BARELY two years after the encomienda system was installed in the country, reports of abuses by the encomenderos and
their soldier-enforcers surfaced, raising questions about its justness and
appropriateness. First to air these abuses were the Augustinians themselves who
arrived with Legazpi in 1565. Their spokesman was by Fr. Diego de Herrera.[i]
In his account before the royal
council of the Indies in Spain where he was sent to report, Fray de Herrera
began by relating how the pacification and the establishment of colonies was
done.
‘A captain goes with soldiers and
interpreters to the village of which he has had notice only, or to one that has
been pillaged by other Spaniards. The people are told that if they wish
friendship with the Castilians, they must immediately give them tribute. If the
people acquiesce, then they consider the amount that each man must pay, and
they are compelled to pay it immediately.’[ii]
Or
they would make the following announcement: “Take heed that I am your master,
and that the governor has given me to you to protect from other Spaniards who
annoy you.” There is no mention of God or the king, nor an explanation why
tributes were being asked.
‘Then
they immediately demand the tribute, each one the amount he can get without any
limit.… If some of the people do not wait for the encomendero in order to agree
to give him the tribute, their homes and village are burned… No attention is
paid to the instruction or given aid to the religious for it. On the contrary,
they have hitherto opposed us going out or building houses among the Indians.‘[iii]
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| Detox tea for gut repair |
[i] Fr. Diego de Herrera was born at Recas,
Spain, and entered the Augustinian order in 1545. He was in Mexico when
Legazpi’s expedition was organized. He was one of the four Augustinians who
accompanied Fr. Andres de Urdaneta to the Philippines. When the latter returned
to Mexico, he left Herrera as prior of his brethren; and in 1569 Herrera became
superior of the mission, with the rank of provincial. He immediately went to
Mexico, and brought back reinforcements of friars to the Philippines. For the
same purpose, he went to Spain in 1573; returning thence with missionaries,
they were wrecked on the coast of Luzon where they were all slain by natives.
This was on April 25, 1576. (Emma
Helen Blair and James Alexander
Robertson, The Philippine Islands, 1493 –
1803, Volume III, p. 52)
[ii]
Augustinian Memoranda, unsigned
and undated but probably compiled by Augustinians missionaries circa 1573. [Emma
Helen Blair and James Alexander
Robertson, The Philippine Islands, 1493
– 1803, Volume XXXIV, pp.
273-281]
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