During the first two centuries following the foundation of the Colony, it was the custom for a Royal Commission to be appointed to inquire into the official acts of the outgoing Governor before he could leave the Islands--_Hacérle la residencia_, as it was called.
Whilst on the one hand this measure effectually served as a check upon a Governor who might be inclined to adopt unjustifiable means of coercion, or commit defalcations, it was also attended with many abuses; for against an energetic ruler an antagonistic party was always raised, ready to join in the ultimate ruin of the Governor who had aroused their susceptibilities by refusing to favour their nefarious schemes. Hence when a _prima facie_ case was made out against a Governor, his inexperienced successor was often persuaded to consent to his incarceration whilst the articles of impeachment were being investigated.
Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera (1635-44) had been Governor of Panamá before he was appointed to the Philippines. During his term of office here he had usually sided with the Jesuits on important questions taken up by the friars, and on being succeeded by Diego Fajardo, he was brought to trial, fined P 25,000, and put into prison. After five years' confinement he was released by Royal Order and returned to Spain, where the King partially compensated him with the Government of the Canary Islands.
Juan Vargas (1678-84) had been in office for nearly seven years, and the Royal Commissioner who inquired into his acts took four years to draw up his report. He filled 20 large volumes of a statement of the charges made against the late Governor, some of which were grave, but the majority of them were of a very frivolous character. This is the longest inquiry of the kind on record.
Acting-Governor José Torralba (1715-17) was arrested on the termination of his Governorship and confined in the Fortress of Santiago, charged with embezzlement to the amount of P 700,000. He had also to deposit the sum of P 20,000 for the expenses of the inquiry commission. Several other officials were imprisoned with him as accomplices in his crimes. He is said to have sent his son with public funds on trading expeditions around the coasts, and his wife and young children to Mexico with an enormous sum of money defrauded from the Government. Figures at that date show, that when he took the Government, there was a balance in the Treasury of P 238,849, and when he left it in two years and a half, the balance was P 33,226, leaving a deficit of P 205,623, whilst the expenses of the Colony were not extraordinary during that period. Amongst other charges, he was accused of having sold ten Provincial Government licences (_encomiendas_), many offices of notaries, scriveners, etc., and conceded 27 months' gambling licences to the Chinese in the Parian without accounting to the Treasury. He was finally sentenced to pay a fine of P 100,000, the costs of the trial, the forfeiture of the P 20,000 already deposited, perpetual deprivation of public office, and banishment from the Philippine Islands and Madrid. When the Royal Order reached Manila he was so ill that his banishment was postponed. He lived for a short time nominally under arrest, and was permitted to beg alms for his subsistence within the city until he died in the Hospital of San Juan de Dios in 1736.