The governor, seeing the Audiencia broken up (since it consisted
of only one individual, the auditor Don Diego Calderón), named two
associates to assist the auditor in despatching the business of
this supreme tribunal; these were Licentiate Don José de Herrera,
an advocate of the royal Audiencia, and the doctor and captain whom
I have already mentioned, Don José de Cervantes Altamirano; and
they issued royal decrees, Doctor Don Esteban de la Fuente filling
his office of fiscal. They alleged that there had been a precedent
for this in the time of Governor Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera,
when there was no other auditor than Don Marcos Zapata, by whose aid
was carried out the banishment and imprisonment of Don Fray Fernando
Guerrero--and this proceeding had been an example to be repeated in
these times. Afterward, on account of the sickness and death of Don
Diego Calderón, the governor continued to form an Audiencia with the
two associates, which the royal Council of the Indias condemned.
Under this kind of government two years passed by, until, in the year
1688, a new Audiencia arrived, as we shall soon see. The year 1687
was no less grievous than the preceding one, for various misfortunes
followed each other, which were generally felt by all the citizens,
in order that they might share in the punishment merited by their
offenses, since always proves true the proverb, Delirant reges, semper
plectuntur Achivi. [112] The first was the failure of the galleon
from Nueva España, for it could not come that year because none had
been despatched [from Manila] the year before; this was because of
the armada sent against the pirates, which only served to cause great
expenses to the royal treasury, the wreck of the galleon "Santo Niño,"
and the failure of the galleon in this and the following years--which,
as we have often said, is the life of the poor colony of Manila and
of all these Filipinas Islands.
The governor, having determined to send to Nueva España the galleon
"Santo Niño," ordered that it be repaired as well as it could be;
but even then it was not very strong, because most of its strength
had been taken from it by the windows which had been opened in it for
the artillery. But there was no other ship to depend upon, for the
construction of the "Santo Cristo de Burgos," which they had placed
on the stocks, was only begun. The governor appointed as its commander
Lucas Mateo Urquina, who sailed for Nueva España with but slight hope
on the part of those who understood the situation for the success of
the voyage. The worst was, that their fears were realized; for the
galleon not being able to endure the fierce storms that attacked it
in high latitudes, it was compelled to put back to port. This it did,
about the month of November, causing great affliction to all; for it
came only to aggravate the sufferings that were already experienced
through the failure to receive a galleon that year.
At night of Holy Thursday, March 28, at the time when in the village
of Binondo arrangements were being made for the procession which the
mestizo Sangleys make on the occasion of the "holy burial," (which is
one of the most brilliant and magnificent of the processions that are
made in Holy Week), one of the greatest disasters that have ever been
seen in these islands occurred. Fire caught in the first house on the
point of land which is called Punta de la Estacada, and the crowd
of people who had made ready for this devout function were unable
to extinguish the fire; and the devouring flames made such havoc
that they destroyed the great number of houses that stood in all the
territory of the said Estacada, Baybay, and Tondo, finally consuming
the entire barrio of Bancusay, in which this so widespread settlement
[of Sangleys] finds its limit. It was no small good-fortune that
the fire passed by the other side of the river, where lies the great
town of Binondoc, Tondo, Santa Cruz, and Quiapo--which, as contiguous
villages, together constitute one body--for [if the fire had reached
them] the loss would have been irreparable; for many splendid houses
of wealthy Spaniards and mestizos would have been consumed, and those
of many Portuguese and Armenian traders who live in those places as
being more convenient [for their business]. There were no deaths of
persons from the flames; but great was the loss of the many people
who saw their poor houses and property disappear.
The gates of Manila were opened, and the governor, in person hastened
to give aid, with a great number of people, who could check the
fire so that it should not cross over to the other part of Binondoc
and Tondo. What was more, he prevented the robberies which in such
emergencies are committed by some soldiers and wicked people, who on
such occasions are worse than the fire, as has been found by experience
at various times; for in times of drouth fires are very frequent in
the suburbs of Manila, most of them being occasioned by fire set by
these soulless incendiaries, who find their profit in such destruction.
To this local calamity at La Estacada succeeded another affliction,
which was general through the greater part of these islands; this was
a plague of locusts, one of the worst which has been seen in them, for
the locusts were so many that in dense and opaque clouds they darkened
the sun, and covered the ground on which they settled. These insects
ravaged the grain-fields, and left the meadows scorched; and even the
trees and canebrakes they stripped of the green leaves. These locusts
were so voracious that they not only laid waste every kind of herbage
and verdure, but they entered the houses, and gnawed and pierced with
holes every kind of cloth; and those who flapped sheets and coverlets
at the locusts to drive them away--as is usually done at other times
in the invasions of this pest, with some effect--on this occasion
found that the only result was to ruin those articles, for the locusts
ate them, and destroyed them with their poisonous jaws. Thereupon the
people began to feel the loss which ensued from this calamity, in the
great scarcity and want of provisions--so great that a cabán of rice
(which is half a fanega) came to be worth two pesos and a half, and in
some places three pesos. (Nor has the poverty been less which is being
experienced while I am writing this, on account of the great plague
of locusts which occurred in the past year of 1717 and the present
one.) And it can be said that the poor died in great numbers, not
so much because the rice (which is the general food of the regions)
cost so much, as through their lack of forethought, and of money
with which to buy rice; and because there was so excessive a number
of beggars--some through necessity, and others through laziness and
dislike for work--that it was impossible to relieve them; for when
there is but little to give it is not possible to divide it so that
all shall be sufficiently cared for.
To these great troubles was added another; that in that year
occurred many earthquakes, which although they did not cause the total
destruction of buildings, left many houses and churches damaged. In the
province of Cagayán, in the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, heavier shocks
were experienced, for in the mountainous districts of that province
chasms and vent-holes were opened, a phenomenon which usually results
from such tremblings of the earth. From this it may be proved that a
cause of these tremblings and earthquakes is the air which is shut in
within the caverns of the globe, drawn into them through the crevices
and openings which the heat causes in the soil, which afterward are
closed by the rains; a great volume of air being thus gathered, it
becomes rarefied, and, increasing in quantity or volume, it seeks an
outlet, directing its force toward its center and causing so terrible
a commotion. But the safe and useful way of maintaining ourselves
faithful in the fulfilment of our obligations is to regard these
earthquakes as tokens of the wrath of God against our transgressions,
Qui respicit terram et facit eam tremere (Psalm ciii, v. 32).
Not long before these events, the death occurred in Cagayán of the
auditor Licentiate Don Diego Antonio de Viga, a prisoner and exile in
that province. [Here Diaz relates the circumstances of the deaths of
Viga and other persons who had been concerned in the Pardo controversy,
which have already been mentioned in previous documents. He cites a
letter from Pardo to Curucelaegui, dated December 2, 1687, to show
that Viga died impenitent; he was buried in the cathedral of Lalo,
and Pardo connects with this circumstance the calamities which soon
afterward afflicted the islands. He orders the remains of Viga to be
disinterred and removed from the cathedral; Diaz thinks that this was
done, but is not quite certain. He positively asserts, however, that
Viga was a very upright official, and wholly disinterested; and thinks
that he perhaps went too far in upholding the royal privileges, through
misunderstanding their scope. Doña Josefa Bolivar also dies impenitent,
and Pardo sends Bachelor Don Juan de Cazorla to investigate the matter,
to know whether she may be buried in consecrated ground; he has her
buried "in the plaza of the said village of Oriong." Her husband meets
"a better end;" he is reconciled to the Church, and dies after having
"devoted himself to exercises of austere penance, fasts and scourgings
and other mortifications." Auditor Calderón dies at Manila in like
exemplary manner (July 18, 1687); "this auditor was a very upright
and disinterested official, a good Christian, pious, and much given to
good works, and therefore was beloved by the entire community." Master
Jerónimo de Herrera is sentenced by the archbishop (March 16, 1687)
to be deprived of all ecclesiastical benefices and offices, and is
sent to Spain, but dies during the voyage. At this time, Barrientos,
the bishop of Troya, is absent on official duties in the bishopric
of Nueva Segovia. He had "issued a decree of excommunication against
the alcaldes-mayor of Cagayán, Ilocos, and Pangasinán, prohibiting to
them trade and traffic in those provinces, in virtue of the oath which
those officials take in the royal Audiencia when they go to exercise
their offices. This excommunication was the cause of many lawsuits, for
Captain Don Francisco de Alzaga Voitia, alcalde-mayor of Pangasinán,
defended them all, and appeared before the royal Audiencia with a
plea of fuerza, complaining that the bishop of Troya was usurping
the royal jurisdiction by taking cognizance of the oath taken in
that court.... On this question royal decrees were issued, and the
controversy lasted a long time, but the excommunication then laid has
remained until this day; and the alcaldes-mayor continue with their
trade and traffic as before, without the least scruple." Returning
to Manila, Barrientos declines the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, to
which he is entitled as Pardo's assistant; the archbishop therefore
despatches to take charge of that diocese Doctor Nicolás de la Vega
Caballero, then cura of Cavite.]
This province assumed charge of the ministry in the territory of
Mariquina and Jesús de la Peña, which in times past was a dependency
of the mission station of Pasig. It had been administered by the
religious of the Society, by commission of Don Fray Pedro Arce, bishop
of Cebú and ruler of the archbishopric of Manila, and by approval of
Governor Don Juan Niño de Tabora, since the year 1630; and now it was
restored to the ministry of Pasig by sentence of the archbishop, May
16, 1687, and this province added to that territory the convent of San
Mateo--establishing the headquarters and residence of the minister at
Mariquina, whose titular saint is our Lady of Protection; its first
minister was father Fray Simón Martínez. The aforesaid archbishop
also added to the said village of Pasig the mission village of San
Andrés Apóstol de Cainta, also administered by the said religious of
the Society, by decree of March 16, 1688--with the approbation, not
only of this, but of the separation of Mariquina, by the vice-patron,
Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui. Its first minister was father
Fray José del Valle, and it was preserved as a separate convent with
the title of vicariate. [113]
We held these ministries, with great labor and inconvenience, until
the year 1696, when there arrived a royal decree that they should
again be administered by the fathers of the Society of Jesus, and we
therefore surrendered them to those fathers. In order to show further
our good-will and friendly relations with so holy a religious order,
we exchanged the ministry of San Mateo for that of Binangonan--called
"Binangonan of the dogs," to distinguish it from the other town of
the same name, which is on the opposite coast [of the island]; it
has for its titular St. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins her
companions, in a church in Laguna de Bay. This was accomplished by the
aid of the consent and approbation of the governor, Don Fausto Cruzat
y Góngora. This village of Binangonan is very small, and had been at
first administered by the religious of St. Francis, who had exchanged
it for the ministry of Baras, which also belonged to the religious of
the Society; and because it was so poor a living a visita was added
to it from the ministry of Pasig, which is called Angono--its patron
saint being St. Clement, pope and martyr--of a few tribute-payers. To
this ministry were added fifty pesos more for its support, but it is
so forlorn a one that even with all these aids the minister suffers a
great lack of means for his support; and therefore on many occasions
there has been talk of abandoning this charge, for it is not good for
any other profit, either spiritual or temporal--not only on account of
its poverty, but because of the intractable disposition of its people.
On February 19 of this year of 1688, our then father provincial, Fray
Juan de Jeréz, died in the convent of Manila; his illness was caused by
the great hardships of his visitation of the entire province, and the
eagerness with which he undertook to perform this task in one year,
while it was a task for two years, especially since he was sixty-two
years old, and had many attacks of illness. At last he ended the
visitation, but it put an end to him. He was one of the most exact
in fulfilling obligations of all the religious who have been in this
province, and great was his zeal for the religious observance. His
solicitude and care for adornment in the things belonging to the divine
worship was continual, using his utmost endeavors that the altars and
ornaments should be the best that were possible, and spending on them
all that he could obtain. The first indication of his [approaching]
death was that he was freed from the scruples of conscience which had
been throughout his life a continual torment; but at that time the
Lord, who had given him these scruples in order to exercise his soul,
imperavit ventis et mari, et facta est tranquillitas (Matthew viii,
v. 26). His death was deeply regretted by all; for this province
loved him as a father, and the people venerated him as a saint. In
consequence of his death, the government was assumed by our father
Fray José Duque, as being next to the provincial, with the title
of rector-provincial; for in this province could not be observed
the same rule as in those of España, where our very reverend father
general makes appointments for the vacancies caused by the deaths of
provincials, until the time appointed for convening the provincial
chapter.
Among the troubles and calamities of this year a very great one
was that occasioned by a pestilential epidemic of influenza, which
had begun in the preceding year and continued in this year of 1688,
with great ravages. Many died of this disease, especially children
and old persons; and by this year the epidemic had so increased that
many grain-fields could not be cultivated, for lack of people to
do the work. This caused a great lack of provisions in this and the
following years, just as the locusts had occasioned like loss in the
preceding year. So prevalent was the disease that in the province of
Pampanga, where I was serving in the village of Guagua, as secretary
and assistant of the rector-provincial, the Indians were not seen in
the streets, on account of most of them being prostrated by the cruel
influenza, and the rest of them caring for the sick ones. Accordingly
the deputies and officials of the confraternities went through the
streets with jars of [cooked] rice, and went up into the houses and
provided those who were in need with food; for most of the people
were without it, and others could not cook it and had no one who was
able to do so. These influenzas are very frequent in this country,
but that in this year was the worst that the old men have seen; and
since then, up to the present time, no other like it has been known.
The governor, Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui, desired to put a stop to
the outrages which were being committed by the rebellious blacks of the
mountains and the Zambals of the Playa Honda and the uninhabited places
of the Puntalón (a route in the province of Pangasinán)--killing many
travelers and cutting off their heads (which is the greatest trophy
and desire of those people), and daring to approach the villages
near Tarlac--Magalan, Telban, and Malunguey. The governor therefore
prepared to make a vigorous invasion, not only with Spaniards,
but with Pampangos, friendly Zambals, and Merdicas from Maluco;
and he appointed as their leader Sargento-mayor Martín de León,
and gave him [for officers], as being men experienced in that sort
of war, Captain Alonso Martín Franco and Captain Bartolomé Prieto;
the master-of-camp of the Merdicas, Cachil-Duco, the prince of
Tidori; and Sargento-mayor Pedro Machado. He sent orders to the
alcaldes-mayor of Cagayán and Pangasinán that they, with the best
troops that they had, should scout through the mountains from north
to south, so that they might go on until they should meet Martín de
León and his companions, up to a locality and settlement of blacks
that is called Culianán. Both parties carried out this plan, although
with great difficulty, on account of those forests being very dense;
they killed many insurgent blacks and Zambals; but before joining their
troops they found themselves obliged to retreat, because the epidemic
of pestilential influenza made great havoc among them, and many died
from that disease. But the injury which our people could not inflict
upon the enemy was wrought on them by the pest of the influenza,
which caused as great ravages among them as the smallpox had made in
previous years. Martín de León, Alonso Martín Franco, and Bartolomé
Prieto came to Guagua in very bad condition; from there they sent word
to the governor, who commanded them to withdraw [from the enterprise].