168 The Philippine Journal of Science ms 



served the city on the municipal board as an "alcalde ordina- 

 rio,"" and had amassed considerable wealth, probably from in- 

 vestments on the "Nao de Acapulco."" Consequently, when 

 his will was proved by his executors, his nephew, Manuel Anto- 

 nio de Peredo,^^ and the Marquis of Montecastro y Lianas Her- 

 mosa, he was found to have left over 77,000 pesos, besides 

 personal property, reliquaries, and shares in the cargo of various 

 galleons. He had, moreover, during his lifetime given a sum 

 of 1,500 pesos to the Tertiary Order of Saint Francis to be in- 

 vested for the benefit of the sacristy of Our Lady of Guidance, 

 Nuestra Senora de Guia, in the parish church of Ermita/® The 

 amount left under his will included legacies to relations in Spain, 

 to servants and dependents in Manila, and to religious organ- 

 izations in the Philippines, New Spain, and the mother country, 

 besides large bequests for masses for his soul. His native village 

 of Torrevalega was also benefited to the extent of a stone-€hapel 

 and a bridge. 



" The destruction of niost of the records of the city of Manila during 

 the British occupation of 1762-1764 has made it impossible to state 

 exactly the length of his tenure of office, but we know that he was a 

 "regidor" in 1733 and "alcalde ordinario" in 1736 and 1740. — Audiencia 

 de las Islas Filipinas. Reales sentencias (1733), 169; (1736), 214, 274; 

 Actas del Ayuntamiento de la ciudad de Manila (hereafter quoted as 

 "Actas de Manila") (1739-1740), 246. 



" While the risks were heavy, the returns were proportionately large, 

 and the position of "general," with its accompanying salary of 4,125 

 pesos a year and its opportunities for trade, was one of the most 

 profitable in the Philippine service. — Martinez de Zuiiiga, Estadismo de 

 las Islas Filipinas (1893), 1, 268; Churchill, Collection of Voyages (1764), 

 4, 491; Morga, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (Translated into English 

 by James A. Robertson in Blair and Robertson, The Philippine Islands 

 (1904), 14, 175-195; Jagor, Reisen in den Philippinen (1873), 14; Bourne, 

 Introduction to Blair and Robertson, The Philippine Islands (1903), 1, 

 62-67. 



" He was a native of Quevada, also a hamlet in the to'WTi of Torre- 

 valega. He left for New Spain immediately after his uncle's death, but 

 returned to Manila in 1750, and remained in Binondo until his decease 

 in 1767. He was buried in the parish church of San Gabriel, Binondo. — 

 Archives de la Audiencia de las Islas Filipinas. Registro inventario 

 del juzgado general y privativo de los bienes de difuntos (1767), 86. 



"Archives del Arzobispado. Libros de las obras pias (1743), 2, 32. 

 The image of Our Lady of Guidance was venerated during the Dutch 

 invasion of 1609, and the galleons were also commended to her care. 

 Blair and Robertson, The Philippine Islands (1904), 17, 277. Ermita, 

 as its name suggests, was originally the site of a small chapel of devotion, 

 visita, which was founded by seculars, but transferred by Governor Telle 

 to the Augustinians. Buzeta, Manuel, y Bravo, Felipe, Diccionario geo- 

 grafico, estadistico, historico de las Islas Filipinas (1851), 2, 77. 



