June 22, 1764, Don Simon Anda y Salazar sent a letter to the king, in which he showed the measures adopted by him during or in the time of the war with the English, in regard to economic matters of police and public order. They were as follows.
In regard to the fact that prices for provisions, which had become dear because of the English invasion, should be fixed at the prices regulated by custom and tariff, as well as the freight duties of the craft, day wages of stevedores, rent of beasts of burden, and wages of rowers, it was ordered that a tariff be formed in the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga, as they had none.[1]
[The tariff was ordered] so that the coins of two and one-half tomins, one and one-half tomins, diminished by waste, from the value of their stamp, might be received at their intrinsic value; in order that in a determined time, the Sangleys might present themselves under penalty of two hundred lashes, and confiscation of their property, as it was learned that many of the dwellers in the Parián of Manila had entered Pampanga, and had united with those who resided in the villages of the province, and were preparing arms. The object was to disarm them and send them to the Parián. But many of them presented themselves armed and offered to give bonds that they were peaceful and that their arms were employed in the service of his Majesty.
He ascertained that the agreement that they had made with the English was that one thousand Chinese should enter from the Parián of Manila, and distribute themselves through the villages, so that they might fire them at that hour of Christmas eve when the natives should be in the temples, in order that by reason of the confusion, free entrance into the province might be secured for the English. He proceeded to imprison and punish many of them, and gave orders to maintain a suitable guard at the entrances of the bars and villages from the twenty-third to the twenty-fifth of December, 1762; and the religious ministers of the doctrine were not to open their churches or celebrate the divine offices, and to act with all manner of precaution.
Seeing that the Chinese aided the English in their expeditions, and that the chief Sangleys were censuring such conduct as well as that of others of those who plotted the insurrection in Pampanga, he suddenly pardoned them on condition that they would not reside in the provinces without license from the governing Audiencia, not to reside [there] longer than the time he would set, pay a tribute, and not carry food or aid the enemy.
Some submitted, but acted deceitfully, introducing false barrillas into the villages, withdrawing the pesos, giving information to the enemy, and going freely from the Parián of Manila to the provinces.[2] Others aided the English and supplied them with food. Consequently, it was ordered that the alcaldes-mayor should form a list of the Sangleys, of their provinces, prohibiting their admission unless they had permission from the Audiencia. No one of them was to go from the provinces to Manila and Cavite, under penalty of the confiscation of his property. That checked their insolence in large part, it is said.
He ordered the arms collected for the use of the soldiers.
He forbade more wine than was necessary to be taken from the province of Laguna, because of the disorders produced by drunkenness. In Bacolor the sale of nipa wine was by retail.
He ordered the soldiers who had dispersed when the capture of Manila and Cavite by the English took place to present themselves. They did so, as did also the officers, showing the arms that they possessed.[3]
In the province of Pampanga, he permitted the free circulation of the barrillas (money made of pinchbeck and tin which the ayuntamiento of Manila coined for purchase at retail, and whose value was that of one grano of a tomin), but since the Sangleys introduced many counterfeit ones, he had to prohibit their circulation.