On the fifteenth of May, the father rector, Pedro de Oriol, presented a petition to the governor, asking him to issue a juridical testimony of his recourse [to the Audiencia] with a plea of fuerza; and that notification be sent to the archbishop that his illustrious Lordship must not take any further action until the royal court should decide what must be done.
On the seventeenth of May, Domingo Diaz came to make known the sentence of the archbishop, which declared that the Augustinians were the lawful parish priests of Mariquina, and that the sacraments administered by the fathers of the Society since October 12, 1686, had no force. The reply to all was, [that such proceeding was] null, and contrary to law. On the nineteenth of May, Father Borja came before the royal court a second time with a plea of fuerza. On the twentieth of May, the royal court resolved to issue a royal decree to the archbishop, commanding him to deliver up the documents in the Mariquina lawsuit.
On the twenty-third of May, they arrested the dean, Don Miguel Ortiz de Cobarrubias, by order of the archbishop; they placed him in the provisor’s house, and seized his goods. At the end of May, they carried the two auditors, and soon afterward Don Juan de Zalaeta and Don Miguel de Lezama, to Cagayan, as exiles; and they were placed one in each of the four garrisons that are maintained in the said province.
On the third of June, a notary came from the archbishop with a petition from the Augustinians, who were asking his illustrious Lordship to confirm the sentence that he had pronounced. Father Borja made a reply, more than two sheets in length.
On the fifth of June, a royal decree was made known to the archbishop that he must exhibit the documents in the Mariquina lawsuit, and his illustrious Lordship said that he would reply and would send the papers—which were in regard to the value of the sacraments.
On the eighth of June the archbishop held a consultation with the royal Audiencia, asking its aid to arrest and punish Fathers Diego de Ayala and Pedro Cano.[12] Up to today, June 24, the archbishop has not exhibited the documents in the Mariquina lawsuit.
News of this year of 1688 and part of the last one, with an appendix of other points
1. The ship “Santo Niño” which sailed from Cavite last year, 1687, put back to the port of Bagatao, to the grief of everyone—not only on account of the deterioration of property and the very considerable damages, but also this greatly delayed the remedy which is needed by the public calamities and the oppression under which this colony lies. The ship’s return to port is attributed to the excessive lading which it carried, to careless arrangements and lack of proper outfit, and to the undue timidity of those who had charge of the vessel.
2. The Recollect fathers made a raid through the lands of Silang, which they call Alipaopao, Oyaye, Malinta, etc.; and, trying to adjudge them to the ranch of Sarmiento, which they had recently bought through the agency of General Endaya, they committed unheard-of atrocities in the houses and grain-fields of the Indians—burning and ravaging them as furiously and horribly as if an army of Camucones had raided them. The Indians lost, as appears from a juridical statement that was drawn up, more than three thousand pesos.
3. A Dominican friar in Cagayan refused to absolve a Spaniard at the hour of death, in spite of all his entreaties for absolution. Although the friar had begun to hear his confession, the dying man could not proceed with it, being stopped by the nausea which comes at death, and he therefore died without absolution. I do not know all the circumstances in this case.