_Jesus_
Yesterday afternoon I received a letter from your Lordship,
and intended to begin a reply immediately; but there are so many
occupations crowding upon me that they do not leave me time to take
breath; and although I came out here to finish the little treatise
which I had promised your Lordship, I see that neither here nor there
have I opportunity to do anything.
I was much pleased with the earnest zeal which your Lordship showed
in your letter, but you must know that as I am old and have seen so
many things, I do not care very much for what I hear, but wait for
what may be done; because laying down general rules and instructions
for what is to be done is a very easy thing, but very hard to put
into practice. Who doubts that the preaching of the gospel is the
most important thing for which we have come here? but yet I see that
this is the least object of solicitude; and, if you do not think so,
look at the progress of the natives. I know very well that there is
plenty of care about temporal things; and, as long as these present
themselves, religious instruction is to cease--or the Indians must
support it, even if they never understand it So we all say that the
Gospel is the principal thing, but our works show what it is that
we care most about. Ordinances, decrees, and provisions which speak
in favor of it, we have in plenty; the fulfilment of them will come
when there is nothing temporal to be looked after, which will be very
late. If your Lordship does not think so, ask what is going on in the
island of Panay. Of what do they take most account, of the galleys
and ships which are being built there, or of the religious instruction
which was to be preached there? Because I have seen with what dislike
your Lordship hears of what is going on there, I have ceased to inform
you of it--which I did, hoping that if you understood the situation,
you would find means to improve it. Letters and messengers from there
have told me things which are enough to break one's heart; but now I
am hardening it, because I see that it is of no use for me to grieve
over them. This I say in reply to the statement in the preface to
your Lordship's letter, in which you say: "If they would allow me
to be bishop, I would maintain better order in my bishopric than
there is, and the natives would be much better instructed and not so
harassed." But where there are so many to order and so few to obey,
he who leads this dance can ill guide it to the place where it ought
to go. For this reason many things are going so far astray, and they
will go astray as long as he who has care of everything does not have
the authority which he ought to have. For how can I arrange for the
religious instruction, or take away here or place there, if after I
have ordered it someone says that he chooses not to abide by it, but
to do what he thinks best? Allowing, in general, that in moral matters
there is a little improvement, let us come to the particular point
which your Lordship treats of in your letter. But, before considering
it, I wish to warn your Lordship that concern for these things, and
the arrangement of them, and deciding who is to be here and who is to
be there, is my business--not only because it belongs to my office,
but because his Majesty particularly committed and entrusted it to
me, recommending me to do it in communication with your Lordship;
but the execution of it he leaves to me, as by right is proper. I say
this because I have heard that by virtue of some decree or other they
are persuading your Lordship that religious can establish themselves
without my consent in villages where they have never been. In this
they are misleading your Lordship, and they themselves are mistaken;
for that decree on the other side--which notifies the viceroy of
Nueva España, which has never been used in this land, and which no
governor has ever dared to use--is previous to the Council of Trent,
after which it has no force, because in it the contrary [i.e., to the
Council's decision] is decreed. So I beg of your Lordship, as I am
in quiet and peaceful possession, that no house whatsoever be taken
in my bishopric for religious without first seeking and obtaining my
permission. It was some days ago that I found this out; but because
your Lordship told me that you did not believe what they said to you,
I did not pay any attention to it until I learned, yesterday, that
the provincial of San Augustin says that, by decrees which they have
from the king, they can occupy houses without my permission. This I
believe your Lordship will not do; and I can not understand how they
can do it with any conscience With this understanding, let us come
to what you say.
The new settlement of La Ermita and that of Malate can very well
be under one religious administration, and it shall be that of the
priest whom I have placed there. The same seems to me to be true of
Cavite and Parañaque, of which the priest whom I have there shall have
charge. In this way the fathers of San Augustin can take away three
or four religious who are now in those two places, and put them in
other localities where they have great need of these men to fulfil
their responsibility. I say this on the one hand, on account of the
great satisfaction which I have in these two ministers; and on the
other hand, because they are already incumbents of those two districts,
and as such are, in equity, under obligations. Accordingly, I will not
and cannot give them to one who may tell me that he will not receive
them except as a favor, and then remain there, even though I should be
dissatisfied with him. Add to this that I have need of some clergymen
near me for the many necessities which arise, which religious cannot
supply, and in order to help in the cathedral at times; for there is
much need of this, as your Lordship has probably seen sometimes, when
you have been there. As for what they say, that the fathers of San
Augustin will take charge of those districts without having more alms
given them, I am very sorry on account of this offer of these fathers,
because I know that whatever burden is taken from the king's treasury
will fall on the Indians; and I do not wish this, neither should your
Lordship wish it. Since those fathers have, as I have said, so many
districts to provide for, let them take there what they get therefrom.
Concerning the religious of Batan and the others of this bishopric,
it seems to me that neither your Lordship nor I should interfere
with them, for they know what is suitable for the government and
preservation of their orders; and they would be great fools not to
consider themselves first rather than others, for St. Paul knew very
well what he was saying when he bade his disciple Timothy to take heed
to himself first and afterward to teaching. For the apostle knew very
well how proper it was for a minister to take heed to himself first
rather than others--and this not only for the good of the minister
himself, but also for that of those to whom he ministers. Now since
the apostle said this to a bishop, who is under so great obligations to
look after his sheep, how much better might it be said to the friars,
who have this duty only through charity. This is the law of charity,
_primum mihi secundum tibi_; and this should be observed more among
religious than among other ministers who are not included among
them--in the first place, because these religious did not choose to
take up this ministry as under just obligations to do so, but merely
through charity, which looks first to itself and then to its neighbor;
in the second place, because a simple-minded minister who is withdrawn
from the world, and given to prayer, and a careful observer of his
religion, and who will make the Indians feel that he lives as a saint,
is worth more than twenty who are inattentive to their duties, and
who cannot remain an hour in their cells. These virtues and other
similar ones, without which a religious can not maintain himself,
can ill be acquired by the religious when they go alone and are so
separated as you wish. Would to God that I might see in every house
for Indians, not four such as are in Batan, but six or eight, and not
one, as your Lordship says, because I should expect more fruit from
these six or eight quiet ones than from eighty heedless ones. For as
St. Paul said, speaking to the Corinthians, _Regnum dei non est in
sermone sed in virtute_; for chattering is chattering, and teaching
through works is the true teaching. There are no people in the world
who have so great need of good ministers as have the Indians, or
who notice as much as they do the life which these ministers lead,
and the example which they set them. For one religious to be alone,
although he be a St. Paul, is unsafe; and so it is proper that in this
region we should permit the superiors of each community to govern
their religious and arrange for them as it seems best to them; for,
since they came to convert these souls, it is to be believed that
they will not fail to do so if they can. But they will not, and very
rightly, consent to ruin themselves through maintaining the religious
instruction; but this is not unfavorable to religious instruction,
but rather very favorable to it--since, in the way which I describe,
it is to give them ministers who will profit them; and the way which
your Lordship proposes means to put fire to them which will consume
them. Of this I have more experience than your Lordship or anyone
else who is in these islands, because I was a friar forty-six years,
and minister more than thirty, and have been bishop twelve; and I
know it all and have seen it all, and this is good reason why more
reliance should be placed on me than on any other. This same matter
was discussed in Mexico among all the orders. When they saw that it was
ruinous to them to be alone, they determined to establish houses where
there should be at least four; and, in order that they might support
themselves without being burdensome to the Indians, they decreed that
the orders of St. Dominic and St. Augustine might have some estates
in the Indian villages, by which to support themselves. As it had
been ordered by his Majesty that they should not hold property in the
villages of the Indians, I went to España to see about the matter,
and obtained from his Majesty the revocation of this decree. As some of
the auditors of the Council said what your Lordship says now, I freed
them from that error, and proved to them that it was not expedient that
the friars should live otherwise than in a community. I discussed the
same thing with his Majesty, and it seemed well to him and so it was
provided. In confirmation of this, the fathers of St. Dominic who came
to these islands brought a brief from his Holiness, confirmed by the
royal Council, which orders that in each house there should be at least
four religious; and they tell me that in the [_illegible abbreviation
in MS._] they praised it greatly and were much edified. In this way,
wherever your Lordship thinks of making a short cut, you take a longer
route. To give to the Indians ministers [as you propose?] will be to
give them those who would destroy them, or at least who would be of
very little profit to them. Do not think that I am so careless that I
would have waited till now if I had thought that what your Lordship
says would be expedient; but as I know how important it is for the
good of my sheep that those who teach them should live uprightly, I
am more pleased to see the religious living together than to see them
separated. I am sorry in my heart when I know that some religious is
alone in a house, and if I could remedy it I would do so; but I do
what I can in not consenting that, through taking too many houses,
the friars may be left alone in others. Your Lordship will do me
the great favor and kindness not to treat of any other matter which
shall be contrary to this, because I know that it is to destroy the
religious and ruin religious instruction. The provincial who shall
do this will give me a very bad example; and I shall understand that
he cares more about establishing houses than about looking after his
friars or religious instruction. On this account the religious and
I have had some quarrels, but I know that they have not been right;
for my zeal and desire has not been to prevent their having houses,
but to prevent their taking so many that they could not support those
establishments without harm to themselves and to the Indians. When your
Lordship says that two are sufficient in Batan, you show clearly that
you are not well informed of what is needed in order that there be
religious instruction; for in Batan there is need of two more friars
in order that it may be well instructed. As to what your Lordship
says about provision for the encomiendas of Ylocos, you have as much
care for them as if you forgot those which the king has in Panay
and in other regions of the Pintados, who are all, or most of them,
Christians. The Augustinian fathers, in whose charge these were wont
to be, abandoned them; but since they have returned to take charge of
the religious instruction of that people, and the obligation which
holds them is greater than that of Ylocos, let them cease to claim
houses there until they have more ministers. As for those who were to
be sent to Ylocos, where there was no obligation at all, let them be
sent to the Pintados, where there is so much obligation. With those
who are to be taken from Malate, Laguio, and Parañaque, two or three
houses might be occupied among the Pintados in the king's villages,
which have been without religious instruction now for some time. If
your Lordship carries this out, you will take a great burden from the
conscience of the king and from your own, and those fathers will do
a thing which they are under great obligations to do; for to claim
the charge of Ylocos is only a whim of those fathers, and a desire to
undertake what they cannot carry on vigorously. If your Lordship had
consulted with me, I know that I should have given you much safer
advice than that which others give you; because there is no one in
this country who knows as much as I do about what is fitting, nor is
there anyone who would give it to your Lordship with so little regard
for other considerations as I.
What I have said about the religious, that it is not fitting for them
to go about alone, does not extend to the priests; because these,
by their profession and habit, are not obliged to be together, but
each one goes by himself. This has been the usage of the church,
and, so far, we have not seen that any bad results have followed;
but many indeed have followed from the religious dwelling alone.
There is another great evil in what your Lordship wishes, and it
is that, to station so many religious who are scattered about,
each one by himself, is not to establish religious instruction but
to permit it to go to ruin; for I have always been of the opinion,
and shall be all my life, that a few well instructed are better than
many ill instructed. When they are ill instructed they are like an
ill-cured wound, which, when we think that it is well, breaks forth
again. Thus it is with the ill-instructed Indians; for when we think
that they have profited, we find that they are worse than before
they were baptized. This comes from never having sufficient religious
instruction, which in this part of the world is most necessary, among
these unfortunate people who in but few places have seen one happy
day. Your Lordship also suggests where the priests may be placed. To
this I reply that, as we leave it to the superiors to govern their
religious, it would be right for your Lordship to leave it to me to
govern my priests, as I leave it to you to look after your captains
and soldiers; for I know what each one of my priests is for, as your
Lordship knows of your men. Your Lordship must understand that I am
not so careless of the life that the priests lead that I am not on the
watch, and they know this well; and if sometimes they come to Manila
it is with my permission, or on business which cannot be avoided. In
this I know that there is more to be remedied elsewhere than in my
priests. If the scattering of these ministers in so many regions is,
as your Lordship suggests, that the king and the encomiendero may
collect their taxes, it seems to me that this is not a good means for
it; because where there is not sufficient religious instruction, as
there is not where there is one minister in an encomienda, neither the
king nor the encomenderos can receive as much as your Lordship wishes
to give them. And I know well from the Christian spirit of our king
that, if he were informed of the truth which I know and have told you,
he would never consent that any money which was so ill gathered should
enter his treasury. Some day this truth will be known and we shall
see who will weep for not having believed it. His Majesty understood
this very well when, in an article of the letter which he wrote to me,
he bade me to try to provide sufficient religious instruction; for his
Majesty sees clearly that what is actually done is rather to neglect
than really to provide the Indians with what they need. Would to God,
as I know that what I say is true, that I might satisfy my conscience
by not saying what I am going to pass over in silence, and that I
might be in peace; for I desire this more than to see myself in the
midst of disputes and hard feeling. But the obligation which I have,
to fulfil the duties of my office, does not allow me to keep silent,
but I have to speak and say what I feel.
I do not understand what your Lordship says about the Augustinian
fathers and do not wish to reply to it until you have explained it
to me, because it never entered my thoughts to be sorry that you
should favor them, for they deserve it and your Lordship should do
so. But when your Lordship says that since you came here they have
lost some of their rights, I do not wish to agree to that, nor do
I think that they will say so; but let this wait for another time,
for I do not wish to treat of it here.
At this point your Lordship makes a long digression, trying to give me
to understand what my office is and what I can do and what I can not
do, and for this your Lordship makes distinctions of protector and
bishop and commissioner. Your Lordship need not have taken so much
trouble; for, as Captain Becerra dares to write to me not to take
so much trouble to give him light, because he has enough from God,
so it would not be very much for me to dare to tell your Lordship not
to take so much trouble as you have taken in this letter to teach me
what my office is and what I may do in conformity with it--because,
speaking with the respect which is due to your Lordship, you did not
come to this bishopric to teach me but to be taught by me. In truth I
do not understand what could be your Lordship's thought in discussing a
matter so foreign to your profession; and it did not seem at all well
to me, unless your Lordship regards me as so contemptible a person
that I am not equal to this. Although humility is well in all, and
particularly in bishops, it is not humility for the sheep to teach
the shepherd; nor would it be considered well in me, and still less
so in your Lordship, if it were known that I allowed you, who should
take rules of right living from me, to give them to me. Read, or have
read to you, the chapter _si imperator 96 distin_., in which your
Lordship will see what is the duty of secular princes and what that
of bishops, where among other words it says these: "If the emperor
is Catholic he is a son, not a prelate, of the church; and whatever
concerns religion he is to learn, not teach." In what follows in this
chapter your Lordship will see what is your duty and what is mine;
and our Lord, through the prophet Malachi, says that the lips of the
priest held knowledge, and from his mouth the law is to be sought,
and not from the governors. Since your Lordship wished to be master
when you should have been pupil, you could not avoid falling into
the difficulties into which you have fallen in this letter, as you
say that you do not know whether the bishop can order that all the
confessors should not absolve in this or that case. It is almost a
matter of course that the bishop may reserve cases, when that may seem
best to him; and it is an amusing thing that your Lordship sets about
declaring to me when the confessors are to reserve the cases and when
they are not to do so. I am astonished, and marvel at your judgment
and prudence in coming to discuss such matters with your bishop,
especially when your Lordship knows that he has studied a great deal
to know this which you can not know, nor would it be proper for you
to know it. The cases which I shall reserve shall be reserved, and
those who dare to absolve, although they may have other privileges,
will commit mortal sin, when the bishop declares the reason why he
does it; and many doctors of the highest standing maintain that
the absolution is void in such cases. When anyone shall confront
me with a concession opposed to this, he must have studied deeply,
for many talk about concessions without understanding them. Since
your Lordship meddles so much in things in which you ought not to,
do not be astonished if I reply as is suitable, in order that your
Lordship may be instructed, and that I may satisfy the objections
which are brought against me. When your Lordship says that you do
not know and can not discover how I can be concerned in trying to
remedy anything which concerns the encomiendas which are peaceful,
except by giving my opinion about the matter, I say that I am not
astonished that your Lordship does not know, since you are not under
obligations to know; but I am astonished that because you yourself
do not know, your Lordship should think that I do not know, since
you cannot but confess that I know much more than your Lordship does
about the matter in question. That your Lordship may be completely
undeceived, please know that in order to discuss the collection
of tributes and the rest that has to be done in that connection, I
have no need of a commission from the king, because I have it from
God. This limitation is proper for your Lordship, because you have
no power but that which the king has given you. I hold mine from God,
who gives the bishops all that they need to govern their bishoprics;
and so I do not need to have the king tell me what I have to do,
but I have to determine what is proper for the unburdening of the
royal conscience, and my duty toward your Lordship and the others
who are under my care; for I know better than any who are here what
is proper for relieving the royal conscience in the Philipinas. Do
not consider this as presumption, for it is not, but merely telling
the truth; for if we consider the law, I studied it very well many
years ago, and as for the facts, I know them better than anyone else,
and there is no one who has so much experience as I. Your Lordship
need not tell me that it is not my place to act in this matter, for
it is, and it is more fitting for me than for any other to act in it
and determine what should be done about it. Neither do I need to pay
any attention to the fact that there are some who say the opposite,
because, beyond the fact that I know that those who say the opposite
are wrong and make your Lordship err, besides this, I say that when
the bishop determines a thing after having taken due care not to be
mistaken, it should not be suffered that others, however excellent
they may be, should dare to say the opposite, for this is to cause
dissensions between the prelate and his flock. Whoever shall be the
cause of this, it will not go well with him, because in this bishopric
there is no other doctor than I, and whatever I say must stand and
pass in my tribunal. If I am not what I should be, let them use the
remedy which our Lord Jesus Christ left in His church, as St. Luke
tells in chapter XII. This is to wait for God to remedy the matter,
and advise with anyone who, by his authority, can remedy it, and in
the meantime to commend it to God. This same remedy laymen have as
regards their governors. But in order that they should undertake to
remedy it by opposing it, the error of the bishop must be so great
that it could not be tolerated without great prejudice to the faith
or to customs. But since I have relied on the reasons which I have,
and have consulted with those who could give a good opinion about
it, and particularly as I am so certain that I am in the right, it
would be rash boldness for another to say the opposite, or to dare
to preach it. Your Lordship is very much mistaken when you think that
what I say is nothing but the opinion of any other person whatsoever;
for now that I have set about determining this and discussing it so
purposely, I know that no one who says the opposite can support it. I
say this with such liberty because I know what I am saying; and in
the defense of it I should think it but little to lose my life. When
your Lordship tells me that I interfere with what is your business, I
consider it as a great offense; for you yourself are a good witness of
how little trouble I have given you in this matter, and henceforward
I shall give much less. I am not so desirous of ordering that I
wish you to share your charge with me, for my own work, which is not
small, is enough for me. I do wish to have your Lordship know that my
discussion of the manner in which the collections are to be made, or
from what encomiendas they may be made and from what ones not, is not
interfering with your Lordship's office, but fulfilling the duty of my
own. Not that I am to imprison or sentence encomenderos who collect
contrary to what I say, for this is your Lordship's duty. Before
the tribunal of conscience I must condemn those to make restitution
who collect without having the authority to collect, even if it be
with the permission of your Lordship; and I must place your Lordship
under the same obligation because you gave them such permission. This
distinction of powers your Lordship ought to have known before telling
me that I was interfering in what was not my business.
In the matter of employing laymen where there are no ministers of
religious instruction, your Lordship says that I do not make up my
mind, although you have already proposed it to me several times. Twice
your Lordship tells me in this letter that you have communicated
things to me, but I am astonished that my poor memory does not recall
any of them. One of the greatest satisfactions is that your Lordship
does things all by yourself, without my having anything to do with
them, and in truth I hold it as one of the greatest mercies that
could come to me; and although his Majesty orders the opposite,
as many things fail to be done which kings command, so this also
shall fail to be done, to my great satisfaction and to yours also,
as I think. I have not stationed Spaniards in the encomiendas because
I do not know whom to place there; and I remember very well having
said this to your Lordship, but we agreed together that I should
decide this matter, as I remember it. There is no reason why I should
give your Lordship a report on the persons who can be appointed,
because it is my business to appoint them, and to determine their
salaries--not only by commission from his Majesty, but it is also my
due on account of my office. But I have not dared, and do not dare,
to appoint anyone--not because I do not wish to and have tried to,
but because I know that there is no one in whom we can trust without
great harm to the Indians and very little benefit; because those who
could go and be of service to the Indians do not wish to, and those
who wish to are not suitable. Thus your Lordship will see how right
I was in saying that to appoint many alcaldes-mayor and lieutenants
is a greater harm to the Indians, and this is not a fancy of mine
but a common saying in all the land.
It is very amusing to me that your Lordship places to my account the
coming of so many Indians to me that I may favor them, just as if
I called them, or were a party to driving them away. It is evident
that your Lordship knows but little of the Indians, since you say
this. In order that I may tell you some truths, as your Lordship
wished to tell me, please know that the Indians are much dissatisfied
and complain that you receive them very ungraciously and roughly, and
thus many do not dare to appear before you. This can but be a great
obstacle to what is needed to be done in this country. If my meeting
them with a friendly aspect and treating them kindly is the cause of
their coming to me, I do not think that I shall mend my ways in this,
because I know what they need. As far as being protector is concerned,
that obstacle has been removed, for it is some time since I abandoned
the office of protector; and by no means would I take it up again, for
I do not wish to know more sorrow than I have known, without any other
result than to grieve my heart at the sight of it. When his Majesty
shall learn the reasons which I had for giving it up, I am sure that
he will not regard me as undutiful to him in having abandoned it.
In conferring the prebends and benefices I abide by the royal
rights of presentation in what I am obliged to; but to station a
clergyman in a Christian Indian village [_doctrina_] when there
is someone who opposes, is a thing that I have sometimes done,
and will do henceforward, because I know that it is proper to do so
for the service of God and the good of the sheep which I have in my
charge. Against this there is no right of patronage; nor would it occur
to the king to wish that this should not be done, nor would it occur
to me to defraud the royal right of patronage; for I know very well
the obligation under which I am to keep it, and I know when anyone
acts according or contrary thereto. Surely I am surprised that your
Lordship should meddle in such trifles as to ask from me an account of
the title under which Father Salinas was ordained. If your Lordship
does not know how he can act, I know; and for that reason I created
him a priest; and I know that this was well done, and that it is not
fitting to do anything else. I know that your zeal is great, but I
also know what St. Paul said of others who had zeal, and zeal for
God, but he said that that zeal was not according to knowledge. And
certainly, when your Lordship interferes in the things in which
you interfere in this letter, although I say it be with great zeal,
you have greatly exceeded your powers, and overstepped the bounds
to which they extend. For even if your Lordship had known and seen
that I transgressed due limits, your Lordship had neither license
nor authority to treat in so imperious a manner your bishop, whose
instruction and advice your Lordship is bound to follow, and your
Lordship should not undertake to constrain your master. The worst
thing would be that your Lordship should think that what you have
said pertains to your duty, because that would be a graver matter;
for, if your Lordship could stretch your arm so far as that, there
would be no need of any bishop in this country, except a titular
one, [3] for I do not see what remains to me if your Lordship can
do all the things which you imply in this letter. But please read
the chapter, _si ymperator_, already cited, and you will see how
far your powers extend, and what is for me to do. Your Lordship has
plenty to do in your office without extending your authority to mine,
and I have plenty to do in mine without treating of what belongs to
yours--although, since I have in my charge your Lordship's soul, not
only as a Christian but as governor, I cannot be so careless as not
often to be obliged to examine what you are doing and advise you of
what you ought to do. This your Lordship cannot do with me by virtue
of your office, although as friend and lord, as one who desires my
good, I shall be pleased to be advised by your Lordship of my faults,
which I know very well are not few. Except in what my office obliges
me to, be certain that I shall keep as far from interfering in the
matters of your government, or from giving you any trouble, as if I
were not living or were not in the country.
This has turned out a very long letter, and certainly my occupations
did not give me time for so much; but the great amount of matter
in your letter which needed to be answered left me nothing else to
do. Believe me that I am very much opposed to discussing such matter
especially when a man has to say something which may seem praise or
esteem of himself, which is a thing very unfit for those who try to
serve God. But when this is not done arrogantly, or in vanity, but
to defend the necessary truth, it is done as St. Gregory the Pope
did against the emperor Maurice, and Gelasius the Pope against the
emperor Anastasius. Even Moses and St. Paul, although they were so
humble, when it was necessary to defend their authority said things
of themselves which, said in any other connection, would seem wrong;
but, spoken for the purpose for which they said them, were rightly
spoken. As I think that what I have said is enough to satisfy your
Lordship's letter (and, if anything remains to be set right, time
will not be lacking in which it can be discussed), for the present let
this be sufficient. May our Lord give your Lordship the light of His
grace, that you may follow His holy will in everything. From Quiapo,
March twenty-first, one thousand five hundred and ninety-one.
_Fray Domingo_, Bishop of the Filipinas.