Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 51).djvu/63

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1801-1840]

EVENTS OF 1801-1840

57

tal punishments. Another, dated February 16, 1833, provided for the adjustment and management of the funds belonging to the obras pías, which charge was entrusted later to a committee composed of the governor of the islands, some of the treasury officials, and the archbishop.^[1] The treasury officials, by a decree

↑ These funds were chiefly the obras pías which had been administered by the Jesuit order in Filipinas up to their expulsion from the islands; at that time, nearly half of these foundations were extinguished by the authorities, and such moneys as remained in them were covered into the royal treasury. Forty-five of the Jesuit obras pías were thus left, which were administered by the government in the following manner: The capital was divided (as had long been the custom of all the orders in Filipinas in administering obras pías) into three parts; one of these was invested in the commerce of Acapulco, another in that of the Coromandel Coast and China, and the other third remained on deposit as a reserve to make good any losses in the amounts invested. Much light is thrown on the management of these funds by the Jesuits, in the official report made (June 23, 1797), in pursuit of a command from the Spanish government, by Angel de la Fuente, the chief of the Bureau of Secular Revenues [Contaduría de Temporalidades] at Manila; the original MS. of this is in the possession of Edward E. Ayer, Chicago. Fuente examined the account-books which the Jesuits had kept of these funds, and found them full of confusion, discrepancies, and omissions; but after comparing and verifying them so far as he could, he made a list of them, with statement of their origin, amount, and application. He found that in seventeen of these funds there was no evidence that the money had been applied as directed by the donors, and only partial indications of this in fifteen others. He reported that many of these obras pías had been contributed for the advantage and benefit of the Jesuits themselves, and therefore, since that order had been suppressed, the funds might now justly be applied to any desirable pious purpose. To this end, he recommended that nineteen of the funds be placed in charge of the diocesan authorities, and twelve others used by the government for specified purposes, and that the rest be covered into the royal treasury.

[1] These funds were chiefly the obras pías which had been administered by the Jesuit order in Filipinas up to their expulsion from the islands; at that time, nearly half of these foundations were extinguished by the authorities, and such moneys as remained in them were covered into the royal treasury. Forty-five of the Jesuit obras pías were thus left, which were administered by the government in the following manner: The capital was divided (as had long been the custom of all the orders in Filipinas in administering obras pías) into three parts; one of these was invested in the commerce of Acapulco, another in that of the Coromandel Coast and China, and the other third remained on deposit as a reserve to make good any losses in the amounts invested. Much light is thrown on the management of these funds by the Jesuits, in the official report made (June 23, 1797), in pursuit of a command from the Spanish government, by Angel de la Fuente, the chief of the Bureau of Secular Revenues [Contaduría de Temporalidades] at Manila; the original MS. of this is in the possession of Edward E. Ayer, Chicago. Fuente examined the account-books which the Jesuits had kept of these funds, and found them full of confusion, discrepancies, and omissions; but after comparing and verifying them so far as he could, he made a list of them, with statement of their origin, amount, and application. He found that in seventeen of these funds there was no evidence that the money had been applied as directed by the donors, and only partial indications of this in fifteen others. He reported that many of these obras pías had been contributed for the advantage and benefit of the Jesuits themselves, and therefore, since that order had been suppressed, the funds might now justly be applied to any desirable pious purpose. To this end, he recommended that nineteen of the funds be placed in charge of the diocesan authorities, and twelve others used by the government for specified purposes, and that the rest be covered into the royal treasury.

[1]