[_Endorsed_: "The governor of Filipinas to his Majesty, June 30,
1636. Revenue matters. June 10, 1638."
"Let this matter be looked up, and see whether anything has been
enacted concerning it; and take it to the fiscal, with whatever
notices there are concerning it."
"Nothing has been enacted."
"The fiscal declares that it is written in this letter that there are
four or five thousand Chinese who are now paying this duty, and that
it can be increased to eighteen or twenty thousand pesos of income,
while the additional sum that will be paid by each one will not amount
to more than nine reals. That cannot be, except by admitting into the
Filipinas Islands as many more thousand Chinese, as they say, as will
amount to pesos. That will be running great risk, as is well known,
especially in islands so remote and so sparsely settled. And if before,
when there were so few Chinese, so careful provisions were made to
have them remain shut up within their Parian, so that they could not
make any changes in the condition of those islands, one would think
that not without danger can this be changed, with the people who come
in the ships, which they are commencing to do there. Besides that,
to raise the impost on his own authority, without having informed
the Council thereof until after it was executed, is a matter that
furnishes a very bad example; and since the amount concerned is so
small as thirty-six thousand reals (at nine reals apiece, on the
four thousand pesos [_sic; sc._ Chinese] who he says are there),
it is not desirable to risk for that sum the government--which, it
has been found by experience, is without danger--and to expose it to
the possibility of danger. Therefore he petitions that it be ordered
that no innovation be made. Madrid, June 30, 1638."
"July 28, 1638. Have the governor informed that, considering all
the circumstances that he sets forth in his letter, the measure
for benefiting the imposts for the royal treasury does not appear
improper; but that it will be necessary to consider very carefully
how this increase of duties may be attempted and obtained. For in
order to obtain that increase we cannot risk the commerce, which
must be considered with the coming of the Chinese, as it conduces to
the benefit of those islands; nor also the security of the country,
if their numbers be greatly multiplied. For it seems that this will
be necessary, if the money were to increase to so great a sum as
he mentions. Have the matter entrusted to the governor himself and
to the Audiencia, so that, after weighing the advantages of this
measure with the advantages which might occur in its execution,
and considering all the above, the decision which shall be most to
his Majesty's service and that of his royal Audiencia may be made;
and that they shall report whatever they do to the Council. Have the
Audiencia notified to the same effect."]
Sire:
A communal fund was established in the Parian or alcaiceria of the
Chinese, who are called Sangleys, in the time of Don Alonso Faxardo
de Tenca, and with your approbation given April 8, 1622. Each
Sangley pays into it three tostons annually, in two payments. The
ministers of justice of the said Parian are paid from that fund,
as are those who live there to administer the holy sacraments, in
case that some [of the Sangleys] are converted--namely, two fathers
of St. Dominic. That fund also takes care of the works that your
Majesty needs; and the requisite sum is furnished from it for the
payment of the laborers, so that they may go willingly, and so that
no other assessment need be made. With the consent of the Sangleys,
Don Juan Nino de Tabora assigned from this communal fund a salary for
a minister to administer the holy sacraments to the Chinese living in
the town of Santa Cruz, on the other side of the river, which is in
charge of the fathers of the Society of Jesus; for the said Don Juan
Nino deemed that necessary. But at his death, and when an attempt was
made to collect that stipend belonging to the minister of Santa Cruz,
the fathers of St. Dominic refused to pay it, but on the contrary
went to law about it with him. And as if they were a party in this,
they brought a very strenuous suit against him, before my predecessor,
Don Juan Cereco Salamanca, who gave sentence in favor of the fathers
of the Society. That sentence was appealed to the royal Audiencia,
and although Don Juan Cereso judged, and rightly, that there was in
this matter no appeal to the Audiencia, as it was purely a point of
government, he did not dare to prevent the appeal, but allowed it
to pass. Upon my arrival at this island, I found this suit in the
stage of petition; and, esteeming it to belong to the government,
I suspended the suit, and ordered that the sentence and decree of
Don Juan Nino de Tabora be carried out. The fathers of St. Dominic
were angry at that, but surely without any reason, as it was none
of their business--although they had so possessed themselves of
the communal fund of the Parian, and so controlled it, that in the
fourteen years since it was established, they have used it to get
more than one hundred thousand pesos from it for matters peculiar
to their order. That has been an excess and irregularity that the
governors should not have allowed, as is apparent from the accounts
which I ordered the accountant Juan Bautista de Cubiaga to audit on
this occasion. The Sangleys of Santa Cruz and of the jurisdiction
of Tondo, seeing how small was the benefit that they derived from
the communal fund of the Parian, and that it was converted only
to the welfare of the Sangleys of the Parian and of the fathers of
St. Dominic, petitioned me to be allowed to have a separate communal
fund in Tondo. Considering that they were asking for justice, for Don
Alonso Faxardo, who established the said fund, declared May 4, 1622,
that whenever the said Sangleys thought that they could not endure
the said fund, and whenever they should oppose it and petition that it
be not continued or kept up, it would be proper to have it cease--in
conformity with that, I, seeing that a number of the Sangleys of the
villages of Santa Cruz and Tondo were opposing (and rightfully, as
the fund of the Parian was of no use to them) the payment by them,
as by the others, of three tostons annually for each person, and
that they were asking for a separate fund for Tondo, which should
be entrusted to the alcalde-mayor, I granted it to them. I was also
influenced by the service which the Sangleys of Santa Cruz offered
to perform for your Majesty, as I shall immediately relate--namely,
that the alcalde-mayor of Tondo should be paid from this fund, and
thus the salary paid him from the royal treasury would be saved;
while in the works that offered, your Majesty would be better served
by having two communal funds--one in the Parian, and the other in
Tondo. Therefore will your Majesty be pleased to confirm this action
accordingly, for it is beneficial to the royal treasury. May our
Lord preserve the Catholic person of your Majesty, as is necessary
to Christendom. Manila, the last of June, 1636. Your vassal kisses
your Majesty's feet.