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In the wake of severe protests from the ecclesiastics, the king had to remind the encomenderos that it was not right for them to compel the natives to pay tribute if they had not provided them with spiritual and temporal benefits. By 1590, Salazar was still lamenting the gross perversions of the pacification campaign: In the places where the name of God has never entered nor that of your majesty – in other words, where there was neither justicia nor instruccion - the natives must feel resentful that each year a dozen soldiers with arquebuses come to their houses to take their property…These soldiers afflict, maltreat and torment them, and to leave them, until they return another year to do the same. What else can these natives think of us but that we are tyrants and that we come only to make our gain out of their property and persons?

Unfortunately, the encomenderos did not bother about the procedural niceties. Early on, the missionaries bore witness to the extortions that the soldiers were committing on the natives. The most graphic accounts of the early abuses of the Spaniards in the islands were written by Bishop Domingo de Salazar, a suffagan of the Archbishop of Mexico who arrived in the islands in 1581 to assume his post as first bishop of Filipinas. The native chiefs of the villages of Tondo and Capaymasilo and many more from as far as Mauban, finding that they had an ally in Salazar, came to him with their grievances. Moved by their remonstrance, he sent his first lengthy memorial to the king in 1582, in which he narrated the distressing events that were happening in the encomiendas.

Abuses in the encomiendas

Since the crown was depending on the initiative and expenses of its explorers, the encomienda served as the means by which they were ultimately recompensed. The encomenderos were supposed to provide order and religious instruction to the natives - justicia y instruccion - and only after meeting these needs were they allowed to collect the tribute as grants to them for their trouble and expense in executing these tasks.

The audiencia had the authority to keep the ecclesiastics in check. It also exercised oversight powers to secure the better treatment of the natives and their instruction in the Catholic faith. This was, in fact, ordained to be its chief mission in the fulfillment of which it was directly accountable to the king. The president and oidores were directed to exert great efforts to be informed of the crimes and abuses against the natives and punish the guilty with vigor.

One of the principal objections to the audiencia was a practical one. In letters to the king written in 1586, it was contended that the audiencia did not befit a colony that was small and meager in income. The capital town, Manila, had scarcely 70 adult citizens, and in other settlements together, not as many more. On the other hand, the cities and towns of Spain with a larger population and more litigation were successfully governed by only an alcalde mayor or corregidor.

The oidores were men of the law, the letrados, magistrates whose judicial functions were well-defined and understood. The source of the emerging difficulties would be in the vagueness and ambiguity with which their relationship with the governor in non-judicial matters was fixed. The charter creating the audiencia did not carve out with sufficient precision the respective spheres of competence of the governor and the oidores, with the result that the oidores engaged the governor in frequent, if not bitter disputes over the civil administration of the colony. The fate of the tribunal was sealed when the oidores antagonized Salazar as well.

The king abolished the audiencia in August 1589. A new governor Gomez Perez Dasmariñas arrived to take sole control of the colony, reasserting the role of chief judge, but with a legal adviser called an asesor to prepare his decisions and orders. Filipinas was once more reduced to a province under the jurisdiction of the Audencia of Mexico. But the evils of absolutism returned. It was a case of déjà vu. In the very first year of office of the new governor, the need for an audienca as a remedy against one-man rule was again felt.

The Audiencia de Manila :

1583 and 1595

- He later erected the 1st Manila Cathedral by the virtue of Pope Gregory VIII's papal bull as a suffragan of the the Archbishop of Mexico.

- He also established a hospital for the native Filipinos.

- Hard-working yet hot-tempered, he defended the native Filipinos against the cruelties and exploitations of the encomenderos.

Biography

- Bishop Salazar earned his niche in the history of the colony not only for his denunciation of the encomienda abuses. He was also instrumental in bringing about the establishment of a royal audiencia in Manila that substituted the collegial rule of the oidores for the absolute rule of the governor-general.

- Political enemies tried to thwart his work and succeeded in having him thrown into prison when he sought audience of the king.

- Roman Catholic prelate who served as the first Bishop of Manila

- born in La Rioja, Spain On 6 February 1579

- His call for the audiencia was the outgrowth of his disenchantment with administration of the encomiendas which came to a head under Governor Ronquillo.

- he was selected by the King of Spain and confirmed by Pope Gregory XIII as the first Bishop of Manila

- In 1578, he was appointed as the bishop of Manila and was sanctified the next year in Madrid. He arrived to the Philippines in 1581, together with 8 Franciscan friars, 2 Jesuits and 1 Dominican.

- The Audiencia de Manila was created by royal edict issued in May 1583. It was the tenth established in the colonies. Headed by a president who was the governor-general and three oidores, the audiencia existed primarily as a judicial tribunal. But the oidores were also empowered to act with the governor in the issuance of legislative ordinances pending confirmation by the king, and in numerous administrative matters where they often served as a counterpoise to the governor.

- died in Madrid, 4 December, 1594

Domingo de Salazar

Response of Domingo de Salazar to the decrees King of Spain

Domingo de Salazar

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