Note 87 — Chapter XX

In the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), iv, pp. 235–244, is a summary of a long document, a “Vindication of the official acts performed in the visitation of Camarines by Licentiate Don Francisco Gueruela, member of his Majesty’s Council and alcalde of court in the royal Audiencia of these islands, and visitor for the Audiencia in that province in the past year, 1702.” The summary reads as follows:

It is divided into three parts: the first contains, besides the preface, a brief summary of all the edicts which were published in those villages, and which are being brought out by his order. The second comprises a more than succinct relation of the false charges which the said visitation had encountered, and edicts about which with Christian impiety they had dissembled to him. The third is reduced to a brief legal demonstration of the authority which the visitor possesses to institute summary legal proceedings against the religious who are in charge of doctrinas, without danger from the bull In cæna or any other censure whatever.

In the preface—which is crammed with citations from the holy fathers, the Scriptures, and [various other] writers—the zealous [flamante] auditor Gueruela says that he spent a month in obtaining information about the condition of the villages in the province of Camarines, before he began the visitation; and in that time, through the investigations which he made, he learned that the evils which the religious teachers cause to the Indians were deeply rooted, and required an effective remedy. He says that as he was uncertain by what means to carry out his purposes, he undertook first, to induce the religious, through persuasion and careful consideration, to agree to a reform of the abuses with which they were oppressing the Indians; but that, as they paid no attention to this, he had no other recourse than to carry out the visitation, in spite of his fear that the religious in the doctrinas would oppose him, and that they might as a last resort renounce their charges and entirely abandon the villages, which was or would be a misfortune demanding very careful consideration. But [he felt] that justice and right had greater power [than these considerations], in order to liberate from slavery the 30,000 souls of that province, whose ruin was being brought about by the sixteen religious who were administering those villages, who were receiving more than 19,000 pesos.

Part first

(In which is contained the summary of all the edicts published in the visitation, and the attestation of them separately.)

1. That the natives shall not contribute to the curas of the doctrinas any food supplies without pay for the value of these.

2. That they shall not perform any labor or personal services for the said religious without pay.

3. That the same be understood for the plain sewing, the spinning, and the embroidery for the churches and the sacristies, for the inside garments of the religious and their servants.

4. That the young girls [dalagas] shall not sweep the churches and their courts; and that, in their place, twenty young men [baguntaos] and the boys in the schools shall assist.

5. The said girls shall not pound rice as a repartimiento for the religious, or for their treasurers or agents [sindicos o fiscales]; nor shall they go to the convent for the unthreshed rice [palay], nor deliver that which has been cleaned. All this shall be in the charge of the gobernadorcillos, their constables, and other officials, who shall transport the said produce, see that the rice is pounded, and deliver it, to the satisfaction of the religious.

6. Food, wax, candles, etc., shall not be collected from the natives under any pretext of usage, custom, or devotion; nor shall they be obliged to [render] personal services without pay.

7. They shall not be domestics, cooks, mananguetes, fishermen, gardeners, or [act in] other personal employ for the religious, without pay.

8. Each entire tribute shall pay three reals a year as a contribution to the festivities of the Monument [on Holy Thursday], the Sanctorum [i.e., a tax paid by the natives above sixteen years, to the church], and the Pintacasi; and four gantas of palay rice besides, for the Defunctorum [i.e., masses for the dead?].

9. At the feast of St. Francis the natives shall not work without pay, or at their own cost, in the palas-palas [i.e., cutting of?] bamboo frames and bejucos, except when they fail to pay the real for the Pintacasi. [This word is defined in Noceda and Sanlucar’s Tagal Vocabulario, “to aid another in seedtime, gratuitously.”]

10. The support or pacaen of the religious shall not be contributed gratis in the large villages; and in the small ones the obligations which the Indians may have formed shall be fulfilled; but if they have not done so, as they have no obligations they shall not contribute without pay.

11. There shall be no fiscals appointed in the villages by the religious, but only guardians, without rods; nor shall there be constables; and they shall not be authorized to arrest, flog, or punish the natives.

12. The father ministers have no temporal jurisdiction over their parishioners; and as little have they ecclesiastical jurisdiction, except in the tribunal of conscience, and for admonishing and instructing the people, administering the sacraments, saying mass, and teaching the [Christian] doctrine, etc.

13. For the same reason the civil government of the villages is not in their keeping; nor shall the [local] authorities ask permission from the religious to execute the orders of their alcaldes-mayor, or to entertain travelers and furnish them what they need for its just value.

14. The wills, contracts, and obligations of the Indians which shall hereafter be made, must be sent to the record-office of the alcalde-mayor, without registering them in the convents.

15. The religious in charge of doctrinas have no authority to arrest, flog, or punish the natives, either in person or through intervening agencies; and the Indians, both men and women, must not allow themselves to be arrested or flogged by the religious. If this is done by order of the syndics and fiscals, let them defend themselves against the judges in what way they can.

16. Nothing shall be collected from the natives for burials, baptisms, and marriages.