Chapter 65: Scandalous
"You will pay for this!" Señor Grimaldo struggled against the soldiers as he and his workers were dragged through the corridors of the ground floor of the Casa Real. The officials and scribes in front of their respective offices nervously made way, whispering to each other about the scandalous sight.
The Casa Tribunal, along with other government offices, was located inside the Casa Real. And with the courtroom, there were also detention cells located at the rear of the building—two small, windowless rooms. They hadn’t found much use for a while, since crimes were not rampant in rural Marinduque, and the barrio chiefs usually dealt with petty offenses in their barangays.
"This will make noise..." Colonel Abad said to me as we watched the soldiers and the offenders disappear around a turn at the back of the Casa Real. The last time someone from the principalia was apprehended, it was a Spanish governor who ordered it.
If my enemies meant to provoke me, then they had succeeded. I could only wait and hope more were intimidated than outraged. If I had simply let it pass, then I would have undermined my own declaration. Martial law should be accompanied by an iron hand.I was about to take the stairs when Colonel Abad tapped me and pointed me in the direction of someone.
Coming from the same hallway where Señor Grimaldo and the soldiers had gone was a familiar face, waving at me.
Don Crisostomo De los Santos was an intimidating man, with his broad frame and tall stature. He also held an intimidating government position—Boac’s juez de paz, which put him second to the gobernadorcillo in the town’s administrative hierarchy.
But both his looks and his position were deceiving. He was large but very mild-mannered and non-confrontational. And his position as juez de paz was just as symbolic as my governorship initially, since criminality was not rampant in the rural town, and the petty offenses that did occur were dealt with locally by the cabezas in their barrios.
Now the position was even more irrelevant, as my military tribunal would take over judicial matters.
"Wasn’t that Señor Grimaldo?" he asked me as soon as he reached me. "What happened, Don Martin?"