Below is that decree with Salazar's comments tagged with "Ambut".

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<h3>
The usurpation of Indian lands by Friars
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To the president and auditors of my royal Audiencia of the Filipinas Islands, resident in the city of Manila: Don Pedro Enriquez, an auditor of that same Audiencia, made a report, with sworn statements of his proceedings, of what he had done under the commission which was conferred on him by the government there for the pacification of the villages of Taguig, Hagonoy, Parafaque, Bacoor, Cavite el Viejo, and other places attached to them which lie near that capital, all which had revolted. [He reported that] they were pacified by merely the proclamation of a general pardon (except to the chief instigators of the revolt) which he published, and by the promise that their complaints should be heard and justice done to them; but the village of San Mateo also revolted, and he proceeded to its punishment and left it in ruins, because the people had not surrendered their arms; it was, however, already [re]peopled, with inhabitants who were more numerous and of more peaceable disposition. 


A similar insurrection or revolt occurred in most of the villages of the province of Bulacan, and these, like the former, by an agreement which they had formed by a public writing with the village of Silang protested, as they afterward made evident in their petitions, against the injuries which the Indians received from the managers of the estates which are owned by the religious of St. Dominic and those of St. Augustine, both calced and discalced- usurping the lands of the Indians, without leaving them the freedom of the rivers for their fishing, or allowing them to cut wood for their necessary use, or even to collect the wild fruits; nor did they allow the natives to pasture on the hills near their villages the carabaos which they used for agriculture. 


Accordingly [the said auditor] determined to free them from these oppressions(1) and decided that they should not pay various unjust taxes which the managers exacted from them. 


Having proved to be capable in the other task assigned him, he received a commission as subdelegate judge of the adjustment of land-titles, in consequence of which he demanded from the aforesaid religious orders the titles of ownership for the lands which they possessed; and, notwithstanding the resistance that they made to him, repeatedly refusing [to obey], he distributed to the villages the lands which the orders had usurped, and all which they held without legitimate cause (2) he declared to be crown lands [realengas] - as occurred with the convent of San Pablo, belonging to the calced religious of St. Augustine, assigning to it [i.e., the crown] a farm for horned cattle and two caballerias of land which were supposed to belong to it, according to the testimony of the village of San Mateo. 






He also took other measures which seemed to him proper for the investigation of the fraudulent proceedings in the measurement of the lands in the estate of Bifian, which is owned by the religious of St. Dominic - fraud which was committed in the year 1743 by the court clerk of that Audiencia [of Manila] with notable fraud and trickery, in which participated the two surveyors (appointed through ignorance or evil intent), to the grave injury of the village of Silang. This had caused the disturbances, revolts, and losses which had been experienced in the above-mentioned villages. 


The aforesaid proceedings [by the auditor] were considered and examined with the closest attention in my Council of the Indias, with the decrees that were also sent by the Audiencia there in the course of the proceedings in a second appeal interposed by the village of Silang- decrees obtained in that suit by the natives of that village against the college of Santo Tomas de Aquino, in regard to lands usurped [from them] and annexed to the estate of Bifian, which the religious own. 


On the subject of the disturbance among the aforesaid Indians, Governor Don Gaspar de la Torre, his successor the bishop of Nueva Segovia, and the provincials of the aforesaid religious orders set forth the allegations made in the name of the orders by father Fray Miguel Vivas as their procurator-general at this court, and by Father Pedro Altamirano, who acts in that capacity for the Society of Jesus for its provinces of the Indias (on the point that the province of San Ignacio in those islands had no share in the commotions in those villages, as was shown by various testimonies), and the explanations made by my fiscal, who was cognizant of the whole matter. 


It has therefore appeared expedient to me to advise you of the receipt of your letters of July 30, 1745, and July 17, 1746, and of the acts which accompany them; and to notify you that by a despatch of this date I approve, and regard as just and proper, all that was performed by the aforesaid Don Pedro Calderon Enriquez in virtue of the commission and appointment which was conferred upon him by Governor Don Gaspar de la Torre by the advice of the Audiencia there, in order that he might proceed to the pacification of the insurgent villages in the jurisdictions of Silang, Imus and San Nicolas, Cavite el Viejo, and the other districts which united on account of the controversy over the ownership of the lands which the religious - Dominicans, and both calced and discalced Augustiniansare endeavoring to keep. 


I also give him thanks for the judicious conduct and measures which he employed for the aforesaid pacification; and I likewise approve what he accomplished as subdelegate judge of the settlement of land-titles, in regard to the survey and boundaries of the estates which, in accordance with their legitimate titles, belong to each of those orders, in view of the more accurate and reliable information [obtained] from the interpretations of the four surveyors whom he appointed - the latter bearing in mind, to this end, the measures put into execution by the auditor Ozaeta in the year 1699, in accordance with the chart printed by the pilot Bueno, in his book entitled Navegacion especulativa y practica (3) [i.e., "Navigation, theoretical and practical"] (which chart serves in those islands as the standard for the surveys) - assigning to the aforesaid religious that which belongs to them by their [legal] titles, which is the same that was ordained in the executory decree despatched by the Audiencia there. 


I also approve what he did in adjudging to my royal crown the lands which the aforesaid religious orders had usurped, and in allotting lands to the Indians for the sum of two thousand pesos, at times and terms stipulated with them. 



From the aforesaid investigations charges resulted against Don Juan Monroy, court clerk of that Audiencia, who was engaged in the survey and adjustment of boundaries made in those same lands of Bifan in the year 1743 - in which, by the declaration of the two surveyors who took part in it, is evident their ignorance of such work, and of the rules and measures [to be used]. Although [sc., after?] the lands had been measured and a chart of the estates had been drawn, the computations were made by the said Monroy, and the surveyors signed it, supposing that it was correct; but it was acknowledged that in that same year, later, another survey and adjustment of boundaries was made by the aforesaid court clerk and one of the said surveyors on some lands over which there were lawsuits - some, in particular, with the religious of St. Augustine - in which survey there was assigned to each cattle-farm 3,024,574 square brazas of land, this being different from the previous survey, which was computed at 8,695,652 brazas. 


In this was proved the fraud with which the said Monroy acted, in giving to the said religious more than half of the land which belonged to Silang. 


Accordingly, it has appeared to me proper to condemn him to two years' suspension from his office, and to lay upon him a fine of two thousand pesos, applied to the fund of fines paid into the royal treasury; and for this exaction there is issued, on this same date, the proper despatch to the Marques de Regalia, a minister of the said my Council and tribunal of the Indias, and exclusive judge of rents, settlement of land-titles, and collection of fines and condemnations. 


By another despatch of the same date, the government of those islands is commanded to exercise hereafter the utmost vigilance in order that the Indians of the said villages may not be molested by the religious, and that the latter shall be kept in check in the unjust acts which they may in future attempt against not only those Indians but other natives of those islands. 


In this, the government must always bear in mind the reiterated commands given in the laws [of the empire], and the frequent royal decrees that have been issued, to the end that the Indians shall be well treated and shall not suffer oppression or extortion; and shall direct that my fiscal there shall appear as their representative and in their defense on every occasion which shall present itself in this regard. 


Considering how important it is that the Indians shall know of the recourse which they can have when they are oppressed or ill-treated, and in their controversies, it would be very expedient that the government give them information of this, so that they may not be ignorant thereof, and that they may use these [peaceable] means without going to the extreme, as they did on this occasion, by employing armed force. 


For this time, my royal charity and clemency overlooks their proceedings, considering their heedless disposition; but when they shall have been advised of what they ought to do in such cases, and in others of a different nature, if they fail to use those means they shall be chastised with the utmost severity.


I have resolved to notify you of this, in order that you may be acquainted with this my royal decision, and in order that, so far as you are concerned, you may make known my decree; and I command the most prompt and effective measures, to the end that it may be fully and duly carried into effect; for such is my will. 

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Dated at San Lorenzo, on November 7, 1751. 


I THE KING




By command of the King our sovereign: DOCTOR JOSEF IGNACIO DE GOYENECHEA [Farther down on this decree were three rubricas of the lords of the royal and supreme council of the Indias].


In the regular official session of the Audiencia of Manila, in September, 1753. The honorable president and auditors of the Audiencia, being in session in the royal halls of the said court, having officially considered a royal decree dated at San Lorenzo on November 7, 1751, by which his Majesty (whom may God preserve) was pleased to approve what was done by the auditor Don Pedro Calderon Enriquez in the pacification of the villages which had revolted, and to command him to execute what is expressed therein, with the other provisions of the said royal despatch and the claims of the fiscal, the said president and auditors declare: 


That they must command and did command that the orders given by his Majesty in his royal despatch be observed, fulfilled, and executed; and, in order that it may have due effect, the contents of the said royal decree shall be communicated to the reverend provincials of the holy orders of St. Dominic, St. Augustine, the Recollects, the Society of Jesus, and to the prior of the convent of St. John of God, in these islands. Attested copies of it shall be made, and sent to the alcaldes-mayor of the provinces of these islands, in order that, translating the decree into the language of the country, they may print it (4) and make known its contents to the natives of the said provinces, so that the Indians may be informed of what is provided and ordered by his Majesty in the said royal decree - the alcaldes sending to the [proper] official of the court a sworn statement that they have thus executed the decree; and likewise notifying the clerk of court, in order that, in virtue thereof, he may fulfil what is herein ordered and forbear in the exercise of his office, and may appoint a notary approved to his satisfaction so that he may be responsible for the deposit of those papers and the record of these proceedings. Such were the orders and commands of the said honorable members, and they signed their names (5). 


OBANDO 
LICENTIATE ARZADUN 
CALDERON ENRIQUEZ 

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(1)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
In view of these abuses which occurred in the middle of the eighteenth century, which have been repeated in our own time (up to the year '97) with an outcome favorable to the friars because the latter found support in the venality or the pliancy of the authorities, will it be possible still to deny the justice and good reason with which the Filipinos reject the friars, demanding the suppression of the religious corporations, which always and everywhere have had pernicious consequences? Libertas, in its No. 686, shows bad faith and shamelessness in addressing to a co-religionist of ours these questions in its editorial columns: "Can Don Leocadio inform us whether these popular tumults which keep him so preoccupied were known in Filipinas before the year '96? Is it not public and notorious that certain conspicuous attorneys, resident in Manila, are the ones who are deceiving the people, promising them impossible things, and obtaining from them beforehand enormous sums of money?" Don Leocadio does not answer, in order not to waste his time; but he recommends the reading of this royal decree, in which all the friar-lovers will find a complete answer if they will reason with their brains. As the organ of the friars, it is natural that Libertas should speak thus, displaying the blessing of his Holiness Leo xniI as a banner for concealing error and falsehood; it is likewise natural that those who reason with the stomach should form a chorus for that sort of scribbling; but it is truly regrettable that our women and other persons should aid, through their lack of instruction, through the influence of the confessional, and through religious fanaticism, in falsifying historical truth. -- AMBUT
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It results, then, that the friars usurped not only the lands of individuals, but those of the State; this is called "filling both sides of the mouth with food" [comer a dos carrillos] - which they were doing, receiving salaries from the State and collecting dues from their parishioners. -- AMBUT



(3)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
This work was composed by Joseph Gonzalez Cabrera Bueno, a native of Teneriffe, and at the time of its publication (Manila, 1734) the chief pilot for the Manila-Acapulco line of galleons. He was a sailor of great ability and long experience, which, with this book, gave him a very high rank among the mariners of his day. He dedicated the book to Governor Valdes y Tam6n; its censura (or examination by the censor) was made by Murillo Velarde; and its illustrations were engraved by the native Filipino artist Nicolas de la Cruz Bagay. (Vindel, Catdlogo biblioteca filipina, no. 819.)




(4)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
This direction to the alcaldes-mayor naturally suggests the query, "How many of the provinces were supplied with printing offices in 1753?" and reminds one of Dickens's "Circumlocution Office, "and its efforts how not to do it". 



(5)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
The pernicious character of the religious corporations, as an evil to society, is sufficiently proved; for even Catholic France is expelling them from her bosom. It only remains, then, to decide whether the prohibition of their existence is opposed to the principle of the separation of Church and State. To conform to the principle that the welfare of the people is a supreme law, and in virtue of that to deny legal existence to such associations as are hostile to the said principle, is not to fail in [loyalty to] the separation of the Church and the State, inasmuch as the prohibition has nothing to do with religious dogmas or ecclesiastical discipline; and, in order to be just and thoroughly impartial, it does not oppose itself to any specified community or sect, for it entirely sets aside the religious character of the corporations, considering them simply as groups of human beings in their relation to the general good. The State, in this case, legislates without passing beyond the bounds of its proper and exclusive jurisdiction, and does not invade the attributes of the ecclesiastical power. 


Some will say that by prohibiting the existence of religious corporations liberties are restricted. To this I answer, that that liberty which causes harm to society ought not to be understood as liberty; and, [using the term] in this sense, the United States would not be disloyal to their Constitution in adopting restrictive measures in regard to the "trust," Chinese immigration, and the association of persons dangerous to peace, order, and the sanctity of the home. 


As for the estates of the friars, Sefior Sumulong was quite right, to judge from the facts in this royal decree, in asking for an ample and complete investigation of the legality of the titles to property which the friars could bring forward. It is to be observed that there was no opportunity here for [ascertaining] the real right of prescription, for it was impossible to protest against usurpations if one did not wish to be deported or shot as an anti-Spaniard or a filibuster. -- AMBUT

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Reference: 
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803; [Vol. 1, no. 48], Blair, Emma Helen, ed. d.1911.

November 25, 1901: La Democracia published the Royal decree of 1751 on the usurpation of Indian lands by Friars