1. In the expenses of the fortified posts the forts of Manila and
Cavite are not included; neither are the forts of Romblon, Cuió,
Acutaya, Culion, and Linacapan, for these five forts are maintained at
the expense of the natives in the respective localities, and without
further cost to the royal treasury than some supplies of arms and
gunpowder. Nor are the forts included which have been built since the
end of the year 753, since their fixed charges and annual expenses
do not appear in the book which was formed in the said year with the
descriptions of the fortified posts. [48]
2. Attention should be directed to the following items: The exemptions
from tribute which are usually granted to the villages in the cases
for which the laws provide; the amount of what is not collected; that
which is lost through the failure of the officials to render account,
and through the omissions of the royal officials to collect as they
should; the salaries which are paid to the said royal officials
and to the subordinates of the established accountancy, mainly for
the accounts and collections of the royal revenue in the provinces;
the costs of transporting the proceeds of the said tributes to this
capital; the losses of the vessels which convey the said goods,
commodities, or products in which the said tributes are levied,
according to the different production of the provinces; the pay of
workmen [Tag., bantayes], and other petty expenses which are paid from
the royal revenue in each province; the cost of the vessels which go
out to cruise against the Moros, in the defense of the said provinces;
and many other expenses, to ascertain and compute which would require
tedious labor. But, as this report aims to show how much the king
receives from the Indians and what he spends on their account,
the aforesaid general computations are convincing that the royal
treasury spends in these islands much more than what they produce;
and that the ecclesiastical estate--or, to speak more accurately,
the religious orders--profit by and receive almost all the proceeds
from the tributes.
3. On this account the royal situado has been necessary in these
islands, in order to pay the following expenses: the salaries of
the governors, the ministers of the royal Audiencia, and their
subordinates; the officials of the royal treasury; the soldiers in
the garrisons of Manila and Cavite, with all their followers; the
arsenal of Cavite; and numberless expenses which have grown since
the retrenchments which were decreed by Señor Cruzat. And as the
situado and the income-producing monopolies are not sufficient for
all the said expenditure, the islands have been and will be in the
most wretched condition, and in the utmost danger of being ruined,
unless some remedy be applied.