Special Note.
The reader’s attention is called to paragraph 3 on the following page of the text (p. 47).
Apart from the Councils spoken of in this and the former paragraphs there were others formed at a later date. These were more properly variations and were as follows:
Trozo: Popular Council Maypagasa with four sections, Dapitan, Silang̃anan, Dimasagaran, and Dimas-Alang.
Palomar: Popular Council Pinkian with two sections.
Tondo: Council Katagalugan with the sections Katutuhanan, Kabuhayan, Pagtibayan, Kaling̃aan and Bagong-sinag under the presidency of Alejandro Santiago, Braulio Rivera, Hilarion Cruz, Cipriano Pacheco, Nicolás Rivera and Deogracias Fajardo.
Conception and Dilao (Paco): the Council Mahaganti presided over by Rafael Gutiérrez; and the sections Panday and Ilog, with a delegation in Ermita.
In Cavite was the popular Council Kawit the president of which was Emilio Aguinaldo1 the capitan municipal of the pueblo of [274]Cavite Viejo and later on the dictator of the Filipino Commune. This Council comprehended Imus, Noveleta, Silang, Naic, Maragondon and other pueblos. Imus was presided over by Juan Castañeda, Noveleta by Alejandro Crisóstomo.
One of the seals of Aguinaldo.
Lancet with which the incisions of the Pacto de Sangre were made.
Signature of Aguinaldo.
[275]
In Bacoor was a Popular Council presided over by Genaro Valdes with three sections Dimagpatantan (not to leave in peace), Ditutugutan (not to rest till the end is reached), and Pananginginigan (formidable).
Note 93. The Kalayaan was intended to be a monthly review. Its first number consisted of thirty-two pages in quarto. The price of each number was 50c (Mexican). It was a most rabid anti-Spanish publication and advocated separatism openly, and yet in spite of the press censorship it circulated freely in the Archipelago.
As the common belief was that this paper was published in Japan, as would appear from the paper itself, General Blanco decided [276]to send a special delegate to Japan to investigate the matter of its impression, its publishers, authors, etc., that steps might be taken to put a stop to its impression or at least that a check be put on its entry and circulation into the Philippines. Don Alfredo Villeta was chosen; but on account of some hitch in the arrangements, he never started on his errand. Some say that the paper did not reach its second number, but it is certain that it did not reach its third.
The heading was as under:
Kalayaan
Issued at the end of each month.
1st year.
Yokohama.
January 1896. No. 1.
Price of subscription, 3 months 1 peso; in advance.
Articles must be signed by their authors.
If purchased will cost 2 reales per number.
The headings of the principal articles were as follows:
To the Compatriots.
Manifesto; by Dimas-Alang (José Rizal.)[277]
What the indian ought to know and understand; by Agapito Bagumbayan.
This latter article is a mirror in which the purpose of the paper is reflected; it reads remarkably like a composition of Pedro Paterno, the visionary who claims for the peoples of the Archipelago a glorious pre-Spanish history and civilization. The following citations from the article will give some idea of the whole publication.
“In these islands, which were previously cared for by our true neighbors of Malaysia at a time when the Spaniards had not as yet set foot upon the land, there existed a complete abundance and a state of welfare. Our friends the neighboring kingdoms, and especially Japan, brought commerce to our shores which formed the most abundant market, and there was found everything necessary, wherefore it was the richest country and its customs were all very good3. Everyone, youths and advanced in years and even the women, could read and write according to our manner of script.”[278]
The article goes on to say that upon the arrival of the Spaniards the natives only made friends with them after that Legazpi had performed the ceremonies of the pacto-de-Sangre4 with one of the indio petty sovereigns.
“The Spaniards,” says the writer, “have perverted us with their bad customs and have destroyed and obliged us to forget the noble and beautiful customs of our country.”
Noble and beautiful customs: Compulsory defloration of young girls, as a result of the belief that a girl who died a virgin could not enter heaven! Could anything be more noble and beautiful?
Kalayaan purported to be and was always considered as the soul of the defunct Solidaridad (see note 24). It was printed in the Tagalog dialect and died, as it was born and had lived—in shame.[279]
Note 94. Pio Valenzuela testified (fols. 582–591) that on the 22nd of August he was informed by Josefa Dizon that her son José together with Bonifacio had fled from Manila. Valenzuela thereupon fled also, following them, and reaching Caloocan about 8 p. m. There he found Bonifacio with some twenty others. Andrés informed them that they must not separate as it was now time to commence the armed rebellion, the plot of the Katipunan having been discovered. From Caloocan they went to Balintauac arriving about 11 p. m. Here they met a certain Laong with a group of men. They remained in the pueblo Sunday, Monday and Tuesday preparing for the onslaught they were to make upon the Spaniards, which was fixed for the 29th of the same month, the plans being that they should advance in groups upon Manila, killing the Spaniards and also the indians and Chinese who refused to follow them, “dedicating themselves to the sacking of the city, robbery and incendiarism and to the violation of women.” Many Chinese were murdered and their stores robbed.
Whilst in the fields of Balintauac distribution was made of bolos and ten revolvers, the latter stolen from the Maestranza [280]of Manila. On Tuesday evening preparations were made to meet the attack of the Spanish troops which had been sent out in persecution of the rebels, and the first conflict took place. Valenzuela also stated that the greater part of the people who formed the rebel forces were drawn, catechised and initiated all in a moment by the fanatic Laong, who was practically the active chief of the revolt, and who directed in person the attack upon the Chinese stores.
About 5 pm. on the 29th five hundred men under a “leader of Pasig” appeared on the scene at the waterworks. They at once took possession of the building and of the persons of the workmen. Their first intention was to stop the machinery so that no one need be left in charge thereof when orders should be received for a start for Manila. The engineer however, reminded the chief that if such a thing was done their brethren in Manila would die of thirst. This excuse carried the day and the chief decided to leave some workmen there under the condition that the engineer and others who wore moustaches should shave, and that all should dress like indians, and that the engineer’s wife should dress like a native woman [281]and prepare food for his men. The party finally set out on their way. They tried to avoid an encounter with the troops composed of artillery and infantry, 65 men in all, stationed at the powder works. In avoiding this handful of defenders they fell afoul of other troops which gave them a good sharp reception.
As to those who, repenting, desired to return to a legal status, it is difficult to form an opinion, on account of the contrary evidence adduced in connection therewith. Isabelo de los Reyes already cited, in a futile attempt to justify the acts of the Katipuneros, claims that some of the chiefs opposed the plan of the armed resistance as contained in the propositions of Bonifacio, claiming that it would be a great and useless sacrifice, to say nothing of the imprudence of such an act, to launch forth against an armed force without possessing better arms than a few bolos and lances. He claims that Bonifacio listened to the advice and was on the point of acting upon it, but was compelled to take the step he did in declaring the revolt, by the attitude of his 500 followers. The authority for this statement was Pedro Nicodemus, who was the commander of the said [282]group, a man who was as ignorant as he was blood-thirsty.
Further on Isabelo states that “in the famous reunion of Balintauac, in the solemn moment of the breaking forth of the revolt (August, 26th 1896) AndrésBonifacio as president of the Supreme Council of the Katipunan, explained that the plot had been discovered, and that in order to save those who were compromised and who had not up to that time been arrested, it was necessary to launch forth to the fight, although the arms with which they should fight had not yet arrived from Japan.”
Granted however the character of Bonifacio, his aims and the methods he adopted to carry out his ideas, such an excuse as that of Reyes argue but little in pro of the good judgement or better said the good faith of its author. Bonifacio was anxious for the first blow of the revolt to be struck that he might not lose the confidence of those who had intrusted him with the undertaking and who had been fooled into the idea that the Katipunan forces were so powerful that nothing could resist their onward course once they had been started on their way. And to suppose that Bonifacio [283]was to be so easily influenced by a few petty chiefs is to show a complete ignorance of the character of the hero of the Katipunan. If the opposition of the said petty chiefs really occurred it was probably inspired more by fear of the consequences than by the true spirit of repentance, for if the cruelties and abuses said to have been committed by the Spaniards were the cause of the revolt, what need was there of such a repentance?
The prestige enjoyed by Bonifacio among the katipuneros was natural enough, in as much as he was the father of the Katipunan, the illegitimate offspring of filipino freemasonry, itself a legitimate child of the Spanish family of universal freemasonry.
“The Katipunan,” says the author of an exposition to Congress, dated 1900 and published at the printing office of the El Liberal, “the worthy and legitimate5 child of Andrés Bonifacio, was founded in his [284]own house in calle Sagunto (Tondo) between six and seven in the evening of the 7th of July 1892. Andrés Bonifacio gathered together his best friends, Teodoro Plata, Valentin Díaz, Ladislao Dina, Deodato Arellano, and Ildefonso Laurel, to whom he proposed the necessity of the creation of that Superior Association of the Sons of the People, whose only aim should be that of the independence of the people under a Spanish protectorate or in default of that, of Japan. Those assembled took to the idea with great enthusiasm and at once commenced the propaganda of the same.
Note 95. One thing which clearly demonstrates the state of fanaticism and moral degradation to which the Katipunan fell, was the savage manner in which they treated the Religious prisoners who fell into their hands. Disrespect for all authority and especially that of the clergy, was one of the chief fruits of the work of propaganda carried on by Rizal and other of the separatist element, aided and abetted by the Bible societies who gave moral as well as practical assistance to their labors.
As fanaticism increased, this want of respect [285]became more intense and eventually led to a thirst for the blood of those whose greatest crime was the excessive favor they had extended to the indian, to whom such a thing as gratitude was unknown6.
As we have seen, the intention of the Katipuneros was the annihilation of the Spaniards, irrespective of class or condition. The parish priest being the strongest support of the administration was the target for the bitterest treatment at the hands of the rebels.
Among the number of those parish priests murdered by the Tagalog rebels were P. Toribio Moreno; Recolet, parish priest of Silang; P. Toribio Mateo, Recolet and parish priest of Perez Dasmariñas; and the lay brothers: fray Luis Garbayo and Julian Umbon, these latter were murdered in San Francisco de Malabon. Upon the Estate of Imus, then property of the Recolet Corporation, now in the possession of a large London Syndicate, were most brutally murdered the following Recolets:[286]
P. José Ma. Learte, ex-Provincial and parish priest of Imus, P. Simeon Marin, ex-Definitor and parish priest of Maragondon, P. Agipito Echegoyen, parish priest of Amadeo, P. Faustino Lizasoain, parish priest of Bailen, and the lay-brothers:
Roman Caballero, Jorge Zueco del Rosario, Damaso Goñi, Bernardo Angos, Victoriano López.
It is affirmed by eye-witnesses that these victims to Tagalog fanaticism were saturated with petroleum and burned alive.
Fear was entertained for the safety of of several Dominican Fathers who held parishes near by, and therefore P. Buenaventura Campa, P. Francisco Cabeñas and fray Natalio Esparza immediately set out in search for them. Regardless of the great risk they ran in falling into the hands of the bloodthirsty Katipuneros, these three heroic Dominicans casting aside all thought for self and all care for their own welfare7 set out [287]for Naic in the steam launchMariposa. Difficulties were encountered from the start. The native captain and engineer conspired to prevent the carrying out of the attempted rescue. P. Buenaventura calling up the refractory captain told him that he and his companions were firm in their purpose and that progress must be made. The captain pleaded inability for want of coal. Then hoist the sails, said P. Campa. There are none replied the captain. Then take my habit and those of my companions and make sails of them, thundered the Padre. The captain gave in and the journey was continued. Naic was reached; they failed to find their companions but were in time to save the unfortunate wife and children of Lieut. Perez Herrero; they discovered them barefooted and wellnigh mad with terror, dressed in native clothes and hidden in a nipa shack. P. Galo Minguez, parish priest of Naic, Padres Nicolás Peña and José Digne and the laybrothers Saturnino García and José Pedida had succeeded in escaping from the [288]clutches of the rebellious Tagalogs, having fled to Labay from whence they made their way to Corregidor, meeting there those who had come to seek them in the Mariposa.
The Augustinian Father P. Piernavieja was another victim to fanaticism. This Father has been termed medio loco8 and in all truth he was so if the possession of a presence of mind such as that shown by P. Piernavieja is to be termed craziness. True it is that he was at times gifted with a strange turn of mind. He had, during the many years he administered the parish, established therein a christian communism. When the revolt broke out he was held as a prisoner and obliged to invest himself with the authority of an Archbishop. Had the revolt prospered and P. Piernavieja lived, undoubtedly he would have been made Archbishop of Manila by the Tagalog discontents. P. Piernavieja was shrewd enough to take well to his new office. He was once called upon to anoint the chiefs and rulers, as the kings and emperors of olden time were anointed by the Church. Padre Piernavieja told them that olive oil was not [289]suitable for such a purpose and therefore proceeded to anoint them with cocoanut oil such as is used by the natives for their lamps! Under pretext of his office of Bishop this strange old man claimed liberty to make his pastoral visits and when he succeeded in securing this liberty which was readily granted to him, he overran all that part of the province in the hands of the insurgents, secretly collecting all kinds of information, which he immediately sent his superiors in Manila. This information reached the military authorities and would have become of utility to them for the carrying out of the campaign had it been prosecuted as a military campaign should have been. But the Padre’s messenger was eventually captured with messages in his possession. When questioned as to the source of the information, and where he was taking it, he told all, and as a result Padre Piernavieja was condemned to death as a traitor to a cause to which he had never held allegiance. As a punishment he was tied to a tree exposed to the burning rays of the tropical sun, and thus left to the mercy of the voracious birds and insects, [290]dying of hunger, thirst and of terror in the midst of inconceivable torments.
Padre David Veras, Dominican, was another of the many victims of the Katipuneros. He was the parish priest of the pueblo of Hermosa in the province of Bataan. When the insurgents attacked the pueblo they captured P. David, and after cutting off both his hands, dragged him to the most distant of the ten barrios of that pueblo, and there hacked him to death with bolos and hatchets mutilating his body in a horrible manner, and throwing the corpse on to a dung heap.
In the early dawn of the 25th of December 1896, in Morong province of Bataan, Padre Domingo Cabrejas, Recolet, was murdered at the altar while offering up the holy sacrifice of the Mass, his blood staining the sacred linen and the steps of the altar. The katipunero murderers hurriedly hid the body in the church and fled.
Padre José Sanjuan, also Recolet and parish priest of Bagac was another victim. To name all those who suffered barbarous treatment at the mercifulhands of the insurgents would be a well-nigh impossible task. Recalling the acts of those fanaticised sectarians, one might almost recall the [291]barbarities and brutalities of the diabolical Nero. Certainly the ancient Chinese and Japanese were scarcely more excessive in their treatment of the unfortunate missionaries they tortured in their attempt to stamp out the christian faith; and even the Chinese boxers of our days could have taken lessons from the disciples of Filipino freemasonry. Many, many are the unfortunate missionaries whose blood cries to heaven for vengeance and this vengeance of the God of Justice will one day fall upon this people. Even in our own days we cannot shut our eyes to the fact of the existence of the well marked track of the hand of Divine Justice as it passes here and there throughout the land, calling now upon this one, now upon that, to pay his debt even to the last farthing. The track of the finger of God has been remarkably distinct in this archipelago and many are the cases in which that finger moving slowly and silently along has pointed out the unfruitful tree which the scythe of death shall cut down.
“For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God; visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children until the third and fourth generation.”[292]
Note 96. Some there are who see in every event which takes place, the protecting or avenging hand of Providence. Others there are who laugh to scorn the idea that Providence should concern itself in such matters.
The hand of Providence surely has manifested itself of late in this archipelago, here protecting the one from a cruel torture, there permitting the sacrificeof a martyr to the faith or a martyr to duty and honor, and the integrity of the Spanish nation. Here giving one over to a just punishment, there pointing out another as an object for Divine vengeance.
Is proof needed perhaps that the finger of the avenging hand of Divine justice has left its well-marked path in the Philippines? Then we have a notable case before us. A few months ago, a steamer, the Rio de Janeiro, left the Orient bound for the port of San Francisco, Cal. Within sight of the city, almost within sight of the crowds who stood upon the wharf in expectation of the ship’s arrival, the good vessel, by the will of God who rules over all things, went to the bottom, carrying with her, among other passengers, a man who was morally and physically [293]responsible for the greater part of the barbarities practiced upon the long suffering Spanish prisoners, Religious, Civil and Military, at the hands of the Tagalog revolutionists. With that man disappeared from the land of the living his whole family, together with state and private papers of unknown value. How often before in the past history of the world has the God of Justice obliterated whole families and even whole nations!
And who shall say that the hand of Divine Justice has not protected as well as avenged. For many months the katipuneros had woven a fine-meshed net around the Spanish population of the Philippines, a labor the more easily accomplished in the same degree as the scandalous carelessness of the Blanco administration became more and more marked. Blanco himself was a freemason9 and was always, like our present [294]civil administration, surrounded by friends of his own choice, people who at no time suffered from an excess of patriotism; and the few honorable exceptions which did exist were, unfortunately, persons whose good moral influence was powerless to better a situation which day by day became worse10.
This net already woven was set, and it needed but the given signal for its string to be tightly drawn and the unsuspecting [295]prey would immediately fall into its folds, to be redeemed only by a barbarous, cruel death. But providence is merciful as well as just, and in her own time opened up a way of escape for the coveted prize of the katipunero savages. This opening was no other than Teodoro Patiño, himself a member of the diabolical society, the plot of which he was to reveal.
Patiño was one of the many compositors in the printing establishment of the Diario de Manila. He was an indian of but little importance both as regards his abilities as a workman or as a katipunero: he was one of the thousands of unknowns from which have sprung so many of those sadly famousignorantes and others of our own days. But he was destined to act an important part in the society to which he belonged: a part however not in the programme of proceedings drawn up by the society.
A discussion took place one day as to the subscription the said Patiño should pay into the common funds of the society, and heated words passed between him and his companions on the subject. From words they came to blows; and as Patiño was one against many he came out of the tussle [296]second best, having received a good sound thrashing for daring to differ from the majority. To satisfy his injured feelings he looked around him for some one from whom he could expect sympathy, and he bethought himself of his sister who was a pupil of the College of Mandaloya, under the care of the Augustinian Nuns. To his sister he repaired and to her he told his tale of woe, making mention at the same time of a certain society to which he and his assailants belonged.
The sister startled by what her brother related, questioned him closely, as only a woman can question when she wishes to get to the bottom of anything. Having been a pupil of the Augustinian Nuns for a considerable time and preserving in her heart sentiments of gratitude little known among the peoples of the Archipelago, she was much hurt to hear of the plans mapped out by the Katipunan for the brutal destruction of those who had always been so good and kind to her and her brother. And before Patiño could tell all his tale, his sister had bidden him good-bye and gone off in search of the Mother Superior of the College, to whom she immediately told all she knew of the affair. The two women trembling [297]with fear for the safety of the lives of so many hundreds of innocent victims, hurriedly sought the presence of the Rev. Padre Mariano Gil, Augustinian, and parish priest of Tondo. This Rev. Father, realizing the enormity of the Katipunan plot, advised them to send Patiño to him without delay.
Patiño presented himself at the convento and underwent a close examination at the hands of Padre Mariano. At first little progress was made, as Patiño feared both the anger of the authorities and that of his fellow katipuneros, who would doubtless take revenge upon him according to the laws of the society, for his tale-telling. And in spite of the fact that he tried at every turn to avoid telling the naked truth, and to escape here and there by professions of ignorance, he eventually manifested to P. Mariano Gil all he knew of the society, of its plans and of its resources. After a long and tedious conversation, the patriotic Augustinian was gratified with the knowledge of where to lay his hands upon hidden documents etc., which would throw much light upon the purposes of the society of cut-throats. P. Gil immediately set to work to disclose the hidden secrets.[298]
“Without losing a moment,” writes P. Mariano Gil, to a friend who had asked of him the true story of what took place on that memorable occasion, “I sent notice to the Lieut. of the Veterana of this sub-division, D. José Cortés, to whom in the presence of the denouncer, Patiño, I communicated the most necessary data, giving him at the same time the names of all those persons in the printing establishment who were compromised, commencing with the two who signed the receipts, Policarpo Tarla and Braulio Rivera, indicating to him the manner of procedure for the detention of all those complicated.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
... “I decided, confiding in God, to go alone to the printing establishment, at a time when none of the workmen should be present.”
The writer goes on to explain how he made known his mission to D. Ramón Montes and two other Spaniards who, astonished at the news, aided in the search for the documents, stones etc. After a half hour’s search the lithographic stone was discovered, and like a tiger springing upon its prey, the zealous son of St. Augustine pounced [299]upon it, as though he feared that the very roof of the building should fall in upon it and bury it beneath its rubbish out of reach of his hands. A proof was taken from the said stone, of the Katipunero receipts, and P. Gil immediately set off in the direction of theVeterana of Tondo where he met Patiño, who recognized the receipt as authentic, and two hours later the Patriotic Augustinian saw his efforts crowned with the confession of guilt of the delinquents, the two previously named, figuring at the head of the list. Having performed this, P. Gil humbly wended his way back to his parochial dwelling, satisfied to have been an instrument of divine Providence for the unravelling of one of the most bloodthirsty plots ever invented by the perverse mind of embruted mankind.
At midnight was discovered in the locker of Policarpo Tarla, in the same place, a dagger, the regulations of the Katipunan and several documents having connection with the said society, all of which, together with the famous lithographic stone, were handed over by Sr. Montes to the Veterana.
On the following day P. Gil discovered [300]in the house of one of his parishioners a dagger identical to the one mentioned, also several receipts in Tagalog with the key of the symbolic language in which they were printed.
“This”, affirms P. Gil, “is the truth of the discovery.”
There can be little doubt that Patiño was directly inspired more by the thrashing he received than by providence, although it is not possible to deny that the thrashing and the consequent divulging of the secrets of the Katipunan were providential. And as regards to his repentance, I doubt judging from the character of the average indian, whether he really felt repentant till the enormity of the crime to which he was an abettor was brought home to him by P. Mariano Gil. Be that as it may. The ways of Providence are hidden from us and we can seldom see, with our human eyes, more than the actions of the human reason. Yet the truth remains, that whether directly or indirectly inspired by providence it was Patiño’s action which saved Spain “from an unending series of bitter experiences.”[301]
Note 97. What has, up to this present, been written concerning these stirring events has been taken chiefly from the reports made by Gen. Blanco to Sr. Canovas. Whether from ignorance or from malice, these reports contained about as many errors as words. From these Sr. Diaz evidently took the statement that the sister of Patiño was a pupil in the College of Looban, whereas P. Mariano Gil himself states that it was that known as the Orphan Asylum for Girls at Mandaloya.
Note 98. The following sketch of P. Mariano Gil is taken from the Heraldo de Madrid which in its number of the 6th October 1896, said:
“P. Gil was born in Carreon de los Condes (Palencia) on the 2nd of July 1849. Whilst still young he entered the Augustinian College of Valladolid. His studies concluded, he passed to the Philippines where he filled the duties of parish priest in several Tagalog pueblos. Till recently he has been holding the position of parish priest of Tondo, a suburb of Manila. He was fortunate enough to discover the plot of the insurrection on the 19th of August last,[302]denouncing it at an opportune moment. The Spaniards gathered in manifestation to the palace of the Governor General; Sr. Blanco did not condescend to receive them and they therefore went at once to pay their respects to P. Gil and the Archbishop, both of whom congratulated them for their patriotic attitude. A newspaper of Manila, El Español, published the picture of the parish priest of Tondo; but scarcely had the first copies of the paper appeared on the street, than General Blanco ordered their suppression, commanding that a new edition be printed omitting the said picture and the laudatory phrases which the El Español had dedicated to the eminent Augustinian, from this time a note-worthy patriot to whom the public did a justice which General Blanco either did not know how, or did not wish to do him.”
Speaking of this patriotic Padre, Sr. Castillo y Jimenez11 says:
“His character is gruff; he asks nothing, he demands; he does not beseech, he asks; and what he demands and asks is just and lawful, because it bears in its essence the [303]benefit of mankind, aiding the unfortunate, warding off their dangers, delivering them from the attacks which envy and vengeance might deal out to pacific and humble people. He is inflexible with the reprobate and disloyal, magnanimous with those who have been deceived; proud with the haughty and humble with the weak, and in his generous life has wiped away many tears, distributed much bread to the poor, and many times proportioned assistance to the needy that they should not fall into want.”
The good work done in the discovery of the diabolical plot of the Katipunan, has very naturally been the object of a great amount of bitter criticism at the hands of the separatist element, which has never pardoned the valiant Augustinian for springing their carefully laid traps. He was denounced in the lodge rooms of Filipino freemasonry, from one of which was despatched a letter directed to him and bearing his picture, as will be seen in the accompanying illustration. His discovery was depreciated and belittled, and made to appear a farce. His patriotism was called into question and his very life was placed in imminent danger.[304]
However the torrents of lies that have poured forth against him have not, and can not obliterate the truth.
Isabelo de los Reyes to belittle the labors of discovery of P. Gil, affirms that Antonio Luna notified Blanco of the existence of the association previous to the discovery of P. Gil. Be that as it may; the secret police had also notified Blanco of what was going on. Three times did the Archbishop of Manila do the same, and so also did the other prelates of Manila and Prior of the Convent of Guadalupe, and Lieut. Sityer12. But this does not lessen the value of Padre Gil’s discovery, but rather adds to its importance. For whilst Blanco was sufficiently posted on the matter to be able to judge of the necessity of taking immediate proceedings, [305]there was wanting that healthy stimulus which was given by P. Gil. A stubborn carbuncle often needs the aid of the lance: P. Gil’s discovery was the lance which brought to the surface the putrid matter which nature could not, of herself, eject. This putrid matter extending itself, would have brought about the mortification of the whole body, had not the surgeon applied his lance in good time. And although the lance of the surgeon brought pain to the patient it saved her for the time, giving back to her a state of relative health.
Note 99. The first executions which took place were those of four rebels captured in flagrante in San Juan del Monte. These were Sancho Valenzuela, Eugenio Silvestre, Modesto Sarmiento and Ramón Peralta. Of these Valenzuela was the only one of any importance. Sarmiento was acabeza de barangay13 of Santa Ana where he owned a small nipa house which he rented out, performing at the same time the office of cook and house boy to the tenant. [306]On the way to execution he met his tenant-master and, in a nonchalant manner, greeted him with as pleasant a Buenos dias Señor, as if he were on the way to some joyous function or a grand “meet” at the cock-pit. Before his execution Valenzuela also showed a spirit of coolness and serenity, signing his last will and testament with a firm hand, and smiling. Both showed the spirit of men thoroughly fascinated by some superior power, neither realizing the crime they had committed nor the punishment they were to undergo.
The second execution took place in Cavite, thirteen rebels being shot. These were Francisco Osorio, Maximo Inocencio, Luis Aguado, Victoriano Luciano, Hugo Pérez, José Lallana, Antonio San Agustin, Agapito Conchu, Feliciano Cabuco, Mariano Gregorio, Eugenio Cabezas and two constables of the public prison of the province. These constables had pressed into their traitorous service a number of the muchachos of the prison. Francisco Osorio was a very wealthy Chinese half-caste. He had been honored by Spain with several honors, among them the Grand Cross of Carlos III. He was very intimate with the [307]authorities in Cavite. His father, a wealthy Chinee, and his cousin, a doctor, both denounced him at the moment of his execution.
“After the reading of the sentence,” says an eye-witness, “in front of the square which we formed, he commenced to cry, asking pardon of the General and of all Spaniards; he affirmed that he was a Spaniard and that he would never conspire again against the country in which he had been educated, and he cursed the freemasons who in Madrid had initiated him into the hatred of religion and the fatherland. The doctor his cousin, turning to him, said:Silence Osorio! don’t cry so; what will the Spaniards benefit from your repentance; but the miserable fellow paid no attention to him, and asked to be allowed to kiss the Spanish flag before he died. This permission was not granted.”
Maximo Inocencio was the proprietor of a large store and was a contractor to the Arsenal. He had been previously arrested for implication in the revolt in Cavite in 1872. At that time he escaped but was afterwards pardoned; the signal rocket was to be fired from his storehouse in Cavite.
Luis Aguado was also a contractor for the Arsenal.[308]
Victoriano Luciano, a chemist, was a wealthy half-caste who had not lived long in Cavite.
Hugo Pérez, was an indio. He was the venerable of the masonic lodge. In his house were discovered two large photographs in which the majority of the thirteen persons executed were photographed in the form of a triangle; a book with a triangle and other masonic insignia on its front page, and four important letters of anti-Spanish masonic propaganda.
Lallana was a tailor, and some say a peninsular Spaniard. For a while he was chief of police of Cavite and had been a corporal of Marines.
Antonio San Agustin was an indian, a petty merchant and a man who could scarcely bear the sight of a Spaniard.
Agapito Conchu was a master of a primary school, and a half-caste. He had once been detained in the time of Despujols but granted his liberty. Apart from his school, he gave lessons to some of the children of the Spanish families of the town, including the daughter of the Governor of Cavite.
Cabuco was an escribiente14 of the administration [309]of State; and Eugenio Cabezas a watch-tinker.
These executions were followed by that of a member of the Guardia Civil, Mariano Magno, in Nueva Ecija. Magno had always been noted for his lack of obedience to his superiors, his hatred of discipline and ill-feeling in general towards Spaniards. Fifteen others were shot in Iligan on the 28th of October of the same year. Many others suffered the like penalty in different parts of the Archipelago.
Note 100. Those sentenced to deportation were, for the most part, sent to Jolo, Puerta Princesa, Balabac and to the penitentiary colonies.
To the first named place were sent 69 persons of all kinds and conditions, trades and occupations. Among them was a Juan Cuadra, a chemist in Ermita. To Puerta Princesa went 53, and to Balabac 56 both lots well assorted. Those most compromised in the insurrection were sent to Fernando Poo, these numbering some 200. Three hundred more were sent to Mindanao. Among the 200 sent to Fernando Poo were merchants, compositors, silversmiths, book-binders, [310]carriage painters, laundrymen, escribientes, a clerk of the Puerta del Sol on the Escolta, hat-makers, tailors, laborers, students, lawyers and among them the irrepressible jack-in-the-box, Thomas William of the Rosary (Tomas G. del Rosario); telephone operators, school-teachers and three members of the secret police; among the rag and tag of the good-for-nothings, and as chief of them, was the famoustranslator of the scriptures, Pascual H. Poblete15.
Note 101. Apolinario Mabini was born in the pueblo of Tanauan, province of Batangas, and was the son of parents of the poorer and lower classes. He came to Manila as a lad and received his secondary education in the College of San Juan de Letran at the hands of the Dominican Fathers, taking the degree of professor. Later on he was employed in the Intendencia and by [311]careful saving and by steady application he continued his studies for law and concluded his course at the University of Santo Tomas also at the hands of the Dominicans who spared no efforts on behalf of his success. From the University he received the title of Licentiate of Law in 1895.
He entered the office of the notary Numeriano Adriano to practice law, and whilst there employed, was drawn by Adriano into the net of masonry, joining the lodge Balagtas which was one of those founded from the overflow of the original Filipino lodge Nilad. Adriano was the venerable of the said[312]lodge. When the Liga Filipina was formed and had gotten well into working order Mabini was named a councillor of the superior Council (see page 28). According to the testimony of Moises Salvador (see page 296) Mabini was also secretary of the Association of Compromisarios.
He was arrested as one of the chief instigators of the revolt and after due trial was sentenced to death. The Spanish authorities however, took compassion upon him because of his pitiful condition, he being paralysed in the lower parts of the body17; so instead of including his name in the list [313]of those who expiated their treason on the field of Bagumbayan, they foolishly gave him his liberty.
Once more free, Mabini left Manila for his own pueblo of Tanauan where he lived quietly till Aguinaldo was brought over in 1898 by Admiral Dewey to serve as a bush-beater to the American forces. Mabini was thereupon carried from Tanauan to Cavite where he joined the faithless Magdalo.
In Cavite he drew up a project of a constitutional law for the Philippines. In the first page of this he affirmed that the precepts of the Ten Commandments were [314]an invention of the friars! And yet Mabini was the Filipino Solomon. He instructed the people that they ought not to believe in the said decalogue or practice what it commanded, but that they should only practice the precepts of the Verdadero Decálogo which he prepared and gave to the public as their spiritual guide.
Mabini very soon became radical and decidedly anti-American in his ideas, and succeeded in attaining such moral ascendancy over Aguinaldo that the latter ceased to be the leader of the people and the true dictator of the Filipino republic, becoming [315]a toy in the hands of a man who could twist and turn him here and there at his will.
Mabini refused to take the oath of allegiance and was, on the 7th of January 1901 deported under General Order No. 4 to the island of Guam, as one of the persons “whose acts clearly demonstrate them to be favorers or sympathizers with the insurrection.”
Note 102. The advanced political ideas held and propagated by the separatists were not bad in themselves; no particular objection [316]can be raised against them as political ideas. But when we consider by whom and for whom these “reforms” were asked, we begin to appreciate the necessity to which the indian was put of endeavoring to attain them by armed struggle. Taking away the revolutionary basis upon which the plans of the Liga were raised, nothing remains but the empty walls of a roofless building. These walls or ideas are contained in the plans of reforms drawn up by almost every jackanapes in the Liga who could write down his thoughts with any amount of clearness. These plans agreed upon certain [317]points, chiefly representation in the Spanish parliament and the expulsion of the Religious Orders. These two points appear to have been the essence of the direct aims of theseparatists (see p. 69).
Others called for the Spanish constitution with its consequences: the liberty of the press and the liberty of associations. Liberty of the press was ever an unknown quantity in the Philippines. The idea of the liberty of the press is very beautiful when its liberties are not abused; it was the abuse of what little liberty the press enjoyed, in the latter days of Spanish rule, that induced the [318]authorities to impose such a close censure upon it as they did. Whatever may be said in its favor, press censorship and such sedition laws as we enjoy to-day in this nondescript piece of the world’s surface, are more proper of absolute monarchies than of territory of the U. S. of America, although in our particular case we might as well be under the despotic, ever deteriorating rule of Aguinaldo, as that of a body of men whose intentions however good and sincere they may be, fall short, when put into practice, of the proverbial ingenuity in governing, of the famous Sancho Panza in his island of Barataria. Freedom of the [319]press is at times a blessing, and at others a curse. From 1888 to 1896 it would have been more of the latter than of the former; for giving such a liberty to the separatists who asked it, would be arming the enemy with the best arms.
As to liberty of associations. People in the Temperance world often ask themselves, does prohibition prohibit? Some make themselves believe that it does; but practice has shown what common sense tells each and every one of us, that it does not; for if a man (and I do not wish to be so ungallant as to exclude the ladies) cannot get what he wants legally, he as a rule sees that he gets it somehow. And so with the Filipinos who, denied the liberty of association, defied the authorities and held their gatherings in secret and secluded places.
All these various political ideas were decidedly advanced in as much as they had relation to a people in no way prepared to receive them. No father would put a loaded revolver or an open razor into the hands of his child; but those were the very things the separatists were howling for.[320]
1Previous to 1896 Aguinaldo was an almost unknown indio. He was at that time about 23 or 24 years of age, and like the far greater majority of the indios of the archipelago had forgotten what little he had learned at school. He was a lavandero2 for the Arsenal at Cavite, and possessed little command over the Spanish language, speaking it after the Cavite style, de cocina as the Spaniards say. He was the son of Carlos Aguinaldo who had several times held office under the Spanish Government, and who was at heart a bitter anti-Spaniard. Like the remainder of his fellow Tagalogs, Aguinaldo demonstrates a different character in connection with each event which takes place in his life. As capitan municipal in 1896 he was very Spanish in dealing with the authorities, but in dealing with his own people quite the reverse. Like the Taveras, the Legardas and the Buencaminos etc., he was an adept at political lightning changes. Buencamino in one of his absurd articles to the Filipino press (La Independencia, Sept. 6th 1896) speaking of him says: “... all the Filipinos unconditionally obey the president Aguinaldo seeing in him the messenger of God sent to redeem the Filipino people from all foreign domination, and because they see in the said chief the great virtues of fortitude, honor and magnanimity which ought to adorn all saviors of their country.”
The belief among some Filipinos that Aguinaldo was a semi-God was not uncommon at one time, and many hold to it even in these days. A certain Bray (apparently related very closely to the bray of an ass) went a step further in an article to the French Revue de Revues and compared Aguinaldo to Christ, to Alexander the Great, to Mahomet, to Caesar, to Napoleon and others!
Aguinaldo certainly demonstrated fortitude, and did not sell his sword to those he considered his enemies. His misfortune was that he fell into the hands of such advisers as Buencamino and others, who, after working up his stupid pride, deserted him in his hour of need. Aguinaldo showed fortitude and was never a traitor to what he considered the honor of his country. Honor to Aguinaldo in this respect.
2Washerman.
3As to the goodness of customs read the testimony of the most reliable chroniclers and historians of the earliest days of Spanish history.
4The pacto de sangre was performed thus: a wound was made in the body of each person who was to form a party to the treaty about to be made, and the blood that flowed from the wounds thus made was mixed in a receptacle prepared for the occasion; each then drank a portion of the blood thus mixed. It is needless to say that Legaspi refused to perform such a savage, cannibalistic ceremony.
5Worthy perhaps but certainly not legitimate. The Katipunan was illegitimate from all points of view; nor was it a child really of Bonifacio. The conception was of Pilar (Marcelo H.) and Bonifacio was but the foster father encharged with the bringing up of the child.
6A people’s language is the expression of its sentiments. There are in this archipelago, native languages in which no word exists to express “thank you.”
7F. Buenaventura Campa was one of the two Dominican Fathers who willingly devoted themselves to the care of the sufferers stricken with the cholera plague which has carried off so many people both in Manila and the provinces. He, together with his companion, P. Cándido, bore with remarkable patience and self-abnegation the troubles and trials consequent upon the extraordinary plans adopted by an inexperienced Sanitary Department for the treatment of the dread enemy.
8Half mad.
9Juan Utor y Fernandez (bro∴ Espartero) confessed that Blanco was a freemason; he affirmed also that his masonic name was bro∴ Barcelona. Lacasa, Lieut. Auditor of war, and one of the heads of freemasonry in the Philippines declared that among the freemasons of the archipelago was counted Sr. D. Ramon Blanco, Capt Gen. of the Army and Gov. Gen. of the Islands.
10The following interesting notes will give some idea of what the Blanco administration was like.
In the report of the secret police for the 3rd of June 1896, appears the following:—
“Notice is hereby given of the confidential information given by a freemason in respect to the reason why the masonic lodges are at rest, and the attitude of Generals Blanco and Echaluce in regard to the same.
“This freemason, Juan Merchan, says: “we are now sleeping; we cannot work; we are tutored by the experience of the persecution directed against us by General Echaluce. Until General Blanco returns from Mindanao we can do nothing, for he at least does not disturb us, and even helps us. The proof of this is that during the previous voyage to Mindanao (of Blanco) Gen. Echaluce commenced to deport people; but when Blanco got to know of it, he wrote to him ordering him not to deport anyone without his consent, and not to do anything in the matter till his return from Mindanao.”
11El Katipunan, etc.; p. 89.
12Blanco, whether because he was bound by compromise, or because of fear, heeded not the warnings of the approaching danger. As a soldier face to face with an enemy Blanco was not lacking in courage; but when the enemy was invisible, and more tact than courage was needed in the combat, Blanco was like a little child in the dark, frightened at the least sound—chicken hearted. It is certainly a remarkable thing that bro∴ Barcelona had the courage to pass through the ordeals of his initiation into freemasonry.
13The head of a pueblo. The most ancient form of rule in the Archipelago.
14See page 63.
15Pascual H. Poblete: a pobre diablo who speaks Spanish like a chino and writes it far worse. Poblete is greatly devoted to cock-fighting; but being as reckless in the enjoyment of this sport as he is in everything else he undertakes, he finds his pocket always more or less empty. To fill this pocket he is ever hunting up schemes to make money in the easiest way possible. The subscription lists he has started for various pious or patriotic objects are well nigh innumerable.
The Heraldo de Madrid, of the 19th of November 1896, says of this charlatan:
“Well paired with Tomás del Rosario, the indio who, by literary fraud gained from Señor Nuñez de Arce a good position in the Philippines, is Pascual H. Poblete also anindio16 and a person of history too.
“His first steps in work in the newspapers of his country were as translator of the Spanish text of a bilingual review into Tagalog.
“He propagated political themes widely, but above all, those articles of the Civil and Penal code favorable to his countrymen; to these articles he added comments.... Under the pretext of competing with the Chinese he founded a cooperative association which was the subject of much talk. It was really nothing else than an association distinctly political and eminently anti-Spanish. He however succeeded in dissimulating, and when he created the newspaper El Resumen, placed a peninsular Spaniard, a native of Aragon, at its head. He then did all he could to gain the confidence of Despujols, whom he visited every once in a while.
“As Despujols step by step lost favor with the European element, Poblete praised him more and more and this was, in itself, a good sign of the direction in which was going this Poblete, a man lacking talent, lacking wit, and enjoying nothing but an insane intention. During the last years he made continuous anti-Spanish propaganda, and was a bitter enemy of the Spaniards, excepting some few degenerates who yet believed in the good faith of this pobre diablo.”
In later days he changed his religion—that is if he ever had one to change, and devoted himself to sponging upon the Bible Societies and the protestant and Mormon missionaries who came to the Philippines. On one occasion he translated from Spanish into Tagalog the Holy Scriptures, and seeing that never in his life had he been a successful translator even of newspaper paragraphs, but could only succeed in giving little more than a very general idea of what was contained in the Spanish text, it was not to be wondered at that, as a famous literary critic well versed in the Tagalog once said: “Poblete’s Tagalog bible reads more like a badly written chronicle than a version of the sacred Scriptures. If I thought that our Lord and his Apostles preached and taught what Poblete puts into their mouths, I would go to China and become a disciple of Confucius.”
In the latter days of Spanish rule Poblete was always more or less under the eyes of the authorities, and on the 17th of April 1896 the Secret Police asked of General Blanco the necessary permission to search the houses of several highly suspicious people, among them that of Pascual H. Poblete.
Our hero figured at one time as an expert in the raising of subscriptions for monuments and if I am not very much mistaken, he once had a hand in the raising of money for the coming monument to Rizal the hero and martyr of the Filipino Libre party. It would be very interesting to know what became of all the funds that passed through his hands: the majority apparently went to back his favorite birds at the cock-pits.
Since the American occupation Poblete’s chief enterprise, apart from cock-fighting and “sponging upon the ignorantes who listened to his ravings with more or less favor because he was a protestant, was the editing and publishing of a dirty little “sheet” known as the Ang Kapatid nang Bayan.” In this so called newspaper Poblete aired his radical political ideas with such vigor that the Provost Marshal was compelled to call him down. The pobre diablo then turned his attention to another pastime which would combine the advantages of demonstrating his unsurpassable abilities, of airing his opinions and, last mentioned but of the greatest importance, the quality of putting into his pocket a goodly number of easily earned dollars. This pastime took the shape of a theatrical enterprise: Constancia, the daughter of the said mountebank “composed and wrote” a play entitled Ang Pag Ibig Sa Lupang Tinubinan: For the Love of Country. Poblete’s better half (which is not saying much) played the part of the heroine. The whole play was incendiary in the extreme and the audience being Tagalogs of the lowest and most ignorant class, the result was that they were thrown into a state of the greatest frenzy. Poblete put this play on the boards of the Teatro Oriental. All went well in the first acts; and following out the “plot” of the play, the town of Imus was supposed to have been taken by the rebels. Dramatic shouts of Viva La Independencia; were raised from time to time by the actors, followed by shouts from the audience of Viva Filipinas! Viva Aguinaldo! Suddenly there rushed from the “wings” a gaudy looking creature who ought to have been the Tondo market selling cockles and crabs; this turned out to be the heroine. In one hand she held a revolutionary flag and in the other a bolo. Viva La Independencia was the shout which almost raised the roof; but as fate would have it Poblete was doomed to be humbled to the dust. Just as he was promising himself a fine string of dollars from his new enterprise Capt. Lara and a number of police appeared on the scene, and Poblete, his katipunan banners and bolos etc., were seized and the house cleared of its fanatical occupants.
To-day he amuses himself in fitting out bands of little boys who on “state” occasions parade the streets with American flags and Japanese lanterns, and placards with various inscriptions, the chief ones being petitions for an amnesty on behalf of all those who have “done what they ought not to have done”. Poblete would open the doors of the prisons of the Archipelago and let loose all their occupants. The result? A political boom for Poblete, an increase in the membership of the Partido Nacionalista and an increase of crime to a thousand fold, not only in Manila but throughout the whole archipelago.
Poor Poblete a pobre infeliz, a stain upon the good name of the filipino. But then, what would Filipinas be without her Poblete; almost like a cat without fleas.
16If I am not in error, Poblete is a Chinee halfcaste.
17Cruz Herrera, now alcalde of Manila, was another upon whom the authorities took pity on account of the rheumatism from which he suffered to such an extent that he could scarcely walk.
[Contents]
Appendix A.
A∴ L∴ G∴ D∴ A∴ M∴
G∴ R∴ Log∴ SUNT∴
“The executive Commission sends to the V. Masters D. Deg. O. O. T. and O. G. O. S. of the L. Log. of the Obedience.
L∴ T∴ M∴
“Venerable Masters and beloved brethren. After our circular of the 28th of May last it would seem unnecessary to remind you, that you give the most exact fulfillment to those points which the same embraces, the which were approved by the Grand Assembly celebrated on the 15th of the same month; but nevertheless, as the time of our cause has assured and all provision is but little in the present moments, [321]it has appeared well to us to direct this other circular to you in order to fix more correctly the points which have to be the object of the most exact fulfillment. We will now pass on to the enumeration of the same.
First: The triangles will perform strictly all and every one of the dispositions dictated by their respective presidents, and venerable honorary brethren, not allowing the least or most insignificant point to slip their observation, for even when it seems to our venerable brethren otherwise, it is of the greatest transcendency.
“The smallest omission in these dispositions might prejudice in a great manner our labors, the fruit of many years of constancy and hope of a sure triumph.
“Second: Once the signal is given every bro∴ shall fulfill the duty imposed upon him by this Gr∴ Reg∴ Log∴ without considerations of any kind, neither of parentage, friendship or gratitude, etc.
“Third: Those who on account of debility, cowardice or other considerations do not fulfill their duty, already know the tremendous punishment they will incur for disloyalty and disobedience to this G. R. Log.
Fourth: The blow having been struck [322]at the Captain General and the other Spanish Authorities, the loyals shall attack the convents and shall behead their infamous inhabitants, respecting the wealth contained in the said convents; this shall be gathered by the commissions named for that purpose by the G. R. Log. and it shall not be lawful for any of our brethren to possess themselves of what justly belongs to the treasury of the G. N. F. (Grand Filipino Nation)
“Fifth: Those who fail to carry out what is set forth in the foregoing paragraph shall be held as malefactors and subjected to exemplary punishment by this G. R. Log.
“Sixth: On the following day the bro∴ designated shall bury all the bodies of their hateful oppressors in the field of Bagumbayan together with theirwives and children, and on the site shall later on be raised a monument commemorative of the independence of the G. N. F.
“Seventh: The bodies of the members of the Religious Orders shall not be buried, but burned in just payment of the felonies which they committed during life against Filipino nation during the three hundred years of their nefarious domination. (see note 26.)[323]
“And whilst awaiting the day of our redemption this executive commission shall continue giving the sure guide which we all have to follow in the presence of the facts to the end that none of our brethren shall be able to say that they were unwarned.
“In the G∴ R∴ Log∴ in Manila, the 12th of June 1896.—The first of the long desired independence of the Philippines.—The President of the executive Commission, Bolivar. The Gr∴ Mast∴ Adj∴ Giordano Bruno.—The Gr∴ Sec∴ Galileo.
[Contents]
Appendix B.
Under the title of “My part in the Revolution,” Isabelo de los Reyes in an artful attempt to defend himself before those who considered him a coward because of his ever shirking that part of the task of the revolt which naturally fell to him, gives his readers the following information:
“When it was desired to effect the manifestation of 1888, (see p. 60), Ramos took me to the palace of Malacañan, to express to Gen. Terrero verbally the complaints of [324]the “country”; but I do not know why, but on that day the manifestation did not come off....”
“From the palace of Malacañan we went to the house of Doroteo Cortes, who instructed me in the object of the manifestation, thus:
“... We reckon with the pleasure of the Civil Governor Sr. Centeno (see note 2) to make a manifestation against the friars, who oppress us with their abuses, and oppose the progress of the country.”
“—Very good indeed I replied full of enthusiasm.
“But my enthusiasm disappeared entirely when Cortes told me with the greatest frankness, that they asked and were sure of attaining their wish, that the Archbishop should be deported, merely for having failed to assist at the religious functions dedicated to the King1.[325]
“I then doubted the ability2 of the directors of the manifestation, and believed that they would be irremissibly crushed by the friars, who were very astute and powerful, as in fact it so happened.
“I retired leaving Ramos in that house.
“I immediately went to see his father and said to him: The manifestation has fallen flat. I have come to tell you that in my [326]opinion, your son ought not to sign the instance of the manifestos. Let all those who like do so, but it would be a pity that your son who, in the time to come, may be able to render signal services to the country should now fall crushed by the friars. Now that Cortés says that he reckons with the authorities, your son’s signature is not very necessary.
“And neither Cortés nor Ramos signed it.”
1This was Alfonso XII. the anniversary of whose death fell of the 25th of November. Archbishop Payo had been suffering for a considerable time from dysentery. Apart from this, the bitterness of the official relations at that time between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities had completely incapacitated the venerable prelate from attending to his official duties. Consequently, acting upon the advice of his physician, the Archbishop left Manila for Navotas for a few days of complete rest. The departure of the Archbishop happened to almost coincide with the anniversary of the death of the King; but as the prelate was physically unable to attend to the pontifical ceremonies which were to be held on that day and to the other functions consequent upon such a solemn occasion, he was wisely advised to absent himself from the city.
Freemasonry ever on the watch, saw in this an opportunity to attack the Religious Orders, and taking advantage of it, demanded: “The insult committed by the archbishop being therefore very culpable, and having caused the greatest indignation to the government, to the nation, and in particular to those of this country, as devoted to their king; it is indispensable to expel him from this soil, imposing upon him the penalty of temporary banishment marked out by article 142 of the penal code.
2To judge from his writing, Isabelo held the idea that he alone was able to direct everything connected with the revolt. Isabelo takes upon himself the intellectual work of the affair leaving to others the dirty work.
[Contents]
Appendix C.
Confidential.
A L∴ G∴ D∴ G∴ A∴ D∴ U∴
Liberty Equality Fraternity.
Universal Freemasonry Spanish Family.
Sends S∴ F∴ S∴ to the Rep∴ Log∴ Modestia No. 199.
“Seeing that there have circulated rumors among us that in spite of the masonic secret, in spite of the secrecy of our works, there exist in the hands of our enemies, [327]lists of masons more or less correct, more or less extensive, public opinion has shown itself anxious to know whether we have been vilely sold.... And when the La Política de España en Filipinas has commenced to publish correspondence which ought to have been carefully and sacredly guarded, this anxiety reached its highest point, embracing the desire to discover the author or authors although it would appear that the source of leakage has been found, even though the form and details are unknown.
“The presidency of the Cons∴ Reg∴ has not been able to remain indifferent before the scandal which is developing ..; on the contrary it has from the first endeavored to discover the truth....
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“I am sorry to have to confess that the hour of the revelation has not yet sounded.... But incidental discoveries oblige me to break silence giving the voice of alarm; and to what point this determination is justified, you shall judge by the facts I am about to relate.
“1st. Pedro Serrano, symbolic name Panday Pira, gr∴ 24, in his anxiety to discredit [328]local masonry, since this refuses to be exploited has permitted himself to make calumnious affirmations to a foreign mason concerning this Federation, manifesting at the same time pretensions which are a sure sign of perverse intentions.
“2nd. It is known that the same Serrano frequents the Archbishop’s palace and the College of San Juan de Letran with the peculiarity that in both establishments his symbolic name in known, and he has manifested in the formed establishment that he is a man whose companionship is to be avoided because he occupies himself with giving information.
“3rd. It happened later on that the said Serrano presented himself in the house of Sr. Marte, gr∴ 3, late secretary of the lodge Nilad, demanding the handing over of documents of the secretaryship which he said belonged to him, threatening that otherwise he would report the matter to General Blanco, and the extraction of the documents would be made by the friar parish priest of the said suburb.
“4th. Lastly: in the meeting of the parochial clergy held in the Archbishop’s palace—the morning of the 13th of this [329]month— ... masonry and masons were discussed; and the Archbishop said to the parish priest of Quiapo: you must tell the school-master of your suburb that it is not sufficient to have abjured his masonic beliefs, but that it is also necessary to fulfill the conditions agreed upon.
“Consequently it will be convenient that you gather together the Cam∴ del Medio and read therein the present document, adding the explanation and comments you deem necessary, and that with respect to the other CCam∴ you limit yourselves to giving account of the fact, demonstrating its enormity, pointing out its author and taking what steps are necessary to prevent contagion.
Receive Ven∴ Mast∴ and G∴ bro∴ the fraternal embrace of peace we send you.
Manila 31st November 1894.
The Gr∴ Pres∴
Musa (Ambrosio Flores).[330]
[Contents]
Appendix D.
Anting-antings constitute the remnants of what was once, what might be called the religion of the peoples of the Philippines. They are most commonly met with in the form of amulets which their possessors carry about with them to ward off dangers of all kinds. There are amulets for protection against fire arms, against sword thrust or bolo slash; against diseases of all parts of the body; amulets against the bursting of fire arms or to prevent them making a noise when discharged by the wearer of the amulet; against snakes and their bites, against lightning; amulets to protect their wearers against the courts of justice and against the authorities when they pursue them for robbery. In a word amulets or anting-anting against everything.
As a rules these amulets consist of small booklets containing prayers composed of Latin and Spanish words mixed with words [331]and abbreviations of the native dialects. Some times they are stones or mineral deposits found in the bodies of animals, or the seed portion of petrified fruits, or even parts of the skeletons of children.
Although one would suppose that such superstitions had long since ceased to exist among the indians of the archipelago such is not the case; and it is more than probable that the majority of the members of the federal party and may be two out of the three native members of the Commission carry their anting-anting carefully guarded in one of their pockets. However their use is most common among native doctors, that is those who have not studiedmedicine, but who dabble in the art for what they can get out of it, and by tulisanes or armed robbers. They were also much in vogue among theenlightened officers and men of the insurgent ranks, many of whom considered themselves perfectly safe from the bullets of their enemies when they carried in their person an amulet or anting-anting.
The following are samples of pages of one of the booklets found on the person of a wounded tulisan. The first of these two pages contains a prayer against fire-arms, [332]and the second a conglomeration which no one has never been able to decipher.
talis misererenobis Amin.
Oracion de S. Pablo contra armas de foigo ip. Ntro. y Av.
Jesús S. Pablo Ponitom quiter Deus Salucam tuam, Amin.
Prele queno niar en res tom Domi nom nos tom
h✠a✠✠✠Q✠n
Anting-anting is also found in other forms, sometimes merely a strip of paper bearing some inscription, and which receives its virtue from some action performed over it, such as the saying of the mass whilst the paper is on the altar.
A parish priest of a pueblo in a neighboring province once related to me the discovery of one such an anting-anting in his church. He approached the altar to recite the Mass, and upon genuflecting at the centre of the altar noticed that there was something unusual, although small, under the altar cloth. He put his hand under the cloth [333]to see what it was and found there a slip of paper bearing three crosses, thus:
✠
✠
✠
This paper had been carelessly folded and placed where he found it, upon the altar stone. Had it remained undisturbed and the service of Mass been said over it, it would have, in the belief of the indian who put it there, become infused with marvelous virtues and could have protected its wearer from the dangers to be incurred in the armed rising against the Spaniards which they were about to attempt.
In all probability Buencamino carried some anting-anting with him to Washington to protect him from assassination or from ... nausea.[334]
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Appendix E.
Manila, 10th January 1897.
“I Faustino Villaruel y Zapanta, 52 years of age, publicly declare that as I was born so wish I to die—a Spaniard, a christian, a Roman Apostolic Catholic; and that I detest with my whole soul any rebellion or treason against our beloved mother Spain.
“I also repent of having belonged to masonry and of having devoted myself to its propaganda in these islands and having been such a bigoted mason that I caused my two children to enter also into the society I now curse. I counsel my children and all my friends to renounce the said society, and beg pardon of God, as I do now, it being condemned by the Church.
“I beseech the most Excellent and Illustrious Archbishop to make public this my spontaneous and free retraction.—Faustino Villaruel. Witnesses:—the official guard of the Chapel, Antonio Pardo.—the sergeant of the Guard, Felix Garcia.”[335]
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Appendix F. G. H. I. J.
These latter appendices have been suppressed in this first edition for want of space.
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