to whom they should therefore be restored. Thereupon the judges decided that the measures so far taken together with that letter should be acted upon; that the trial should be proceeded with without prejudice to whatever had already been decided, and that all the papers in the case be handed over to the fiscal of this royal Audiencia, for his opinion (within three days) of what steps it was advisable to take. Thereupon, for reasons given, the latter replied that what had been advised by the fiscal of the royal and supreme Council ought to be carried out, and hence a similar order might issue from this royal Audiencia, with notice to the reverend fathers provincial, parties in interest, that so far as concerned their spiritual care the natives might be relieved promptly. In accordance with this, the judges ordered that all parties should proceed to the chamber for final sentence. Thereupon their decision was that the reverend fathers provincial should be apprised of the sentence as given in this cause for their judgment in the exercise of their rights; and that whether they assented or not, they should appear to hear the decision to be given.