Note 19 — EVENTS IN FILIPINAS, 1801–1840

Ricafort assumed office on October 14, 1825, and by royal orders also took possession of the intendancy of exchequer, although Urréjola was continued in its charge; but in the following January Ricafort concluded that “this dual command was impossible,” and restricted the intendant to certain routine functions, at the same time asking the approval of the home government for this proceeding. He had brought with him a portrait of Fernando VII, presented by the king to his colony of Filipinas; the municipal council of Manila decided to pay this portrait the same honors as if the king himself had visited the islands, and during the week of December 19–25 festivities of every kind were conducted, with the utmost display and magnificence. (Five years later, orders from the Spanish government were received at Manila, censuring the extravagant expenditures on that occasion, said, to amount to some 16,000 pesos, as an unwarranted and blamable use of municipal funds, and regulating, for the future, expenditures of this sort.) A royal decree of June 8, 1826, ordained that the secularization of parish curacies should cease, and that those ministries should be restored to the religious orders, which was accordingly done. On September 15 of that year Fray Hilarión Diez, an Augustinian, took possession of the archbishopric of Manila, replacing Zulaibar, who had died on March 4, 1824. In June a circular letter was sent by Ricafort to the provincial governors, reminding them of the law (art. 26 of the “Ordinances of good government”) which forbade them to hinder in any way the trade in the products of the provinces, whether by Spaniards, natives, or mestizos, and whether in kind or with money, ordering them to permit trade freely everywhere, without any delays or exactions against those doing business. In 1827 Ricafort sent an expedition against Joló, which was kept off by the valor of the Joloans; but the Spaniards burned and ravaged the settlements on the shores of Illana Bay, doing the Moros much damage. In that same year the Spanish government reëstablished the naval bureau at Manila, independent of the captain-general, and Pascual Enrile was appointed as its chief; he proceeded to reorganize all branches of the service, including that intended to serve against the pirates, whom he was able to restrain to a great extent; and he constructed several cruisers and other vessels, one of which remained in active service for forty years. He established the jurisdiction of the bureau throughout the archipelago, creating port-captains for Iloilo, Capiz, Cebú, and Pangasinán. Ever since the insurrection of 1744 in Bohol, caused by the imprudence of the Jesuit Morales, the insurgents had (under their chief Dagohoy) maintained hostilities, not only against the Spaniards, but even harassing their own countrymen who occupied the coastal villages of that island. The Recollects, in charge of the missions of Bohol after the expulsion of the Jesuits, tried to persuade the rebels to submit to Spanish authority, and secured from Governor Raon a general amnesty for them; but it resulted only in their defying further the authority of the government, which was long unable to take any measures for subduing them. Finally, in 1827, the danger to the loyal villages of Bohol was so menacing that the authorities were compelled to protect them and reduce the insurgents; and to this end Ricafort sent powerful expeditions (May, 1827, and April, 1828), which after strenuous efforts compelled the rebels to submit.19 That governor accomplished much during his term of office for the promotion of agriculture. He ordained (1825 and 1826) that the native gobernadorcillos should furnish to agriculturists the idle and unoccupied Indians within their jurisdictions, to work on the estates, these laborers being paid their daily wages; and on October 30, 1827, that all complaints in civil cases relating to farm laborers should be settled by the magistrates as promptly and simply as possible, “observing the contracts and usages of the Indians, when these are not unjust,” and that no Indian laborer should be imprisoned for a purely civil debt (save those to the royal exchequer), nor should his animals, tools, lands, or house be seized therefor. The Spanish minister of the exchequer, Luis López Ballesteros, also took a paternal interest in the islands, and secured royal decrees for the benefit of their industries. One of these (dated April 6, 1828) encouraged the importation into Filipinas of all machinery suitable for spinning and weaving cotton, offered public aid to private enterprises for improvement in weaving and dyeing, and promised protection and encouragement to all projects for promoting native manufactures of cloth; and made the exportation of raw cotton from the islands free, in order to promote the cultivation of that plant. Another decree (of the same date) permitted the free importation of all kinds of agricultural machinery and implements into Filipinas; and authorized premiums and rewards from the public funds to Filipino farmers who should first make large plantations of coffee, cacao, cinnamon, and cloves, as also to those who should make most progress in the plantations of Chinese cinnamon [canelón], tea, and mulberry-trees, and in raising silk, etc. Those who kept in cultivation a certain area of land, and day-laborers who continued to work for a certain number of years, were exempted from paying tributes; and the native farmers were allowed to keep cockpits in operation daily and without tax, on the estates which they cultivated. “In spite of so many privileges, not many of them were inclined to the cultivation of their fields.” Another royal order (April 6, 1828) made important regulations regarding the Chinese residing in the islands; they were to be gathered into villages, as were the Indians; their heads of barangay were to collect the tributes, as in the Indian villages, being allowed three per cent of the collections for their trouble; they were classified into three groups—those who were engaged in foreign or wholesale trade, those in domestic or retail trade, and artisans of all classes—who were obliged to pay a monthly tax of ten, four, and two pesos respectively; those who had settled in the islands, but were not married, must return to China within six months; and any Chinaman who failed to pay his tax for three months was to be sent to compulsory labor on some estate, at a specified wage, from which should be deducted two pesos a month until his tax dues should be paid.20 Still another royal order of the same date gave free permission to any person of sufficient means to cultivate the opium poppy in Filipinas and export its product therefrom; and ordered that its culture should begin on lands close to Manila. Another decree ordained the establishment of a mint at Manila; but this desirable measure was not carried out until many years afterward, and the islands meanwhile had to suffer from the wretched clipped and debased currency which had so long prevailed there. On October 13, 1828, Ricafort published an edict that all money which came to the islands coined by the revolted Spanish colonies of America should be recoined at Manila, taxing it one per cent for this recoinage. On November 9 following, a long but not destructive earthquake occurred. In that same year a conspiracy was set on foot by some civil officials; it was discovered, and its promoters sent to Spain. As a result, the authorities created a public vigilance commission, and demanded more troops from Spain; a regiment was accordingly sent to Manila in 1830. By royal decree of October 27, 1829, it was provided that the post of superintendent of the exchequer should be filled by the intendant of the army and treasury; accordingly this charge was assumed (September 9, 1830) by Francisco Enriquez, who for two years had been intendant succeeding Urréjola. In January, 1829, an officer named Guillermo Galvey (whose duty it was to follow up smugglers in Pangasinán and Ilocos) conducted an expedition into the district of Benguet; an interesting account of this is found in the diary left by him. By royal decree of April 5, 1820 Spanish vessels were permitted to enter British ports just as British vessels were admitted to Spanish ports. Ricafort, having finished his government of Filipinas, sailed for Spain at the end of 1830. He was a governor of good judgment and much energy, and did much to improve the condition of Manila and of the country. He issued edicts imposing penalties on those who should sing obscene songs, and on blasphemers, gamblers, beggars, and parents who brought up their children in evil ways; and he “made provision for a general domiciliary visitation of Manila and the formation of a list of its citizens, which measure resulted in many persons of bad antecedents abandoning the capital. He also decreed standards for weights and measures, which unfortunately soon fell into disuse; and he created a military commission with power to execute evildoers, which fulfilled the object of its creation.”