CHAPTER XXXVII
WHAT THEN?
It has been urged by one class of our citizens that we abandon the islands because they are a source of military weakness, and that we guarantee their independence, which in plain English means that we hold ourselves ready to fight for them! They insist that with our Caucasian origin and our years of hard-earned experience, we are not fit to govern them, but that their Filipino inhabitants, who are the Malayan savages of the sixteenth century, plus what Spain has taught them, plus what they have so recently learned from us, are fit to govern themselves and must be allowed to do so under our protection.
In other words, having brought up a child who is at present rather badly spoiled, we are to say to the family of nations: "Here is a boy who must be allowed to join you. We have found that we are unfit to control him, but we hope that he will be good. You must not spank him unless you want to fight us."
It has been suggested that we get other nations to agree to the neutralization of the islands. Why should they? Are we prepared to offer them any tangible inducements, or do we believe that the millennium has arrived and that they are actuated by purely altruistic motives in such matters?
Blount quotes with approval the following statement of Secretary William Jennings Bryan:--
"There is a wide difference, it is true, between the general intelligence of the educated Filipino and the labourer on the street and in the field, but this is not a barrier to self-government. Intelligence controls in every government, except where it is suppressed by military force. Nine-tenths of the Japanese have no part in the law-making. In Mexico, the gap between the educated classes and the peons is fully as great as, if not greater than, the gap between the extremes of Filipino society. Those who question the capacity of the Filipinos for self-government forget that patriotism raises up persons fitted for the work that needs to be done." [213]
This sounds well, but will it bear analysis? We are now being furnished a practical demonstration of the results achieved by people like the Mexicans when they attempt to conduct a so-called republic. Whether the gap between the extremes of Mexican society is as great as that between the extremes of Filipino society depends on what one includes under the latter term. If one limits it to the Christianized natives, the statement quoted is true. If one includes the non-Christians which constitute an eighth of the population, it is not true.
Would the United States care to assume responsibility for conditions in Mexico without any power to exercise control over the government of that country? Those who demand that we guarantee the independence of the Philippines are advocating a thing precisely similar to this, except that torture and burying alive do not seem to be in vogue in Mexico, and would be practised in the Philippines again, as they have been in the recent past.
Can any one fail to grasp the fact that the following statements of Bishop Brent embody solid common sense?
"Finally it must be recognized that the Philippine problem cannot be settled without reference to its international bearing. Neutralization has been proposed. But can American or any other diplomacy secure the neutrality of the Powers? Would it mean anything if promises of neutrality were made? Is it not so, that though no existing military power, East or West, would fight America in order to secure possession of the Philippines, there are at least two nations which would seize the first opportunity for interference if American sovereignty ceased? Can America afford to protect a government halfway round the world, which she does not actually and constructively control?
She has found it difficult enough with one near at hand. It appears to me that it would be a measure of quixotry beyond the most altruistic administration, to stand sponsor for the order of an experimental government of more than doubtful stability ten thousand miles from our coasts. When the Philippines achieve independence they must swallow the bitter with the sweet, and accept the perils as well as the joys of walking alone. There are national risks involved even in a limited protectorate to which I trust America will never expose herself."
We stoutly asserted in 1899 that the Filipinos were not fit to govern their own country, and this was certainly then true. If in the short space of fifteen years, with leaders who have so recently committed almost incredible barbarities still in the saddle, we had rendered them fit, we should have performed the most wonderful political miracle that the world has ever seen. But the age of miracles has long since passed. While the Filipinos have advanced more in the last fifteen years than during any previous century of their history, what they have gained is by no means ingrained in their character, and they yet have far to go. It is our duty and our privilege to guide and help them on their way. We should hold steadily onward disregarding the hostility and the murmurings of selfish politicians, and looking hopefully to the future for substantial results from the broad and generous policy which we have thus far followed.
Many of the politicians want independence under a United States protectorate, by which they mean that their country shall be turned over to them to do with as they please, with a fleet of American warships lying conveniently near to see that they are not interfered with while thus engaged. It would be the height of folly for us to enter into any such arrangement.
We must help the Filipinos to attain for their country commercial prosperity, so that its revenues may be more adequate for the support of government. Before commercial prosperity can exist, the people must learn to employ modern agricultural methods and modern machinery in bringing considerable portions of the present enormous uncultivated areas of fertile land to a state of productivity.
We must set right standards and insist that they be lived up to. The way to stimulate healthful development of the Filipinos is to let the apples hang high and make them climb for them, not to tell them to hold their hats and shake the tree.
This policy of setting right standards has already been very successfully pursued in the education of Filipino doctors, Filipino nurses, Filipino surveyors, Filipino printers and Filipino teachers.
A Filipino should never be appointed to public office merely because he is a Filipino, the clamour of politicians to the contrary notwithstanding. He should be appointed only if, and because, he is fit. Such a policy, unswervingly followed, will do more to promote the real interests of the civilized inhabitants than will all the concessions that could be made in a thousand years.
And what have we ever gained by concessions to Filipino politicians? Can any one point out a single instance in which they have aroused that feeling of gratitude, or even that sense of obligation, which may fully justify the adoption of measures that would otherwise be of doubtful utility? No!
This fact is well illustrated by the attitude of the politicians toward the Jones Bill providing for the establishment of the Philippine republic on July 4, 1913 and independence in 1920.
Hardly were its terms known in Manila when various politicians announced that the Filipinos did not want to wait until 1920, they wanted independence right then!
An editorial in the number of Speaker Osmeña's paper, El Ideal, for March 19, 1913, contains the following significant sentence:--
"We accept the test to which the Jones Bill subjects us, because we have full confidence in ourselves. Afterward, we shall do what is most expedient for us." [214]
Gratitude does not enter into the make-up of the average Filipino politician, and we must learn not to expect it. We must do what ought to be done because it ought to be done, and not look for appreciation to a small but very noisy body of men who curse us for standing between them and their prey, as we have stood from the day when Dewey first forbade Aguinaldo to steal cattle until now.
It is just as easy to win the gratitude and the affection of the common people of the lowlands as it has proved to be in the case of the wild men of the hills, but if we are to do this there must be a radical departure from the present policy, and we must deal with them directly.
In this connection it is instructive to study the career of James R. Fugate, Lieutenant-Governor, by appointment, of the sub-province of Siquijor. In spite of wretched health, he has done work of which he and his country have just cause to be proud. No one can fully appreciate it who does not know conditions as they were when he went there and as they are to-day. Siquijor has been converted into a checkerboard by good roads and trails where formerly there did not exist decent means of communication. Dysentery and typhoid fever ravaged the island during each recurring dry season when drinking water was almost unobtainable in many places, and what could be found was really unfit for human use. There are now fine public baths in the towns. Beautiful drinking fountains for men and animals are to be seen, not only in the larger centres of population, but along many of the principal highways.
Municipal officials have been taught their duties and perform them well. A complete telephone system connects the lieutenant-governor's office with all parts of the island. Siquijor was formerly completely isolated from the outside world, but now has cable communication. Fine schools have been established, and swarm with children. The man who has brought about all this is beloved by the people whom he has helped and protected. They cannot bear the thought of his leaving them. What is the explanation of this phenomenon, when the inhabitants of many parts of the islands seem to remain unmoved by the many advantages which they now enjoy, and murmur against those to whom they are indebted for them? The answer is simple. Mr. Fugate speaks Visayan about as well as he does English, and there have been no intermediaries between him and his people, who consequently understand that they owe to him the benefits which they have received.
Certain evil politicians of Negros Occidental, whom he robbed of their spoils, attacked him with characteristic persistency and ingenuity. A young man of clean life, he was accused of adultery and of seduction of minors. Although he could at any time have had a better position at higher compensation; although he gave much of his inadequate salary to the poor and defenceless; although he carried on public works at a fraction of the cost of similar undertakings in neighbouring provinces, he was charged with profiting by government contracts and with the malversation of funds of the sub-province. All of these attacks failed miserably. His real offence was that he had stayed the hand of the oppressor, and let the people go free.
In many, if not in most, of the Christian provinces we have utilized the services of Filipino politicians who are openly opposed to the policy which we are endeavouring to carry out, and have thus placed between ourselves and the people a screen of shrewd and hostile men who can communicate with them as we cannot, who play upon their ignorance and their prejudices as we would not if we could, who keep them firm in the belief that all their troubles are due to the "mucho malo gobierno Americano," [215] and that all the advantages which they enjoy have been wrung from the unwilling and unjust Americans by the courage and political ingenuity of the local politicos. For this condition of things we have ourselves to thank, and these are the men who would be governors under "self-government."
When the Federal Party was formed, a large number of conservative Filipinos came out into the open and risked their lives to aid in the termination of war and brigandage, and the establishment of peace and tranquillity. At the outset we rewarded many of those who escaped assassination by appointing them to public offices which they seemed fit to fill. In a few instances we even helped the families of those who sacrificed their lives to the cause of law and order. A little later, anxious to show that we were willing to let bygones be bygones, political offices, so far as they were within the gift of the government, were distributed practically without regard to the previous political records of the recipients. In taking this high attitude we assumed that the generous treatment thus accorded our late enemies would be appreciated by them and would win us their confidence and coöperation. We showed our ignorance of the men with whom we were dealing when we allowed ourselves to expect such a result. They interpreted our generosity as an evidence of fear, and each new concession has served only to whet their appetites. For years we gave profitable government advertising to vicious publications which never for a moment ceased to attack us. If there is any one lesson which should have been brought home to us by our experience it is that in the Philippine Islands this sort of thing does not work as yet. In this, as in most other countries, there are just two political parties, to wit, the "ins" and the "outs." Public office is ardently desired by a large percentage of the educated Filipinos who dearly love to exercise authority, and will do without scruple what seems necessary to get it.
We have gone too fast and too far in conferring on the people power to elect their officers. A larger percentage of the public offices should have remained appointive, and should have been filled either with Americans or with Filipinos of recognized ability who were really in favour of the policy which the government was carrying out. Open and active opposition to that policy should have been made ground for prompt removal from office. The men who risked their lives to help us were entitled to recognition and reward, and to the protection which the knowledge that such recognition is being accorded gives in a country like the Philippines. Left out in the cold, they turned against us when they saw our political enemies filling fat offices, and why not? Such a course was safer and more popular, and they thought that we might then be willing to buy their allegiance, judging by our dealings with others!
It has been claimed that the intelligent, highly educated class are a unit for independence. Nothing could be further from the truth, but it would be uncommonly hard at present to prove this fact.
Some time since, I sat beside a very distinguished Filipino at a public banquet. He made a speech in which he expressed the conviction that independence in the near future would be a most desirable thing. When he sat down I said to him, "What would you do if you got it?" His reply was, "Be still! I would take the first steamer for Hongkong!" His attitude is typical of that of a large group of opportunists.
There is a considerable body of intelligent, conservative Filipinos who believe, as do the vast majority of well-informed Americans, that independence at this time would be an unmitigated curse in that it would necessarily be temporary, would result in grave disturbances of public order, would bring foreign intervention and the occupation of the islands by some nation with purposes far less altruistic than ours, and would put the possibility of real, permanent independence off until a time so remote as to be far beyond the range of our present vision. These men will state their attitude freely in private conversation with those in whom they have confidence, but hardly one of them has the courage to go on record. Why should they? We have seen that in the old days those who opposed the views of Aguinaldo and his associates were given short shrift and that thousands of them were murdered in cold blood, while those who actively opposed the American military and civil governments were without exception freely pardoned when further opposition became impossible, unless guilty of crimes of the gravest character. Nay, more. Under the amnesty proclamation there were turned loose from Bilibid Prison hundreds of murderers, some of whom had taken the lives of scores of human beings. Little attention has been paid at any time to the violation, by Filipinos, of their oaths of allegiance to the United States, and now, when we discover one of the periodic incipient insurrections frequently organized by intelligent natives for the sole purpose of wringing hard-earned pesos from the peasant class, we seldom punish severely even the vicious leaders. It is idle to suppose that these facts are lost upon the conservative Filipinos. They know that if independence does not come no punishment will be meted out to them for remaining neutral, or even for actively advocating it, but that if it does come, and they have opposed it, vengeance swift, sure and dire will smite them. They are afraid, and they have the best of reasons to be afraid, because we have announced no definite policy. Let it be authoritatively stated that American sovereignty will be maintained in these islands for a long period and those who actually believe that there is not a strong element among the Filipinos who favour such a course will get a real surprise.
At present, however, our ears are deafened by the clamour of the noisy politicians, who claim to represent "the Filipino people." In this connection Bishop Brent has pertinently observed:--
"If desire implied ability, the clamor for independence on the part of the Filipinos, which just now is more widespread then at any time in their history, would be the signal for our withdrawal, but only their achievements can determine their ability."
Before we can safely declare the Filipinos ready to try the great experiment of self-government we must bring them to the place where they no longer regard bandit leaders as popular heroes but are able and determined to maintain a state of public order such that life and property will be safe. We must wean them from their present hostility toward legitimate foreign business interests. We must teach them that agriculture comes before art; that a public office is a public trust; that the enormous potential wealth of their forests is worth preserving; that the poor Filipino must be encouraged to own and till his own land, not held as a slave or peon. We must go on training physicians, surgeons and sanitarians so that the public health may be adequately protected and individual suffering relieved. We must be sure that our wards have developed the understanding and courage necessary successfully to oppose the great waves of epidemic disease which constantly threaten their country from without. We must train up Filipino engineers, to-day almost completely lacking, in sufficient numbers to make possible the construction of the public works needed in future and the maintenance of those which already exist.
There must be chemists and bacteriologists to do the routine work of the government, to make the investigations necessary to safeguard the lives of the people, and to facilitate the development of the resources of the country. Finally, there must be a sufficiency of just judges, of honourable lawyers, of able administrators, and of legislators unswayed by the childish motives which so often influence those of to-day.
Most important of all, we must bring the Filipino people to the place where they can go on properly teaching their children and their youths.
The day when all this will have been done of necessity lies far in the future, and if, when contemplating this fact, we sometimes grow weary, we should remember that the task, though a mighty and unprecedented one, is well worthy of the best energies of a great nation. It can never be accomplished through partisan politics.
In considering our duty to the Filipinos let us not forget the fate of him "who putteth his hand to the plough and turneth back." The old, old rule applies to nations as well as to individuals.
We are giving the Filipinos a fair chance to develop every latent ability which they possess. In the very nature of the case, their future lies, and must lie, wholly with them. There is no royal road to real independence, much less is there any short cut. Our Filipino wards must tread the same long, weary path that has been trodden by every nation that has heretofore attained to good government.
The case has been admirably stated by that distinguished gentleman who to-day occupies the highest post within the gift of the American people. He has said:--
"There is profound truth in Sir Henry Maine's remark that the men who colonized America and made its governments, to the admiration of the world, could never have thus masterfully taken charge of their own affairs and combined stability with liberty in the process of absolute self-government if they had not sprung of a race habituated to submit to law and authority, if their fathers had not been subjects of kings, if the stock of which they came had not served the long apprenticeship of political childhood during which law was law without choice of their own.
"Self-government is not a mere form of institutions, to be had when desired, if only proper pains be taken. It is a form of character. It follows upon the long discipline which gives a people self-possession, self-mastery, the habit of order and peace and common counsel, and a reverence for law which will not fail when they themselves become the makers of law; the steadiness and self-control of political maturity. And these things cannot be had without long discipline.
"The distinction is of vital concern to us in respect of practical choices of policy which we must make, and make very soon. We have dependencies to deal with and must deal with them in the true spirit of our own institutions. We can give the Filipinos constitutional government, a government which they may count upon to be just, a government based upon some clear and equitable understanding, intended for their good and not for our aggrandizement; but we must ourselves for the present supply that government. It would, it is true, be an unprecedented operation, reversing the process of Runnymede, but America has before this shown the world enlightened processes of politics that were without precedent. It would have been within the choice of John to summon his barons to Runnymede and of his own initiative enter into a constitutional understanding with them; and it is within our choice to do a similar thing, at once wise and generous, in the government of the Philippine Islands. But we cannot give them self-government. Self-government is not a thing that can be 'given' to any people, because it is a form of character and not a form of constitution. No people can be 'given' the self-control of maturity. Only a long apprenticeship of obedience can secure them the precious possession, a thing no more to be bought than given. They cannot he presented with the character of a community, but it may confidently be hoped that they will become a community under the wholesome and salutary influences of just laws and a sympathetic administration; that they will after a while understand and master themselves, if in the meantime they are understood and served in good conscience by those set over them in authority.
"We of all people in the world should know these fundamental things and should act upon them, if only to illustrate the mastery in politics which belongs to us of hereditary right. To ignore them would be not only to fail and fail miserably, but to fail ridiculously and belie ourselves. Having ourselves gained self-government by a definite process which can have no substitute, let us put the peoples dependent upon us in the right way to gain it also." [216]
These views will be indorsed by every intelligent American who knows the Filipino, and has some adequate conception of the problems presented by the presence, in the same country with him, of the Ifugao, the Igorot, the Manobo, the Bukidnon, and the Moro. They are the views of Professor Wilson, historian and political philosopher, at a time when he was unswayed by party prejudices and untrammelled by party policy. Let us hope that President Wilson, the titular leader of the Democratic party and the dispenser of political patronage, has not entirely abandoned them, and that in embarking so boldly, not to say so rashly, as he has done, on the policy of suddenly giving to the Filipinos a radical increase in the control which they are allowed to have over their own affairs, and of leaving them subsequently to demonstrate their fitness or unfitness to exercise it, he will at least be bound by the actual results of an experiment which, as every one familiar with local conditions in the islands well knows, is fraught with the gravest danger.
After all is said and done, the real Philippine question is not what path they shall take. That has been determined, for all nations alike, by a Divine Providence that is all-seeing, all-wise and inexorable. It is not whether they shall travel the old, old road a little faster, or a little more slowly. That will ultimately be settled, for them and for us, by the unanswerable logic of events, and we need not worry over it. The real question is, shall they make their long and adventurous journey, guided, helped and protected by the strong and kindly hand of the United States of America, or shall they be left to stagger along alone, blind in their own conceit, under the keen and watchful eye of another powerful nation, hungrily awaiting their first misstep?
APPENDIX
INSTRUCTIONS OF THE PRESIDENT TO THE FIRST PHILIPPINE COMMISSION
"Department of State, "Washington, January 21, 1899.
"My Dear Sir: I inclose herewith a copy of the instructions which the President has drawn up for the guidance of yourself and your associates as commissioners to the Philippines.
"I am, with great respect, sincerely yours,
"John Hay."
"Honourable Jacob G. Schurman, "The Arlington."
"Executive Mansion, "Washington, January 20, 1899.
"The Secretary of State:
"My communication to the Secretary of War, dated December 21, 1898, declares the necessity of extending the actual occupation and administration of the city, harbour, and bay of Manila to the whole of the territory which by the treaty of Paris, signed on December 10, 1898, passed from the sovereignty of Spain to the sovereignty of the United States, and the consequent establishment of military government throughout the entire group of the Philippine Islands. While the treaty has not yet been ratified, it is believed that it will be by the time of the arrival at Manila of the commissioners named below. In order to facilitate the most humane, pacific, and effective extension of authority throughout these islands, and to secure, with the least possible delay, the benefits of a wise and generous protection of life and property to the inhabitants, I have named Jacob G. Schurman, Rear-Admiral George Dewey, Major-General Elwell S. Otis, Charles Denby, and Dean C. Worcester to constitute a commission to aid in the accomplishment of these results.
"In the performance of this duty, the commissioners are enjoined to meet at the earliest possible day in the city of Manila and to announce, by a public proclamation, their presence and the mission intrusted to them, carefully setting forth that, while the military government already proclaimed is to be maintained and continued so long as necessity may require, efforts will be made to alleviate the burden of taxation, to establish industrial and commercial prosperity, and to provide for the safety of persons and of property by such means as may be found conducive to these ends.
"The commissioners will endeavour, without interference with the military authorities of the United States now in control of the Philippines, to ascertain what amelioration in the condition of the inhabitants and what improvements in public order may be practicable, and for this purpose they will study attentively the existing social and political state of the various populations, particularly as regards the forms of local government, the administration of justice, the collection of customs and other taxes, the means of transportation, and the need of public improvements. They will report through the Department of State, according to the forms customary or hereafter prescribed for transmitting and preserving such communications, the results of their observations and reflections, and will recommend such executive action as may from time to time seem to them wise and useful.
"The commissioners are hereby authorized to confer authoritatively with any persons resident in the islands from whom they may believe themselves able to derive information or suggestions valuable for the purposes of their commission, or whom they may choose to employ as agents, as may be necessary for this purpose.
"The temporary government of the islands is intrusted to the military authorities, as already provided for by my instructions to the Secretary of War of December 21, 1898, and will continue until Congress shall determine otherwise. The commission may render valuable services by examining with special care the legislative needs of the various groups of inhabitants, and by reporting, with recommendations, the measures which should be instituted for the maintenance of order, peace, and public welfare, either as temporary steps to be taken immediately for the perfection of present administration, or as suggestions for future legislation.
"In so far as immediate personal changes in the civil administration may seem to be advisable, the commissioners are empowered to recommend suitable persons for appointment to these offices from among the inhabitants of the islands who have previously acknowledged their allegiance to this Government.
"It is my desire that in all their relations with the inhabitants of the islands the commissioners exercise due respect for all the ideals, customs, and institutions of the tribes which compose the population, emphasizing upon all occasions the just and beneficent intentions of the Government of the United States. It is also my wish and expectation that the commissioners may be received in a manner due to the honoured and authorized representatives of the American Republic, duly commissioned on account of their knowledge, skill, and integrity as bearers of the good will, the protection, and the richest blessings of a liberating rather than a conquering nation.
"William McKinley."
PROCLAMATION OF THE FIRST PHILIPPINE COMMISSION
To the people of the Philippine Islands:
The treaty of peace between the United States and Spain, ratified several weeks ago by the former, having on March 20 been ratified by the latter, the cession to the United States, as stipulated by the treaty, of the sovereignty which Spain possessed and exercised over the Philippine Islands has now, in accordance with the laws of nations, received a complete and indefeasible consummation.
In order that the high responsibilities and obligations with which the United States has thus become definitively charged may be fulfilled in a way calculated to promote the best interests of the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands, his Excellency the President of the United States has appointed the undersigned a civil commission on Philippine affairs, clothing them with all the powers necessary for the exercise of that office.
The commission desire to assure the people of the Philippine Islands of the cordial good will and fraternal feeling which is entertained for them by his Excellency the President of the United States and by the American people. The aim and object of the American Government, apart from the fulfilment of the solemn obligations it has assumed toward the family of nations by the acceptance of sovereignty over the Philippine Islands, is the well being, the prosperity, and the happiness of the Philippine people and their elevation and advancement to a position among the most civilized peoples of the world.
His Excellency the President of the United States believes that this felicity and perfection of the Philippine people is to be brought about by the assurance of peace and order; by the guaranty of civil and religious liberty; by the establishment of justice; by the cultivation of letters, science and the liberal and practical arts; by the enlargement of intercourse with foreign nations; by the expansion of industrial pursuits, trade and commerce; by the multiplication and improvement of the means of internal communication; by the development, with the aid of modern mechanical inventions, of the great natural resources of the archipelago; and, in a word, by the uninterrupted devotion of the people to the pursuit of those useful objects and the realization of those noble ideals which constitute the higher civilization of mankind.
Unfortunately, the pure aims and purposes of the American Government and people have been misinterpreted to some of the inhabitants of certain of the islands. As a consequence, the friendly American forces have, without provocation or cause, been openly attacked.
And why these hostilities? What do the best Filipinos desire? Can it be more than the United States is ready to give? They are patriots and want liberty, it is said. The commission emphatically asserts that the United States is not only willing, but anxious, to establish in the Philippine Islands an enlightened system of government under which the Philippine people may enjoy the largest measure of home rule and the amplest liberty consonant with the supreme ends of government and compatible with those obligations which the United States has assumed toward the civilized nations of the world.
The United States striving earnestly for the welfare and advancement of the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands, there can be no real conflict between American sovereignty and the rights and liberties of the Philippine people. For, just as the United States stands ready to furnish armies, navies and all the infinite resources of a great and powerful nation to maintain and support its rightful supremacy over the Philippine Islands, so it is even more solicitous to spread peace and happiness among the Philippine people; to guarantee them a rightful freedom; to protect them in their just privileges and immunities; to accustom them to free self-government in an ever-increasing measure; and to encourage them in those democratic aspirations, sentiments and ideals which are the promise and potency of a fruitful national development.
It is the expectation of the commission to visit the Philippine peoples in their respective provinces, both for the purpose of cultivating a more intimate mutual acquaintance and also with a view to ascertaining from enlightened native opinion what form or forms of government seem best adapted to the Philippine peoples, most apt to conduce to their highest welfare, and most conformable to their customs, traditions, sentiments and cherished ideals. Both in the establishment and maintenance of government in the Philippine Islands it will be the policy of the United States to consult the views and wishes, and to secure the advice, coöperation and aid, of the Philippine people themselves.
In the meantime the attention of the Philippine people is invited to certain regulative principles by which the United States will be guided in its relations with them. The following are deemed of cardinal importance:--
1. The supremacy of the United States must and will be enforced throughout every part of the archipelago, and those who resist it can accomplish no end other than their own ruin.
2. The most ample liberty of self-government will be granted to the Philippine people which is reconcilable with the maintenance of a wise, just, stable, effective and economical administration of public affairs, and compatible with the sovereign and international rights and obligations of the United States.
3. The civil rights of the Philippine people will be guaranteed and protected to the fullest extent; religious freedom assured, and all persons shall have an equal standing before the law.
4. Honour, justice and friendship forbid the use of the Philippine people or islands as an object or means of exploitation. The purpose of the American Government is the welfare and advancement of the Philippine people.
5. There shall be guaranteed to the Philippine people an honest and effective civil service, in which, to the fullest extent practicable, natives shall be employed.
6. The collection and application of taxes and revenues will be put upon a sound, honest and economical basis. Public funds, raised justly and collected honestly, will be applied only in defraying the regular and proper expenses incurred by and for the establishment and maintenance of the Philippine government, and for such general improvements as public interests may demand. Local funds, collected for local purposes, shall not be diverted to other ends. With such a prudent and honest fiscal administration, it is believed that the needs of the government will in a short time become compatible with a considerable reduction in taxation.
7. A pure, speedy and effective administration of justice will be established, whereby the evils of delay, corruption and exploitation will be effectually eradicated.
8. The construction of roads, railroads and other means of communication and transportation, as well as other public works of manifest advantage to the Philippine people, will be promoted.
9. Domestic and foreign trade and commerce, agriculture and other industrial pursuits, and the general development of the country in the interest of its inhabitants will be constant objects of solicitude and fostering care.
10. Effective provision will be made for the establishment of elementary schools in which the children of the people shall be educated. Appropriate facilities will also be provided for higher education.
11. Reforms in all departments of the government, in all branches of the public service and in all corporations closely touching the common life of the people must be undertaken without delay and effected, conformably to right and justice, in a way that will satisfy the well-founded demands and the highest sentiments and aspirations of the Philippine people.
Such is the spirit in which the United States comes to the people of the Philippine Islands. His Excellency, the President, has instructed the commission to make it publicly known. And in obeying this behest the commission desire to join with his Excellency, the President, in expressing their own good will toward the Philippine people, and to extend to their leading and representative men a cordial invitation to meet them for personal acquaintance and for the exchange of views and opinions.
Manila, April 4, 1899.
Jacob Gould Schurman, President of Commission.
George Dewey, Admiral U. S. N.
Elwell S. Otis, Major-General U. S. Volunteers.
Charles Denby.
Dean C. Worcester.
John R. MacArthur, Secretary of Commission.
INSTRUCTIONS OF THE PRESIDENT TO THE SECOND PHILIPPINE COMMISSION
War Department, Washington, April 7, 1900.
Sir: I transmit to you herewith the instructions of the President for the guidance of yourself and your associates as commissioners to the Philippine Islands.
Very respectfully,
Elihu Root, Secretary of War.
Hon. William H. Taft,
President Board of Commissioners to the Philippine Islands
Executive Mansion, April 7, 1900.
The Secretary of War, Washington.
Sir: In the message transmitted to the Congress on the 5th of December, 1899, I said, speaking of the Philippine Islands: "As long as the insurrection continues the military arm must necessarily be supreme. But there is no reason why steps should not be taken from time to time to inaugurate governments essentially popular in their form as fast as territory is held and controlled by our troops. To this end I am considering the advisability of the return of the commission, or such of the members thereof as can be secured, to aid the existing authorities and facilitate this work throughout the islands."
To give effect to the intention thus expressed I have appointed Hon. William H. Taft, of Ohio; Prof. Dean C. Worcester, of Michigan; Hon. Luke E. Wright, of Tennessee; Hon. Henry C. Ide, of Vermont, and Prof. Bernard Moses, of California, commissioners to the Philippine Islands to continue and perfect the work of organizing and establishing civil government already commenced by the military authorities, subject in all respects to any laws which Congress may hereafter enact.
The commissioners named will meet and act as a board, and the Hon. William H. Taft is designated as president of the board. It is probable that the transfer of authority from military commanders to civil officers will be gradual and will occupy a considerable period. Its successful accomplishment and the maintenance of peace and order in the meantime will require the most perfect coöperation between the civil and military authorities in the island, and both should be directed during the transition period by the same Executive Department. The commission will therefore report to the secretary of war, and all their action will be subject to your approval and control.
You will instruct the commission to proceed to the city of Manila, where they will make their principal office, and to communicate with the military governor of the Philippine Islands, whom you will at the same time direct to render to them every assistance within his power in the performance of their duties. Without hampering them by too specific instructions, they should in general be enjoined, after making themselves familiar with the conditions and needs of the country, to devote their attention in the first instance to the establishment of municipal governments, in which the natives of the islands, both in the cities and in the rural communities, shall be afforded the opportunity to manage their own local affairs to the fullest extent of which they are capable, and subject to the least degree of supervision and control which a careful study of their capacities and observation of the workings of native control show to be consistent with the maintenance of law, order and loyalty.
The next subject in order of importance should be the organization of government in the larger administrative divisions corresponding to counties, departments or provinces, in which the common interests of many or several municipalities falling within the same tribal lines, or the same natural geographical limits, may best be subserved by a common administration. Whenever the commission is of the opinion that the condition of affairs in the islands is such that the central administration may safely be transferred from military to civil control, they will report that conclusion to you, with their recommendations as to the form of central government to be established for the purpose of taking over the control.
Beginning with the 1st day of September, 1900, the authority to exercise, subject to my approval, through the secretary of war, that part of the power of government in the Philippine Islands which is of a legislative nature is to be transferred from the military governor of the islands to this commission, to be thereafter exercised by them in the place and stead of the military governor, under such rules and regulations as you shall prescribe, until the establishment of the civil central government for the islands contemplated in the last foregoing paragraph, or until Congress shall otherwise provide. Exercise of this legislative authority will include the making of rules and orders, having the effect of law, for the raising of revenue by taxes, customs duties and imposts; the appropriation and expenditure of public funds of the islands; the establishment of an educational system throughout the islands; the establishment of a system to secure an efficient civil service; the organization and establishment of courts; the organization and establishment of municipal and departmental governments, and all other matters of a civil nature for which the military governor is now competent to provide by rules or orders of a legislative character.
The commission will also have power during the same period to appoint to office such officers under the judicial, educational and civil-service systems and in the municipal and departmental governments as shall be provided for. Until the complete transfer of control the military governor will remain the chief executive head of the government of the islands, and will exercise the executive authority now possessed by him and not herein expressly assigned to the commission, subject, however, to the rules and orders enacted by the commission in the exercise of the legislative powers conferred upon them. In the meantime the municipal and departmental governments will continue to report to the military governor and be subject to his administrative supervision and control, under your direction, but that supervision and control will be confined within the narrowest limits consistent with the requirement that the powers of government in the municipalities and departments shall be honestly and effectively exercised and that law and order and individual freedom shall be maintained.
All legislative rules and orders, establishments of government, and appointments to office by the commission will take effect immediately, or at such times as they shall designate, subject to your approval and action upon the coming in of the commission's reports, which are to be made from time to time as their action is taken. Wherever civil governments are constituted under the direction of the commission, such military posts, garrisons and forces will be continued for the suppression of insurrection and brigandage, and the maintenance of law and order, as the military commander shall deem requisite, and the military forces shall be at all times subject under his orders to the call of the civil authorities for the maintenance of law and order and the enforcement of their authority.
In the establishment of municipal governments the commission will take as the basis of their work the governments established by the military governor under his order of August 8, 1899, and under the report of the board constituted by the military governor by his order of January 29, 1900, to formulate and report a plan of municipal government, of which his honour Cayetano Arellano, president of the audiencia, was chairman, and they will give to the conclusions of that board the weight and consideration which the high character and distinguished abilities of its members justify.
In the constitution of departmental or provincial governments, they will give especial attention to the existing government of the island of Negros, constituted, with the approval of the people of that island, under the order of the military governor of July 22, 1899, and after verifying, so far as may be practicable, the reports of the successful working of that government, they will be guided by the experience thus acquired, so far as it may be applicable to the condition existing in other portions of the Philippines. They will avail themselves, to the fullest degree practicable, of the conclusions reached by the previous commission to the Philippines.
In the distribution of powers among the governments organized by the commission, the presumption is always to be in favour of the smaller subdivision, so that all the powers which can properly be exercised by the municipal government shall be vested in that government, and all the powers of a more general character which can be exercised by the departmental government shall be vested in that government, and so that in the governmental system, which is the result of the process, the central government of the islands, following the example of the distribution of the powers between the states and the national government of the United States, shall have no direct administration except of matters of purely general concern, and shall have only such supervision and control over local governments as may be necessary to secure and enforce faithful and efficient administration by local officers.
The many different degrees of civilization and varieties of custom and capacity among the people of the different islands preclude very definite instruction as to the part which the people shall take in the selection of their own officers; but these general rules are to be observed: That in all cases the municipal officers, who administer the local affairs of the people, are to be selected by the people, and that wherever officers of more extended jurisdiction are to be selected in any way, natives of the islands are to be preferred, and if they can be found competent and willing to perform the duties, they are to receive the offices in preference to any others.
It will be necessary to fill some offices for the present with Americans which after a time may well be filled by natives of the islands. As soon as practicable a system for ascertaining the merit and fitness of candidates for civil office should be put in force. An indispensable qualification for all offices and positions of trust and authority in the islands must be absolute and unconditional loyalty to the United States, and absolute and unhampered authority and power to remove and punish any officer deviating from that standard must at all times be retained in the hands of the central authority of the islands.
In all the forms of government and administrative provisions in which they are authorized to prescribe, the commission should bear in mind that the government which they are establishing is designed not for our satisfaction, or for the expression of our theoretical views, but for the happiness, peace and prosperity of the people of the Philippine Islands, and the measures adopted should be made to conform to their customs, their habits and even their prejudices, to the fullest extent consistent with the accomplishment of the indispensable requisites of just and effective government.
At the same time the commission should bear in mind, and the people of the islands should be made plainly to understand, that there are certain great principles of government which have been made the basis of our governmental system which we deem essential to the rule of law and the maintenance of individual freedom, and of which they have, unfortunately, been denied the experience possessed by us; that there are also certain practical rules of government which we have found to be essential to the preservation of these great principles of liberty and law, and that these principles and these rules of government must be established and maintained in their islands for the sake of their liberty and happiness, however much they may conflict with the customs or laws of procedure with which they are familiar.
It is evident that the most enlightened thought of the Philippine Islands fully appreciates the importance of these principles and rules, and they will inevitably within a short time command universal assent. Upon every division and branch of the government of the Philippines, therefore, must be imposed these inviolable rules:
That no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law; that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation; that in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favour, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence; that excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted; that no person shall be put twice in jeopardy for the same offence, or be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself; that the right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated; that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist except as a punishment for crime; that no bill of attainder, or ex-post-facto law shall be passed; that no law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the rights of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the Government for a redress of grievances; that no law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, and that the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship without discrimination or preference shall forever be allowed.
It will be the duty of the commission to make a thorough investigation into the titles to the large tracts of land held or claimed by individuals or by religious orders; into the justice of the claims and complaints made against such landholders by the people of the island or any part of the people, and to seek by wise and peaceable measure, a just settlement of the controversies and redress of wrongs which have caused strife and bloodshed in the past. In the performance of this duty the commission is enjoined to see that no injustice is done; to have regard for substantial rights and equity, disregarding technicalities so far as substantial right permits, and to observe the following rules:
That the provision of the Treaty of Paris, pledging the United States to the protection of all rights of property in the islands, and as well the principle of our own Government which prohibits the taking of private property without due process of law, shall not be violated; that the welfare of the people of the islands, which should be a paramount consideration, shall be attained consistently with this rule of property right; that if it becomes necessary for the public interest of the people of the islands to dispose of claims to property which the commission finds to be not lawfully acquired and held disposition shall be made thereof by due legal procedure, in which there shall be full opportunity for fair and impartial hearing and judgment; that if the same public interests require the extinguishment of property rights lawfully acquired and held due compensation shall be made out of the public treasury therefor; that no form of religion and no minister of religion shall be forced upon any community or upon any citizen of the islands; that upon the other hand no minister of religion shall be interfered with or molested in following his calling, and that the separation between state and church shall be real, entire and absolute.
It will be the duty of the commission to promote and extend, and, as they find occasion, to improve, the system of education already inaugurated by the military authorities. In doing this they should regard as of first importance the extension of a system of primary education which shall be free to all, and which shall tend to fit the people for the duties of citizenship and for the ordinary avocations of a civilized community. This instruction should be given in the first instance in every part of the islands in the language of the people. In view of the great number of languages spoken by the different tribes, it is especially important to the prosperity of the islands that a common medium of communication may be established, and it is obviously desirable that this medium should be the English language. Especial attention should be at once given to affording full opportunity to all the people of the islands to acquire the use of the English language.
It may be well that the main changes which should be made in the system of taxation and in the body of the laws under which the people are governed, except such changes as have already been made by the military government, should be relegated to the civil government which is to be established under the auspices of the commission. It will, however, be the duty of the commission to inquire diligently as to whether there are any further changes which ought not be delayed; and if so, they are authorized to make such changes, subject to your approval. In doing so they are to bear in mind that taxes which tend to penalize or repress industry and enterprise are to be avoided; that provisions for taxation should be simple, so that they may be understood by the people; that they should affect the fewest practicable subjects of taxation which will serve for the general distribution of the burden.
The main body of the laws which regulate the rights and obligations of the people should be maintained with as little interference as possible. Changes made should be mainly in procedure, and in the criminal laws to secure speedy and impartial trials, and at the same time effective administration and respect for individual rights.
In dealing with the uncivilized tribes of the islands the commission should adopt the same course followed by Congress in permitting the tribes of our North American Indians to maintain their tribal organization and government, and under which many of those tribes are now living in peace and contentment, surrounded by a civilization to which they are unable or unwilling to conform. Such tribal governments should, however, be subjected to wise and firm regulation; and, without undue or petty interference, constant and active effort should be exercised to prevent barbarous practices and introduce civilized customs.
Upon all officers and employees of the United States, both civil and military, should be impressed a sense of the duty to observe not merely the material but the personal and social rights of the people of the islands, and to treat them with the same courtesy and respect for their personal dignity which the people of the United States are accustomed to require from each other.
The articles of capitulation of the city of Manila on the 13th of August, 1898, concluded with these words:
"This city, its inhabitants, its churches and religious worship, its educational establishments, and its private property of all descriptions, are placed under the special safeguard of the faith and honour of the American army."
I believe that this pledge has been faithfully kept. As high and sacred an obligation rests upon the Government of the United States to give protection for property and life, civil and religious freedom, and wise, firm and unselfish guidance in the paths of peace and prosperity to all the people of the Philippine Islands. I charge this commission to labour for the full performance of this obligation which concerns the honour and conscience of their country, in the firm hope that through their labours all the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands may come to look back with gratitude to the day when God gave victory to American arms at Manila and set their land under the sovereignty and the protection of the people of the United States.
William McKinley.
THE PAST AND PRESENT ORGANIZATION OF THE COURTS OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS [217]
During the last years of Spanish sovereignty the courts in the Philippine Islands consisted of superior courts, which were the audiencia territorial de Manila, the audiencia de lo criminal de Cebú, and the audiencia de lo criminal de Vigan; the courts of first instance, and justice of the peace courts.
The audiencia territorial de Manila exercised jurisdiction in civil matters over the entire Philippine archipelago; in criminal matters it exercised jurisdiction over the central and southern provinces of Luzón and over the islands of Catanduanes, Mindoro, Burias, Masbate and Ticao.
Its legal personnel consisted of a president of the court; two presidents of branches, one of the civil, and the other of the criminal; nine justices (magistrados); four associate justices (magistrados suplentes); one fiscal; one lieutenant-fiscal, and three fiscal attorneys; five secretaries and four law clerks who were assistant secretaries.
The audiencia de lo criminal of Vigan and that of Cebu had only criminal jurisdiction, the former over the northern part of Luzón and the Batanes Islands and the latter over the Visayan Islands and Mindanao. Each of these courts had a president, two justices, two associate justices, one fiscal, one lieutenant-fiscal, a secretary and one law clerk who was assistant secretary.
There was at least one court of first instance in each province. In some, like Batangas, Ambos Camarines, Samar, Leyte, Cebu and Negros, there were two. In Iloílo there were three and in Manila four. These courts were divided into three classes designated as follows: de entrada; de ascenso; and de termino.
Subject to the jurisdiction of the audiencia territorial de Manila, there were eight jusgados de termino; five jusgados de ascenso, and fourteen jusgados de entrada. Under the criminal jurisdiction of the audiencia territorial of Vigan there were three jusgados de termino, one jusgado de ascenso and sixteen jusgados de entrada. Under the audiencia territorial of Cebu there were two jusgados de termino and thirty jusgados de ascenso.
In each court of first instance there was a prosecuting attorney (promotor fiscal). In each pueblo there was a justice of the peace subject in his criminal and civil jurisdiction to the judge of first instance of the province. In criminal matters the justice of the peace courts as well as the courts of first instance were subject to the audiencia territorial of Manila.
At the present time the courts of justice of the islands consist of a supreme court, courts of first instance and justice of the peace courts.
The supreme court, which is composed of one chief justice and six associate justices, has civil and criminal jurisdiction over all the islands.
In each province there is a court of first instance. Several such courts are usually united to constitute a judicial district, but this does not hold for the court of first instance of the city of Manila, which is presided over by three judges, each in his own court room, nor for the court of first instance of Iloílo, which constitutes a district by itself. The remaining courts are divided between seventeen districts.
The courts of the thirteenth and fourteenth districts have concurrent jurisdiction over all actions arising within the district of Lanao of the Moro province, but the court first acquiring jurisdiction in any cause has exclusive jurisdiction in the same.
There are four judges at large, without territorial jurisdiction of their own, any one of whom may be assigned by the secretary of finance and justice to act in any district. He then has the same jurisdiction as its judge. The services of judges at large are necessary when the judge of any district is absent, or has vacated his position, or when the business of a court requires the aid of an assistant judge.
There further exists the court of land registration, with one judge and five auxiliary judges. It has exclusive jurisdiction over all applications for the registration of title to land or buildings or an interest therein. It also has jurisdiction to confirm the titles of persons who under the Spanish régime acquired imperfect titles to public lands, provided that such persons fulfill the requirements of law for their perfection.
There is now a justice of the peace court in each municipality and by resolution of the Philippine Commission there have been created justice of the peace courts in townships and other centres of population which have not been organized either as townships or municipalities.
In the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Mindoro, Palawan, Agusan and in the Mountain province, all of which are organized under the special provincial government act, the provincial governor, the provincial secretary, the provincial treasurer, the provincial supervisor [218] and the deputy clerk of the court of first instance are justices of the peace ex officio with jurisdiction throughout their respective provinces.
In the Moro province, which is divided into five districts, called Joló, Zamboanga, Lanao, Cotabato and Davao, there are tribal ward courts which consider and decide minor civil and criminal actions in which the parties in interest, or any of them, are Moros or members of other non-Christian tribes. These tribal ward courts have with regard to these actions the same jurisdiction as is vested by law in justice of the peace courts, but the legislative council of the Moro province may in its discretion vest in such courts jurisdiction in other actions, civil or criminal but not capital, which is at present vested in courts of first instance. In each district the governor and secretary are justices of tribal ward courts and there are as many auxiliary justices as may be needed. The sentences of the tribal ward courts, from which no appeal is taken to the court of first instance, may be modified or remitted by the provincial governor after a review of the case.
In addition to these tribal ward courts there exist justice of the peace courts in each municipality and the governor-general may with the advice and approval of the commission appoint justices of the peace for towns or places in the Moro province which have not been organized into municipalities or which, although included within the limits of an organized municipality, are distant from or have no convenient means of access to centres of population. The jurisdiction of the justices of the peace for the municipalities in which such towns or places are situated, and of the justices of the peace appointed for such towns or places, are concurrent over cases arising within the municipality. The several justices of the peace in any district of the Moro province exercise concurrent jurisdiction over cases arising within the district but without the limits of an organized municipality, but the justice of the peace first acquiring jurisdiction over any case has exclusive jurisdiction over it. The justices of the peace in the Moro province have no jurisdiction to try civil and criminal actions in which original jurisdiction is vested in tribal ward courts.
Under the present organization there exists a bureau of justice with the following legal personnel: attorney-general, solicitor-general, assistant attorney-general, and eleven assistant attorneys. There is a provincial fiscal in each province with the exception of the Moro province, in which there are an attorney and an assistant attorney. The city of Manila has, besides the city attorney and assistant attorney, a prosecuting attorney with four assistants.
Under the Spanish legislation, justices of the peace had jurisdiction to try civil actions where the value of the thing in litigation did not exceed five hundred pesetas ($50), and actions for unlawful detainer where the action was based on one of the following grounds. The completion of the term stipulated in the contract; the expiration of the time within which notice had to be given for the conclusion of the contract, in accordance with law; the stipulations made or the general custom in each pueblo; and the failure to pay the price stipulated, provided that in neither of these three cases the object of the action was dispossession of a mercantile or manufacturing establishment, or of a rural property the annual rental whereof exceeded two thousand five hundred pesetas ($250). They also had jurisdiction to try faltas, which are criminal offences penalized with a fine not exceeding five hundred pesetas ($50) or with aresto menor, which is imprisonment not exceeding thirty days, and to conduct the preliminary proceedings in crimes the jurisdiction over which was vested in the courts of first instance. Judges of first instance had original jurisdiction in all civil actions except those in which original jurisdiction was vested in justices of the peace and in actions for crime (delitos). The sentences of judges of first instance could be carried in appeal to the audiencia territorial of Manila, and in the majority of cases the supreme court of Spain could be petitioned for the cassation of the sentences of the said audiencia territorial. The judges of first instance also had appellate jurisdiction in cases of appeal against the decisions rendered by justices of the peace in actions in which the latter had original jurisdiction. All the sentences of the courts of first instance in criminal cases, regardless of whether they were sentences of conviction or of acquittal, had to be submitted for review to the proper audiencia, the decision of the former not being final without the approval of the latter. From the decisions of the audiencia appeal lay in all cases to the supreme court of Spain.
It naturally followed that legal proceedings were interminable, and one of the worst things which could befall an individual or a corporation in the Spanish days was to become involved in a lawsuit. It is an unpleasant thing to say, but the plain truth is that the character of the judges in not a few instances left much to be desired.
Contrast with the endless complications of the above arrangement the simplicity of that which prevails to-day. Justices of the peace have exclusive original jurisdiction in all civil actions arising in their municipalities which are not exclusively cognizable by the courts of first instance, when the value of the subject-matter or amount of the demand does not exceed $100, exclusive of interest and costs; and where such value or demand exceeds $100, but is less than $300, the justices of the peace have jurisdiction concurrent with the courts of first instance. They also have original jurisdiction in forcible entry and detainer proceedings. They have no jurisdiction to adjudicate questions of title to real estate or any interest therein, or in civil
## actions in which the subject of litigation is not capable of pecuniary
estimation, except in forcible entry and detainer cases, or in those which involve the legality of any tax, impost, or assessment, or in
## actions involving admiralty or marine jurisdiction, or in matters of
probate, the appointment of guardians, trustees, or receivers, or in
## actions for annulment of marriage. Justices of the peace, except in
the city of Manila, have original jurisdiction to try persons charged with misdemeanors, offences and infractions of municipal ordinances, arising within the municipality, in which the penalty provided by law does not exceed six months imprisonment or a fine of $100, or both such imprisonment and fine. In the city of Manila the justice of the peace does not have this jurisdiction; there it is left to a municipal judge, who has jurisdiction to try all the infractions of ordinances and has a more ample jurisdiction to try misdemeanors and crimes against the general laws of the islands. Justices of the peace, except in the city of Manila, also have jurisdiction to conduct preliminary proceedings in all crimes and misdemeanors supposed to have been committed within their municipalities and cognizable by the courts of first instance.
The jurisdiction of courts of first instance is of two kinds, original and appellate. Courts of first instance have original jurisdiction: in all civil actions in which the subject of litigation is not capable of pecuniary estimation; in all civil actions which involve the title to or possession of real property, or any interest therein, or the legality of any tax, impost, or assessment, except actions of forcible entry into or detainer of lands or buildings; in all cases in which the demand, exclusive of the interest or the value of the property in controversy, amounts to $100 or more; in all
## actions in admiralty or maritime jurisdiction, irrespective of the
value of the property in controversy and the amount of the demand; in all matters of probate, both of testate and intestate estates, appointment of guardians, trustees, and receivers, in all actions for annulment of marriage, and in all such special cases and proceedings as are not otherwise provided for; in all criminal cases in which a penalty of more than six months imprisonment or a fine exceeding $100 may be imposed; in all crimes and offences committed on the high seas or beyond the jurisdiction of any country, or within any of the navigable waters of the Philippine Islands, on board a ship or water craft of any kind registered or licensed in the Philippine Islands in accordance with the laws thereof. This jurisdiction may be exercised by the court of first instance in any province into which the ship or water craft upon which the crime or offence was committed may come after the commission thereof, but the court first lawfully taking cognizance thereof has jurisdiction of the same to the exclusion of all other courts in the Philippine Islands. Lastly, courts of first instance have power to issue writs of injunction, mandamus, certiorari, prohibition, quo warranto, and habeas corpus in their respective provinces and districts, in the manner provided in the code of civil procedure. Courts of first instance have appellate jurisdiction over all causes arising in justices' and other inferior courts in their respective provinces.
The supreme court of the Philippine Islands has original jurisdiction to issue writs of mandamus, certiorari, prohibition, habeas corpus, and quo warranto in the cases and in the manner prescribed in the code of civil procedure, and to hear and determine the controversies thus brought before it, and in other cases provided by law.
The supreme court of the United States, according to the Philippine bill, has jurisdiction to review, revise, reverse, modify, or affirm the final judgments and decrees of the supreme court of the Philippine Islands in all actions, cases, causes, and proceedings pending therein in which the constitution or any statute, treaty, title, right or privilege of the United States is involved, or in causes in which the value in controversy exceeds $25,000.
Probably not more than ten Filipinos held judicial or fiscal positions, except that of justice of the peace, under Spanish rule. To-day, three of the seven justices of the supreme court, ten of the twenty judges of districts, two of the four judges at large, and three of the six judges of the court of land registration are Filipinos. In the bureau of justice the attorney-general and seven assistant attorneys are Filipinos. All of the provincial fiscals are Filipinos with the exception of the fiscal of the Moro province and the prosecuting attorney and the city attorney of Manila. All of the justices of the peace except those who serve ex officio are Filipinos, and the secretary of finance and justice is a Filipino as well.
Under the Spanish régime justices of the peace did not receive salaries, nor was there any appropriation for the payment of necessary clerical assistance, for office supplies, or for rental of their court rooms. The fees which the law allowed them to charge were their only compensation. These were fifty cents for each civil case tried and twenty-five cents when no trial was held on account of failure to appear on the part of either the plaintiff or defendant or of both.
In criminal cases the fees were seventy-five cents for each case tried, but they could be collected only if the defendant was adjudged to pay the costs and was solvent.
The compensation of justices of the peace was in practice limited to the paltry fees in civil cases, which in many municipalities amounted to almost nothing owing to the small number of such cases tried. Justices of the peace were burdened with orders from the courts of first instance for the service of process, and for this no compensation was given them.
The only appropriations for office, personnel and supplies of the courts of first instance were the following: two Chinese interpreters and sixteen bailiffs, drawing a yearly salary of $48 for the four courts at Manila; interpreters drawing the following ridiculous salaries: $48 per annum in some courts, $36 in others and in still others $24; amanuenses whose salaries in some courts were $48 and in others $36 per annum, while in yet other courts there was no amount appropriated for their salaries. No appropriation was made for clerks, officers, messengers or bailiffs of the courts, for necessary office supplies or for court-houses. The clerks of courts had to pay all subordinate employees. They also had to pay for the building of a court-house out of the money collected as fees from litigants, and in many instances they were compelled to pay for the dwelling place of the judge, who ordinarily lived in the court-house.
The salaries of judicial officers and fiscals were also very meager. The prosecuting attorney of a court de entrada was paid $750 per annum; the judge of a court of first instance de entrada, the prosecuting attorney de ascenso, and the secretaries of the audiencia de lo criminal, all of whom had the same rank, drew salaries of $937.50 per annum. The judge of first instance de ascenso, the prosecuting attorney de termino and the secretaries of the audiencia territorial de Manila were paid $1125 per annum. The judges of courts of first instance de termino and the attorneys of the audiencia territorial of Manila and the assistant attorneys of the audiencias de lo criminal of Vigan and Cebu drew a salary of $1375 per annum. The assistant fiscal of the audiencia territorial of Manila and the justices of the audiencias de lo criminal of Vigan and Cebu, $1750. The justices of the audiencia territorial of Manila and the presidents and fiscals of the audiencias de lo criminal of Vigan and Cebu received $2125 per annum. The president of the audiencia territorial of Manila and the presidents of the departments of said court and its fiscal received $25 per annum. The president of the audiencia territorial of Manila had an additional allowance of $750, and the presidents of the departments and fiscal of said court had $250 each for entertainment expenses.
At present, justices of the peace in first, second, third, and fourth class municipalities receive yearly salaries of $480, $420, $360 and $300, respectively. The justice of the peace of Manila receives $1800. The justices of the peace of Iloilo and Cebu receive $1200 each; those of the provincial capitals of Albay, Ambos Camarines, Batangas, Bulacan, Ilocos Sur, Occidental Negros, Pampanga, Pangasinán and Tayabas, $900 each; those of Cagayan, Capiz, Cavite, Ilocos Norte, Laguna, Rizal, Samar and Sorsogon, $750 each; those of the remaining provincial capitals and of any municipalities considered as capitals of provinces organized under the provincial government act, $600 each.
Every municipality is required to provide the justice of the peace with an adequate court room and the necessary office furniture, light, and janitor service. Office supplies, such as stationery, stamps, printed forms, books, etc., are furnished by the bureau of justice and paid for from the appropriation for said bureau.
Clerks and other subordinate employees of the courts of first instance now have regular salaries prescribed by law, and the salaries of judges are sufficient to allow them to live comfortably and with the independence and decorum which befit their official positions. Judges at large and some district judges receive $4500 per annum; other district judges, $5000 per annum; judges in the city of Manila, $5500. The judge of the court of land registration receives $5000 and the assistant judges are paid $4000 each with promotion to $4500 after two years of service. The chief justice and associate justices of the supreme court receive $10,000 each.
THE NON-CHRISTIAN POPULATION
The following table gives the present accepted estimate of the non-Christian population of the provinces as now organized, together with the census estimate:--
-------------------+----------+----------- | | Present Province or | Census | Accepted Sub-province | Estimate | Estimate -------------------+----------+----------- Abra | 14,037 | 14,037 Agusan | ---- | 85,000 Albay | 892 | 892 Amburayan | ---- | 10,191 Ambos Camarines | 5,933 | 5,933 Apayao | ---- | 20,000 Antique | 2,921 | 2,921 Bataan | 1,621 | 1,621 Batanes | ---- | 000 Batangas | 000 | 000 Benguet | 21,828 | 28,449 Bohol | 000 | 000 Bontoc | ---- | 62,000 Bulacan | 415 | 415 Cagayan | 13,414 | 15,000 Capiz | 5,629 | 5,629 Catanduanes | ---- | 000 Cavite | 000 | 000 Cebu | 000 | 000 Ilocos Norte | 2,210 | 2,210 Ilocos Sur | 13,611 | 13,611 Iloilo | 6,383 | 6,383 Ifugao | ---- | 125,000 Isabela | 7,638 | 7,638 Kalinga | ---- | 76,000 La Laguna | 000 | (?) La Union | 10,050 | 000 Lepanto | ---- | 31,194 (Lepanto-Bontoc) | 70,283 | ---- Leyte | 000 | 000 Marinduque | 000 | 000 Masbate | 000 | 000 Mindoro | 7,264 | 15,000 Misamis | 40,210 | 000 Moro Province | 316,664 | 486,316 Negros Occidental | 4,612 | 4,612 Negros Oriental | 16,605 | 16,605 Nueva Ecija | 1,148 | 862 Nueva Vizcaya | 46,515 | 6,000 Palawan | 6,844 | 20,000 Pampanga | 1,098 | 1,098 Pangasinán | 3,386 | 3,386 Rizal | 2,421 | 2,421 Romblon | 000 | 50 Samar | 688 | 1,390 Siquijor | ---- | 000 Sorsogon | 41 | 41 Surigao | 15,814 | (?) Tarlac | 1,594 | 1,594 Tayabas | 2,803 | 2,803 Zambales | 3,168 | 3,168 +----------+----------- Total | 647,740 | 1,071,832 -------------------+----------+-----------
Certain of the items in this table require brief explanation. In it the name of each province or sub-province for which the census estimate has been departed from is italicized.
Agusan. This province did not exist when the census was taken. It has since been carved out of the territory which formerly belonged to Surigao and Misamis. The figures given, based largely on actual enumeration, are approximately correct.
Amburayan. This sub-province formed a part of South Ilocos at the time of the census enumeration. It does not appear that any account was taken of its non-Christian population.
Apayao. The territory of this sub-province was a part of the province of Cagayan at the time of the census enumeration. The estimate is that of its present lieutenant-governor. Lieutenant-Governor Villamor estimated its population at 53,000, but this figure was undoubtedly too high.
Antique. The non-Christian population of this province is probably given too low by the census, but I have allowed the census figures to stand.
Batanes. This province did not exist at the time the census was taken.
Benguet. The present figures are based on an accurate enumeration.
Bontoc. The territory included within this sub-province has been greatly changed since the census was taken. The present figures are based on a recent enumeration.
Cagayan. The present figures were furnished me by Governor Antonio Carag on April 16, 1913. They represent only the supposed Negrito population of the eastern cordillera. There are other non-Christians in the province, but their number is not known.
Ilocos Norte. The census estimate is undoubtedly too low, but is nevertheless adopted, in fault of new and more reliable information.
Ifugao. No such political subdivision existed when the census was taken. This territory then formed a part of Nueva Vizcaya. A recent fairly accurate enumeration has shown the original estimate of the population of Nueva Vizcaya to be grossly in error.
Isabela. This province has lost a part of its non-Christian population to Ifugao and a part to Kalinga. There remain some Kalingas and numerous Negritos east of the Cagayan River, but I have no reasonably accurate estimate of their numbers. The figures given are probably too low.
Kalinga. This sub-province did not exist at the time of the census enumeration. The figures given are quite accurate.
La Union. This province has lost all of its non-Christian population by transfer to Benguet and Amburayan.
Lepanto. The figures now given for Lepanto are accurate.
Lepanto-Bontoc. Carried in the first column, but no entry made in the second because a direct comparison between the territory which was included in this province and the corresponding portions of the existing Mountain Province is not practicable.
Mindoro. No accurate count of the Mangyans of Mindoro has ever been made, but since the census enumeration the island has been crossed in a number of places and the estimate now given is believed to be reasonably conservative.
Misamis. This province has lost its non-Christian population to the sub-province of Bukidnon.
The Moro Province, as at present constituted, corresponds to the former districts of Basilan, Cotabato, Dapitan, Davao, Joló, Siasi, Tawi Tawi and Zamboanga, so that a direct comparison between the census estimate and the present estimate is possible. The figures given were recently furnished me by the secretary of the province. They are admittedly inaccurate, but are believed to be approximately correct.
Nueva Ecija. This province has lost its Ilongot population to Nueva Vizcaya.
Nueva Vizcaya. Nueva Vizcaya has lost its Ifugao population to the Mountain Province, but has gained those Ilongots formerly credited to Isabela, Tayabas, Nueva Ecija and Pangasinán, the net result being a heavy loss in non-Christian population.
Palawan. The province of Palawan corresponds closely to the territory included in Paragua Norte and Paragua Sur at the time of the census enumeration so that a direct comparison is possible. There was no real attempt to enumerate the non-Christian inhabitants of this province for the census. Of Moros alone there are some five thousand. There are said to be approximately ten thousand Tagbanuas in the country tributary to the region along the banks of the Iwahig River, which empties into Coral Bay. It is further claimed that there are some five thousand more back of Bonabóna Point. This does not take into account the Tagbanua population on the west coast, nor that of the other Iwahig valley near Puerto Princesa; nor does it include the Tagbanuas inhabiting the islands of Dumaran, Dinapahan, Bulalacao, Peñon de Coron, Culion and Busuanga. I here place the non-Christian population of the province at twenty thousand, but believe this figure rather low.
Romblon. There are some fifty non-Christians in this sub-province, survivors of a much larger number who formerly lived in Tablas and Sibuyan.
Samar. The figures here given are those of a recent estimate by the lieutenant-governor of the hill people of that island. Most of the hill people are rated as Filipinos.
Surigao. Surigao has lost most of its non-Christian population to the sub-province of Butuan, but still has a considerable number of Manobos and Negritos and the figures given are far too low.
NOTES
[1] Blair and Robertson, Vol. 45, p. 184.
[2] Ibid., Vol. 45, p. 186.
[3] Ibid., Vol. 45, p. 222.
[4] Blair and Robertson, Vol. 45, p. 175.
[5] Ibid., Vol. 45, pp. 213-265.
[6] Census of the Philippines, Vol. III, pp. 578-590.
[7] Ibid., Vol. III, p. 591.
[8] Ibid., Vol. III, pp. 579-580.
[9] Report of Director of Education, 1911-1912.
[10] Barrios are small outlying villages.
[11] Sleeping mats.
[12] Literally, "little lawyers." This designation is commonly applied to pettifoggers.
[13] An organization which long vigorously combated the cock-pits, but failed to bring about their abolition.
[14] A hectare is equivalent to two and a half acres.
[15] End of fiscal year 1913.
[16] A fermented alcoholic beverage made from rice.
[17] Cañao is the word commonly used by the northern Luzón wild men in designating a feast or ceremony. In Ahayao it is also used as an adjective to designate a place which may not be approached, being then equivalent to "taboo."
[18] Lieutenant Gilmore, U.S.N., was captured at Baler in the summer of 1899, and held a prisoner for many months.
[19] The only tribes of which I have not seen representatives inhabit the region of the gulf of Davao in Mindanao. It is doubtful whether they are really tribally distinct from the Bagobos, Bilanes and other tribes living near the coast.
[20] Equivalent to one dollar.
[21] Nearly all our trails are on steep mountain sides.
[22] An untranslatable term of respect and affection given by the fighting men of northern Luzón to rulers whom they like.
[23] A designation applied to a political division of less importance than a province, governed by a military officer.
[24] This statement proved to be untrue. They number about twenty-five thousand.
[25] Not so serious a matter as it may seem, when houses are made of grass and can be speedily rebuilt.
[26] Bronze timbrels.
[27] The words ladrones and tulisanes are used indiscriminately in the Philippines to designate armed robbers and brigands.
[28] A fighting knife of deadly effectiveness.
[29] A governor of a province may, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, require members of a non-Christian tribe to take up their residence on land reserved for such purpose if he deems such a course to be in the interest of public order. The object of this provision is to make it possible to compel lawless persons to live in reasonably accessible places. In only three instances has it been necessary to exercise this authority. Tumay and his people were outlaws and were living in a nipa swamp where it would have been almost impossible to attack them successfully.
[30] One of the most influential of the Palawan Moro chiefs.
[31] Blount, p. 543.
[32] Ibid., p. 573.
[33] "The Philippine Islands and Their People," by Dean C. Worcester, p. 480.
[34] Blount, p. 580.
[35] Blount, p. 581.
[36] Blount.
[37] Ibid., pp. 581-582.
[38] Blount, p. 576.
[39] William F. Pack, governor of the Mountain Province.
[40] Blount, p. 577.
[41] Blount, pp. 567-568.
[42] Sub-province of Tayabas.
[43] Exclusive of sub-province of Marinduque.
[44] Page 999.
[45] Blount, pp. 231-232.
[46] Blount, p. 232.
[47] Blount, pp. 583-584.
[48] The Philippine Islands and Their People, by Dean C. Worcester, p. 481.
[49] See p. 639.
[50] Blount, p. 230.
[51] Men who have taken a solemn oath to die killing Christians.
[52] Blount, p. 584.
[53] Delivered October 10, 1910.
[54] Blount, p. 577.
[55] In Nueva Vizcaya.
[56] Blount, p. 577.
[57] P. I. R., 150. 4.
[58] Ibid.
[59] Page 542.
[60] Evil spirits.
[61] This is only too true!
[62] Rizal's 1890 edition of Morga's "Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas," p. 297, et seq.
[63] "Sucesos," p. 300.
[64] Ibid., p. 305.
[65] "The Filipino People," Vol. 2, No. 1, p. 15, September, 1913.
[66] On July 15, 1913, I published an official report, as secretary of the interior, on "Slavery and Peonage in the Philippine Islands." It is hereinafter referred to in foot-notes under the title of "Slavery and Peonage." Beginning on p. 84 of this document will be found extracts from court records showing convictions obtained under this act, which is quoted in full on p. 83 of the same document.
[67] For the full text of this interesting and important report see "Slavery and Peonage," p. 85.
[68] This valley includes the Provinces of Cagayan and Isabela.
[69] For the full text of this document see "Slavery and Peonage," pp. 12-14.
[70] 1913.
[71] For the full text of this document see "Slavery and Peonage," pp. 23-25.
[72] "Respectfully returned to the Honourable the Governor-General of the Philippine Islands, with the following opinion:
"The acts given in the attached letter of the Provincial Governor of Nueva Vizcaya, dated September 14, 1905, in so far as they refer to the purchase and sale of human beings, are not provided for or punished under the existing Penal Code; but such actions are punishable under that Code when they constitute either the kidnapping of a minor, illegal detention or serious threats, according to sections 481, 484 and 494 thereof.
"Therefore, in accordance with the fourth paragraph of the letter of the said Provincial Governor, I am of the opinion that not only the Igorrotes who stole the Igorrote boy, but also those who received and sold him, as well as the woman who bought him for forty pesos, are guilty of illegal detention. The latter is furthermore guilty of grave threats, inasmuch as she threatened to kill the purchased Igorrote if he tried to escape from her service.
"With reference to paragraphs 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the attached letter, I believe that those who stole the little Igorrote and also the woman Antonia, who sold him when knowing him to have been kidnapped, are guilty of the offence of illegal detention.
"If the boy who was stolen and sold, referred to in paragraphs 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the enclosed letter, was under seven years of age, then those who stole him are guilty of the offence of kidnapping a minor, and the Igorrote woman, Antonia, and the wife of Señor Arriola, the Clerk of the Court, are accomplices in the crime. But if the child was over seven years old, then the offence would be illegal detention. The same may be said of the case recounted in paragraphs 14 and 15 of this communication. The parties who stole, sold and bought the little Igorrote are guilty of kidnapping a minor or of illegal detention according to the age of the victim.
"The acts committed by Captain Vicente Tomang, referred to in paragraph 16 of this letter, are punishable both as a serious threat and as illegal detention, because he unlawfully deprived the two Igorrote women of their liberty when they desired to leave his service, for which purpose he threatened to kill them.
"Although not asked for in the indorsement to which this is a reply, I venture to suggest that the Igorrotes who armed themselves and formed a band for the purpose of kidnapping persons for subsequent sale, be punished under Act 1121, which penalizes as bandolerismo the abduction of persons for any purpose, even though there may be no extortion or ransom demanded, if the abduction be done by an armed band.
(Signed) "L. R. Wilfley, "Attorney-General."
[73] Also written "Jamaya."
[74] Republished in "Slavery and Peonage," pp. 37-39.
[75] "Slavery and Peonage," pp. 14-15.
[76] Ibid., p. 21.
[77] Ibid., pp. 23-25.
[78] Ibid., pp. 17-19.
[79] "The Filipino People," Vol. II, No. 1, p. 15, September, 1913.
[80] November 1, 1913.
[81] Speaker of the Assembly.
[82] P. I. R., 206. 1.
[83] Dukut means secret assassination.
[84] "I was informed that some Spanish prisoners have succeeded in escaping. It is necessary to redouble vigilance upon them, especially upon the officers of rank and upon the friars, because said prisoners might be of great use to us later on. They should, however, be well treated, but without giving them liberty, and confined within prison walls. If the country requires that they should be killed, you should do so. If you deem it wise, you should secretly issue an order to kill the friars that they may capture. They should be frightened."--P. I. R., 471. 4.
[85] Taylor, Ex. 833. Spanish A. L. S. 32-2.
[86] Taylor, 46 AJ.
[87] Ibid., 15 HS.
[88] "To Chiefs of the Philippine Guerillas:
"The undersigned, Chief of the General Staff in the office of the Captain General, recommends that all chiefs of guerillas, provided that, in their judgment, there is no obstacle in the way, should kindly order their subordinates, down to the lowest, to learn the verb 'Dukutar,' so as to put it immediately in practice.
"It is the most efficacious specific against every kind of evil-doer, and most salutary for our country.
"Simeon S. Villa. "Kagayan Valley, November 15, 1900."
Extract from letter-sent book in Spanish of E. Aguinaldo, captured with him.--P. I. R., 368-3.
[89] Dukutar means to assassinate.
[90] P. I. R., 1281 and 368. 3.
[91] P. I. R., 1199-1.
[92] "1. The presidentes of all towns who subscribe to and recognize American sovereignty, shall be pursued by all the revolutionists without mercy and when captured shall be sent to these Headquarters for a most summary trial and execution as traitors to the country.
"2. All Filipino citizens, including the wealthy, of the towns, are subject to the preceding regulation.
"3. It shall be the duty of the revolutionary armies with regard to the towns which shall recognize or intend to recognize such sovereignty, to destroy the town or towns and without any consideration whatsoever to kill all males, even the poorest, and set fire to all the houses, without respecting any property excepting that of foreigners. And in order that hereafter such misfortunes may not occur, as chief of this province, I warn all the presidentes and wealthy people of each town to help us as Filipinos as we are your brothers fighting here in the field to give liberty to our mother country and woe to the traitor who falls into the hands of this revolutionary government, which will strictly carry out all the prescriptions above-mentioned.
"As the government which the invaders are endeavoring to establish is always provisional, if all the inhabitants of this province are true Filipinos, they can easily and simply answer that we are subject to the will of the Honorable President Señor Emilio Aguinaldo, whom we follow and recognize in this new born Republic as the President of the Nation."
[93] Taylor, 80 HS.
[94] "January, 1900.
"To the Local Presidente, Tigbauan (Iloílo).
"It is with profound regret that I have to state to you that in accordance with reliable information this military delegation has heard that you and various residents of that town have as electors already taken an oath recognizing the American sovereignty. If this news is true, you still have time to retract the oath, as otherwise we will raze that town to the ground without any hesitation whatever, and you and your companions who have taken the oath shall be considered as proscribed, and consequently deserving of the terrible penalties prescribed by the laws of the revolution. This is not a threat: it is loyal and sincere advice for your own good and that of the town in general.
"May God keep you many years.
"Pio Claveria, "Delegate of the Military Government.
"31st, 1900." --P. I. R., 1054-8.
[95] "April 3, 1900.
"To the local chiefs mentioned in the margin.
"I have heard with great sorrow that some of the towns of the southern district of this province have taken out the certificates of citizenship issued by the North American enemy, and have also complied with all the orders issued by them; this is exactly opposed to the conduct of the northern district of the province and shows little love for the country and an implied assent to the Government established by them, for which reason I see myself obliged to impose the severest punishment which is a sentence of death and confiscation of property of all those who shall submit to said Government, from the Chief and his local Cabinet to the lowest citizen, and annihilating their towns. For this purpose I have ordered the Commanders of Zones to watch in their respective districts the towns which may show weakness before said Government, and to impose the punishment which I have mentioned above. This circular is to be published three consecutive nights for general information of all, a report that this has been done being made to these Headquarters. Send it by the fastest couriers from one town to the other, the last one returning it with the endorsements of the preceding ones.
"Headquarters of Tierra Alta, April 3, 1900.
"Leandro Fullón, "General and P. M. Governor." --P. I. R., 1047. 2.
[96] P. I. R., 1047. 2.
[97] Ibid., 824. 1.
[98] Ibid., 1204. 3.
[99] P. I. R., 981. 5.
[100] "You and Captain Antonio must take the field this week without any pretext whatsoever, and must follow out my instructions very carefully. We have had patience enough, and now it becomes necessary for us to assert our authority.
"It is advisable to punish by decapitation all those who go with the Americans; but it is necessary first to ascertain the existence of the crime, and if it should appear that they are real spies of the enemy, they must be beheaded immediately without any pretext whatsoever against it (being accepted).
"You, Captain Antonio and Judge Cornello must perfectly understand what this order says: when the wealthy are Americanistas, you must seize all their money, clothing and other property belonging to them, immediately making an inventory of the property seized, and you may remain in the place where the seizure is made as long as may be necessary to make said inventory, even though a great amount is spent for maintenance.
"Know furthermore that if the soldiers take any of the property seized, they will speedily be put to death and will surely go to hell; therefore when it becomes necessary to enter a town to make a seizure, you must direct the soldiers not to touch the goods seized, even the most insignificant, in order to avoid consequence of character.
"I have heard, Rufo, that Judge Cornello is opposed to your father-in-law, and I want you to know that Judge Cornello is of my blood; therefore, tell your father-in-law to be very careful because he will have me to treat with shortly, and will be made to pay for those threats which he is making against the people without good cause.
"You will publish this order in the town hall, in order that the evil-minded may see it.
"You, Captain Antonio and Judge Cornello, who are the three comrades who are to take the field, will acquire some happiness if you comply with this order.
"Health and Fraternity.
"Dionisio Papa.
"Calibon, May 19, 1900."
--P. I. R., 970. 4.
[101] "Make it evident in that circular that the towns which do not rise up in arms on the day fixed, shall be reduced to ashes and all their inhabitants killed, men and women, children and old people.
"The circular is to emanate from me, and you will sign it only by my order.
"Communicate also to the presidents of Cagayán and other towns that they collect the taxes of their respective towns, as soon as possible; and a president who shall not have collected the taxes on my arrival in the respective town, shall be hung without any hesitation whatsoever.
"I desire that the Presidents meet there soon and await my arrival."
--P. I. R., 970. 5.
[102] P. I. R., 1102. 7.
[103] Ibid., 970. 11.
[104] "March 20, 1900.
"Manuel Tinio y Bubdloc,
"Brigadier General and Commander in Chief of operations in the region of Ilocos.
"Considering that a sufficient time has passed and various means of having been employed as benignant as humanity counsels, to inculcate in the minds of many misguided Filipinos the idea of the country and to check in the beginning those unworthy acts which many of them commit, and which not only redound to the prejudice of the troops but also to the cause they defend, and having observed that such action does not produce any favourable result on this date, in accordance with the powers vested in me, I have deemed proper to issue the following:--
"PROCLAMATION
"First and last article. The following shall be tried at a most summary trial, and be sentenced to death:
"1. All local presidentes and other civil authorities, of the towns as well as of the barrios, rancherias and sitios of their respective districts, who as soon as they find out any plan, direction of the movement or number of the enemy shall not give notice thereof to the nearest camp.
"2. Those who give information to the enemy of the location of the camp, stopping places, movements and direction of the revolutionists, whatever be the age or sex of the former.
"3. Those who voluntarily offer to serve the enemy as guides, excepting if it be with the purpose of misleading them from the right road, and
"4. Those who, of their own free will or otherwise, capture revolutionary soldiers who are alone, or who should intimidate them into surrendering to the enemy.
"Issued at General Headquarters on March 20, 1900.
(Signed) "Manuel Tinio."
--P. I. R., 353. 8.
[105] Guardias de Honor.
[106] "So then dear brothers, be like those of Bacnotan who have not allowed their honour to be sullied, for when they saw the Guards of Honour enter their town they drove them off at once with blows [of bolos?--Tr.] and cudgels and to the end that you may not have cause to repent of what without doubt I shall be obliged to do, comply with this order, listen to the following:
"First. Whenever the Presidente of the town, Cabezas and Cabezillas of barrios shall have knowledge of the presence in their barrios of Guards of Honour, be they many or few, and do not cause their disappearance or death, they will be immediately shot or beheaded.
"Second. Every barrio or residence of the Guards of Honour where they are going about persuading the inhabitants to follow them in their noxious work--that we may be slaves forever--will be burned and all their property together with their houses; and their sons, their fathers, mothers and their wives will be shot or beheaded to pay for their treason.
"Third and last. All the grown men in the barrios, territorial militiamen or those called 'sandatahan' (bolomen), corporals, sergeants and privates, and everybody who is a Filipino will go immediately to help in the fight against the Guards of Honour and our enemy, the Americans; and those who pay no heed to this or hide themselves will incur the penalty of being shot or beheaded.
"This proclamation will be read in the barrios and will be passed from hand to hand so that it may be copied to the end that nobody may have an excuse when the time comes to put into execution what has been set forth."--P. I. R., 168. 9.
[107] Taylor, Exhibit 1083.
[108] P. I. R., 509. 2.
[109] "September 11, 1900.
"To the local Presidents of Malolos, Bulacan, Guiguinto, Bigaa, Bocaue, Marilao, Meycauayan, Polo, Obando, Santa Maria, San José, Angat, Norzagaray, Bustos, San Rafael, Baliuag, Pulilan, Quingua, Santa Isabel, Barasoain, Paombong, Hagonoy, Calumpit, and the military commanders Pablo Tecson, Bonifacio Morales, Maximo Angeles and Colonel Simon Tecson Libuano, Colonel Rosendo Simon, and also Major Dongon.
"Circular
"As the American Civil Commission has taken charge of the government of the archipelago from the first of the present month and from that date will proceed to establish municipal government in the pueblos to take the place of the municipal councils which at present rule them; in order to duly execute the orders of the Commanding General of the Centre of Luzon, I give you the following instructions:--
"1st. You will arrest and send to these headquarters with the proper precautions to prevent escape, all inhabitants of these pueblos who accept offices in the municipal governments about to be established by the Americans, as they have been declared traitors to the country by the order I have referred to as issued by these headquarters.
"2d. You will employ the same method of procedure with those who favour the establishment of municipal government by the Americans. You will not show them the slightest consideration, even if they are your brothers. You are responsible under the severest penalties for the performance of this. God keep you many years.
"Malolos, September 11, 1900.
"I. Torres, General."
--P. I. R., Books C-3.
[110] P. I. R., 341. 9.
[111] "Two weeks ago a court-martial was held at these headquarters presided over by Colonel Aréjola, on you, Tuason, and other civil authorities of this capital, the decision being that you will be shot when we get there, which will be very soon.
"You as well as Tuason and Santachia, after having been shot, will be hung on the cathedral tower to be seen by the inhabitants in order that you may serve as a lesson.... I tell you this only as a companion and nothing more. Your obedient servant, who kisses your hand.
"El Montero."
--P. I. R., 2007. 1.
[112] P. I. R., 716. 2.
[113] P. I. R., 716. 5.
[114] Taylor, 35 HS.
[115] P. I. R., 650. 8.
[116] "PROCLAMATIONS
"March 3, 1899.
"For general information, since it concerns everybody, we publish the two important proclamations lately issued by the Chief of Military Operations of Manila.
"Antonio Luna y Novicio, General of Division of the Army of the Philippine Republic and General-in-Chief of Military Operations about Manila.
"In order to prevent any act opposed to the military plans of these headquarters and consequently to the ideals of the Filipino Republic, I order and command (only one article). From this day any person or individual whatever who either directly or indirectly refuses to give aid to these Headquarters in the prosecution of any military plans, or who in any manner whatever interferes with the execution of orders dictated for that purpose by the General in Chief, commanding operations upon Manila will be immediately shot without trial. Communicate and publish this order.
"Given at the General Headquarters of Polo on the 3rd of March, 1899.
"Antonio Luna, "General-in-Chief of Operations."
--P. I. R., 214-2.
[117] That is, Luna.
[118] "March 6, 1899.
"Señor Presidente: Many complaints have been received here on account of the abuses committed by General Luna. It is said that he has lately published a decree in which he warned the people that those who disobey his orders shall be shot to death without summary trial, and he made his decree cover the whole province of Pampanga.
"To be shot to death without summary trial is a punishment which can be inflicted on soldiers; but a chief cannot enforce it in a civilized community, except among savages. Besides, he has only jurisdiction over Polo, where the General Headquarters is, and over the towns of the zones of Manila.
"I am very much surprised that these things are not well understood by General Luna. He has no executive power over Bulacán and Pampanga; he must have issued his orders through the military chiefs thereof.
"During such time as he is the commander-in-chief of operations of Manila he is not the director of war, and even if he is, he has no power other than to conduct his office and to take the place of the secretary in his absence.
"If an educated man can hardly understand his duties, how will the uneducated one understand his?
"Please make him acquainted with all of this in order to prevent any encroachment.
"I am at your orders.
(Signed) "Ap. Mabini.
"P.S.--It would be better, I think, to remove him from his post.
"A. M."
--P. I. R., 512a-2.
[119] "April 6, 1901.
"Cailles Brigade. Flying column of Rizal and Nagcarlan.
"In conjunction with Captain Macario Dorado, I believed it my duty to attack the town of Nagcarlan, for the principal purpose of killing the American local presidente, as was done during the procession last Holy Thursday. The Presidente was killed and one of his sons, and two residents were wounded, probably by stray bullets, while taking part in the procession.
"Which I have the honor to communicate to you for your information and consequent effects.
"God preserve you many years.
"Nagcarlan, April 6, 1901."
(Illegible signature.)
"To the General in Chief and Superior Politico-Military Commander of This Province."--P. I. R., 1142. 8.
[120] The Insurgent leaders did not hesitate officially to report the commission of this ghastly crime. The following is such a report:--
"June 24, 1900.
In Margin, stamp: "Headquarters First Column, Laguna. No. 144.
"I have the honor to transmit to you the enclosed letter from a resident of the town of Pila who had just returned from Manila, in which he gives me news of our present political situation, and as such news are satisfactory to our cause I send you said letter for your information.
"It is known from very trustworthy information that General del Pilar is under arrest in Manila and he has been substituted in the command of his forces by Colonel Macanca, who was his second in command, and is at the present time repressing with a firm hand the bandits who swarm about the outskirts of the zone under his command, as one of the celebrated bandits named Major Eusebio de Rateros, who had previously been in Pagsanján was buried alive in the cemetery of Taguig by Captain Simplicio Tolentino who is at the present time a member of that brigade.
"The news is also confirmed of the execution of Major Espada ordered by General del Pilar. I send you this news for your information.
"God preserve you many years.
"Headquarters, June 24, 1900.
--P. I. R., 605. 4.
"Julio Herrera, "Lieutenant Colonel, Commanding 4th Column.
"To the General and Politico-Military Commander and of Operations of This Province, General Camp."--P. I. R., 605. 4.
[121] "A commissioner of the Katipúnan society at Ibung, Nueva Vizcaya Province, compelled the inhabitants to take the oath of allegiance to that organization, and issued orders that all who should refuse to follow the dictates of the same should suffer death; and, in pursuance of such orders, was proved to have had, in February, 1901, two men beaten to death, one man buried alive, and two women burnt alive."--Taylor, 38 HS.
[122] At the time of this event he was a judge of first instance.
[123] Taylor, 35-36 HS.
[124] P. I. R., 653. 10.
[125] P. I. R., 332. 9.
[126] Ibid., Books A-1.
[127] Blount, p. 203.
[128] Ibid.
[129] Ibid., p. 244.
[130] "June 5, 1900.
"Sr. Local Presidente of Katibug:
"I send you a little of the poison known as 'dita' that you may put it on the points of the 'balatik' and 'sura' (spears and traps) admonishing you to take care that none of our people are wounded with the said poison, and if by misfortune any one is wounded, immediately apply the stem of the 'Badian' mixed with that of the 'lingaton' in the wound, as this is the most efficacious means of neutralizing and removing the effect of said poison. Be active and place many of the spears, etc., in all the roads and trails where the enemy must pass, and as soon as you know of his next expedition, inform me immediately by despatch, both by day and night.
"It is very necessary that the people detailed to place the poison on the points carry always the 'badian' and 'lingaton' so that in case of mishap some one may apply the remedy to neutralize the destructive ingredients of the poison at once.
"Headquarters of Matuguinao, 5th of June, 1900.
(Signed) "Lukban, General.
(Seal) "Military Headquarters of Samar."--P. I. R., 502. 7.
[131] P. I. R., 2035. 3.
[132] The following issued by Col. R. F. Santos in Albay Province is a sample:--
"October 14, 1900.
"In view of the present exceptional state of affairs in our beloved mother country, the Philippines, considering the straits we are in, and in compliance with the order of the General of Division and Chief of Operations for his campaign plans, I trust that upon receipt of the present communication you will kindly order the captains of territorial militia of that barrio, Apud, Pantao and Macabugos, to have all the soldiers of their respective companies provide themselves with at least fifty arrows apiece and a sufficient quantity of the well-known poison called dita to apply to the points of the arrows, and to have their bolos well sharpened. I must remind you that as repeated practice is essential in order to secure the best results in the use of these weapons, you will endeavour to have at least twice a week, according to the convenience of the residents, said exercises take place in secluded spots, far from all danger of being surprised by the enemy.
"For the purpose indicated above you will likewise order that all the residents of your respective barrios have ready in a safe place a supply of the fruit commonly called Ydioc, putting it in water to decay, and to also have in readiness a squirt gun, that is to say, a 'Sumpit,' in order to use it in case of any invasion or attack of the enemy."--P. I. R., Books B, No. 113.
[133] The following is a sample report:--
"February 4, 1900.
"Lieutenant-colonel C. Tinio:
"My Dear and Esteemed Uncle:
"I am now carrying out a scheme here in this town for the purpose of killing some American sentries, whose bodies will be buried in the woods near the town, where they cannot be traced and found by their comrades, in order to avoid any investigation by them. They will believe that these soldiers have deserted. I have just sent to Gerona for a supply of wine, which, mixed with a strong, sickening stuff, will be sold to them; once they drink of it, the effect will soon tell on them, and then we will seize their rifles.
"I feel that I should advise you of this matter, in order that you may know the reason if, perchance, it should happen that we lose the confidence of the inhabitants of the town on account of this scheme. However, we will be satisfied if we can seize some rifles without resorting to violent means or to a scandal.
"This is the purpose of your devoted nephew, who always prays God for your health and life, and who sends you his kindest regards.
"San Juan (Tarlac Province?), February 4, 1900.
(Signed) "Leoncio Alarilla, "Captain of Guerillas." --P. I. R., 480. 5.
[134] The following is a sample report. It will be noted that its author was a civilian, not a soldier:--
"January 19, 1900.
"Sr. Lieut. Col. A. Tecson:
"With due respect I address you to inform you that yesterday at 10 A.M., I was in the barrio of Bagonbaulat and I saw one of the enemy's soldiers who was lagging behind his companions, and what I did was to order the man in charge of that place and three men to be called whom I ordered to capture the said soldier, and when a prisoner I ordered him to be led to the woods and there they killed him and buried the body; the rifle he carried and ninety cartridges I left with the people and continued my march to San Isidro; on my return when I was to get the rifle mentioned I could not find it and they told me they had sent it to Major Manolo. I inform you of this in compliance with the order.
"God guard you many years.
"Entablado, 19th January, 1900.
(Signed) "Roman I. Torres, "Commissioner." --P. I. R., 573. 2.
[135] "At page 1890 of the same volume, Captain J. R. M. Taylor, 14th U. S. Infantry, a gallant soldier and an accomplished scholar, who was in charge in 1901 of the captured insurgent records at Manila, states that he was 'informed' that the document was originally 'signed by Sandico, then Secretary of the Interior' of the revolutionary government. Captain Taylor made an attempt to run the matter down, but obtained no evidence convincing to him. A like investigation by General MacArthur in 1901 had a like result."--Blount, p. 200.
[136] "Luna's Order:
"'Malolos, February 7, 1899.
"'To The Field Officers of the Territorial Militia:
"'By virtue of the barbarous attack made upon our army on the fourth day of February without this being preceded by any strained relations whatever between the two armies, it is necessary for the Filipinos to show that they know how to avenge themselves of treachery and deceit of those who, working upon our friendship, now seek to enslave us.
"'In order to carry out the complete destruction of that accursed army of drunkards and thieves, it is indispensable that we all work in unison, and that orders issued from this war office be faithfully carried out.
"'As soon as you receive this circular, measures will be taken for strict compliance with the following orders:
"'(1) Such measures will be taken that at 8 o'clock at night the members of the territorial militia under orders will be ready to go into the street with their arms and ammunition to occupy San Pedro street and such cross streets as open into it.
"'(2) The defenders of the Philippines under your orders will attack the Zorilla barracks and the Bilibid guard, and liberate all the prisoners, arming them in the most practical manner in order that they may aid their brethren and work out our revenge; to this end the following address shall be made to them:
"'Brethren: The Americans have insulted us and we must revenge ourselves upon them by annihilating them.
"'This is the only means for obtaining justice, for the many outrages and infamies of which we have been the object. All the Filipinos in Manila will second us. May the blood of the traitors run in torrents! Long live the independence of the Philippines!
"'(3) The servants of the houses occupied by the Americans and Spaniards shall burn the buildings in which their masters live in such a manner that the conflagration shall be simultaneous in all part of the city.
"'The signals for carrying this into effect--shall be to send up two red paper balloons and the firing of rockets with lights and firecrackers.
"'(4) The lives of the Filipinos only shall be respected, and they shall not be molested, with the exception of those who have been pointed out as traitors.
"'All others of whatsoever race they may be shall be given no quarter and shall be exterminated, thus proving to foreign countries that America is not capable of maintaining order or defending any of the interests which she has undertaken to defend.
"'(5) The sharpshooters of Tondo and Santa Ana shall be the first to open fire and those on the outside of the Manila lines shall second their attack, and thus the American forces will find themselves between two fires. The militia of Trozo, Binondo, Kyapo (Quiapo), and Sampalok shall follow up the attack. All must go into the streets and perform their duties.
"'The militiamen of Paco, Ermita, Malate, Santa Cruz, and San Miguel shall attack when firing has become general everywhere, which will be approximately about 12 o'clock at night; but if they see that their comrades are in danger before that time they shall give them the proper assistance and go into the streets whenever it becomes necessary.
"'The Spanish militia enlisted as volunteers in our army shall go out at 3 o'clock in the morning and attack Fort Santiago.
"'Brethren, the country is in danger and we must rise to save it. Europe sees that we are feeble, but we will demonstrate that we know how to do as should be done, shedding our blood for the salvation of our outraged country. Death to the tyrant! War without quarter to the false Americans who wish to enslave us! Independence or death!
"'A. Luna.
"'Malolos, February 7, 1899.
"'Colonel José: By order of General Luna, have several copies of this made, in order that these instructions may be communicated to all.'"--Senate Document 331, part 2, p. 1912, Fifty-seventh Congress, First Session.
[137] Major F. S. Bourns.
[138] Dr. Manuel Xerez Burgos.
[139] This is the "note by compiler on exhibit 816," which is Luna's order.
[140] Taylor, 96 FZ.
[141] Taylor, 99 FZ.
[142] Ibid., 44 HS.
[143] Blount, p. 313.
[144] Taylor, 70 HS.
[145] "In December, 1900, the people of the town of Santa Cruz, Ilocos Sur, seized the guerilla commander of the town because he had raped some women, and then burnt their acts of adhesion to the insurgent government. They declared themselves adherents of the Americans, proceeded to give them all possible aid and assistance, and captured and delivered to them all the guerillas who dared enter the place (P. I. R., Books C-13)."--Taylor, 45 HS.
[146] P. I. R., Books A-9, No. 39.
[147] Taylor, 37 HS.
[148] Taylor, 28-29 HS.
[149] The essential part of the resolution reads as follows:--
"Whereas since the completion and publication of said census there have been no serious disturbances of the public order save and except those caused by the noted outlaws and bandit chieftains Felizardo and Montalón, and their followers in the Provinces of Cavite and Batangas, and those caused in the Provinces of Samar and Leyte by the non-Christian and fanatical pulajanes resident in the mountain districts of the said provinces and the barrios contiguous thereto; and
"Whereas the overwhelming majority of the people of the said Provinces of Cavite, Batangas, Samar, and Leyte have not taken part in said disturbances and have not aided nor abetted the lawless acts of said bandits and pulajanes; and
"Whereas the great mass and body of the Filipino people have, during said period of two years, continued to be law-abiding, peaceful, and loyal to the United States, and have continued to recognize and do now recognize the authority and sovereignty of the United States in the territory of said Philippine Islands: Now, therefore, be it
"Resolved by the Philippine Commission in formal session duly assembled, That it, said Philippine Commission, do certify, and it does hereby certify, to the President of the United States that for a period of two years after the completion and publication of the census a condition of general and complete peace, with recognition of the authority of the United States, has continued to exist and now exists in the territory of said Philippine Islands not inhabited by Moros or other non-Christian tribes; and be it further
"Resolved by said Philippine Commission, That the President of the United States be requested, and is hereby requested, to direct said Philippine Commission to call a general election for the choice of delegates to a popular assembly of the people of said territory in the Philippine Islands, which assembly shall be known as the Philippine Assembly."--Journal of the Commission, Vol. I, pp. 8-9.
[150] A designation applied by the Spaniards to people who had taken to the hills to avoid paying taxes or to escape abuses, or punishment for crimes.
[151] A Tagálog designation applied to the common people, and especially to field labourers.
[152] See p. 699 et seq.
[153] Mabini's "True Decalogue," published as a part of his constitutional programme for the Philippine Republic (P. I. R., 40. 10) contains the following among other remarkable provisions:--
"Elementary instructions shall comprise reading, speaking and writing correctly the official language which is Tagálog, and the rudimentary principles of English and of the exact physical and natural sciences, together with a slight knowledge of the duties of man and citizenship."--Taylor, 19 MG.
Also the following:--
"Whenever the English language is sufficiently diffused through the whole Philippine Archipelago it shall be declared the official language."--Taylor, 20 MG.
Of this language matter Taylor says:--
"Mabini's plan of having English the language of the state is odd. He wanted independence and he wanted the recognition of the right and of the ability of the natives to govern themselves; and yet he wanted them to adopt a foreign language. By the time this pamphlet was published, or shortly afterwards, Tagálog had been tried and found wanting. The people of the non-Tagálog provinces did not know it and showed no desire to learn it, and indeed protested against its use. Spanish, and all things Spanish, Mabini was weary of, and would sweep them all away. Yet, when he wrote this he did not know English."
[154] Brigandage.
[155] 8-3/4 miles.
[156] Lady of the night.
[157] Carabao is the Filipino name for water buffalo.
[158] Of the endless cases which might be given I cite the following as a fair sample:--
"Personally appeared before me the undersigned ----, this 24th day of July, 1913, W. A. Northrop, who first being duly sworn, deposes and says:--
"'1. That he is a duly appointed Public Land Inspector of the Bureau of Lands of the Government of the Philippine Islands and that acting in such capacity on the 3d day of June, 1913, he visited the sitio of Buyon, barrio of Maddelaro, Municipality of Camalaniugan, province of Cagayan and there investigated the complaint of homestead entrymen Pascual Valdez and Tomas Valdez whose applications for land in the said sitio of Buyon under provision of Act No. 926 as amended had been entered by the Director of Lands under No. 9253 and No. 9254 respectively, that they were prevented from occupying said homesteads and deriving the benefits therefrom by certain persons living in the barrio of Maddelaro:
"'2. That while so investigating the claim of the said entrymen and their opponents he was told by Placido Rosal, one of the opponents to the homestead entrys, that "it was immaterial to him what decision was made by the Director of Lands concerning the land as, if he (Rosal) lost the land he and others would burn the houses of the entrymen and if necessary kill them"; this in the Spanish language with which he is familiar.
"'3. That at that time he was accompanied by Mr. Blas Talosig of the barrio of Buyag, who was acting as his interpreter in speaking in the Iloco language and that these threats were made in his hearing and that he, W. A. Northrop, was informed by said interpreter that he not only heard them but that he heard similar threats made in the Iloco language by various other persons, henchmen of Placido Rosal and his family.
"'4. That on the 9th day of June, 1913, said entrymen came to him in the City of Aparri and reported that on the night on the 7th day of June the granary of Eduardo Baclig, resident in the said sitio of Buyon and a son-in-law of Tomas Valdez had been burned and an attempt made to burn his house and that while the entrymen were not in position to prove that said Placido Rosal or his henchmen had started the fires they were sure they were of incendiary origin, as due to the direction of the wind the fires could not have originated from sparks from kitchen fires.'
"Further deponent sayeth not.
(Signed) "W. A. Northrop.
"Subscribed and sworn to before me this 24th day of July, 1913, in Tuguegarao, Cagayan, Philippine Islands, the affiant first having exhibited his cedula, No. 1516, issued in Manila, January 3, 1913.
(Signed) "Primitivo Villanueva
"Notario Publico, "Mi nombramiento expira el "31 de Diciembre de 1913."
"Extract from a report of H. O. Bauman, chief of Bureau of Lands survey party No. 27. Report dated June 30, 1913:
"In 1905 the applicant (Fernando Asirit) entered an application for homestead and proceeded to clear the remainder of the land not already cleared. Sometime during the following year or two, this Catalino Sagon began to clear a piece of land included in the homestead application. When Fernando Asirit saw the man cleaning the land, he told the man that that particular land was included in the homestead and that the work he was doing was useless. Catalino admitted this to me personally. However, the applicant to show his good faith, paid Catalino a sum of ten pesos for the small area that he had cleaned and took a receipt therefor and Catalino left the land. Now when the private surveyor came in 1910, this Catalino appears and claims this land despite the fact that he never cultivated nor occupied the land and that he received payment in full for the work that he had done in clearing an acre of the land. When the land was surveyed in 1910, Catalino at the request of a politician of Ilagan, made a protest against the land and between the two they frightened the applicant into letting this Catalino have possession of the land. Since 1910, Catalino has not cultivated the land but loaned it out to another person, Frederico Mayer by name. Personally, Catalino did not ever cultivate or live on the land. The politician who has been stirring up this trouble is Gabriel Maramag, third member of the Provincial board. The applicant is an old man seventy years old and this Maramag had the old man fined P125.80 for refusing to let these two have his land. They also told him that if he persisted in refusing to let them have the land, they would fine him P500. As the old man has no such amount and being thoroughly bulldozed by these cheap politicians, he had no other course to pursue. The co-partner of the third member is the Sheriff Joaquin Ortega against whom the people are very bitter on account of his shady dealings. It might be noted here that these men are under investigation by the Constabulary now for accepting money illegally. Furthermore this Maramag has the plans of the land of a great many men in his house and thus has a hold on them and they cannot do anything without his consent."
[159] The best evidence of what the average Filipino cultivates is found in the free patents. Of the 15,885 free patents applied for the average area is declared to be 7-3/4 acres; 4,025 Free Patents have been actually surveyed; their average area is only 5 acres.
[160] Frequently and wrongly called rosewood.
[161] Damar.
[162] An extensive open region covered with cógon is called a cogonál.
[163] First year for which statistics are available.
[164] Twice the actual figures for the first half of the year: $3,942,647; $194,296; $123,339.
[165] First year after Payne Tariff Bill took effect.
[166] On March 1, 1913.
[167] On January 1, 1913; increase of six months only.
[168] Only railroad line in operation prior to 1907 was 122 miles of the main line of the Manila Railroad Company.
[169] First year of operation.
[170] On February 1, 1913; increase of six months only.
[171] The Philippine Railway Company has recently changed its accounting from the basis of the Government fiscal year (beginning July 1) to a calendar year basis. Figures are not therefore available for a complete twelve months subsequent to June 30, 1912. The figure for the first year on the new basis (ending December 31, 1912, and duplicating part of the last amount given above) is $376,512.
[172] No accurate statistics before 1907 and 1910, respectively.
[173] Increase due to change in definition.
[174] On January 1, 1913.
[175] Increase of six months only.
[176] No accurate statistics before 1907.
[177] Literally "disillusion."
[178] Oct. 1, 1913.
[179] "Of course, the writer did not mention that Manila is an out-of-the-way place, so far as regards the main-travelled routes across the Pacific Ocean, and also forgot that, as has been suggested once before, the carrying trade of the world, and the shippers on which it depends, in the contest of the nations for the markets of Asia, would never take to the practice of unloading at Manila by way of rehearsal, before finally discharging cargo on the mainland of Asia, where the name of the Ultimate Consumer is legion."--Blount, p. 49.
[180] "... Manila, being quite away from the mainland of Asia, could never supersede Hongkong as the gateway to the markets of Asia, since neither shippers nor the carrying trade of the world will ever see their way to unload cargo at Manila by way of rehearsal before unloading on the mainland;..."--Blount, p. 44.
[181] Unhusked rice.
[182] There were also exported 423,877 pounds of cuttings, clippings and waste during 1910, and 914,630 pounds of the same materials during 1912.
[183] Made of Manila hemp, and used for sewing into hats.
[184] Blount, p. 571.
[185] First year for which statistics are available.
[186] Twelve-sevenths of the actual figures for the first seven months of the year: $15,320,794; $13,751,421; $29,072,215.
[187] Estimate based on collections to March, 1913.
[188] Estimate made pro rata on the basis of the figures for the first seven months.
[189] "It is precisely these Americans, and their business associates in the United States, who have gotten through Congress the legislation which enables them to give the Filipino just half of what he got ten years ago for his hemp, and other like legislation, and the Filipinos know it."--Blount, p. 118.
Also the following:--
"Apparently, Messrs. Roosevelt and Taft thought, in 1907, that granting the Filipinos a little debating society solemnly called a legislative body, but wholly without any real power, was ample compensation for deserted tobacco and cane plantations, and for the price of hemp being beaten down below the cost of production by manipulation through an Act of Congress passed for the benefit of American hemp manufacturers. If we had had a Cleveland in the White House about that time, he would have written an essay on taxation without representation, with the hemp infamy of this Philippine Tariff Act of 1902 as a text, and sent it to Congress as a message demanding the repeal of the Act. But the good-will of the Hemp Trust is an asset for the policy of Benevolent Assimilation. The Filipino cannot vote, and the cordage manufacturer in the United States can. No conceivable state of economic desolation to which we might reduce the people of the Philippine Islands being other than a blessing in disguise compared with permitting them to attend to their own affairs after their own quaint and mutually considerate fashion, the Hemp Trust's rope, tied into a slip-knot by the Act of 1902, must not be removed from their throats. By judicious manipulation of sufficient hemp rope, you can corral much support for Benevolent Assimilation. Therefore, to this good hour, the substance of the hemp part of the Philippine Tariff Act of March 8, 1902, remains upon the statute books of the United States, to the shame of the nation."--Blount, pp. 614-615.
[190] First year of operation.
[191] On December 31, 1912; increase of six months only.
[192] Twelve-sevenths of the actual figure for the first seven months of the year: 736,246 tons.
[193] The figures for coal importations are exclusive of the quantities imported from the United States by the federal government. These are excluded because they have been for the most part made in large quantities in alternate years, and would, therefore, while considerably increasing the average total amounts imported, give a false idea of the rate of increase of the more strictly domestic consumption.
[194] Twice the actual figure for the first half of the year: 204,094 tons.
[195] There were several different plans for the confiscation of the friar lands. The following shows the action taken in one instance, relative to the property of Spanish prisoners:--
"On February 2, 1899, the secretary of the treasury informed the governor of the province of Isabela that the property of all Spanish prisoners should be confiscated as booty of war."--P. I. R., 1302. 6.
[196] The following telegram was sent to the cabinet by the director of diplomacy, Manila:--
"December 21, 1898, P.M.
"Missed the train on account of government business. Beg of you to pardon my absence, and bear in mind my suggestion to look up an easy method of abolishing the law imposing a tax of 100 to 5000 pesos on foreigners, as not only unjust but impolitic at this time, when we seek the sympathy of the powers. I represent to the cabinet that such step is very urgent, because I have ascertained that members of the chamber of commerce have reported this tax to their respective governments in order to formulate a protest."--P. I. R., 849.
[197] This name is properly applicable to the civilized peoples only.
[198] P. I. R., 1097. 2.
[199] Ibid., 1157. 8.
[200] Ibid., 1018. 1.
[201] Title X.--Of Public Instruction.
124....
Elementary instruction shall comprise reading, speaking and writing correctly the official language which is Tagálog, and the rudimentary principles of English and of the exact, physical and natural sciences, together with a slight knowledge of the duties of man and citizen.--Taylor, 19 MG.
[202] "The Mastery of the Pacific," p. 122, A. R. Colquhoun, Macmillan, 1902.
[203] In this connection Bishop Brent has said, "The recognized leaders in the Philippines to-day, so far as racial qualifications are concerned, would have at least equal right to claim citizenship in Spain, China or England. Thus far, it is the men of mixed blood who are the politicians. The degree of capacity in the Filipino will not be revealed until the schoolboys of to-day are in active public life."
[204] Literally, "Filipinos of face and heart." The expression means Filipinos in appearance and in sympathies.
[205] "But there is no doubt that many of the Filipinos after all have a very warm place in their hearts for the Spanish people. How could it be otherwise when so many of the Filipinos are sons and grandsons of Spaniards? Much of like and dislike in life's journey is determined prenatally. On the other hand, the American women in the Philippines maintain an attitude toward the natives quite like that of their British sisters in Hongkong toward the Chinese, and in Calcutta toward the natives there. The social status of an American woman who marries a native--I myself have never heard of but one case--is like that of a Pacific coast girl who marries a Jap.... But look at the other side of the picture. When an American man marries a native woman, he thereafter finds himself more in touch with his native 'in-laws' it is true, but correspondingly, and ever increasingly out of touch with his former associations. This is not as it should be. But it is a most unpleasant and inexorable fact of the present situation."--Blount, pp. 554-555.
[206] "We should either stop the clamour or stop the American capital and energy from going to the Islands. After an American goes out to the Islands, invests his money there, and casts his fortunes there, unless he is a renegade, he sticks to his own people out there. Then the Taft policy steps in and bullyrags him into what he calls 'knuckling to the Filipinos,' every time he shows any contumacious dissent from the Taft decision reversing the verdict of all racial history--which has been up to date, that wheresoever white men dwell in any considerable numbers in the same country with Asiatics or Africans, the white man will rule."--Blount, pp. 438-439.
[207] Blount, p. 105.
[208] Written September 15, 1913.
[209] The editor of an American newspaper published at Zamboanga has accurately described the attitude of the native press as follows:--
"We have often referred to the great opportunity prevailing for the native press of the Philippines to aid the material and political uplift of the inhabitants. Conditions of race and dialect naturally conduce to facilitate this work for the native journalist. With few exceptions, however, the native press has persistently obstructed every effort toward general amelioration of the condition of the masses. Conspicuous efficiency in good government has furnished a target for its denunciation. Truth has been garbled, motives maligned, race hatred kindled, falsehood fabricated and sedition practised, encouraged and lauded. The public school system, the intrinsic foundation to free institutions, instituted under the military régime and constantly expanded under the civil régime, has been interpreted by the native press as a pernicious effort to oppress the masses by the enforcement of a foreign language upon them. The efforts to stamp out cattle disease and for the restoration of draft animals have been maligned as being oppressive to personal liberty. The sanitary measures which have so renovated the very atmosphere of the archipelago have ever been the mark of derision and violent attack. When cholera and plague have claimed their hundreds daily, efforts at prevention have persistently met with opposition from the native press. Officials with the most unselfish motives have been persistently insulted, slandered and maligned. The American flag, which is the only emblem giving assurance of safety in the home, peace from abroad, liberty of opportunity, and equality and justice before the law, has been constantly smeared with the opprobrium of a malignant, filthy native press. Progress of the Philippine people as a whole is retarded."
[210] On March 15, 1913, the Assistant Executive Secretary had occasion to write the following letter to the Governor of Capiz:--
"My Dear Governor Altavás: I have to acknowledge receipt of your communication of the 28th ultimo, complaining against the Justices of the Peace of Jamindan and Tapaz for failing 'to salute' you when visiting said towns, although your visits were frequently announced in advance, and the Justices of the Peace were in town at the time.
"The theoretical principles of democracy prevailing under this government do not require such courtesies as a matter of law. It may be that, as your letter intimates, the Justice of the Peace should, as a matter of courtesy, call on you when you are in his town, but failure to do so in no wise constitutes ground for complaint, and were we to take your complaint seriously and cause it to be investigated, we would be indeed in serious danger of receiving a lecture on democracy from either the Judge of the Court of First Instance or the Justice of the Peace himself.
"I believe that, under the circumstances, the best course to be taken in the matter would be for you to withdraw the complaint, for even if the Justices concerned admit the charges, no administrative action against them would be possible.
"Very sincerely, (Signed) "Thomas Cary Welch (Active Executive Secretary)"
[211] Municipal building.
[212] Literally "authorities," by which is meant municipal officials.
[213] Blount, pp. 296-297.
[214] This is a rather open threat to fight.
[215] Corrupt Spanish for "very bad American Government."
[216] "Constitutional Government in the United States," by Woodrow Wilson, Ph. D., LL. D., pp. 52-53.
[217] I am indebted to the Honourable Gregorio Araneta, secretary of finance and justice, for a summary statement of the judicial reforms effected since the American occupation, on which this statement is largely based.--D. C. W.
[218] The engineer officer of the province.