Volume 37 — CHAPTER XXXII

Election of our father provincial Fray Dionisio Suárez; of the mission that arrived that year; and the imprisonment of the governor.

(1668–69)

They enacted ordinances and statutes of great utility for the better administration of the missions in our charge, and for the better government of the province, which, as they were so good and proved so useful, have been reënacted in many subsequent chapters. At that time this province was in great need of religious to serve in the ministry of the missions. Consequently, it was necessary to pile work upon them till they were overburdened (that addition being the most grievous part of the load); and therefore many fathers were entrusted with two districts, and only one was placed in other large districts that needed two or three. The other orders were suffering from the same diminution, and the secular clergy was almost a cipher. Consequently, there was no recourse but to abandon some missions, so that those which remained in our charge might be better administered. But divine Providence hastened to our relief in that great affliction with an abundant reënforcement, the greatest that this province had obtained since its origin.

The religious of the mission disembarked at Capul July 20, and the flagship “Buen Socorro,” after weathering many storms, made the harbor of Lampón. The religious reached Manila in groups all through the month of August, after making their voyage by land, and receiving the greatest attentions from the religious of the Order of St. Francis—in whose vigilant care are the provinces of Camarines, Tayabas, and Laguna de Bay; and they showed the fervent charity which was left them as an inheritance by their seraphic patriarch.

The death of our father Fray Alonso Coronel was regretted deeply in this province (he died in Manila, August 9 of that year 1668), for he was one of the prudent superiors that this province has had, and a very learned and able religious. He was an efficient minister in Tagalos for the period of thirty-three years that he spent in these islands.

Such was the imprisonment of Governor Don Diego de Salcedo, and the evil lot of that gentleman who possessed so great endowments of valor, discretion, and urbanity, besides his personal qualities; for he was tall and well-proportioned in all parts of his body, and his face was handsome, serious, and modest. His flowing hair was very long and white; and his mustache, a distinction in the men of that time, was very black. His complexion was very light, and his eyes blue, and all gave him a grave and noble appearance. Nothing could be seen in him that was not very chaste, and only in his covetousness was any transgression recognized in him. As covetousness is the root of all evils, his lukewarmness in attending to many obligations belonging to a Christian governor proceeded from that. The consequences of his imprisonment lasted for twenty years, counting imprisonments, embargoes, exiles, and refuge sought in the sanctuary by those who took part in that imprisonment. The father commissary, Fray José de Paternina, was summoned to Méjico by the Inquisitors; and the reverend father master Fray Felipe Pardo, of the Order of Preachers, afterward archbishop of Manila, was appointed in his place. Father Fray José de Paternina died on the voyage to Acapulco, and we only know that the tribunal of the Holy Inquisition of Méjico celebrated public and honorary funeral services for him. The rest of the matter does not concern me; it was my part only to refer to the fact of this imprisonment, in order to follow the thread of my history.

The alcaldes-in-ordinary and the municipal corporation of the cabildo informed the gentlemen of the royal Audiencia [of the arrest] that same night, in order that they might fulfil their obligation, which was to appoint the senior auditor to the government. The auditors—Licentiates Don Francisco de Coloma y Maceda, Don Francisco de Monsilla y Montemayor, and Don Juan Manuel de la Peña Bonifaz—and Doctor Don Diego de Corbera, the fiscal, met in the assembly hall. They discussed the question of who was the senior auditor; for Don Francisco de Coloma had held that office longer, but had assumed the office later, because Don Francisco Mansilla (as we have mentioned before) had gone on ahead from Cagayán. The controversy waxed very bitter, for neither would yield; and the third auditor, Don Juan Manuel, and the fiscal sided with neither of the contestants. Finally Don Juan Manuel treated the matter so ably and wisely that he made them agree to give him charge of the government until the controversy should be decided. The two other auditors and the fiscal assenting thereto, the charge of military affairs was given to Don Juan Manuel de la Peña Bonifaz; and the master-of-camp took possession of the army, and the city received his oath.

All that government of the usurper Don Juan Manuel was very peaceable; for he was a wise and prudent man, and of very excellent intentions. If the desire to command misled him into pushing himself into the government, which did not belong to him, the fault ought not to be attributed to him, but to those who allowed themselves to be deceived because of their passions.... The first thing that he did was to bring from Cebú that great soldier, so often appointed in past years, the commander Don Francisco de Atienza y Báñez—who had retired, and was passing his honorable old age in quiet; and Don Juan availed himself of his counsels for military arrangements. He treated the soldiers very well, and increased their pay, and paid them a sum of money on account of what was due them for their services. In that way he exhausted the royal treasury; and it was this which created most hostility against him in the royal Council. He must have thought that his government would last a longer time, for Don Diego de Salcedo had served five years in his government, and, according to the length of time that his three predecessors had governed, a long time was still left for Don Juan. But this reckoning ended ill; for Governor Don Manuel de León was in Méjico, because authentic information had reached the royal Council of the Indias of the irregularities committed by Don Diego de Salcedo.

At that time the bishop of Cebú, Don Fray Juan López, arrived at Manila on matters pertaining to his church concerning the result of the visitation which he had made in the province of Ogtong. But as he found the governor very busy in strengthening his intrusion, while the royal Audiencia was much in need of ministers, he could get nothing done except the issue of some pontifical acts regarding orders and confirmations, and to return to his church.

However much Don Juan Manuel de la Peña tried by diligence to please all, he was not without danger of his life through the malice of assassins or the neglect of undisciplined soldiers. For while he was one afternoon watching the marching of the companies which are changed daily as guards at the gates of the city, it happened that when an obsequious military officer was ordering that a general salute to him be fired, a musket ball passed over Don Juan Manuel’s right shoulder, and was embedded in a brick wall of the window from which he was leaning. Investigations were instituted in order to get at the cause; but they were all in vain, as those who fired were so many, and it could not be learned who had loaded with ball. The governors have many such dangers because of the carelessness of the undisciplined soldiers. Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara was in danger of being killed in another salute like that; and the ball passed clear through the hand of Licentiate Manuel de Olivera, who was at the governor’s side.