Title:
THE 137TH YEAR cont.
Date Created:
2021-06-25
Description:
The auditor spotted situations where the friars were trespassing into temporal jurisdiction and not keeping to their spiritual role. His findings are shared to understand the position of parish priests in the everyday life of the colonised. For instance, Gueruela writes, “the civil government of the villages is not in [the priests’] keeping nor shall the local authorities [need to] ask permission of the religious to execute the orders of their alcaldes-mayor, or to entertain travelers and furnish them what they need for its just value. The wills, contracts and obligations shall be sent to the record office of the alcalde-mayor without having to register them in the convents. The priests in charge of [religious] doctrine have “no authority to arrest, flog, or punish the natives either in person or through an intervening agency; and the Indians, both men and women, must not allow themselves to be arrested or flogged by the religious”. The auditor ended his report by defining how many natives could assist the priests: 4 servants for the parochial house; 1 doorkeeper per convent; people to carry the hammocks and litters when a minister goes out to administer the sacraments. Only 20 young men (baguntaos) were allowed to sweep the church and its courts daily or weekly, and definitely no dalagas were to be assigned. The dalagas needed to embroider cloth articles for divine worship were to do so outside the convents. Spinning, plain sewing of inside garments of the priests as well as their servants, and embroidery were to be paid for. The dalagas had been required to sow seeds in the fields without pay. These were examples of a colonial governance in disarray. Food security for the people was entangled in the sale of rice and other supplies to earn for the religious and likely beautification of the parish church. The second colonial century would increasingly fracture relations between civil and ecclesiastical authorities with the indios, Sangleyes and mestizos de Sangley caught in the fray.
Subjects:
Don Francisco Gueruela Camarines Abuses Reform Colonialism
Exhibition:
Philippine Food 200
Source:
Image is from 1903, describing Camarines
Type:
Image;Still Image
Format:
image/jpeg
Source
Preferred Citation:
"THE 137TH YEAR cont.", Philippine Food History, Felice P. Sta. Maria
Reference Link:
felicepstamaria.net/items/coll255.html