Note 2 — Three Letters from Governor Dasmarinas to Felipe II

In this land, as being so new, and where affairs have not as yet the solidity and completeness requisite, are many obstacles and impediments to its good government. One of them, and not the least, is the power, authority, and even tyranny, with which the bishop and religious have insinuated themselves into and domineered over it. Nothing is attempted or tried that they are not wont to oppose it; and nothing is ordained or decreed here in which they do not meddle and interfere, without being summoned or consulted. They assert that they must pass their edict of approval or disapproval on everything; so that there are but few or no matters whose execution they do not oppose and obstruct—saying that such and such cannot be done or ordered, under penalty of going to hell; and, in conjunction with the bishop, they immediately excommunicate and terrorize, so that the secular arm and hand of your Majesty has not here the strength and freedom that it should have Page 261for the execution of affairs. One of the things most needing reform is that, as the bishop, according to his caprice—and often in cases outside of his jurisdiction—excommunicates and proceeds unjustly, doing violence to the law; and as there is no royal Audiencia here to remove the excommunications: justice and the despatch of business may suffer greatly, unless your Majesty entrusts the governor here with power to try such cases, and to lift and remove the ban, since other recourse is so distant, and so many wrongs might be perpetrated. For it is certain that, both in this and in all other matters, the conduct of the bishop and of the religious with so great power and license is one of the most severe trials of this government; because the bishop has a title as a saint (so that some persons imitate him), and a man of upright life. That I do not take it upon myself either to praise or to censure. I have never seen a man more peculiar or so inconsiderate and obstinate in his opinions, who even does not hesitate to oppose the right of patronage, the jurisdiction, and the royal exchequer of your Majesty. All this he judges and discusses as injuriously as the most utter foreigner, and even enemy, would do. I say this with truth, on account of what I owe to your Majesty's service; and although I warn him of the harm that he is doing, as it appears to me, and although I am restraining myself in regard to him with the moderation suitable in a land so slippery and uncertain, he is wont to answer with monkish liberty, what the king must do for him; and that, inasmuch as neither pope nor king can do him good or ill, he is not at all concerned. He says that your Majesty has no authority here; that to him is due the conquest and conservation of this land; and that Page 262he is not bishop for your Majesty, but for the pope. What royal patronage he must observe, the pope declares in his bulls, and not he who praying kept to his bed. He talks with the same liberty in his theology and judgments, since in order to prove his opinions, he says that the universities of Salamanca and Alcala (who do the contrary) are in error, and he right. He declared also that those who should follow the instruction of the Theatins here would go to hell; and that the doctrine of Father Acosta was heretical—beside innumerable other things. And it is quite certain that, since my arrival here, I have had in him a continual opposition and obstacle to whatever is ordered and done. If things are not quite to his taste, he says that he will go into retirement, and abandon everything. And the friars say the same thing—namely, that they will abandon their doctrinas [i.e., Christian villages] if their power over the Indians is taken away. This power is such that the Indians recognize no other king or superior than the father of the doctrina, and are more attentive to his commands than to those of the governor. Therefore the friars make use of them by the hundreds, as slaves, in their rowing, works, services, and in other ways, without paying them, and whipping them as if they were highwaymen. In whatever pertains to the fathers there is no grief or pity felt for the Indians; but as for some service of your Majesty, or a public work, in which an Indian may be needed, or as for anything ordered from them, the religious are bound to gainsay it, place it on one's conscience, hinder it, or disturb everything. Without doubt, if I did not exercise so much caution and moderation, some mutiny or rebellion might arise, in a country so new, at Page 263less opportunities than those which the bishop and his friars afford. For they do not content themselves with opposing our proceedings in the tribunal of conscience [fuero interior], announcing them as sins or cases against conscience; but also, as soon as they assemble in their councils and enunciate their propositions, in the latter and in their pulpits they declare these acts to be unjust, wrong, and worthy of restitution. Thereupon the bishop orders refusal of absolution in confessions, excommunicates, and proceeds in the outer court.2 Thus if it is ordered in accordance with your Majesty's commands that the citizens alone discuss [any matters], they say that that is not just, because it must be for the general welfare. And if, by your Majesty's command, it is ordered that the Chinese merchandise be bought at one price, theology declares that no such thing can be ordered. If it is decreed that the Indians, in order that they may cultivate and weave their cotton, since it is so abundant in the country, should not wear silks and Chinese stuffs, nothing could be worse. No sooner is the excise, or the merchant's peso, or the two per cent duty imposed for the wall, than it is against conscience and the bull De cena Domini [“of the Lord's supper”]. If I undertake to appoint magistrates to govern in peace and establish order among the Indians, they say that I am setting the land on fire. If I pass any sentence in accordance with the merits of the case, there is murmuring, and [it is said] that such a thing has never been seen in these islands; and therefore there is no man more severe or of more evil disposition than I. They assert also that not a Page 264single arquebus-match should be lighted here, or a single soldier be kept; and that the pure gospel must be preached. Thus, I behold myself, Sire, greatly restricted by these obstacles, and even more by the procedures of the bishop in matters in which he has no jurisdiction, and which do not concern his office—because those that do pertain to him, he has most forgotten. For I assure your Majesty as a Christian that since my arrival here, although the work on the church was no farther advanced than the raising of the walls a matter of six varas, and enclosing a court, never did he come to me so that we might give orders to have even one brick placed in it. On my faith, he has not been so forgetful of his own house, for he has one so handsome and well-finished, and from money for the restitutions, which was in his possession. From these restitutions he gave pensions to whomsoever he wished, and took such part as he chose for his own house. Nor have I known him, as long as I have been here, to consult in regard to placing one minister of instruction where there is none, or to convert one soul; but he has only opposed those who tried to provide instruction and to be of service in this matter. This is because he wished, in all things, to have his clergy preferred, in regard to whom he took sufficient care to importune me for them; although they are all better merchants than students of Latin. Consequently, in no other way was more time wasted than in listening to his complaints on this score, and regarding the Augustinian fathers—to whom he is very hostile, because he wished his Dominican friars to have everything good; and in disposing of the misrepresentations and invented tales with which he kept coming Page 265to me, we lost much time. In short, the bishop is growing old, as I am informing your Majesty in another letter. But it is certain that, unless he himself goes away, I see no other remedy for the obstructions caused by his temper and passion (by which he has embarrassed the course of business and government here), than the very journey which he contemplates—namely, to send him to España (as I would assuredly do, because he would have made this step necessary for me) in order to tell your Majesty that there will be no deficiency in his duties here, for he has not busied himself more in them than to hinder me in mine. May our Lord preserve your Majesty for many long years, as Christendom needs. Manila, June 20, 1592.3