This chapter deals with the figure of Don Diego Vázquez de Mercado, the first secular archbishop of Manila (1608–16). In addition to examining his inspectorial functions, the chapter also looks at other aspects of his tenure, such as the prelate’s relationship with the cathedral chapter and his tense relationship with Governor General Silva, who distinguished himself in the defense of Spanish possessions in the Far East. In dialogue with the historiography of ecclesiastical institutions in the early modern Philippines, I analyze Vázquez de Mercado’s government in a context of hard times, borrowing the elegant and catastrophic phrase that opens this chapter: “In this land all is death and the absence of other kingdoms”.