t such
a change should not take place. But the archbishop was firm in his
resolution, and trampled all obstacles under foot. He united with the
governor, and both of them together forced the Recollect provincial,
Fray Joseph de San Nicolas, by threats, to agree to the change. The
governor pacified the Indians of Mindoro by means of his corregidor,
so that they should receive the Recollect fathers; and the Zambals
by means of the alcalde-mayor of Pangasinan, so that they should
allow the Dominicans to enter. Thereupon, the three seculars who had
been in charge of Mindoro were accommodated by suitable chaplaincies,
and an act was passed by the royal Audiencia, charging the Recollect
fathers with the administration of that island, with absolute clauses
based on the royal decree, without any provision or obligation to
leave the missions of Zambales for it. That decree was accepted when
it was announced, and was extended to the judicial cession of those
missions, when signed by the provincial of the Recollects, although
protest was made against it in the name of their province, by two
influential religious. On that account a second act was enacted in
which those missions were adjudged to the fathers of St. Dominic,
for the archbishop was very much in earnest in those arrangements.

4. Those decrees having been announced and accepted, the Dominicans
assumed possession of the cordillera of Zambales. That province
had on its coast eleven villages with actual missions, which were
increased in the neighboring mountains. The Recollects handed over
that administration without making any public disturbance, although
all the religious who had labored there protested vehemently, all of
which appeared in the judicial reports. The Augustinian Recollects
went to Mindoro with the fitting despatches for that corregidor
ordering him to deliver the administration [of that island] to
them. Father Fray Diego de la Madre de Dios, then definitor, was
given charge of the district of Baco, after it had been resigned by
Bachelor Don Joseph de Rojas, who held it; father Fray Diego de la
Resurreccion of the curacy of Calavite, in place of Licentiate Don
Juan Pedraza, its parish priest; while the curacy of Naohan was taken
possession of by the father definitor, Fray Eugenio de los Santos,
who was exchanged for Bachelor Don Martin Diaz. The whole transfer
was completed before the end of the year 79. Three other religious
remained with the above three