Note 21 — EVENTS IN FILIPINAS, 1801–1840

Ricafort was succeeded (December 23, 1830) by Pascual Enrile y Alcedo, a most zealous and able governor. He personally visited the northern provinces of Luzón, accompanied by his relative and adjutant, José María Peñaranda (afterward the governor of Albay), a military engineer, who afterward made journeys and surveys in a large part of the rest of that island; this resulted in carefully prepared itineraries, plans, and maps, which were utilized in the construction of highways and bridges, and the establishment of postal routes, which opened up communication between regions before destitute of such facilities, and sometimes in places heretofore deemed impassable. The navigable rivers and bayous of Pangasinán were explored and mapped; a highway was made in Pampanga which should be safe from the overflow of Lake Canarem; and explorations were made from east to west in Luzón for the sake of bringing the shores of the island into communication with the fertile plains of the interior. On May 14, 1834, Peñaranda was made corregidor or governor of the province of Albay, “which experienced a complete transformation during his just and beneficent rule. To him it owed its most important roads, bridges, and public edifices, and the promotion of its agriculture, on which account his name is venerated by the inhabitants of Albay; they perpetuated the memory of this illustrious but modest patriot by erecting, some years after his death, a monument to him in the plaza of the capital of the province.” The Economic Society of Friends of the Country contributed to the development of agriculture, in the time of Enrile, by its reports, memoirs, and material support. We read with surprise, however, that in 1833 this Society, in an opinion requested from it by the home government, opposed the establishment of a mint at Manila, and informed Enrile that such institution was at that time unnecessary. In March, 1831, Galvey made an expedition into the country of the Igorrots; and in the following December, to the district of Bacún. A decree of May 9, 1831, established a custom-house in Zamboanga, “in order to prevent the frauds committed by foreigners in the port of Joló, and to facilitate and promote expeditions to that point.” A royal decree of April 24, 1832, substituted the garrote for the gallows in capital punishments. Another, dated February 16, 1833, provided for the adjustment and management of the funds belonging to the obras pías, which charge was entrusted later to a committee composed of the governor of the islands, some of the treasury officials, and the archbishop.21 The treasury officials, by a decree of July 3, 1833, accepted the proposal of certain persons to establish “a lottery, at their own account and risk, offering to pay to the treasury forty per cent [of the receipts?], besides twenty-five per cent of the value of the tickets which composed each drawing, after furnishing adequate security as a guarantee for the fulfilment of their promise.” The exclusive privilege of this lottery was granted to these persons for a period of five years. Enrile created the Guía de forasteros [“Guide for Strangers”] of Filipinas; it first appeared in 1834. Our author reproduces (t. ii, pp. 539, 540) the table of contents of this annual. Fernando VII died on September 29, 1833, and was succeeded by his daughter Isabel II, to be until her majority under the regency of her mother, Maria Cristina; this was quickly followed by the Carlist insurrection, the reactionary party being headed by the young prince Carlos, who was proclaimed king as Carlos V, and civil war ensued, which for seven years stained the soil of Spain with the blood of her own sons. By royal order of August 10, 1834, the Chinese traders were restricted to the Parián, and those Chinese who were allowed to reside in the provinces must devote themselves to agricultural pursuits. Enrile issued an edict on October 1, 1834, removing the special duties imposed on the Chinese champans, and placing them under the same regulations as the vessels of other foreign nations. On February 2, 1835, the official despatches arrived from Spain which decreed the restoration of the constitutional regime and the convocation of the Cortes. Enrile strengthened the naval forces sent against the pirates [la marina sutil, composed of light-draught vessels], and was able to drive them away from the coasts of Visayas. He also increased the area planted in tobacco, enforced just weights and measures, endeavored to correct the evils resulting from the debased money of the islands, and caused a light-house to be erected on Corregidor Island. Our writer commends this governor as being “one of the most intelligent and industrious who have ever ruled Filipinas.” “To him the country owes material improvements of the utmost value, of so much importance as the great highways of Luzón, which have facilitated the intercourse between the provinces, bringing them into postal communication, one after another, by means of the mail-routes established by him; and the administration of the colony is indebted to him for regulations and procedures that are scientific and orderly, in all the branches that have contributed to the development of the general welfare, making considerable increase in the public wealth. Agriculture, commerce, and navigation likewise experienced the beneficial results of this illustrious governor’s judicious management; and his term of office was the source of the rapid progress which has been made from that time by these most important factors of the general welfare—in great part, thanks to the impulse received from the measures, dictated by him, which conduced to the natural development of those industries.” Enrile resigned his post, and returned to Spain early in 1835.