The Philippines: Past and Present Volume II Part 44

In this connection I quote the following decision of the Philippine Supreme Court in the case of the United States vs. Mariano Boston, rendered November 23, 1908 (10 Philippine Reports, p. 134).

"The accused in this case was convicted in the Court of First Instance of the Province of Pangasinan of the crime of abortion as defined and penalized in paragraph 3 of article 410 of the Penal Code.

"The guilt of appellant is conclusively established by the evidence of record, the testimony of the witnesses for the prosecution leaving no room for reasonable doubt, despite the fact that there are some inconsistencies and discrepancies in their statements. Counsel for appellant insists that the evidence does not conclusively establish the fact that he intentionally caused the abortion, because there is no evidence in the record disclosing the character and medicinal qualities of the potion which the accused gave to the mother whose child was aborted. The evidence clearly discloses that the child was born three months in advance of the full period of gestation; that the appellant, either believing or pretending to believe that the child in the womb of the woman was a sort of a fish-demon (which he called a balat), gave to her a potion composed of herbs, for the purpose of relieving her of this alleged fish-demon; that two hours thereafter she gave premature birth to a child, having been taken with the pains of childbirth almost immediately after drinking the herb potion given her by the appellant; that after the birth of the child the appellant, still believing or pretending to believe that the child was a fish-demon which had taken upon itself human form, with the permission and aid of the husband and the brother of the infant child, destroyed it by fire in order to prevent its doing the mischief which the appellant believed or affected to believe it was capable of doing. These facts const.i.tute, in our opinion, prima facie proof of the intent of the accused in giving the herb potion to the mother of the child, and also of the further fact that the herb potion so administered to her was the cause of its premature birth. The defence wholly failed to rebut this testimony of the prosecution, and we are of opinion, therefore, that the trial court properly found the defendant guilty of the crime with which he was charged beyond a reasonable doubt.

"The sentence imposed is in strict accord with the penalty provided by the code, and should be and is hereby affirmed, with the costs of this instance against the appellant. So ordered."

It is claimed that the Filipinos are a unit in demanding their independence. As a matter of fact, the bulk of the common people have little idea what the word really means. In this connection the following extract from the report of Colonel H. H. Bandholtz, later director of constabulary, of June 30, 1903, on the bandit Rios, is of interest:--

"Rios represented himself to be an inspired prophet and found little difficulty in working on the superst.i.tions of the extremely ignorant and credulous inhabitants of barrios distant from centres of population. So well did he succeed that he had organized what he designated as an 'Exterior Munic.i.p.al Government' (for revenue only) with an elaborate equipment of officials. He promoted himself and his followers in rapid succession, until he finally had with him one captain-general, one lieutenant-general, twenty-five major-generals and fifty brigadier-generals and a host of officers of lower grade. In appreciation of his own abilities he appointed himself 'Generalissimo' and 'Viceroy' and stated his intention of having himself crowned 'King of the Philippines.' t.i.tles like these not proving sufficient, he announced himself as 'The Son of G.o.d,'

and dispensed 'anting-antings,' which were guaranteed to make the wearer invulnerable to attack. Of the ladrones killed during this period, few were discovered who were not wearing one of these 'anting-antings.'

"The dense ignorance and credulity of the followers of Rios was clearly shown by the fanatical paraphernalia captured by Captain Murphy, P. C, on March 8, near Infanta. Among these was a box, on the cover of which was painted the word 'Independencia,'

and the followers of Rios profoundly believed that when they had proven themselves worthy the box would be opened and the mysterious something called independence for which they had so long been fighting could be secured, and that when attained there would be no more labour, no taxes, no jails, and no Constabulary to disturb their ladrone proclivities.

"When this mysterious chest was opened it was found to contain only some old Spanish gazettes and a few hieroglyphics, among which appeared the names and rank of the distinguished officials of the organization."

The affair is typical of an endless series of similar occurrences.

The ordinary Filipino dearly loves mystery, and misses no opportunity to join a secret society. It matters little to him what its supposed object may be, and that end is, as frequently as anything else, the organization of an insurrection. All sorts of fees are collected from the ignorant poor by the leaders of such movements, who are almost invariably of the educated and intelligent cla.s.ses. At the opportune time they get away with the funds, leaving their ignorant followers to blunder along until caught and lodged in jail. The American government has dealt very gently with such poor dupes, most of whom have been released without any punishment. Within the past few days [208]

I have had an interview with an exceptionally intelligent Filipino justice of the peace who sometimes gives me interesting information, in the course of which I asked him what was going on at present. He laughed and told me that the Filipinos in the vicinity of Manila believed that Mr. Harrison, the new governor-general, was coming to give them independence, and that a lot of smart rascals, who pretended to be organizing the army that would be necessary to maintain it, were selling officers' commissions at a peso each to any one who would buy them, and were doing a thriving business.

Until it ceases to be so readily possible to prey on the superst.i.tions, the credulity and the pa.s.sions of the common people, efforts on the part of the Filipinos to establish and maintain unaided a stable government are not likely to be crowned with very abundant success.

In general it may be said of the Filipino that he is quick to learn, but needs a teacher; is quick to follow, but needs a leader. He is ready to do the things he is taught to do. He accepts discipline, orders, rules. He has a great respect for const.i.tuted authority. He lacks initiative and sound judgment.

Let Americans beware of judging the Filipino peoples by the men with from one-half to thirty-one thirty-seconds of white blood, who so often have posed as their representatives.

More important than the interrelations of the several Christian peoples inter se are those between the several Christian peoples on the one hand and the non-Christian tribes on the other. This subject has already been discussed at length, so I will limit myself to a brief summary statement.

The Filipinos dislike and despise the non-Christians. They take advantage of their ignorance and helplessness to rob or cheat them of the fruits of their labour, and often hold them as slaves or peons. The non-Christians in turn hate them, and the more warlike wild tribes do not hesitate to take vengeance on them when opportunity offers. The Filipinos as a whole are afraid of the Moros, and with good reason. The Moros frankly a.s.sert that if a Filipino government were established, they would resume their long-abandoned conquest of the archipelago, and this they would certainly do. Although the non-Christians are numerically few, as compared with the Christians, they are potentially important because they have the power to make an amount of trouble wholly disproportionate to their numbers. The Filipinos could not rule them successfully, and the probable outcome of any attempt on their part to control them would be the inauguration of a policy of extermination similar to that which j.a.pan is following with certain of the hill men of Formosa. Because of the inaccessible nature of the country inhabited by many of the Philippine wild tribes, they would be able to hold their own for many years, and there would result a condition similar to that which has prevailed for so long in Achin, while the Moros with their ability to take to the sea and suddenly strike unprotected places would cause endless suffering and loss of life.

Under the Spanish regime the penalty which followed a too liberal use of "free speech" was very likely to be a sudden and involuntary trip to the other world. There was no such thing as a free press. A very strict censors.h.i.+p was constantly exercised over all the newspapers. The things that are now said and written daily without attracting much attention would at that time have cost the liberty or the lives of those who voiced them.

It is hardly to be wondered at that an Oriental people which had never had a free press or liberty of speech should have mistaken liberty, when it finally came, for license, and have gone to extremes which conclusively demonstrated their initial unfitness properly to utilize their new privileges.

Governor-General Smith once told a delegation of leading Filipinos that it was all very well to have freedom of speech and of the press in a country ruled by the United States government, which was strong enough to maintain order in the face of manifold difficulties, but that if the islands ever secured their independence the first official act of those in power should be to do away with the one and the other, for the reason that such a government as they would establish could not exist if either continued.

While the curtailing of freedom of speech or of the press under American civil rule is almost unthinkable, it is nevertheless true that the att.i.tude of many of the politicians who do the talking, and who control the native press, has been poisonous.

A very intelligent student of Philippine affairs has truly said that nothing more is necessary to demonstrate the present unreadiness of the country for self-government than a careful study of the att.i.tude of the native press toward important public questions. From the beginning until now there has been one long and almost uninterrupted series of lies, innuendoes, sneers and diabolically ingenious misrepresentations. Practically every important policy of the government has been viciously attacked, and the worst of it is that the people primarily responsible for this are not honest, or misled. They know perfectly well what they are doing and why they are doing it. They embitter that portion of the common people who are reached by newspapers at all, and doubtless many of their dupes really believe that the established government is a rotten farce, and that its highest officials are steeped in iniquity.

Certainly no people are more skilful than are the Filipino politicians in pretending to write one thing with the certainty that another and very different one will be read between the lines. In the matter of libel, they are adepts at skating on thin ice. Rare indeed is the occurrence of a decent att.i.tude on the part of any native newspaper toward any important public question. [209]

The history of the munic.i.p.al and provincial governments is worthy of very careful consideration.

It has been found necessary to exercise close supervision over them in order to correct a constant tendency on the part of those having authority to abuse it.

Practically all the time of three lawyers in the executive bureau is taken up in examining evidence and reports of administrative investigations of charges against munic.i.p.al officials and justices of the peace, of whom about two hundred are found guilty each year. Half that number are removed from office. One of the commonest charges against these officers is "abuse of authority," and one of the most difficult and endless tasks of the American administrative officers is to impress on the elective native official a sense of obligation toward his "inferiors," that is, the plain people who elected him.

He expects obsequiousness and even servility, and if they are lacking, endeavours to get square. [210]

Surely I have given enough ill.u.s.trations of the ferocious brutality with which Filipino officials treated the common people in the days of the "Republic." Such brutality would again be in evidence were there to be any failure to hold officers strictly accountable.

The following case, called to my attention by a reliable American woman, ill.u.s.trates the fact that provincial governors are sometimes swayed by other than humanitarian motives:--

"In 1902 when I was living at Capiz, a very pretty little fellow, a child of 7 or 8, often came begging to my house. Finally he ceased to come and I saw nothing of him for several months. Then I met him one morning, stone blind, his eyes in frightful condition. I made inquiry and learned that the people with whom he lived (his parents were dead) not finding him a remunerative investment had decided that he must be made more pitiful looking to bring in good returns as a beggar. So they filled his eyes with lime and held his head in a tub of water. I took the child to the Governor (the late Hugo Vidal) to make complaint. The Governor listened to my story, and then exclaimed, 'You are mistaken. I have known this child for years and he has been like this all the time.' The local sanitary chief agreed with him, and I was forced to give up all hope of having the inhuman wretches that had tortured the child punished."

The att.i.tude of provincial and munic.i.p.al officials toward very necessary sanitary measures has often been exceedingly unfortunate.

In 1910 the officials of the town of Bautista, Pangasinan, voted to have a fiesta, in spite of the fact that the health authorities had informed them that this could not be done safely, owing to the existence of cholera in the neighbouring towns. The town council preferred the merry-making to the protection of the lives of the people, and voted to disregard the warnings of the Bureau of Health, with the result that several of the neighbouring munic.i.p.alities were infected with cholera, and many lives were needlessly lost. The governor of the province, himself a Filipino, was lax in attention to duty in this instance or the town council would have been suspended before, instead of after, this action on its part.

For a long time munic.i.p.al policemen were commonly utilized as servants by the town officials, and were nearly useless for actual police work. To put firearms into their hands was little better than to present them outright to the ladrones. At present the constabulary exercise a considerable amount of control over munic.i.p.al police, and there has resulted very material improvement in their appearance, discipline and effectiveness.

Munic.i.p.al councils in the majority of cases voted all of the town money for salaries, leaving nothing for maintenance of public buildings, roads and public works, with the result that streets in the very centres of towns became impa.s.sable even for foot pa.s.sengers. They were often indescribably filthy, cluttered with all sorts of waste material, and served as a meeting ground for all the horses, cattle, dogs, pigs, hens and goats of the neighbourhood.

In many instances, the first use made of their newly acquired powers by provincial governors and munic.i.p.al presidents was to persecute in all sorts of petty ways those who had opposed their election, while the latter displayed marked disinclination to accept the will of the majority.

It is not to be expected that the Filipino should understand modern democratic government. Where could he have obtained knowledge of it? Under Spanish rule he saw officials habitually enriching themselves at the expense of the communities they were supposed to govern. He saw a government of privilege where the work of the many benefited the few. How could he have gained experience in modern and enlightened administration for the benefit of the people rather than for the benefit of the administrators? Not only must there be knowledge on the part of officials that this is the proper way to govern, but there must be a demand on the part of the people for such a government, and until the people know and understand that such a government is their right there will be no such demand. There is not yet a sufficient proportion of the Filipino people literate to make approval or disapproval felt.

Incidentally it should be remembered that in the Philippine Islands any provincial or munic.i.p.al officer may be suspended by the governor-general, or removed for failure properly to perform his duties, for disloyalty, or for other causes. The provincial governors also hold same power over the munic.i.p.al presidents. Existing conditions are therefore not comparable with those which would arise without such control. I would as soon say that an automobile could go without a driver because it runs fairly well when there is a driver directing it as that the administration of the munic.i.p.alities and provinces of the Philippine Islands would go as well as it now does under a system which does not provide for strong central control. It is one thing to administer when you are carefully supervised, and when the power of removal is held directly over you by a superior officer watching your every move, and another to administer equally well when the reins are not firmly held.

Serious consideration must be given to another group of facts in considering the fitness of the Filipinos for independence. It is undeniably true that they have progressed much further in civilization than has any other group of peoples of Malayan origin. It is just as indubitable that their development has not been a natural evolution, but has resulted from steady pressure brought to bear during three and a half centuries by Spain, and during the last decade and a half by the United States. What would happen were this pressure removed? One may judge, within limits, from what has happened where it has been removed. Take, for instance, Cagayancillo; which is an isolated town on a small island southwest of Panay. Here the Spanish friar was the sole representative of governmental authority in bygone days. Cagayancillo was then a thriving town, with a strong stone fort for defense against the Moros, a beautiful, large church with splendid wood carvings ornamenting its interior, and a fine masonry convento of most original architecture, with long rows of giant clam sh.e.l.ls embedded in its outer walls. There were a good munic.i.p.al building and a stone schoolhouse, also excellent for their day. I first visited the place shortly after Palawan was made a province under civil rule. No priest had been there for three years. The town and its inhabitants reeked with filth. The wits of the two or three exceptionally intelligent men of the place were befogged with opium. The church and convento were falling into ruin. The fort had already gone to the bad. The presidencia [211]

was a wreck, and so was the schoolhouse. There were no teachers for the children. The people were rapidly lapsing into barbarism.

In 1910 I visited the town of Malaueg, situated in the province of Cagayan. It was one of the first mission stations in northern Luzon. I found there the walls of an immense church and convento. These walls were approximately forty inches thick, and were intact, though roofs and floors had disappeared, in part from decay and in part from the stealing of the boards. Over the door of the church was a thick hardwood beam on which were carved in raised letters Spanish words signifying that the church was rebuilt in 1650. The walls of Manila were built about 1590. When was this church constructed to require rebuilding sixty years later? And what must then have been the size of the town which furnished the necessary hands to erect such a huge structure?

The Spanish friar in charge had left during the revolution against Spain some time subsequent to 1896, and as a result the town had gone to pieces after so many centuries of life. Nothing remained but a small collection of gra.s.s huts. The men had reverted to the breechclout, and were again adopting the head-axe. Many of them had already taken to the mountains.

The Spaniards compelled Filipinos to live in towns, or at least to have houses there. Under our form of government we allow them to do as they please, with the result that in provinces like Palawan our utmost efforts do not avail to keep them from forsaking settlements and scattering out through inaccessible mountain regions, where they are rapidly gravitating back to the state of barbarism from which they originally emerged. I might multiply instances of this sort of thing.

In the early days of civil government the commission in many instances combined munic.i.p.alities which lay immediately adjacent to each other and could readily enough be administered from a common governmental centre. This action was taken in the interest of economy, and in the belief that the resulting saving in salaries would make possible the employment of more school-teachers, and the construction of better school buildings.

In many, if not most, cases such fusion of munic.i.p.alities proved a mistake. The town which happened to become the new seat of government prospered. There were spent the taxes collected in the other formerly independent centres of population, which, deprived of their autoridades, [212] promptly became insanitary, disorderly and unprogressive.

I am firmly convinced that the Filipinos are where they are to-day only because they have been pushed into line, and that if outside pressure were relaxed they would steadily and rapidly deteriorate.

It is not necessary that there should be much retrogression to cause serious trouble. I have discussed the character and att.i.tude of the present Filipino legislative body. I have shown indubitably what sort of a government the Filipinos themselves established while they had a free hand. I agree absolutely with Blount's contention that they would again establish precisely the same sort of a government if left to their own devices. There would follow, first aggression against the property of foreigners, and then attacks upon their persons, which would not only excuse, but would necessitate, intervention by other governments to protect their citizens. Some of the more intelligent Filipino leaders would set their faces against such conduct as firmly as they did during the rule of the so-called Insurgent government, but now, as then, would be powerless to restrain either the more unprincipled among the intelligent, or the great body of the ignorant rank and file, and nothing more than a fairly plausible excuse would be needed to start the ball of foreign intervention rolling.

Many Americans may, in their present deep ignorance of the value of their most recently acquired possessions, agree with that distinguished representative who announced on the floor of the House of Representatives that the Philippines were "a lemon," but agents and spies of j.a.pan have worked throughout the entire archipelago and she knows better. England and Germany have had their business men in the islands for many years, and they know better also.

The Filipinos are not yet fit to govern themselves, much less to govern the Moros and other non-Christian tribes, even if let alone, and they would not be let alone should we turn their country over to them.