Note 23 — Chapter VI · THE AUDIENCIA AND THE GOVERNOR: GENERAL RELATIONS

In an instruction directed exclusively to the Philippine audiencia, the king ordered the tribunal to see that offices were bestowed only upon persons “who by fitness or qualifications are best able to hold them.”23 It appears that this law, or another promulgated about the same time, gave to the fiscal and the oidores the right to pass on the qualifications of encomenderos, alcaldes mayores, corregidores, and other minor officials, on condition that preference should be given to conquerors, settlers, and their descendants. Governor Alonso Fajardo remonstrated that this new practice hampered the work of the governor, and created difficulties between him and the oidores.24 A yet later law, dated October 1, 1624, gave the governor (and viceroy) the right to make temporary appointments of all judicial officials, without the interposition of the audiencia.25 On February 22, 1680, the power of making permanent appointments of alcaldes mayores and corregidores was vested in the governor and the audiencia.26 In view of this law, the Audiencia of Manila claimed and actually exercised authority in the appointment of provincial officials from that time onward.