The audiencia, in the exercise of the acuerdo power, passed ordinances for the enforcement of the laws forbidding the unauthorized departure of persons from the Islands; it helped to fix the rate of passage on the galleons and on the coast-wise ships. It made regulations for the Chinese in the Parián, it prescribed the conditions under which licenses might be issued to Chinese merchants and it passed ordinances for the better enforcement of the laws prohibiting the immigration of the Chinese. The acuerdo concerned itself with the maintenance of prisons and the care of prisoners, the residencias of provincial officials, the auditing of accounts, the collection of the revenue, and the supervision of the officials of the treasury. Ordinances were passed enforcing the general law which ordered that the natives should not live together in Christian communities without marriage, that they should attend religious ceremonies, that they should be instructed in religion, and that they should not be exploited, either by the civil or ecclesiastical authorities. It is, of course, understood that the audiencia in no way trespassed the authority of the church in issuing these regulations; indeed it was quite the contrary; these ordinances were passed on the basis of the authority of the royal patronage, with the design of assisting the vice-patron (the governor) in the execution of his duties, and the church was aided rather than impeded thereby. It must be remembered, of course, that the governor, as president of the audiencia, presided in these acuerdos, and that in most cases, actually, as well as in theory, these autos acordados were his will.
There were many occasions in the history of the Islands when the acuerdo was influential in the formulation of far-reaching reforms. The well-known "Ordinances of Good Government," issued by Governor Corcuera in 1642 for the observance of the provincial officials, and repromulgated with modifications by Cruzat y Góngora in 1696 and by Raón in 1768 were formulated by the acuerdo. [441] Similarly were those formulated that were proposed by Marquina in 1790. The local regulations for the consulado, established in 1769, were formulated by the audiencia largely on the recommendations of the able fiscal, Francisco Leandro de Viana. In the same manner the new plan of constitutional government given to the Philippines in 1812 was drafted by the audiencia at the request of the Council of the Indies. [442] Likewise the plans for the government of the intendancy were submitted to the acuerdo by Governor Basco y Vargas in 1785. Indeed, these, as well as the scheme of 1787-8, were actually written by two magistrates of the audiencia, the former plan by Oidor Ciriaco Gonzales Carvajal, subsequently intendant, and the latter by Oidor Castillo y Negrete. [443]