In the city of Manila, on the twenty-sixth day of May, one thousand
five hundred and seventy-six, the very illustrious doctor, Francisco de
Sande, governor and captain-general for his Majesty of these islands
of the West, and auditor of his royal Audiencia established in the
City of Mexico in Nueba España, declared that it is an encumbrance
and damage to the royal treasury for his Majesty's officials to hold
encomiendas of Indians; and, as such, his Majesty has forbidden this
by laws, and recently in a letter which his Majesty wrote to the said
officials in the year seventy-four, in which it appears they ask from
him permission to own Indians. In this letter there is a paragraph
of the following tenor:
"As for what you ask concerning repartimientos of Indians--namely,
that favor be granted you, because you have served as discoverers of
these islands--such a thing has appeared to us unsuitable, considering
your offices; and therefore there is no good reason for acceding to
your request in this matter. In other affairs, there will be occasion
for granting you rewards (and you will bring it to mind when you
send to our Council of the Indies reports of what has been in your
charge), and when it has been seen in what ways you have served. The
same will be done in regard to increase in your salaries. Madrid,
April twenty-five, one thousand five hundred and seventy-four."
The governor says the same; and because the aforesaid persons are
freed from private affairs in order to fulfil their duties, as they
are obliged, he did order, and now so orders, that they shall not
hold the said Indians in encomiendas, and retracted those which were
granted them by Guido de Laveçares, treasurer of these islands--who
at that time filled the office of governor thereof, on account of the
death of the governor Miguel Lopez. He said that he placed, and he
did so place, the villages which the said officials at present hold,
under the rule of your Majesty's royal crown. They are as follows:
the natives of Balayan and the river Aguan, and of the villages
of Bulabuty, Mata, Amblaca, and Mabulau; the river Mabotan, the
mines of Gumun and Gaogao, the river Bacoun, the village of Longos;
the river Ysin, and the villages of Minangona and Mina--who, it is
reported, are held by the accountant Andres Cauchela; the natives of
the coast of Tule who, according to report, are held by the factor,
Andres de Mirandaola; and a thousand Indians, who, according to
report are held by the treasurer, Salvador de Aldave in the Sunguian
Emasingal valley. In order that his Majesty may possess them as
his royal property, like the others that he personally holds, the
governor ordered the officials of the royal estate, whether present or
future, that they shall hold those encomiendas as the royal property,
make collections, and have the natives instructed in the tenets of
our holy Catholic faith. He charged this upon their consciences,
and in the royal name, relieved his Majesty and himself from that
responsibility. And, further, he ordered a duplicate copy of this
act to be drawn up, and to send the same to his Majesty.
_Doctor Francisco de Sande_
Before me,
_Fernando Riquel_
In the city of Manila, on May twenty-six, one thousand five hundred
and seventy-six, I, the notary undersigned, read and made known
the act of his Excellency, herein contained, to the accountant,
Andres Cauchela, official of his Majesty's royal treasury, who said
he heard it, and that he will answer it. Witnesses, Alonso Ligero,
and Balthasar de Bustamante.
_Diego Aleman_, notary-public.
In the city of Manila, in this said day, month, and year aforesaid, I,
the notary undersigned, made known and read the act herein contained,
decreed by his Excellency, to the factor and inspector, Andres de
Mirandaola, official of his Majesty's royal treasury, in his own
person, who said that he heard it, and that he will answer what seems
to him necessary. Witnesses, Gaspar de Yola and Melchior Corila.
_Diego Aleman_, notary-public.
In the city of Manila, in this said day, month, and year aforesaid, I,
the notary undersigned, made known and read the act herein contained,
decreed by his Excellency, to the treasurer, Salvador de Aldave,
official of his Majesty's royal treasury, in his own person, who said
that he heard it. Witness, Antonio Caballero.
_Diego Aleman_, notary-public.
In the city of Manila, on May twenty-six, one thousand five hundred
and seventy-six, the very illustrious Doctor Francisco de Sande,
governor and captain-general for his Majesty in these islands of the
West, and auditor of his royal Audiencia established in the City of
Mexico in Nueva España, said that whereas, since the officials of
the royal treasury have been in these islands, they have collected
from the trade and royal estate in their charge, many pesos of gold;
and whereas, it is reported that, on account of their salaries, they
have--despite the decree of his Majesty in their letters-patent,
and notwithstanding this letter which they have also received--held
Indians without his Majesty's permission, and contrary to his decrees
and letters: therefore the governor said that he ordered, and he did
order, that whatever they have collected from the Indians held by them
in encomiendas be understood as counted toward the salaries which his
Majesty may have ordered to be paid to them; and from this time, each
third of the year, when they shall collect their salaries, they shall
go before his Excellency, so that having seen the needs and the state
of the treasury, they shall be paid proportionally, in accordance with
the same. And they shall do nothing contrary to this, under penalty
of five hundred pesos for the exchequer for each person and for each
violation. Because in this present year of seventy-six, we have been
informed that each person has collected the said tributes for the whole
year, they, shall all declare, clearly and specifically, under oath,
the amount thus collected, and for what persons and by whose hand
it was collected, so that when the first third comes due, it may be
suitably adjusted, according to the above declaration. From now on they
shall collect no more, except on the account of the royal treasury,
under whose royal jurisdiction they are this day placed. This act shall
be filed with the other, and a duplicate shall be made of the whole,
to be sent to his Majesty. It was signed by Doctor Francisco de Sande.
Before me.
_Fernando Riquel_.
In the city of Manila, on the twenty-sixth day of the month of May,
one thousand five hundred and seventy-six, I, the notary undersigned,
read and made known the act of his Excellency, herein contained word
for word, to the accountant Andres Cauchela, official of his Majesty's
royal treasury, in his own person. I took and received his oath, which
he made before God and the blessed Mary, with the sign of the cross
+, in due legal form; and under this charge he promised to tell the
truth. Being asked what tributes he has collected from the villages
herein mentioned, the form in which they were collected, and under
whose direction and by what persons, he said that in this present
year of seventy-six, he sent to the villages of Bacayan (which is his
encomienda) Juanes de Betaria, now defunct, to collect the tribute
from the natives thereof. This man went thither, and collected nine
hundred small pieces of white cotton cloth, three or four of which each
one gave him as tribute. Likewise he collected, and brought to this
deponent, one hundred and fifty pesos in broken silver and testoons,
and six tae[l]s of nejas gold, all of which he has, as said, together
with seventy fowls. All this he gave and delivered to this deponent,
and said that he had collected it from the natives of the said villages
of Bacayan. The said Juanes de Guetaria _[sic]_ went by the order of
his Excellency to collect the said tributes. He declared that, during
this said year of seventy-six, he had not collected anything else from
the said villages; and from the others that he holds as encomiendas he
has not collected anything since he has held them. This is the truth,
which he signed with his name, the witnesses being Alonso Ligero and
Baltasar de Bustamante.
_Andres Cauchela_
Before me, _Diego Aleman_, notary-public.
In the city of Manila, this said day, month, and year aforesaid, I,
the notary undersigned, made known and read the act herein contained,
decreed and ordered by his Excellency, to the factor and inspector
Andres de Mirandaola, in his own person, from whom was taken and
received the oath. He swore before God and the blessed Mary, and on
the sign of the cross +, in due legal form, under which obligation he
promised to tell the truth. This deponent, being asked what tributes he
has collected in this present year of seventy-six, from the villages
which he is said to hold as encomiendas, in the lowlands of Tuley,
and what persons have collected them, and what they collected, says
that it is true that this deponent sent to the said villages of the
lowlands of Tuley one Pedro de Bustos, a soldier, who collected the
tributes from the natives thereof. This was for the present year
seventy-six. This said Pedro de Bustos, this deponent being out of
this city, went to the villages, and collected a certain number of
bales of cotton, which might weigh thirty quintals, a little more or
less. This deponent did not receive anything else, nor did the said
Pedro de Bustos give him any account of what he collected, because
at that time he was out of this city with the sergeant-major, Juan
de Moron. This deponent has not collected anything from the said
villages during this present year, seventy-six. This is the truth,
and what actually took place, which he signed with his name, the
witnesses being Juan de Navarrete and Melchor Correa.
_Andres de Mirandaola_
Before me, _Diego Aleman_, notary-public.
On this said day, month, and year aforesaid, I, the notary
undersigned, read and made known the act herein contained, decreed
by his Excellency, to the treasurer, Salvador de Aldave, official of
his Majesty's royal treasury, in his own person. From him I took and
received an bath, which he took before God and the blessed Mary,
and on the sign of the cross +, in due legal form, under which
obligation he promised to tell the truth. Being asked what tributes
this deponent has collected from the villages which it is said he
holds as his encomiendas in the provinces of Yloco, and the amount
thereof, and what persons have collected them in his name, he said,
under obligation of his oath, that Bartolome de Vega, a soldier,
who about fifteen or twenty days ago came from the province of Yloco,
told this deponent that in this year of seventy-six he had collected,
from the said villages, tribute from two hundred Indians. This tribute
did not come to the hands of this deponent, but went to the factor
Andres de Mirandaola in payment of a debt of the royal exchequer,
owed to the said factor, and which this deponent was ordered by his
Excellency to pay, although he did not owe it. Thus this deponent has
received nothing out of what the said Bartolome de Vega collected this
said year, of the said two hundred tributes, beyond one hundred and
sixty pieces of white cloth from Yloco, which the said Vega gave and
delivered to this deponent--a little more or less, he does not remember
exactly. This said treasurer said that he was making this declaration
to execute his Excellency's order, and protests that he should incur
no loss, because the content of the said act ought not to extend to
his case, as he is not the proprietor of the said office and duty of
treasurer; and because, in all the time that he has held it, he has
received neither salary, gratuities, nor allowances, as will appear by
his Majesty's books. To those he refers, because he, as holding and
occupying the said office which the treasurer Guido de Lavaçares had
held, has conducted and exercised the said office as others have done,
who at the present day hold encomiendas of Indians. This he said was
his declaration, and he so made it, and signed the same with his name.
_Salvador de Aldave_
Witness, Anton Caballero.
Before me, _Diego Aleman_, notary-public.
I, the said Fernando Riquel, had this copy made from the original
acts, which are in my possession. Therefore I here affixed my name
and customary flourishes, in witness of the truth.
_Hernando Riquel_