Reclaiming the Lost Archive of San Agustin Library

We, the nobility of the three visitas,
Palanyag, Las Piñas, and San Nicolas, who have affixed signatures here [and] those who know how
to write, and those who do not know have entrusted to others who know how to write
to sign on their behalf, humbly give our utmost
respect to our most reverend father provincial
on the occasion of his visit to the convent and church of our town.
We declare that shame and trouble have filled our
minds on the recent tumult of which everyone has been aware and which
His Reverence has also heard about. Those who claim to speak on behalf of the townsfolk of Palanyag
and yet are ignorant claim that we, too, are involved
in the said tumult, which is why we have been compelled
to craft this document as an apologia, especially to disprove the allegations
that we, the people of Palanyag, are displeased with our former fathers and masters,
the Augustinian priests, and that we are supposedly appealing to the most illustrious archbishop to assign
another clerical order to administer us.
We take exception to the said appeal and we do not share
the same sentiments with those who have made that appeal.
The priests of Saint Augustine have been our longtime fathers and masters,
whose gracious protection and care for us, their adoptive children,
have led us to see the light of having faith in
the Holy Trinity. They have been responsible for removing the blindfolds wrapped around our
dull minds, and through their zealous teaching of the doctrine,
the dull and short-sighted minds of us pitiful Tagalogs of Palanyag have been enveloped in a brilliant light.
For their efforts in administering us night and day,
we are bound to unconditionally repay them, and we recognize
this great debt of ours towards them. And apart from this, they have helped in saving the townsfolk
to the point that they have sacrificed their own well-being, and in such cases, they ask help
from their leader and provincial, who has indeed helped them and is one who truly cares. Thus,
to our master, our most reverend father provincial, we appeal and we plead to him
that we be exempted from the wrath and resentment towards those who do not know how to recognize
their indebtedness which we have elaborated above. What we request
is that we be given protection and mercy.
Don Juan Mamonong

Don Guillermo de Velasco - Don Pantaleón de Salazar -
[Don itepganilang] - Don Juan Pérez -
Don Juan [u] de de Mendoza - Esteban de León -
Don Bartolomé Mabitang -
Don Pedro de [Mulac] - besought by- Domingo de Cabrera -
Don Pablo Suárez - Don Juan Pascual - Pedro de los Santos -
Francisco Rodríguez - besought by, Don Pedro de Mercado -
Don Diego Bernaldo - besought by- Fray Don Juan Sulit -
Besought by=Don Antonio Pagiligan - By request- Don Juan de Guzmán -
Besought byt= Don Agustín Marcelo -
Mateo Sarmiento - [ Don Jhbay ] -
Besought by Don Pedro Dalandan -
Besought by - Don Agustín Ramos - Pedro Suárez -
Juan Moninca - [%] Joseph Palomares -
Andrés Rodrigues - Don Pedro delos Reyes -
Besought by- Juan del Castillo -
Besought by- Cayetano Bautista - Sebastián Esquivel -
Nicolás delos Santos -
Don Joseph González -
Andrés de Salazar - Don Pedro de Velasco -
Besought by- Don Nicolás de san Pedro -
Don Andrés Rodríguez - Don Bartolomé Vitales -
Besought by = Francisco de los Santos -
Clemente Deodicho - Don Juan Rodríguez -

SS.n Juan Lucas = Simón de León -
Nicolás de Legazpi - Joseph de Mendoza -
Don Tomás Dumaval - Don Bernabé Onguinlibot -
Don Agustín Rodrigues - Ignacio Bautista Pantaleón -
Agustín Bautista - Don Joseph de Rosález -
Don Felipe Bautista - Don Bartolomé Carlos Mamonong -
Don Nicolás Carabeo - Besought by - Marcos del Castillo -
Besought by- Juan de la Cruz - Don Tomás Bautista -
Besought by- Don Juan Fulgencio - Don Marcos Cuevas -
Besought by - Joseph de la Rosa -
Don Joseph Cortés - besought by - Nicolás Rodríguez -
Don Joseph de Leon - Luis de la Rosa -
Bernardo Arnillos - Don Juan del Castillo -
Don Joseph Selerio - Besought by - Don Pedro Alejandrino -
Besought by- Don Marcelo Pantaleón - Don Francisco Landicho de la Cruz -
Miguel Mendes -
Native of Dongalo -

In the Convent of San Andrés of the Order of Our Father San Agustín of the town of
Parañaque, on the twenty first of August of the year seventeen seventeen before our
very reverend father lector, Fray Tomás Ortiz, provincial of this province of the Most Holy Name of
Jesus of the said order, presented this text by its contents. And making
himself present, the very reverend father, with the aid of the father priest, Fray Gabriel de la Fuente,
prior of the said convent, [who] translated and provided explanations [of the text] in the
Castilian language, stated:

to acknowledge it as given and to be kept in the archive of the said province so that
all the time the declaration given by the included in the said
statement about not having a part in the disrespect and audacity that some of the
district of Dongalo showed to the father priest [Fray]
Serrano, the prior and minister of the said town. And they jointly express their wish and willingness about not wanting ministers, other than the Augustinian friars,
who have been here in the beginning of Christianity in these [islands].
And by this declaration it was determined and signed by our [very reverend]
father provincial, which I attest.

Fray Tomás Ortiz,
provincial,
Fray Francisco Cenzano,
secretary

This page is not translated, please help translate this page

This page is not translated, please help translate this page

On the 28th of May, Brother Fray Diego told me
that he had received news that the judge
of the Indios had ordered all the Indios
of Dongalo to go to the savanna to indicate to them
where they should place the fence. And [he asked]
if I could speak to him [the judge of the Indios] so that he could not do
such thing. On that same day in the afternoon
while seated at the field's gate in the
presence of the Spanish who brought the message,
and the chief assistant [to the mission], Captain Don Pedro de los
Santos, and from another principal called Don Diego
Bernal, I called the judge of the Indios and asked him
if it was true that he had sent a mandate ordering
that all in Dongalo go to the savanna
to indicate to them where they had to build the fence.
And he responded that it was true. [This was] because the
group of principales of Dongalo had presented to him
a petition to ask him to do so, and they had
the verbal order from the señor judge to build the
fence there. I responded to him that the case was

was pending in the royal hall and that it had not yet been
resolved. [Hence], he should remain quiet and should not
disturb the Indios. And [I said] that verbal orders
were of no use, and that the said order
should be asked to be in writing, so that it would
be valid. And [I said] that he should show it to me so that I can
give notice of it to my prelate. And I told him that if he had to respond,
he should respond. And [I said] that he should be aware that this was
what he had to do. And it was sufficient that I made this request because
I was his minister. And after this, he went away. And this [took place] on Friday
afternoon. And what I am saying is exactly what happened.
And I told him everything with tender words and in courteous terms,
as these two principales would attest if asked.
And I summoned them as witnesses and they
signed alongside me. Fray Juan Serrano

Pedro de los Santos - Don Diego Berlado -

And I read this to them
before the two principales named
Don Ignacio Pantaleón
and Don Nicolás Carabeo

Ignacio Pantaleón de Salazar -
Don Nicolás Carabeo -

On the 30th of May of 1717: I went to Manila to the feast of the
eighth Sunday of the Corpus Christi and I told our very reverend father lector
Fray Joseph López what had happened with the judge of the Indios and how
he had responded. I also told His Reverence
that I had heard that the said judge, had ordered that all the
people of Dongalo on the following day, Monday, to build
the fence where he had indicated. And His Reverence told me that
it would be good to see if he could have the [local] scribe write a testimony about everything
the judge says about the fence; where it was made or where he ordered
be made? And I responded to His Reverence that I would do as His Reverence
ordered, and that I would accompany Brother Fray Diego up to the site
where the Indios were building the fence; and that there, in the presence
of everyone, we would ask the reason why he had ordered the fence be constructed on that site. On the next day, I told the gobernadorcillo that we had to go later to the
the site where the Indios of Dongalo were fencing the crops.
And [I told him] that he should go with his scribe and the judge of the Indios
and that it had to be after vespers. And I sent this request
twice with my young servant. And he responded "yes," that he would go,
and I also the same request to our chief assistant [to the mission], and he responded the same
thing. And right before the evening fell and long before the evening
ended, my young servant went to tell him that it was time. And I also sent
the same request to our chief assistant [to the mission]. And [I told him] that I would wait
for him in the stone quarry because it served as a marker, and that I was going to go by boat. And after I arrived in the stone quarry, our
chief assistant arrived with the former chief assistant who were the ones who had

accompanied me. And I asked to see the gobernadorcillo and his scribe, and he told me
that the gobernadorcillo was waiting for his horse, and that [] he would come soon. And from there I sent two requests with baguntaos
who told him that I was there waiting for him. And [I said that] he should
come to see me as soon as possible because it was already late.
And at the place where I was waiting, Brother Fray Diego arrived
and we were there for about an hour, more or less, waiting
for the gobernadorcillo and his scribe. And after I arrived in the stone quarry
I went to a hideout nearby and I woke my servant up who was
sleeping because he was tired from working on [
] that he made since the morning with two kitchen
servants, so that I could keep my horses there.
And I ordered him to take my horse that was there
and take another one for himself. And [to take another one] for the young boy who was there with the saddlebag. And I told him he should come with me.
And seeing that the gobernadorcillo did not arrive, we decided to wait
a little longer to see if the gobernadorcillo showed up. And we left a
guard in the stone quarry so that if he arrived there, he would come to the place
next to it. And he played us and did not come. And I should say that he had a brother in law in Dongalo named Don Luis Ramos, who was one of the
discourteous ones that afternoon, or better said, shameless by
his actions and words. And it has been seen that the said gobernadorcillo has had
a bad influence in these parts of Dongalo. And I told Brother Fray Diego when I
was on my way, in the presence of the two principales who were with me that
I was not going to do anything to the Indios once we
arrived there. And having arrived there, that is,

where they were constructing the fence, which is a place they call Santa Lucía. And when we arrived, we saw
all the people of Dongalo, old and young, and even the young men,
and all the ^{*Most likely, a reference to the young men in the community.baguntaos}, and sacristans, so that overall there were more than
three hundred people. And after seeing us arrive to the place where
the judge [of the Indios] and his partners where, the claimants of the case. [And] the majority of the people came nearby and they started surrounding us. I noticed that they all had
in their hands, besides sticks, some very good cudgels and other had
machetes and cudgels [sic] and some had short lances. And the judge of the Indios had his
scimitar. And having arrived where the judge of the Indios was located I told him
that what he had done by sending an order to have all the
people come to the fence that they were building, even after I told him
what I told him on Friday afternoon. He responded that he could not do
anything else because it was sufficient that the principales from the town had requested it. And it was
sufficient to have the verbal order of the señor judge, which
he had delivered to construct the fence where they were building it. And that it was so that they knew
very well what they were doing. I told him that nothing he had ordered [or]
that they had done was reasonable, because he was a judge and had to do what
God ordered, and not do unreasonable things like he was doing.
However, God was going to make him pay
for having ordered the principales to do what
the principales of Dongalo were doing. And I hoped God would not allow
them to win the case. And we also told them that
Brother Fray Diego had gone to see the señor judge who
had told him that he had not ordered such a thing. And to that
they responded that they had given the order to them orally. And [they said] that
they were doing the right thing. And I told him and
Captain Pablo and his partners: "it looks like you are saying a higher truth

than the priest." And I said all this with courteous words and without getting upset about anything. And we said, "look sons, we do not come
to do any harm or humilliate you, given that our arms
are these belts of Our Father Saint Augustine," and we show these to them. And seeing
the demeanor of Captain Pablo, I said: "you
are the worst of all because you are disturbing everyone and everyone does
what you want because they fear you. And you do not do what you
are supposed to do because you litigate whenever--as God knows--
there is money to be grabbed. And he responded, "I know very well what
I do, and I know which are our lands and you don't. We are making this
fence because we know that up to this point we have our lands
and you do not know where yours are. And you are trying to
take away what is ours." And I responded, "how do you dare say
such a thing as this? Because we might sin for being sordid
but not greedy. And you say these things as if you were
a Christian. Because, in all the time I have been here,
I have not seen you take any action that appears to be Christian. Because
you have not come into the church for any of our events, not even to hear mass. And
you have not fulfilled your duty with the church. Think about whether what you
do is what God wills. And this does not come just from me. The person who does not act like a Christian... And as your minister, it is my duty to know
if you are listening or not. But I cannot change what
your hear elsewhere." And he responded, "it is true that I do not
hear [mass] in this church, but where I want to, because I am afraid
of you, because all of you are resentful of me. Because you say that I am the cause
of the litigation about these lands, and I do not want to see
any of you. And concerning whether or not I hear mass,
what I know is that I am a Christian. And he told me other

many negligent things. And everything he said with a mean
demeanor and with hand gestures and with a loud voice,
even when I was speaking in a low voice and without gestures. And he told me
many other upsetting things; I cannot easily remember
them all. I will only say that they were provocative to the extent
that it would cause a man to become hotheaded and give him a punch.
Even though I say this, I armed myself with patience because they looked like
hangmen and not Christians, given their behavior. And he later
told me something that made me so hotheaded that I came down my horse
to respond to his "well-versed poetry. " And I only carried in my
hand a small stalk, white and thin, one of those found on the coast
and my young servant got off from his horse to hold the reins
of mine because it was somewhat upset. And after I finished
letting him know my appreciation for his "poetry," I said to him, "go forth poet." And
with the stalk that I had in my hand and grabbing half of it
I swat him and, immediately, he took a half-step backwards and was going to
take out his scimitar to strike me with it. And when my young servant
saw this, he let go of the horse and tried to tackle him to get him away from
the scimitar which with he was trying to hit me. And he had not managed to tackle him
when Judge Santiago said something (as a sign) and they began to
hit the young servant with cudgels and machetes. And we all tried
to ask for peace and understanding. I asked for this in the name of
God. "Why were they doing this when we did not want to harm them
at all? I told them, "Ah, sons, understand that I am your minister and your "father"
and other many things, but it was unsuccessful.

Instead, I had to hear things that I did not want to hear. And so everything [
] to God, and the young man, my servant, finally took the scimitar away
from his hand. And while he was trying to take it away he got a cut on the side
of his hand with his own scimitar, because the Indio was resisting with
force. And, realizing that he did not have his scimitar
another one of his partners gave him another scimitar. And he was handling it well
even though he had his hand injured. And my servant retreated
two steps to defend himself from the strikes of cudgels and the scimitars, which
were raining on him. And when he stepped back, the wheel of
his spur got entangled in the reins of my horse and he fell rapidly
because the horse went back and then
they broke his head at once. And one hand was greatly
injured as it can be seen in the certification of the
surgeon who cured him. And I did not cut the [reins of] my horse
he would not have been able to get up. And they would have finished
killing him. And I used my right hand to take the reins of my [horse]
because he was going to run away due to his agitation. And
I had to use my left hand as a shield (while I was speaking), and the son of
Captain Pablo came to me and struck my hand in such
a way that it was immobilized. And when I turned around,
I saw Brother Fray Diego and his cowhands, and my young servant
running away on their horses. And the majority of the people were running
behind them. I stayed there with my chief assistant and the boy
who carried the cushions. And because I was unable to ride my horse

[On the left margin: my former chief assistant]
helped me ride the horse [and] with the former lieutenant [chief assistant] who was
there because he is from Dongalo. But he did not get involved at all, for
better or for worse. And the second assistant was also
there. And they are the ones who tied my hand with a piece of cloth
because I could not manage to cool it down. And I think that
if these two were called and asked to speak about what happened under oath,
they will say the truth because they are well meaning Indios.
And after the majority of the people went after
Brother Fray Diego, the judge of the Indios stayed there with
other people who came and were planning something.
And I said to the judge of the Indios, "Look, God will take care of you, because you
are the cause of all this, and being your minister and your
father you have hurt me in this way, even though it has always been my intention
not to do any harm but only a lot of good.
And if I were not a priest and I had a scimitar in my
hands, there would not be anyone who could come close to me,
because even before anyone could touch a single thread on my clothes I would
vanquish half a dozen [of them] at once. But I am a father and, hence, I cannot do
any of this and, especially, when my intention has always been
good. And I came only because I did not want anything to happen,
because I am your minister. Because I assumed that if I were here, nobody
would dare to overstep their bounds, but you all overstepped your bounds." Once we
were ready to return, [with] my assistant and my young servant,
Captain Pablo arrived with all the people who had accompanied him in
chasing Brother Fray Diego. Captain Pablo first hit

the chief assistant and compelled him to fall off his horse,
and faked striking him with his scimitar, and said: "you will die [now]."
And he began to abuse me verbally. And when my
chief assistant saw that they wanted to kill him, the poor thing came to find
my protection. And I put on him my doublet, because I thought that
if I they saw that I favored him, they would not do any harm to him. My
defense was not useful, because the Indios came to where I was with their cudgels and [machetes]
where I was on my horse making gestures of []
and screaming as if they were devils from hell.
And my horse, because he was upset, when he saw that they were coming near,
[and they were] a mob of people with raised cudgels,
ready to strike us with them, he went galloping. And seeing this,
Captain Pablo yelled, "go after that father and take him
and we will take him prisoner to Manila." And they went about doing this
and doing the same thing with the others and my little boy. And because my
horse was fast, it was already on the lose, they could not reach me.
And my horse sped across for more than two leagues, without any
control. Miraculously, I was able to avoid death
because the horse was running through an
area with a lot of trees. And [I did not die] from the many cudgel
strikes I suffered and other beatings. And when the horse finally ceased running
because he encountered a little house where the Black people of the señor Bishop of
Camarines lived, I was able to stop him [when I put him] against a fence. And because my young servant stopped soon after and stood in front of my
horse, I was able to continue to Malate and Manila. And

I left my young servant in Malate, so that on the next day he could get
healed by Captain Rafael, as it was done. And Captain Pablo's scimitar
with which he wanted to strike me is located in Malate with
the father prior, in case it is needed. And the piece of the machete that the
Indios of Dongalo retrieved (it is true that it was my young servant's),
but he did not break it himself. It was ripped off [and smashed]
from his waist. He was keeping it on his back because he did not want to be
killed. And they smashed it with a blow. And all this, which
has been written in these pages is the pure truth and many
more things that happened, which I cannot remember
and especially in my condition. And I read all this [the statement] to the two
principales who sign below to make sure everything [I say] is true,
because they were present [during the events] and they said it was true. And something else [of which they reminded me when they said], "oh, you forgot, Father, what the Indios said and did during the episode." And what happened
afterwards can be attested by the father prior of Malate as well as
what he saw that night when he went to Parañaque. When I
read all this was in the presence of Don Ignacio Pantaleón, and Don
Nicolás de Carabeo on the 16th of July of the year 1717.

Fray Juan Serrano

Ignacio Pantaleón de Salazar - Miguel Mendes
Don Nicolás Carabeo - Pedro de los Santos

This page is not translated, please help translate this page

This page is not translated, please help translate this page

Account and other records about the disrespect that the natives of Dongalo, a town in Parañaque, carried out against their Prior and Minister, etc.