ACTIVE MISSIONS
There are at present thirty-nine apostolic missionaries, distributed among twenty-one active missions which are situated in various places and provinces, who are engaged in the conversion and settlement of the infidels who dwell in the mountains in the greater number of these islands. Of these, one is a secular ecclesiastic; four belong to the calced Augustinian religious; five are discalced Franciscans; twenty are Dominicans; two belong to the Society of Jesus, and seven to the Augustinian Recollects. Aid is given to them on the account of his Majesty, in accordance with his royal decrees, by the stipend of 100 pesos and 100 fanegas of rice to each missionary, and with the military escorts necessary to their protection and to the safety of the subdued Indians. Likewise they receive a monthly allowance for these men, of one peso and one cavan of rice [for each], to which is added the cost of transporting this provision to the places where they are, which sometimes amounts to as much as the value of the principal. The mission which now is especially considered to have made the greatest progress and advancement is that established in the mountains of Ytuy and Paniqui in the province of Cagayàn, in charge of the religious of the Order of St. Dominic—who, penetrating into the country, a task which had previously been greatly facilitated by the calced religious of the Order of St. Augustine, have brought that province into communication with the others in this great island (something which formerly could not be done, except by sea), with great harvest of souls who have been converted to our holy Catholic faith. These costs are stated in the following summary, that which belongs to each mission being given separately.
Summary of the expenses which the active missions which are mentioned occasion to the royal exchequer.
| Provinces | Missionary ministers | Cash, | Rice, | Wine, | Oil, | |
| pesos | tom. | cavans | arrobas | gantas | ||
| ——[15] | 2 missionaries of the Society of Jesus, with escorts andtransportation | 331 | 472 | |||
| Pampanga | 4 mission., calced Augustinians, with escorts andtransportation | 960 | 1,088 | |||
| Idem | 4 Dominicans, with escorts and transportation | 820 | 1,016 | |||
| Idem | 2 Augustinian Recollects, with escorts and transportation | 480 | 544 | 2 | 150 | |
| Pangasinan | 3 Dominicans, with escorts and transportation | 537 | 744 | |||
| Idem | 2 Augustinian Recollects, with escorts and transportation | 412 | 544 | |||
| Ylocos | 1 missionary, a secular ecclesiastic | 100 | 200 | 1 | 75 | |
| Cagayàn | 13 Dominicans, with their escorts and transportation | 4,030 | 4 | 4,352 | ||
| Laguna de Bay | 1 Franciscan, with escort and transportation | 189 | 272 | |||
| Tayabas | 2 Franciscans, with their escorts and transportation | 616 | ||||
| Mindoro | 1 Augustinian Recollect | 151 | 5 | 200 | 75 | |
| Camarines | 2 Franciscans, with their escorts and transportation | 412 | 544 | |||
| Zebu | 2 Augustinian Recollects | 200 | 400 | |||
| 10 provinces | 39 missionaries, in 2 missions | 9,239 | 1 | 10,376 | 3 | 300 |
| p. | t.[16] | cavans | arrob. | gantas | ||
Ministers, and villages of converted Indians; the stipends and offerings which they enjoy on this account, according to the number of tributes to whom they minister.
All the Indian neophytes—settled in four hundred and fifteen villages and fifty-three visitas, which compose the twenty-one provinces of the territory—have their ministers of religious instruction, who exercise toward them the office of parish priests. These ministers are aided on his Majesty’s account, in accordance with the regulation made by the adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legazpi while he was governor of these islands, which was approved by royal decree of April 24, 1584. They received a hundred pesos and a hundred fanegas of rice for every five hundred tributes to whom they minister, and the contribution of wine and oil which was ordained by the late royal decree dated September 15 in the year 1726—enjoying this without any limitation of time. The separate provinces and number of ministers, and the amount of expenses, will be shown in the following tables: