The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 | Page 7

officials--who, moreover, appropriate their own household supplies of food from the royal storehouses at the lowest possible prices. Municipal officers and other leading citizens should not be compelled, as now, to live on their encomiendas. Flour, rigging, and many other supplies should be obtained in the islands, instead of being imported from Nueva Espa?a; a great saving of money would be thus effected. The oppressive acts of the friars toward the Indians should be checked; and no more orders should be allowed to establish themselves in the islands. The Chinese immigrants in Luz��n should be collected in one community, and induced to cultivate the soil. No relative or dependent of any royal official should be allowed to hold a seat in the cabildo of Manila, or to act as inspector of the Chinese trading vessels. More religious are needed in the missions. The Chinese residents should be treated more justly, and relieved from burdensome exactions. The Japanese who come to Manila should be compelled to return to their own country. No more ships should be built by the natives, and they should be paid the arrearages which are due them.
The other memorial by Rios Coronel (March, 1620) is additional and supplementary to the former one. He asks that regidors of Manila be chosen by the Audiencia, and allowed some compensation for their services; and that the governor be not allowed to compel the cabildo to meet in his house. He blames the friars for transferring Indians from the encomiendas to settlements near Manila, where these natives are kept merely for the profit of the friars, and, moreover, become greatly demoralized. The grant of licenses to Chinamen to reside in the islands should be more carefully regulated; and they should in no case be allowed to sleep within the walls of Manila. The Japanese are also an undesirable element of the population, and their coming to the islands should be restricted. The "commons," or reserve supplies of rice, contributed by the Indians do them no good, for these are plundered by the Spanish officials; and the number of these oppressors has been unduly increased. Other injuries are inflicted upon the natives, for whose protection the writer pleads; and these unjust acts are committed by both the officials and the religious. Rios Coronel objects to the practice in vogue of giving the Indians military training; and to the traffic in slaves from Malacca, which brings to the Philippines dangerous and criminal blacks. Public suits should be tried and decided in the Audiencia, and not sent to Mexico. The governors should not be allowed to treat the citizens with insolence; and should be obliged to send the trading ships to Mexico at the right season, in order to avoid the present frequent loss of property and lives in wrecked vessels. Another cause of these losses is the culpable neglect and recklessness of royal officials and governors. Various abuses in the equipment, lading, and management of the trading vessels are pointed out, with the corrective measures that should be taken. The fertile and healthful province of Nueva Segovia is neglected, and its population is decreasing; this should be remedied by the colonial authorities. Rios Coronel asks for the appointment of a competent and reliable shore-master to aid him in the equipment and despatch of the ships, and for more thorough inspection of what is done by royal officials in the islands; for the latter purpose he recommends a choice from several ecclesiastics whom he names. The Moro pirates still ravage the islands, and the king should permit them to be enslaved by any one who may capture them. The head-hunting Zambales and Negrillos of Luz��n continually harass the peaceable Pampangos; and this can only be stopped by allowing the Pampangos to enslave these foes when captured. The Filipino natives have been almost ruined by the exactions of forced labor imposed upon them by the Spaniards, especially in the building and navigation of vessels. Rios Coronel says: "As I have seen personally, and as all the inhabitants of that country know, the galleys of the Filipinas are their destruction." Rios Coronel describes the sort of vessel which should be used in the islands (one of which he has built at his own cost), and asks that such be furnished for the use of the colony. The garrison at Manila is insufficient and demoralized; and the writer makes various recommendations for improving its status. Many persons in the artillery service are incompetent; the writer demands a sort of civil-service test for those appointed to such places. He also asks for a competent artillery-founder. Better provisions should be made for the ecclesiastical government of the islands. He asks that silver bullion from Japan may be legalized as money in the Philippines; and concludes with the request that