# The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898/Volume 10/Administration of the hospital at Manila

ADMINISTRATION OF THE ROYAL HOSPITAL AT MANILA
Sire:
I have desired that the royal hospital of this city should be served and administered with more charity, better order, and a more perfect system than hitherto; for I am told and I know how much the poor thereof suffer, and of how much importance for the correction of this and of many other evils is their good comfort, assistance, and healing, spiritual and temporal―all which the hospital has in charge; and how essential it is that it should be administered by persons who are servants of God, self-denying and free from self-interest, charitable and zealous for His service and for the good of their neighbors. Hence I desire that the Order of St. Francis, because it seems to me suitable on account of its self-denial, barefootedness, and freedom from self-interest, may unite with the Confraternity of La Misericordia in the charge of the hospital. I suggest that they place ​there four friars—two priests and two laymen; for this can be done without interfering with the conversion of the natives, and will be a thing of great service to God and your Majesty, the good of the poor and of this state, and the good order, service, and system of the said hospital. It will also remedy many of the inconveniences that may arise, and of the deficiencies from which the hospital suffers, from the want of such persons in charge of it. For these reasons I have asked that this order, associated with the Confraternity of La Misericordia, may attend to this matter, and may take under its care the government and administration of the hospital. Therefore I have set forth and enclosed separately some of the reasons for this, and the advantages which I see in this course and in joining the hospital for the slaves, which the Confraternity of La Misericordia has founded, with the royal hospital. The plan involves establishing separate quarters in the said royal hospital, that there may be a definite place for the slaves, and that slaves and Spaniards may not be mingled. In these quarters there may be a separate ward or room for needy Spanish women, mestizas, and the like, in such a way that they may be kept in separation and distinct from the slaves. There is a great need of this ward for women, for there is no place to put them in the royal hospital, and hence they are not received there. By joining the royal hospital with the hospital of the Confraternity of La Misericordia a place may be provided—which will be of great importance, help, and benefit to the necessities of poor and needy women who have not wherewithal to care for themselves in their sicknesses. It must be no little that they suffer in these ​regions for lack thereof, and because of their poverty; for even in health there is no little to be undergone, and many are the evils and misfortunes which may result from the lack of this provision.
The provincial and Order of St. Francis having discussed and considered this matter hesitate about it because the distance between the hospital and their monastery makes it inconvenient to keep religious in the former; but as for me, my judgment is that, as they have religious who have to go even further away in the work of instruction, they can keep them here; and that there is no lack of religious who know the language, for the work of conversion. Hence, although there will be some inconveniences, they will not be serious and important; and it seems best to overlook them, and to take account of the advantages hoped for from this work and to be expected of it, which are not few, or of small value and importance.
The deputies and Confraternity of La Misericordia were inclined to accept the suggestion, and to undertake the administration of the royal hospital jointly with that of the slaves' hospital; and the same guardian of the Order of St. Francis, before the adoption of the resolution above mentioned, approved it. In conference with the deputies with regard to the effect of it, he hesitated on one or two points. One of special importance was the question whether the expense was to be in common, and whether the expense for the slaves was to be paid out of the income of the hospital, and that for the Spaniards, in consequence, out of the alms of the Confraternity of La Misericordia. Although he made some doubt and scruple to me personally as to paying for the slaves, to whom his superiors owed ​the duty of support (although God knows how it was incurred) out of the funds destined for the poor Spaniards, yet on the whole he said, with my approval, that in the interim before your Majesty should be advised of the whole matter, everything should be paid for by accounts kept separately for the royal hospital and by consequence for that of the slaves likewise—as used to be done and as is done still; so that they are not connected, though the connection is desired because of the known advantages of it. But the greatest obstacle to the execution of this plan is the fear and mistrust put forward to requiring the Confraternity and deputies of La Misericordia to render accounts, exposing them to disturbance, and perhaps to expense and loss for matters their connection with which is voluntary—being assumed for charity and the service of God, and not for duty, pay, or advantage. This objection, however, was met by the consideration that the expense with its account had to pass before so many persons of honor, standing, and financial stability that there was not much ground for hesitation; since just as one superintendent or administrator paid and gave accounts, so the deputies can do the same as well or better, being more in number, and of no less financial standing, and making their expenditures with the system and general agreement which are to be desired. With all, I could not bring them to make the venture. But if this risk and obligation were absent, they would do it; this I know from some who were desirous of undertaking this work.
I give your Majesty an account of this matter, because of the importance that it may have for the ​service of God and your Majesty, the good of the poor, and the advantage of a work of such public necessity and importance in these regions. If your Majesty should be pleased to command that the Confraternity of La Misericordia should take charge of the administration of the royal hospital, as aforesaid, it will be necessary to come to a statement of the system to be observed in making payments for the royal hospital and that of the Confraternity of La Misericordia, by deciding whether they are to be kept separate or no. It will also be necessary, in the way in which your Majesty shall be most pleased and profited, to deal with the mistrust about the accounts, which is what causes most hesitation. Submitting myself to your royal pleasure, and suggesting as I ought what occurs to me in the matter, I propose, Sire, that payments be made only as passing through the hands of a single administrator and superintendent. In this way he will be able to give account of the expenditure. Let the manner, order, and direction of the same be in accordance with the judgment of the deputies of La Misericordia; and let the superintendent give his account of expenditures made under the direction of the deputies. On such conditions the Confraternity will take charge of the work; for it will not hand in accounts and will be called upon for no business except of charity, trust, and good administration, while the superintendent will hand in the accounts for the said Confraternity. Thus the whole, if your Majesty please, will be in one; and on other conditions the Confraternity will not undertake it. At least I regard it as a matter of the highest importance and advantage that your Majesty give commands that the archbishop and the ​Order of St. Francis place four religious—two priests and two laymen—in the said hospital; and that, in case this order cannot undertake it, the Society of Jesus do so, for, being persons of great charity and good government in all things, it will be of great advantage for them to have this in their charge; so that in this way it seems that many great evils would be remedied, and many great advantages result. Our Lord keep your Majesty many long years, as His Divine Majesty has power, and as we all desire and have need. Manila, July 20, 1597.
Luis Perez Dasmariñas
[Endorsed: "Let the president and auditors and the archbishop state what they think best to be done in the case; and in the meantime let them give such orders as they think best for the good conduct of the hospital."]
Considering and reflecting that the royal hospital of this city is one of the most important and considerable establishments in this country and these islands, it is very essential to the same, for the best advantage and comfort of the poor, and for the good order and system of the administration of the hospital, that it should be under the charge of persons who are influenced by the love of God and by zeal for His service and for the welfare and advantage of His poor, and by no payment or temporal interest. Since all the other hospitals of this city have this advantage, it is a pity that it should be lacking in this one alone, which is of so much importance; and that although it has so good an income and other advantages, it should not surpass the others; and that there should ​be cause that many refuse to go to it to be cared for, and prefer to go elsewhere. That is proof of either carelessness and disorder, or of necessity; and, although there is some of the latter, yet I believe that it must be mainly the former. Likewise it spends and requires on its part certain salaries and expenses for persons who serve in the said hospital. Great injury is done to the service of God our Lord and of his Majesty the king, if such an institution is managed extravagantly, ineffectively, or unsystematically. At the same time other hospitals are well managed, because of being in the hands of persons who are members of religious orders and servants of our Lord; who being free and bare from personal interest, exert themselves for the good of the poor, merely for His love and service, and with charity and zeal for the good of their neighbors. This is what is done in the hospital for the natives and in that for the Sangleys, which are now well established, having their incomes and accounts separate. On this account, and because they are in charge of persons who are servants of God and have the qualities aforesaid, they are better served than when they were otherwise managed, and better than is that for the Spaniards, for lack of persons to administer and serve it through love and charity toward God and their neighbor, as has been said.
Hence, considering this, and because I know that it will be of great convenience and advantage to the service of God our Lord, and of his royal Majesty; the good, profit, and relief of many poor, and of the wretched and needy; and the common benefit, welfare, and service of this state—therefore I am of the opinion and belief that it may be very advantageous ​and extremely useful, and may conduce to the improvement, good management, and systematic conduct of the royal hospital that the hospital of the Confraternity of La Misericordia should be joined with it. The resulting advantages will be recapitulated; and the causes and reasons on which I rely, and which I find for this, are the following.
The first reason is that this is a work of so great service to the Divine Majesty of God, and the royal Majesty; to the state a very great advantage, profit, and benefit; to the poor, the advantage, attendance, and healing of their maladies and miseries, bodily as well as spiritual.
Conspicuous among the advantages is the service to God done by caring for His poor, whether Spanish or not, which latter are a forgotten and wretched people—although some of their masters, for charity and the love and service of God, provide and afford them their support, their good, their care, and their salvation, spiritual and temporal.
The royal Majesty will be much advantaged, because by the charity, good order, and system that will exist, several salaries for persons employed in the said hospital may be dispensed with, and there will be more profit and increase of the revenue; while for the support of the poor there will be a larger fund, in addition to the fact that they will be better cared for and served. The result will be that health will more abound, and that perhaps mortality will be lessened, together with these great sicknesses—a great service to God and his royal Majesty, and the state; for his Majesty will have more soldiers, by which he will reap a profit, and in this case a great one, because of the great cost and expense of sending ​and bringing them here. The state will also have a larger population, more citizens and men to defend it, in addition to the great private and ordinary benefit received by the people thereof, in saving much expense on their property incurred for the care of their servants and slaves, as well as trouble, care, and responsibility, by their being cared for in the said hospital bodily and spiritually.
Then the importance of this for the souls and bodies, not only of the Spaniards but those of the slaves, may easily be seen and understood. For the former, the Spaniards, fail not to have and to suffer great and special need in their illnesses and deaths, of someone to minister to them, or at the least to aid and comfort them therein; while the latter, the slaves, as a people cast off and the greater part of them ordinarily belonging to the royal crown, and of so different races—some or many of them yet to be converted, or imperfectly instructed and entered in the Christian faith—still more require that there should be someone who in the love of God, and with zeal for the good of their souls, should aid them and secure their welfare and health, spiritual and temporal, in the one case as in the other.
Further, the reward, merit, and crown befitting the service done to God our Lord by this, and to the royal Majesty, and the good to this state and these islands, will not be small; since the result and the advantages which will arise from it are so great and so special, important, and universal; and this is a cause for applying the compassion and Christian charity in this state to the glory and service of God, to the welfare, relief, and consolation, perhaps the salvation, of His creatures and the poor thereof; and ​to the edification and confusion of the great numbers of barbarians, heathens, and infidels whom we have as witnesses about us looking at us, and who will see nothing that can move and edify them like such works of true charity, performed without worldly payment and profit.
It will also result from this that the Confraternity of La Misericordia, which is of such importance, and which succors, aids, and relieves so many general and public necessities, would ordinarily be supported in this state and would be more continuous, and that charity and compassion would be more exercised, as has been said. The hospital would be more frequented and more fully occupied, and the poor better provided and served; and all this would result because of the good order, careful accounting, and system which would exist, on account of putting the control in the hands of persons of such security, gravity, and commendable zeal as the deputies of the said Confraternity. This will also be a cause that for the love and service of God our Lord, as also for their own characters and persons, and their own interest in their own property (namely, their slaves), more people will visit the hospital, and aid it with greater care and liberality, and less hesitation; for one month brings the chance upon one, another upon another, and in this order it comes to all. This will be occasion and cause that the devout women, and those of the greatest influence, after seeing the work and perceiving that it is under the care of religious who are servants of God, and under that of their husbands, and that it is for the good of their slaves, will please and desire to see them, and to visit the hospital, and take the poor some dainties; and from the visits made ​to some of them will result the good, the comfort, and the consolation of the rest.
Further, as for the order, good accounting, and systematic management of the expenditure, and the care of the estate of the said hospital, it can be carried on by no hand with more clearness and security than by persons of so great honor and so high standing, persons who are required to be such, and who are themselves cognizant of and acquainted with all that is done. Thus the defects, if any there are, will be more known and observed; and if they arise from need the hospital will finally have more, and those from among the best in the state, who will be active in their efforts to supply and provide what is lacking.
The service of the hospital, which is of so great importance to the health and comfort of the sick, will be better and more punctual, and not so expensive, being attended to by persons undertaking it for charity, and not for gain.
Besides all that is said and referred to above, there will be avoided in the aforesaid way many sinful speeches and murmurs, inasmuch as the business will be in the hands of persons of such charity, poverty, holy zeal, and high standing; and thus with reason there will be more occasion for glory and praise to God for this work than for murmurs and condemnation.
In short, this undertaking may afford to the Divine Majesty of God our Lord, service and glory; to the royal Majesty, great service and profit; to the state, great and general good, and advantages; to these nations and tribes who are looking on at us, confusion and edification; to the poor, service, aid, and comfort in their wretchednesses and sicknesses, and ​care and healing for their bodies, and above all for their souls; and to those who have in their charge the service, administration, and superintendence, a great crown and reward.
Therefore, since this project is good for all and in all, and since this work encloses within itself so many great and important effects, it is right that it should be favored, and that your piety should be supported in it. For the religious who will be occupied there, will be well occupied and employed, preaching with their works true charity and humility, and at the same time striving and aiding in the saving and healing of the souls, both of Spaniards and of others, who shall be ministered to and cared for there; and, since so great advantages may result from this, it is right that it should be done, and that your piety should be supported in encouraging and beginning a work of such importance, and from which so great advantages are hoped for and may result, as has been said.
And assuredly it is highly desirable that the royal hospital should be in the care of this order or of the Society, that it may be served and administered as is proper, and that it may enjoy the advantages which the other hospitals enjoy, and the good administration which they have, as well that for the natives as that for the Sangleys, as has been said. It is also a great good, glory, and service to our Lord, and a cause of great satisfaction and consolation that the results obtained from them are great; and there will be great enthusiasm from this day forward because they are in charge of persons who are servants of God, free from personal interests, who for God, His love and service, give their efforts to this work. Of this ad​vantage it is right that this royal hospital should have the fruit, because it is not the least important, and that it should not suffer, and remain as it is.
Luis Perez Dasmariñas
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