The Philippines: Past and Present Volume II Part 28

I was a member of the commission conference committee appointed to meet a similar committee from the a.s.sembly and discuss it. The a.s.sembly committee informed us at the outset that a sine qua non for the discussion of the bill was that we should agree to an amendment which would admit, without examination, to the work of making public land surveys Filipino so-called surveyors, known to be utterly incompetent, who could not make correct surveys under the most favourable circ.u.mstances. But this was not all. It was generally understood that an additional requirement was to be an amendment to the Judiciary Act providing for a number of new judges. The commission committee believed that they were unnecessary, and were asked for with a view to making places for political appointees. Needless to say, the Cadastral Survey Act failed in conference. In the session of 1912-1913 it finally pa.s.sed, with practically all of these objectionable features eliminated, but it is at present much less useful than it might be for the reason that an act amending the Judiciary Act so as to provide more judges in the Court of Land Registration, where they are badly needed, instead of for courts of first instance, where no such necessity exists, was killed in the a.s.sembly.

As it will take the Court of Land Registration something like three years to finish hearing the cases already in hand, the preparation of a large additional number for it, as a result of the application of the Cadastral Act, will not materially help the present situation unless the number of its judges is increased. There is reason to fear that future attempts to bring this about will be met by demands that there be more judges of first instance, and that they be given jurisdiction in land cases, which should be decided by specially trained and qualified men.

One who examined only the laws actually pa.s.sed by the legislature might gain the impression that the a.s.sembly had done good work. It should be remembered that 312 acts pa.s.sed by that body have been disapproved by the commission. Had they become laws there would have been a very different story to tell. One hundred and seven acts pa.s.sed by the commission have been disapproved by the a.s.sembly. A careful study of these two groups of acts will be found worth while, but in order to make the picture complete it should be supplemented by detailed consideration of the amendments to a.s.sembly bills made by the commission before they have been pa.s.sed, which have sometimes involved the striking out of everything after t.i.tle, and the insertion of practically new provisions. It should further be remembered that many really good measures, which have apparently originated as a.s.sembly bills, have been drafted by members of the commission, or under their direction, and then first presented in the a.s.sembly in order to facilitate their pa.s.sage.

Had some one of the several gentlemen who have made brief visits to the Philippines and then expressed their views as to the fitness of the Filipinos for early independence devoted himself to the line of study above outlined, he would have gained valuable information on their present fitness to legislate, and we should perhaps now be profiting by the practical results of an experiment already made, instead of embarking on a new and dangerous one.

I cannot here do more than briefly call attention to the nature of a few of the bills killed by the commission and the a.s.sembly respectively. For convenience of reference, I refer to these bills by session and number.

FIRST LEGISLATURE

Inaugural Session

a.s.sembly Bill 117 was "An Act to extend the period within which provincial boards organized under the Provincial Government Act may remit the collection of the land tax in their respective provinces."

This was the first of a very long series of a.s.sembly measures designed to abolish or reduce existing taxes, or indefinitely to postpone the time for their collection. Provincial boards, with a majority of their members elective, were very amenable to influence in the matter of "postponing" the collection of the land tax.

The per capita rate of taxation is lower in the Philippines than in any other civilized country. Money is badly needed for education, health work and the improvement of means of communication, and all of these measures were ill-advised.

First Session and Special Session of 1908

a.s.sembly Bill 23 provided for the appointment of jurors in courts of first instance and justice of the peace courts. Under it the provincial boards were to select the eligibles from a list of names submitted by the munic.i.p.al councils of the provincial capitals. This would in effect have put the administration of justice in the hands of the political party in power.

a.s.sembly Bill 104 was ent.i.tled "An Act amending Act numbered fifteen hundred and thirty-seven of the Philippine Commission on horse-races in the Philippine Islands."

Gambling is the besetting sin of the Filipinos, and in the city of Manila gambling in connection with horse racing had grown to be such a scandal that the commission had been compelled to take action limiting the days on which it was permitted to legal holidays and one Sunday per month. The evil had reached large dimensions. Several race-tracks were maintained in one small city, and the money that went through the totalizer, or gambling machine, had reached the enormous sum of $3,500,000 per year. Even poorly paid clerks were leaving their work to bet on the races, and then stealing in order to recoup themselves for their losses. The morals of the community were being rapidly undermined. The act pa.s.sed by the commission interfered with the business of conducting daily crooked races. It certainly left plenty of opportunity to indulge in horse-racing as a legitimate sport. The amendment proposed by the a.s.sembly permitted horse-racing on all Sundays, on three days prior to Lent and on all legal holidays except Memorial Day, Rizal Day and Thursday and Friday of Holy Week. If pa.s.sed it would have protected certain vicious interests and opened the way to a prompt extension of the gambling business.

a.s.sembly Bill 134 reduced the tax on distilled intoxicating liquors one-fourth. The tax was already low. The rate proposed by the a.s.sembly was a concession to the demand of powerful interests and its att.i.tude was worthy of severe condemnation.

a.s.sembly Bill 136 abolished provincial boards of health, subst.i.tuted therefor district health officers and took important powers away from the director of health and gave them to provincial boards. Substantial progress had been made in improving provincial sanitary conditions through provincial boards of health, under the control of the director of health. As was to be antic.i.p.ated in a country like the Philippines, many necessary health measures were unpopular. This bill, vitally affecting one of the most imperative needs of the islands, would if concurred in by the commission have resulted in widespread disaster.

a.s.sembly Bill 148 provided for the teaching of the local native dialects in the public schools. This would have had the effect of doing away with the teaching of English, or preventing its inauguration, in many places; would have emphasized and perpetuated the different native dialects; would have helped to keep the people speaking these several dialects apart, and would thus seriously have hampered progress toward national unity. One of the most important and useful things that the American government is doing is to generalize the knowledge of the English language, which not only gives the several peoples of the archipelago a common means of communication, but opens up new fields of knowledge to them and makes it easy for them to travel. Even during the days of the Filipino "republic" Mabini advocated making English the official language. [153]

a.s.sembly Bill 197 abolished the Bureau of Civil Service and organized in its stead a division attached to the Bureau of Audits. This bill, ostensibly an economy measure, was designed to minimize the usefulness of one of the most important bureaus of the government. In the early days of the American regime Filipinos who had served the government were often deeply offended that appointments were not given to members of their families or to their near relatives, absolutely irrespective of their fitness for office. Naturally they disapproved of the civil service law when they found that it prevented such appointments.

Second Session

a.s.sembly Bill 201 prohibited the employment of foreigners as engineers or as a.s.sistant engineers on vessels in the Philippine Islands. There were at this time an extremely limited number of Filipinos capable of filling such positions, which were largely held by Spaniards and other Europeans who had married native women and had lived in the islands for years. This measure would have crippled s.h.i.+pping companies and would have been a grave injustice to the men above referred to.

a.s.sembly Bill 278, which heavily reduced taxes on distilled spirits and cigarettes, was another attempt to make concessions to certain large tobacco and liquor interests, which could perfectly well afford to pay at the rates then prescribed. It would have decreased the annual insular revenues about $1,000,000 at a time when it was antic.i.p.ated that free trade with the United States, resulting from the pa.s.sage of the Payne Bill, would greatly reduce customs duties. Such a loss would seriously have crippled the administration of the islands.

a.s.sembly Bill 352 exempted all uncultivated land, except land in Manila, from the payment of the land tax for a period of five years. The excuse given for its pa.s.sage was the alleged lack of draft animals. Its real purpose was to exempt valuable property from taxation. It would have encouraged the continued holding of great tracts of uncultivated land and was in the interest of large landowners whose land taxes were likely to be burdensome if they did not come to a reasonable agreement with their tenants and bring their holdings under cultivation.

a.s.sembly Bill 360, "specifying the responsibility in a publication and amending certain sections of the existing libel law," would have rendered that law abortive by making it possible for a newspaper to employ as a "libel editor" some irresponsible person who would be glad to go to jail upon occasion for a consideration.

The Philippines has a fairly good libel law and it was imperatively needed, for in oriental countries especially, the tendency of a public press which has been subjected to the strictest censors.h.i.+p is to run to license when complete liberty suddenly comes.

a.s.sembly Bill 370, creating the new province of Zamboanga, embodied an attempt on the part of that body to legislate for territory inhabited by Moros and other non-Christian tribes, over which it had no jurisdiction. If pa.s.sed, it would have led to bloodshed between Moros and Filipinos.

a.s.sembly Bill 433 was an act prohibiting the use of lumber imported from foreign countries in the construction of public buildings. It was not then possible to get enough native lumber to erect the public buildings authorized and needed. The pa.s.sage of this act under the circ.u.mstances showed lack of business sense.

a.s.sembly Bill 487 provided for compulsory school attendance. It was so worded as to make it largely inoperative, and if operative it would have been impracticable, as there were something like 1,200,000 children of school age in the islands and there were neither teachers enough to instruct them, schoolhouses enough to hold them, nor funds available with which to pay for new buildings and additional teachers. Its pa.s.sage showed lack of business sense.

a.s.sembly Bill 547 amended the so-called "bandolerismo [154] act." Up to the time of the American occupation brigandage had been a crying evil throughout the islands. The amendment proposed would not only have greatly weakened the act under which it had been very successfully suppressed, but would have turned loose 1156 criminals, many of whom were desperate and hardened, seriously disturbing the tranquillity of the country and necessitating the early hunting down of many of them.

a.s.sembly Bill 567 was "An Act empowering the Secretary of Commerce and Police to make contracts with silk producers, insuring them the purchase of their silk at a price not to exceed $9 per pound." The Bureau of Science had conclusively demonstrated the possibility of establis.h.i.+ng a silk industry in the Philippines. This extraordinary measure would have made it possible for an executive officer to provide for the expenditure of all the revenues of the government in case of a great development of the silk industry. Its pa.s.sage showed lack of business sense.

a.s.sembly Bill 558 was "An Act to provide for a permanent annual appropriation of $15,000 to reward the inventor of a steam plough or any mechanical engineer who shall perfect a ploughing machine." It was a foolish measure, as there were various successful steam ploughs and other motor-drawn ploughs then in use, and there was no good reason for offering a reward for the invention of a thing which already existed.

a.s.sembly Bill 395 was a most extraordinary and dangerous measure. The Spanish law fixed the age of consent of women at twenty-three, which is about ten years after the time when young girls in the Philippines begin to turn their thoughts toward marriage. Whenever a man had s.e.xual relations with a woman under twenty-three he was liable to go to jail for rape unless pardoned by the parents, grandparents or guardian. This provision of law was continually taken advantage of in blackmailing persons. Suit would be brought and the necessary proof provided. Pardon would be offered for a consideration. The crime was known as a private crime, not a crime against the public. The commission had amended the Penal Code, making it a public crime so that once complaint was made no pardon on the part of the interested persons could stop the proceedings. There had been a consequent noticeable falling off in the number of cases brought for the purpose of extorting money. a.s.sembly Bill 395 was designed to change this state of affairs and restore the old conditions. It was a vicious measure.

Special Session 1910

a.s.sembly Bill 396 authorized the use of certain kinds of sledges on improved roads, although it had been abundantly demonstrated that they were veritable road destroyers. The commission had pa.s.sed a law prohibiting their use and the natives had been compelled to subst.i.tute for them carts with wide-tired wheels that turned freely on their axles, and improved the roads instead of ruining them. This bill was an effort to authorize a return to the road-wrecking practices which had previously prevailed.

a.s.sembly Bill 481, "An Act prohibiting the admittance of women and of minors under eighteen years of age into c.o.c.k-pits established in the Philippine Islands," was a measure encouraging vice, masquerading in the guise of a reform. By inference it permitted the entrance of women and minors more than 18 years of age to c.o.c.k-pits for the purpose of gambling, and it provided that women and minors could go as sightseers!

a.s.sembly Bill 491 authorized certain cla.s.ses of people to have firearms irrespective of their individual characteristics. The presence of firearms in the hands of irresponsible people had been a source of great trouble and the granting of gun licenses was then restricted to persons in whom the government had entire confidence. This had been an important factor in suppressing brigandage and highway robbery, and the proposed change in the law was highly undesirable.

Second Session

a.s.sembly Bill 141, "An Act repealing the last paragraph of Act Numbered 1979," took away from the governor-general authority to approve suspension of the additional cedula tax for road purposes, and gave it to provincial boards. The need of improved highways was very great as the inadequate system which had existed under the Spanish regime had gone to pieces during the war. A comprehensive plan of highways for the islands had been worked out and was being put into effect as rapidly as possible. This act would have allowed provincial boards to determine whether funds should be collected for road construction and maintenance, thus bringing this fundamentally important question into the domain of local politics.

a.s.sembly Bill 168 provided that "the Spanish language shall continue to be the official language of the courts until such time as the Philippine Legislature shall provide otherwise."

The reasons why the generalization of English was desirable in the Philippines have already been stated. Under then-existing provisions of law it was to become the official language of the courts in 1913. a.s.sembly Bill 168 would have had the effect of leaving Spanish the official court language for an indefinite time, thus discouraging the use of English and discriminating against young lawyers who had made every effort to obtain a good knowledge of it because of its supposed certainty of usefulness to them.

A novel and objectionable feature of a.s.sembly Bill 947, which appropriated $375,000 for the construction of roads and bridges, was that it made executive action of the secretary of commerce and police subject to the approval of a committee of the legislature.

First and Special Sessions of 1913

a.s.sembly Bill 91 was "An Act prohibiting the exhibition of inhabitants of the non-Christian tribes, and establis.h.i.+ng penalties for its violation."

This act grew out of the desire of the a.s.sembly to conceal the fact of the existence of wild peoples in the Philippines. It prohibited the publication of indecent photographs of non-Christians, and the appearance at any fair or carnival of a member of a non-Christian tribe clothed in such a manner as to offend against public morals. The commission committee which had this Act under advis.e.m.e.nt stated, as a part of their report on it, that:--

"It is obvious that no indecent or immoral picture should be published, irrespective of whether the person or persons depicted are Christian or non-Christian. It is equally evident that no person should be allowed to appear at any exposition, fair or carnival in a costume which offends against morality, whatever may be his religious beliefs or his tribal relations.h.i.+ps. Your committee is of the opinion that there now exists on the statute books adequate legislation properly penalizing the one offense and the other."

This act also attempted to limit the right of non-Christians to enter into contracts.

a.s.sembly Bill 130, "An Act declaring invalid the confession or declaration of a defendant against himself, when made under certain circ.u.mstances," provided that courts should not give any value to a confession or declaration, oral or written, of any defendant against himself made before the agents of the constabulary, munic.i.p.al police, judicial or executive officers, or before any other person not vested with authority, during his preventive detention, or while in their custody, unless ratified by the defendant himself in proper style before a competent court.