This system rewarded the Spanish conquerors with forced labor from the native peoples.
After a Spanish clergyman and social reformer Bartolomé de las Casas wrote about the abuses of the encomienda system and of the native peoples in his book A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, public outcry and his lobbying in Spain caused the enaction of the New Laws in 1542.
In addition, many native Filipinos were also pressed into service as sailors for the galleons, often under harsh conditions.
These practices and the indigenous alipin system were eventually stopped by the mid-1600s, after additional royal decrees which mandated harsh punishments for violations of the Laws of the Indies, as well as heavy taxes levied on personal servants brought aboard galleons.
[3][4][5][6][7] Conversely, Filipinos who were subjects of Spain were often enslaved by Moro pirates and raiders.