BEGINNINGS OF STRIFE.
For the first two hundred years, as we have said, the Spanish colony in
the Philippines was governed from Mexico. A Supreme Court, or Audencia,
like that of Mexico, was set up in Manila. This court tried cases and
settled law questions for the whole archipelago. The Mexican code of law
was in force here, and the officials in the islands tried to make the
government as much as possible like that of Mexico.
This, however, was a very different country from Mexico. The Filipinos
were a very different people from the native Mexicans. What worked well,
therefore, for one country and one people, did not suit at all for the
other. Often, in these islands, right and justice were hindered by the
very laws made to help them. The men who framed these laws did not know
the islands or the Filipinos, so they could not understand why the code
that was good for Mexico should fail here.
Soon still other troubles arose. The rulers who came after Legaspi did
away, one by one, with the native forms of government. There were no
longer any tribal councils in which the heads of groups could speak for
their people. The native kings and chiefs were set aside, and the people
then had no representatives. There was nothing to check the power of the
governor-general. He had full control over the lives and liberties of
the people, and no one could call him to account but the king of Spain.
In name the ancient office of head of a hundred still lived in the
office of “cabeza de barangay” (cäbā´thä dā bär än’gī), which the
Spanish kept up. The office itself, however, was no longer high or
honorable. The chief duty of the cabeza de barangay came to be the
raising of money among the people for the government. If the people were
poor, if times were bad, if the crops had failed, still this money must
be raised. The government looked to the barangay chief to get it, in one
way or another. Often, when the people were unable to pay, his property
was taken, and many a headman of a village was stripped of all he had by
the officers of government. In time, therefore, the office fell into
such disgrace that no self-respecting Filipino would take it. At last a
law had to be passed compelling service as cabeza de barangay.
Very early in the history of the colony there began to be strife among
the Spanish authorities. The bitter misunderstanding between Church and
State arose almost at once, and it continued through all the years of
Spanish rule in the islands. Soon after its formation, the Supreme
Court, too, became a party in the quarrels of the powers. Each of these
three parties was determined to control matters, and the result was very
bad for the colony. At times, indeed, the quarrel was so sharp that
affairs in the country were at a standstill, and ruin threatened the
colony.
[Illustration:
KING PHILIP II.
]
So matters went on until the year 1587, when they became so bad that the
Bishop of Manila sent a secret messenger to Spain to lay complaint
before the king. This messenger was a friar named Alonzo Sanchez
(älon´thō sän’cheth). He went first to Mexico and laid his case before
the viceroy, who sent him on to Spain. There he gained a hearing from
King Philip II., who promised to look into the matter.
The king then put the case in charge of one of his ministers, who
studied it with great care, and at last made a report which was the
basis of a royal decree. In this decree the king gave attention to a
good many things that were wrong in the islands, and made some definite
laws in regard to them.
The decree did away altogether with the Supreme Court, and appointed
justices of the peace in its place. It set forth plainly just what
should be the field of action of the State and what of the Church. It
gave the governor-general full power to do as he liked in matters
regarding all distant and unexplored parts of the country. In what he
did in such places he need not consult even the king’s will. If,
however, he wished to undertake a war, or any expedition that must be
paid for out of the royal treasury, he must first submit his plans to a
council made up of the Bishop of Manila and the chief military captains
in the islands.
The decree also forbade the making of any more slaves in the islands.
All slaves held by Spaniards were to be set free at once. All between
the ages of ten and twenty years, held by Filipinos, were to be freed at
the latter age, and all over twenty years old were to be set free in
five years.
Arrangement was made for a tribute to be raised from among the people.
The money so gathered was to be divided in a fixed ratio between the
Church, the State, and the army. All begging friars—and of these many
had come to the country—were ordered to leave the Philippines, and forty
Augustine friars were sent out to Manila.
A new governor-general was sent to the islands, with instructions to
carry out the decree. This official was Don Gomez Perez Desmarinas (gö
meth´ pā reth´ des mär ē´näs). He was a man of great energy and force of
character, and no doubt meant to be just and fair. He did not, however,
get along well with the Bishop of Manila, and before long the trouble
between Church and State broke out again. This time the bishop decided
to go, himself, to Spain, and see whether some understanding could not
be had by which peace could be kept.
Bishop Salazar (säl ä thär´) was then seventy-eight years old. He was an
Augustine friar, and had been parish priest of Manila. In 1581, when
Pope Gregorio XIII. founded the See of Manila, Salazar was made bishop;
but he now felt that the Church must have still greater authority in the
islands. One object of his visit to Spain was to get the consent of the
king and of the Pope that Manila should be made an archbishopric. In
this he succeeded. The Pope issued a bull dated August 14, 1595,
creating the Archbishopric of Manila, and Salazar was made the first
archbishop. He died, however, before official notice reached him of his
new dignity.
News traveled slowly in those days, but in the course of time the
emperor of Japan heard that a colony of Europeans had settled in the
Philippine Islands. He seems to have thought that Japan had some
interest in these islands; for in 1593 he sent an ambassador to Manila.
The name of this ambassador was Farranda Kieman (fä rän´dä kī ā´män).
His coming was the cause of some anxiety to the Spanish. As soon as he
landed in Manila he waited upon Governor-General Desmarinas with his
message. This was a demand upon the Spanish in the Philippines to
surrender, and to declare themselves to be vassals of Japan. If they did
not do this, Kieman told Desmarinas, the emperor would send war junks to
take the country by force.
To all this the governor-general replied with great politeness, but very
firmly. He told the ambassador that he and the other Spanish colonists
were already subjects of a great king, in whose name he ruled, and that
he could not yield the country to Japan. At the same time his king
wished to be on good terms with the emperor, whose power and greatness
were so well known, and the governor-general hoped a treaty could be
made between the two rulers. Such a treaty, he pointed out, would be a
great help to both countries.
[Illustration:
THE CITY WALL AND MOAT, MANILA.
]
Farranda Kieman thought that all this was reasonable, and soon
afterwards envoys were sent from Manila to the court of Japan. They were
well received, and a treaty was made for trade and mutual defense
between Japan and the Philippines. However, the ship on which the envoys
were returning home was wrecked, and they and the treaty were lost.
In May, 1593, another envoy, Fray Pedro Bautista (pā´drō bä ö tēs´tä),
was sent to Japan, and a new treaty was made. A copy of this was sent
back to Manila, but the friar envoy asked permission to stay in Japan.
His request was granted; he stayed in Japan, and began preaching to the
people. Some years later the fruit of this act, which at the time seemed
so slight, came back to Manila in a way most unexpected.
In the meantime Governor-General Desmarinas was busy in Manila. He was
anxious to see the city walls finished, and kept the people at work on
this great task. The fort at the mouth of the river was completed, and
the walls of the city already made a noble showing. The Cathedral of
Manila and the Santa Polenciana (sän´tä pō len´sē ä´nä) College of
Orphans were built, and many other good buildings were completed.
Desmarinas had also brought the provinces of Zambales (thäm bä´lēs) and
the Camarines under Spanish rule.
In the autumn of 1593, a native king of Fernate (fer nä´tē), one of the
Molucca Islands, came to Manila to ask for help against the Dutch
sailors who made trouble on his island. Desmarinas gathered a large
fleet, and on October 6th started with the native king for Fernate.
While on the way, the Chinese oarsmen on the governor-general’s galley
rose in revolt one night, took the galley, and killed the
governor-general. Some of the Spanish troops on board escaped by jumping
overboard. After the death of Desmarinas, the Chinese put the rest of
the Spanish ashore and went off with the galley.
This sad event broke up the expedition. The fleet returned to Manila and
Don Luis (lö´is) Perez Desmarinas, a son of the dead official, took up
the government. He ruled quietly until 1596, when his successor, Don
Francisco Tello de Guzman (frän sēs´kō tėl´lō dā gäth´män), came to
Manila.
In the year 1598, King Philip II. of Spain being dead, his son, King
Philip III., again set up the Supreme Court in Manila. This was done
with great pomp and show. There was a long procession in the streets of
Manila, and high civic and religious ceremonies. The court was given the
same powers as the court of Mexico and of Lima, in Peru, and during
Spanish rule was never again done away with.
_Summary._—The code of laws by which Mexico was ruled was made the
code of the Philippines as well. This arrangement was not a good one.
The ruler who came after Legaspi did away with the native chiefs and
kings. Only the office of head of a hundred was left, and that had so
little honor that no self-respecting Filipino cared to take it. Early
in the history of the colony began the strife between authorities
which, during the rule of Spain, caused most of the trouble in the
colony. At last Bishop Salazar of Manila sent a messenger to Spain.
The result was a royal decree defining the official field of the State
and of the Church. Gomez Perez Desmarinas was made governor-general,
and came to Manila. He did not get along well with the Bishop of
Manila, and later the bishop went, himself, to Spain. He succeeded in
getting Manila made an archbishopric, and was himself appointed
archbishop, but died before the official notice reached him. In 1593
the emperor of Japan sent an ambassador to Manila to demand tribute
from the Spanish colony. This the governor-general declined to give,
but a treaty was made with Japan. In that same year the king of
Fernate came to Manila seeking help against the Dutch.
Governor-General Desmarinas raised a fleet to go to Fernate, but while
on the way was killed by the Chinese oarsmen on board his galley. His
son Luis Perez Desmarinas succeeded him in office until 1596, when a
new governor-general came out. In 1598 the Supreme Court was again set
up by order of King Philip III. of Spain.
_Questions._—What code of laws was put in use in the Philippines? What
changes in government did Legaspi’s successors make? Why did Bishop
Salazar send a messenger to Spain? What was the result of the
messenger’s visit? When was Manila made an archbishopric? Who came to
Manila to get help from the Spanish? What did the governor-general do?
How did he die? Who reinstated the Supreme Court? When was it done?
[Illustration]