Note 36 — EVENTS IN FILIPINAS, 1764–1800

Montero y Vidal cites (Hist. de Filipinas, ii, p. 361) the following from Fray Nicolás Becerra’s Estado general de la provincia de S. Nicolás de Tolentino de padres Agustinos descalzos de Filipinas (Sampaloc, 1820): “Before the invasion of the Moros, Mindoro was the storehouse of Manila, on account of the great amount of rice harvested in it. In that epoch—truly a fortunate one for this island, for our order, and for the State—so great was the number of inhabitants that they formed fourteen large ministries (curacies) and one active mission; all this was the result of the careful attention and apostolic zeal of the Recollect fathers, who took into their charge the furtherance of Mindoro’s conquest, at a time when its reduction had only been begun. Then came its desolation by the Moros, leaving it without inhabitants or ministers; and for the two ministries of Calapan and Naujan which remained, and which this province resigned, the illustrious archbishop appointed two clerics. These administered those parishes during twenty-nine years, that is, until the year 1805, at which time Mindoro returned, by special favor of the superior government, to the administration of the Recollect fathers.” Montero y Vidal also states (ut supra) that in 1803 Aguilar created a corregidor for Mindoro, with special charge to persuade its remaining inhabitants—who in fear of the Moros had, years before, fled into the interior of the island—to return to their villages on the coasts. He made his headquarters at Calapan, the chief village of Mindoro, and soon the natives returned to their dwellings, while the Moros seldom troubled that region. ↑