ayan, is a newly-settled
city. The offices have been filled by the governor with the early
conquerors; it will therefore be convenient for his Majesty to confirm
them, in order that the community may become permanently settled.

Concerning the office of alcalde-mayor in the villages and provinces of
the Indians, the following method is carried out. The alcalde-mayor,
who goes there for a year or two, takes with him his own alguacil
and clerk, appointed by himself. The lawsuits which take place before
them are seldom made public; and they can keep the fines forfeited to
the royal treasury--which are not slight, for they fine the natives
even for treading the ground. They keep neither archives nor record
of anything, so that his Majesty is ill served in their office;
the natives suffer, and the officials condemn themselves. In view of
all this, it would be better for each province of Indians possessing
the office of alcalde-mayor to have a permanent alguacil and clerk
appointed by his Majesty; for if they are not appointed by the alcalde
and are not his servants, they will not conform so thoroughly to his
will. Thus light would be shed upon the legal proceedings, of which an
account would be kept; and the fines forfeited to the royal treasury
would not be lost, together with the expenses of justice. Finally,
if they are appointed permanently, they will aim at the preservation
of the Indians for their own benefit, and will not plunder and then
go away, as they do now. The three most important provinces in which
an alcalde resides are: the province of Pampanga, which is the most
fertile region of these islands, and which has about thirty thousand
Indians; the province of La Laguna de Bai, with a like number of
Indians; and the province of Bombon, Balaian, Mindoro, with about
twenty thousand Indians. I believe that in these three provinces the
offices of alguacil and clerk will be of no less value than they are
in Spanish communities. In the other provinces, these offices are of
little importance at present.

DOCUMENTS OF 1583

Complaints against Penalosa. Gabriel de Ribera; [1583?]
Affairs in the Philipinas Islands. Fray Domingo de Salazar;
[1583].
Instructions to commissary of the Inquisition. Pedro de los
Rios, and others; March 1.
Foundation of the Audiencia of Manila. Felipe II; May 5.

_Sources_: These documents are obtained from MSS. in the Archivo
general de Indias, Sevil