38. [An order given by Cruzat y Góngora, December 24, 1695, to alcaldes-mayor and corregidors, arranges for the appointment in each village of several notables, whose business it shall be “to seek out Indians who commit offenses against God, our Lord, in order to correct and punish them, and report thereof to the father ministers, so that they may be dissuaded from their errors, and directed along the path of salvation.” Great care is to be exercised in this, and those Indians called vilitaos and casonos[6] are to pay tribute and render personal services. Report must be made as to whether the above classes still exist, and whether they pay anything to any person for exemption from tribute, polos, and personal services, and they shall be punished if of the secular court.[7]]
39. [This law, which was enacted by Cruzat y Góngora, May 14, 1697, and ordered to be included among the government ordinances, commands that the two cooks allowed to priests established in a district having five hundred whole tributes be no longer exempted from tribute, polos, and personal services. The ordinance enacted by Santiago de Vera, by which cantors, sacristans, porters, and cooks, are exempt from the above, shall be revised to read only the first three. This ordinance is made in pursuance with the decision of the royal Audiencia of February 22, 1697, that laws xli, and xlii, título xii, book vi of the Recopilación be obeyed. It was consequently ordered by Cruzat y Góngora’s decree of February 22, 1697, that no village shall against its will furnish any Indian tanores to the seculars, regulars, or other ecclesiastical persons, or to the alcaldes-mayor. (See ante, pp. 203, 204, ordinance 19.) Hence, that this order may be executed, the present ordinance follows.]
40. [An ordinance enacted by Governor Zabalburu, April 8, 1704, is given because of a communication received by him from Archbishop Camacho, under date of January 26, 1702. The letter asks that law vi, título i, book vi, of the Recopilación be enforced, because of the sins, both against chastity and justice, arising from natives serving in the houses of their prospective parents-in-law. It happens often, in addition to the sin against chastity that the marriage is not consummated, and the man loses his wages for the service he has rendered. The archbishop has published an edict ordering this practice to cease, but it is wise for both the civil and ecclesiastical power to act in concert in this matter, “for it often happens, on not few occasions, that fear of the royal power is stronger than veneration for the holy laws of the Church.” The governor is asked to add to the penalties of the law, those penalties which he judges advisable. Consequently, he orders that in each native village, no Indian shall receive into his house or service any man who is about to contract marriage with his daughter, during the three festival days of the village, and that he shall not receive any money or products from him because of such matrimonial contract. Timauas violating this ordinance shall receive fifty lashes, be incapacitated from holding any office, and be compelled to restore to the treasury what may have been thus paid. Notables shall lose their rank and become timauas. The due performance of this ordinance shall be a charge in the residencia of alcaldes-mayor and corregidors.]
41. [An ordinance enacted by the same governor, April 28, 1704, cites an act of his predecessor, Cruzat y Góngora, April 30, 1697, ordering that when the priests of the villages need Indians for the necessary things of the divine service, the gobernadorcillos are compelled to furnish them, the priests paying such Indians at the rate of one real per week apiece and their food. According to the order of Governor Niño de Tabora, no priest was to have more than four Indians, in addition to the cantors, sacristans, and porters. In villages so small that the stipends received by the priests are insufficient to pay for the services of the four Indians, they are not under the necessity of paying them, if their residence there is a necessity, and they reside there at the petition of the Indians, in which case the latter shall pay for the services of the four Indians. Another act of Cruzat y Góngora, of August 31, 1697, rules that the offering to be contributed by the Indians for each of the three religious festivities of the patron of each village, Corpus Christi, and Holy Thursday, be one real for each whole tribute, and one-half real for each single man or woman, this alms being fixed at the request of the procurators-general of the four friar orders and the Society of Jesus. This offering is to be collected in a humane manner, and the gobernadorcillos and cabezas de barangay are not to exact a greater sum under pretense that it is for the church. These two acts Zabalburu orders to be included in the ordinances given to each alcalde-mayor on the assumption of his office. He also orders the observance of an act enacted by himself March 13, 1704, ordering that eight bagontaos be assigned in each village weekly for the service of divine worship, the church, and the ministry of the sacramental mass; and for the service of the priests when it becomes necessary to leave the village to administer the sacraments. In villages of less than three hundred tributes, there shall be only the eight bagontaos, under penalty of punishment to the gobernadorcillos who shall allow more. This ordinance is to be proclaimed in all the villages by the alcaldes-mayor on the festival days.]
42. [In accordance with the request of Archbishop Camacho that curas and missionaries be ordered not to exact larger fees than those allowed by the royal tariffs, and that the alcaldes-mayor enforce this, an order to that effect is issued to the latter. Violations by curas and missionaries are to be reported to the superior government, and alcaldes-mayor are to get careful reports on this head from the native gobernadorcillos and their officials. Any omission in this shall become a charge in the residencia, and the alcalde-mayor shall be obliged to make good the excess fees from his own property, and pay a fine four times as large as the excess. This was ordered to be included in the ordinances, March 8, 1708.]
43. [This ordinance has to do with the government monopoly on playing-cards. On December 2, 1707, the governor orders that the department of that monopoly be taken from the control of the royal officials of the treasury and given into the charge of a special judge. Various ordinances enacted by Doctor Don Juan de Gárate y Francia are to be carefully observed. Alcaldes-mayor shall have the direction of this department in their respective jurisdictions, and in accordance therewith this ordinance is to be included among those given to them on assuming office. The special judge may appoint whom he pleases in the department, at salaries approved by the fiscal. Lastly all the packs of cards in the island are to be collected, and those bringing them are to be paid the price for which they are to be bought; and this as well as all other matters shall be done as the special judge deems best.]
44. [In consequence of two royal decrees (both of which are inserted), one dated September 30, 1714, and the other June 15, 1720, which forbid under severe penalties the manufacture and sale of brandy (made from sugarcane) in Perú and Nueva España, because of the many evils arising therefrom, Governor Toribio Joseph Miguel de Cosio y Campo orders the said decrees to be translated into the native languages of the Philippines, and proclaimed by order of the alcaldes-mayor and corregidors in their respective jurisdictions, and the strict enforcement of the same. If an Indian manufacture and sell brandy, for the first offense he shall be arrested, given two hundred lashes, and thrown into the galleys for six years; for the second offense, this shall be doubled; and for the third, tripled, besides exile from the province. The same punishment shall be meted out to the makers of instruments for the manufacture of brandy, if they are Indians. This law is made a part of the ordinances which are to be given to alcaldes-mayor, who are enjoined under severe penalties to break up this nefarious traffic.]
45. [The same governor, on May 16, 1724, in view of a report of the alcalde-mayor of Bulacan, of January 5, 1724, the writ of the fiscal, of January 20, and the vote of the royal Audiencia, forbids the alcaldes-mayor and others to exact fees from the natives for appointments, under penalty of a fine of 500 pesos and a sum four times as great as the fee exacted. All other fees are to be regulated according to law xxv, título viii, book v, of the Recopilación, and the government secretary is ordered to send a list of all fees that can be taken to all the provinces, which is to be strictly observed. All exaction of unjust fees by the royal accountancy is to cease. Copies of this ordinance are to be sent to all the alcaldes-mayor, in order that they may be affixed in the public place so that all may know of it.]
46. [On December 10, 1725, the same governor, in view of the report of the Recollect provincial, of September 20, 1723, and the deductions of the fiscal, October 7 and November 6, 1723, and January 14 and November 23, 1724, orders that all bandalas or purchases[8] of wax, rice, and other products, be distributed among the natives according to the several ability of each one, and with regard to the fact of whether they have been able to reap a harvest, or to care for their crops after planting them (see ordinance 20, which is expressed in almost the same terms). The injuries done to the natives by the bandalas and purchases must cease. Copies of this ordinance are to be sent to all the villages and proclaimed in the native languages, in order that all the natives may be informed of it. It is also to be noted in the books of the royal accountancy, so that all purchases may be made according to the terms expressed therein, and that all exactions may cease.]
47. [The governor, after examining the report of Fray Benito de San Pablo, Recollect, formerly of the district of Romblon in the province of Panay, in regard to the exactions of the alcaldes-mayor from the natives, and the remarks of the fiscal, orders the alcaldes-mayor to collect from the Indians tribute only in the products which they possess; and but two gantas of rice, in place of the three which they have usually and unlawfully collected. This shall be made a matter in the residencia, and violations will be punished with fines and penalties.]