Of the royal court
[Our writer notes the requirement of the laws of the Indias that the governors and audiencias should consult and act together in matters of government, and the excellent results of this procedure.[6]] But unfortunately such has not been the case in the recent governments of Filipinas. The governor-presidents have entirely separated themselves from their audiencias, and have governed alone—sometimes in military fashion, not heeding the opinions and customs of the country, but depending on force of arms; and sometimes only by the advice of the lawyer who assists the governor, who has the title of government counselor [asesor], and who, although he ought to limit himself to giving opinion on points and cases regarding statutes, is counselor in all the arduous matters of administration. From this it has resulted that the fate of the colonies may be left in the hands of this class of counselors, and that their subordinates have had so much power and importance. [Moreover, this course leads to dissensions and hostilities between the governor and the Audiencia, which is a bad example to furnish to the people and lowers their respect for the authorities.] It must be borne in mind that the Indians of Filipinas are not so sunken in ignorance that they do not of themselves, and likewise through their attorneys and confessors, recognize that they have a sovereign who rules them, and who to this end has given them laws; consequently, all lack of concord among the authorities, and every change introduced in the method of governing the villages, must produce fatal consequences. [It is therefore recommended that the governor consult the Audiencia in all matters of the internal government of the islands, and any failure in this should be made a charge in his residencia.]
Of the administration of justice in general
The consideration and respect which the Audiencia of Manila merits among the Indians proceeds also from those times in which its members made official visits to the provinces, and in these visits did so much good to the villages. The visiting auditors were, in reality, friendly mediators in the disputes between the Indians; and they made agreements, placed limits to the villages, furnished a sort of municipal ordinance, and protected the natives against the oppressions of the alcaldes-mayor. Notwithstanding my high opinion of that tribunal, I regard as very proper the provisions of law xxxiv, título ii, book ii of the laws of the Indias in regard to the removal and promotion of its ministers, basing my opinion on the same arguments as did the law—that is, that it is very desirable not only to reward them, but to uproot them from the friendships which they contract in places where they remain a long time. These friendships, whose influence is always detrimental to the equitable administration of justice, are in Manila an almost necessary result of the small Spanish population, of the lack of all public amusement or diversion, and of the fact that with the enervating effect of the climate the rectitude and vigor of European morals is lost after some years of residence in the country. [The Audiencia has been unable to attend to the administration of justice in the islands as it has desired, for it has always been hindered by the many obstacles which arise from the storms, the lack of roads and mail service, the attraction of all the lawyers in the islands to the capital, the ignorance of the gobernadorcillo and the alcalde of each other’s language and of judicial procedures, the dilatory mode of carrying on these between the provinces and Manila, etc. “Thus it is very common that these lawsuits, besides being always full of defects, last three, four, or six years; and that in that long period either the delinquents take to flight, or the documents are lost.” Even in the Audiencia itself there are many obstacles to its action. Its subordinate officials are Indian or mestizo lawyers, who often are neither competent nor qualified for their positions;] and that which most contributes to retard the despatch of business, and to maintain the offices of the court without any organization, is the unfitness of those who occupy the class or purchasable and renunciable offices. The court clerk, the special commissioners, and the attorneys know nothing else than how to obtain the greatest possible advantage from the purchase of their offices. Without any instruction in the obligations of those positions, because they cannot acquire it in that country, and incapable of carrying out even what the ministers themselves have the patience to teach them, those men are, notwithstanding, the only ones whom the ministers can choose for those offices, because they are likewise the only ones who can outbid others in the sale of them. These positions are also of little advantage, because in the immense extension of the military jurisdiction, among the wealthy persons of Filipinas, the tribunal of the War Department has drawn to itself all the civil causes of importance in the islands; and the Audiencia has been reduced to criminal causes, and the minor controversies over land among the Indians, for which reason it is impossible to have educated Europeans who will purchase those posts and serve in them. The consequence of this is that the offices of the Audiencia are in the utmost disorder; that they do not contain even the books of entry which the laws provide for, or registers, citations, or reports of cases; that in order to record a decree or an official report it is necessary for a minister to take upon himself the task of doing that; and, finally, that the administration of justice must necessarily be slow. [Bernaldez therefore recommends that the ministers of the Audiencia be promoted at least every ten years to other appointments; that the minor offices be no longer purchasable or renunciable, but filled directly by royal appointment, and given to suitable persons, with good salaries (which are specified); and that the government of the islands provide some expedient for raising money to pay the salary of an attorney-general in each province.]
Of the alcaldes-mayor and military governors of the provinces
[The office of alcalde-mayor and provincial governor involves the civil government and defense of the province, the administration of justice, and the collection of the taxes; but those who are appointed to it are usually only traders, in reality, and care more for the profits yielded by the trade that is permitted to them than for the obligations of their office. They are paid twenty-five hard dollars a month for salary, “and they pay to the treasury the same sum for the indulto [i.e., privilege], as it is called there, of trading,” to which pursuit they devote all their time and energies during the term of their office.] A system of alcaldeships so anomalous and irregular nevertheless produced at the outset some benefits to the islands, because, by reason of the great lack of capitalists there, many products of the agriculture and industries of the provinces would have received no encouragement if the alcalde had not speculated in them for the sake of his own trade. It is also necessary to note that there are provinces with which, on account of their remoteness and the little advantage which they have for the coasting trade, there was hardly any other means of communication than the barks of the alcalde. But now, when the coasting trade has become so general, it is a necessity to abolish, in most of the provinces of the islands, that absurd system of trading alcaldes; and to appoint in their places corregidors, lawyers educated in España, with only a salary, and the charge of making collections for the royal revenue, with the right to the offices in the Audiencia there. This increase in expenditure should be covered by the duties which ought to be imposed on the coasting trade, which by this means remains free from all impediment. [Bernaldez urges that the provincial magistrates be carefully selected, for their knowledge, experience, discretion, and executive ability; and that they be men who will devote themselves to the proper administration of justice, the study of those regions hitherto unknown, plans of reform, and the encouragement of industry and commerce among the people—not forgetting to preserve friendly relations with the parish priests. He recommends that seventeen of the provinces in the islands of Luzon, Panay, and Cebú be divided into corregidorships, eight into those of the first class, and nine into those of the second, with specified salaries to each; that appointments to these posts be made for six years; and that corregidors of the first class be proposed by the Audiencia.]
Of the taxes
[At present, the tribute paid by the Indians should not be increased because so many of them would be distressed by any heavier tax; but this might be done later, when the class of large proprietors may have increased in numbers. The payment of this tax in kind is a source of loss, not only in the quantity and quality of the products paid in, but in the damage caused by transportation and storage; and in selling the products thus received by the government there is loss, because its agents are poor managers of such business, not having the shrewdness or the knowledge of the markets which enable private merchants to make their profits. The commutation of the payment from money to kind was only partly due to the influence of the alcaldes, who preferred it for the benefit of their own trading;] the cause which has rendered that commutation almost necessary and which operates directly to the prejudice of the Indian, is the lack of a colonial money peculiar to the Filipinas Islands, like that which the other possessions in Asia have (of the necessity of which I will speak in another chapter), in order to revive internal commerce and promote and facilitate the payment of taxes.
The indirect taxes by means of government monopolies in Filipinas are, in my opinion, those most suitable to the native disposition of inhabitants who, furnished most abundantly by the soil with all the income necessary for their support, convert the superfluous enjoyments of life into objects of prime necessity. It should be a firm principle of good government to protect and rectify the administration of these indirect taxes, especially those on tobacco and wine—not only because these will be sufficient to cover abundantly all the expenses of army and navy, but because in case of a war and the absolute cessation of trade the government will have this firm support for its existence; and therefore no hearing should be given to the suggestions and proposals of those persons who are craftily working to free the islands from those monopolies. But so long as these taxes are not made general through all the provinces of the archipelago, so that the fire of the contraband trade (which always finds lodgment in the exempt provinces) may be extinguished, and until certain reforms are adopted in their administration and protection, the produce [of these taxes] in favor of the royal exchequer must be very disproportionate to the amounts consumed by that large population.