 |
Thus began the Insurgent attack, so long and so carefully planned for. We learn from the Insurgent records that the shot of the American sentry missed its mark. There was no reason why it should have provoked a hot return fire, but it did.
The result of the ensuing combat was not at all what the Insurgents had anticipated. The Americans did not drive very well. It was but a short time before they themselves were routed and driven from their positions.
Aguinaldo of course promptly advanced the claim that his troops had been wantonly attacked. The plain fact is that the Insurgent patrol in question deliberately drew the fire of the American sentry, and this was just as much an act of war as was the firing of the shot. Whether the patrol was acting under proper orders from higher authority is not definitely known.
In this connection the following telegram sent by Captain Zialcita from Santa Ana on February 4, 1899, at 9.55 P.M., to Major Gray, San Juan del Monte, is highly interesting:
"I received the telegram forwarded from Malolos. General Ricarte is not here. I believe (that if the) Americans open fire we shall attack. Will ask instructions (of) Malolos." [228]
This looks as if Zialcita at least knew that something was to be done to draw the American fire.
Aguinaldo's first statement relative to the opening of hostilities is embodied in a general order dated Malolos, February 4, 1899, and reads in part as follows:—
"Nine o'clock P.M., this date, I received from Caloocan station a message communicated to me that the American forces, without prior notification or any just motive, attacked our camp at San Juan del Monte and our forces garrisoning the blockhouses around the outskirts of Manila, causing losses among our soldiers, who in view of this unexpected aggression and of the decided attack of the aggressors, were obliged to defend themselves until the firing became general all along the line.
"No one can deplore more than I this rupture of hostilities. I have a clear conscience that I have endeavoured to avoid it at all costs, using all my efforts to preserve friendship with the army of occupation, even at the cost of not a few humiliations and many sacrificed rights.
* * * * *
"... I order and command:—
"1. Peace and friendly relations between the Philippine forces and the American forces of occupation are broken, and the latter will be treated as enemies, with the limits prescribed by the laws of war.
"2. American soldiers who may be captured by the Philippine forces will be treated as prisoners of war.
"3. This proclamation shall be communicated to the accredited consuls of Manila, and to congress, in order that it may accord the suspension of the constitutional guarantees and the resulting declaration of war." [229]
Aguinaldo's protestations relative to his efforts to avoid hostilities are absurd, in view of his own instructions concerning the attack to be made simultaneously within and without the city of Manila.
There is other correspondence which throws light on the situation which existed immediately prior to the outbreak of hostilities. On January 25, 1899, Agoncillo cabled from Washington to Apacible in Hongkong: "Recommend you await beginning American aggression, justifying our conduct nations." [230]
Apacible apparently did not take this view of the matter, for on January 31 he wrote to Aguinaldo that the Senate in Washington would take final vote upon the treaty of peace between the United States and Spain on February 6, and said:—
"It is urgently necessary for America to answer us immediately before the ratification of the treaty. A conflict after the ratification of the treaty would be unfavorable to us in public opinion." [231]
Obviously this letter might be interpreted as a recommendation that hostilities begin before February 6 if America did not answer meanwhile. It was evidently well understood in Hongkong that Aguinaldo's receipt of Apacible's letter might cause war to begin, for on February 3, 1899, Bray, anticipating the outbreak of hostilities of the following day, cabled Senator Hoar at Washington as follows:—
"Receive caution news hostilities Manila discredited here denied Filipino circles supposed political move influence vote Senate to-day any ease insignificant skirmish due intentional provocation.
"Bray." [232]
The extracts from the Insurgent records above quoted leave no escape from the conclusion that the outbreak of hostilities which occurred on February 4, 1899, had been carefully prepared for and was deliberately precipitated by the Filipinos themselves.
Blount says:—
"It would be simply wooden-headed to affirm that they ever expected to succeed in a war with us." [233]
It may have been wooden-headed for the Filipinos to expect this, but expect it they certainly did. We have seen how they held their soldiers in check until after Spain had been ousted from the Philippines by the Treaty of Paris as they had originally planned to do. It now only remained to carry out the balance of their original plan to get rid of the Americans in one way or another.
General Otis states that "when Aguinaldo had completed his preparations for attack he prepared the outlines of his declaration of war, the full text of which was published at Malolos on the evening, and very shortly after, hostilities began. This declaration was circulated in Manila on the morning of February 5." [234]
The Insurgents brought down upon themselves the punishment which they received on February 4 and 5.
Blount has stated [235] that if the resolutions of Senator Bacon introduced on January 11, 1899, had passed, we never should have had any war with the Filipinos. The resolutions in question concluded thus:—
"That the United States hereby disclaim any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said islands except for the pacification thereof, and assert their determination when an independent government shall have been duly erected therein entitled to recognition as such, to transfer to said government, upon terms which shall be reasonable and just, all rights secured under the cession by Spain, and to thereupon leave the government and control of the islands to their people."
I must take issue with Blount as to the effect which these resolutions might have had if passed. The Insurgents felt themselves to be fully competent to bring about such pacification of the islands as they deemed necessary. At the time the resolutions were presented in the Senate their soldiers were straining at the leash, ready to attack their American opponents upon the most slender excuse. Aguinaldo himself could not have held them much longer, and it is not impossible that they got away from him as it was. They would have interpreted the passage of the Bacon resolutions as a further evidence of weakness, and hastened their attack. As we have seen, "war, war, war" was what they wanted.
Blount has endeavoured to shift the responsibility for the outbreak of hostilities to the United States by claiming that certain words italicized by him in what he calls the "Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation" were necessarily, to the Insurgents, "fighting words." The expressions referred to have to do with the establishment of United States sovereignty and the exercise of governmental control in the Philippine Islands.
These words were not "fighting words," the Insurgent policy being, as I have shown by the records, to consider the acceptance of a protectorate or of annexation in the event that it did not prove possible to negotiate absolute independence, or probable that the American troops could be driven from the islands.
The growing confidence of the Insurgents in their ability to whip the cowardly Americans, rather than any fixed determination on their part to push a struggle for independence to the bitter end, led to their attack.
CHAPTER V
Insurgent Rule and the Wilcox-Sargent Report
The Good Book says, "By their fruits ye shall know them, whether they be good or evil," and it seems proper to apply this test to the Insurgents and their government.
The extraordinary claim has been advanced that the United States destroyed a republic in the Philippines and erected an oligarchy on its ruins. Various writers and speakers who have not gone so far as this have yet maintained that Aguinaldo and his associates established a real, effective government throughout the archipelago during the interim between his return and the outbreak of hostilities with the United States.
In summarizing conditions on September 15, 1898, Judge Blount says: [236]—
"Absolute master of all Luzon outside Manila at this time, with complete machinery of government in each province for all matters of justice, taxes, and police, an army of some 30,000 men at his beck, and his whole people a unit at his back, Aguinaldo formally inaugurated his permanent government—permanent as opposed to the previous provisional government—with a Constitution, Congress, and Cabinet, patterned after our own, [237] just as the South American republics had done before him when they were freed from Spain, at Malolos, the new capital."
He refers to our utter failure to understand "what a wonderfully complete 'going concern' Aguinaldo's government had become throughout the Philippine Archipelago before the Treaty of Paris was signed." [238]
He bases his claim as to the excellent state of public order in the Insurgent territory at this time on a report of Paymaster W. E. Wilcox and Naval Cadet L. R. Sargent of the United States Navy, who between October 8 and November 20, 1898, made a long, rapid trip through northern Luzon, traversing the provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela, Cagayan, South Ilocos and Union, in the order named, thence proceeding to Dagupan and down the railroad through Pangasinan, Tarlac, Pampanga and Bulacan to Manila.
He says that these gentlemen found the authority of Aguinaldo's government universally acknowledged, the country in a state of perfect tranquillity and public order, [239] with profound peace and freedom from brigandage and the like. [240]
Now if it be true that Aguinaldo established complete machinery of government throughout all of Luzon outside of Manila for all matters of justice, taxes and police, so that life and property were safe and peace, tranquillity and justice assured, we may well dispense with quibbling as to whether the proper name was applied to such government. But did he?
Let us examine with some care the history of the Wilcox-Sargent trip, and see if we can gain further light from other sources relative to the condition of public order in the territory which they traversed.
I propose, for the most part, to let the captured Insurgent records speak for themselves, as it is fair to assume that Insurgent officers were at no pains to represent conditions as worse than they really were. In view of the fragmentary character of these records, we may also assume that the complete story would be still more interesting and instructive than the one which I have been able to reconstruct.
Messrs. Sargent and Wilcox were almost everywhere hospitably received, and were entertained with dinners and dances after the inimitable fashion of the hospitable Filipino everywhere. They gained a very favourable impression of the state of public order in the provinces through which they passed for the reason that from the very start their trip was strictly personally conducted. They saw exactly what it was intended that they should see and very little more. Their progress was several times interrupted for longer or shorter periods without adequate explanation. We now know that on these occasions the scenery so carefully prepared in advance for them had become a little disarranged and needed to be straightened up. Facts which I will cite show that most shocking and horrible events, of which they learned nothing, were occurring in the territory through which they passed.
For a considerable time before their departure American visitors had been carefully excluded from the Insurgent territory, but the Filipino leaders decided to let these two men go through it to the end that they might make as favourable a report as possible. How carefully the way was prepared for American visitors is shown by the following telegram:—
"San Pedro, Macati,
"July 30, 1898.
"To the Local Presidente of Pasig:
"You are hereby informed that the Americans are going to your town and they will ask your opinion [of what the people desire.—Tr.] You should answer them that we want a republican government. The same answer must be given throughout your jurisdiction.
(Signed) "Pio Del Pilar,
"General of the Second Zone." [241]
Now General Pilar had an uncomfortable way of killing people who did not obey his orders, and under the rules of the Insurgent government he was abundantly justified in so doing. His suggestions as to what visiting Americans should be told or shown would be likely to be acceded to. Certainly this seems to have been the case in the present instance, for on the same day General Noriel reported as follows: [242]
"President R. G., Bacoor, from Gen. Noriel, Pineda, July 30, 12.10 P.M.: I inform your excellency that some commissioners of the American admiral are making investigations in the region around Pasay as to the wishes and opinion of the people as to the government. To-day I received a statement from some, giving the answer: 'Free government under American protectorate [copy mutilated, two or three words missing here] the President.'"
Blount quotes with approval Admiral Dewey's statement made shortly after the return of Wilcox and Sargent that in his opinion their report "contains the most complete and reliable information obtainable in regard to the present state of the northern part of Luzon Island." [243] This was true.
The admiral might have gone further and said that it contained practically the only information then obtainable in regard to conditions in the territory in question, but as I shall conclusively show it was neither complete nor reliable.
Judge Blount in describing the experiences of Messrs. Wilcox and Sargent naively makes the statement that:
"The tourists were provided at Rosales by order of Aguinaldo with a military escort, 'which was continued by relays all the way to Aparri.'" [244]
It certainly was!
Very little Spanish was then spoken in Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela or Cagayan. What opportunity had these two men, ignorant as they were of the native dialects, to learn the sinister facts as to what had been and was occurring in the territory which they visited?
No one can fail to be delighted with Filipino hospitality, which was lavishly bestowed upon them everywhere, and it is only natural that they should have reported favourably upon what they saw. It was about this time that an order was issued [245] that fronts of buildings should be whitewashed, streets cleaned and fences repaired with a view to showing every one, and especially travellers through the territory of the Insurgents, that they were "not opposed to a good such as a refined and civilized people should have." Doubtless the report of the two men from Dewey's fleet was made in the best of faith. I will now endeavour to show what were some of the actual conditions in the territory through which they passed.
Bulacan
They first visited Bulacan. They do not mention hearing of the activities of a Chinaman named Ignacio Paua, who had been given the rank of colonel by Aguinaldo and assigned the task of extorting contributions for the revolution from his countrymen. In a letter to Aguinaldo written on July 6, 1898, Paua states that he has collected more than $1,000 from the Chinese of these small towns, but asks for an order "prohibiting the outrages that are being committed against such merchants as are not our enemies." He further says, "When the contributions from the Chinamen of all the pueblos shall have been completed I wish to publish a proclamation forbidding any injury to the Chinamen and any interference with their small business enterprises," and adds that "the natives hereabouts themselves are the people who are committing said abuses." [246]
Apparently Paua had no objection to the committing of outrages against merchants that were the enemies of the cause, nor does he seem to have objected to injury to Chinamen before contributions were completed. His own methods were none too mild. On August 27, 1898, General Pio del Pilar telegraphed Aguinaldo that five Insurgent soldiers, under a leader supposed to be Paua, had entered the store of a Chinaman, and tried to kidnap his wife, but had left on the payment of $10 and a promise to pay $50 later, saying that they would return and hang their fellow countryman if the latter amount was not forthcoming. [247]
Paua was later made a general in consideration of his valuable services!
Pampanga
Our travellers next visited Pampanga. Here they apparently overlooked the fact that Aguinaldo did not have "his whole people a unit at his back." The citizens of Macabebe seem not to have approved of the Aguinaldo regime, for the Insurgent records show that:—
"Representatives of the towns of Pampanga assembled in San Fernando on June 26, 1898, and under the presidency of General Maximino Hizon agreed to yield him complete 'obedience as military governor of the province and representative of the illustrious dictator of these Philippine Islands.' The town of Macabebe refused to send any delegates to this gathering." [248]
It may be incidentally mentioned that Blount has passed somewhat lightly over the fact that he himself during his army days commanded an aggregation of sturdy citizens from this town, known as Macabebe scouts, who diligently shot the Insurgents full of holes whenever they got a chance. He incorrectly refers to them as a "tribe or clan." [249] It is absurd to call them a tribe. They are merely the inhabitants of a town which has long been at odds with the neighbouring towns of the province.
Things had come to a bad pass in Pampanga when its head wrote that the punishment of beating people in the plaza and tying them up so that they would be exposed to the full rays of the sun should be stopped. He argued that such methods would not lead the people of other nations to believe that the reign of liberty, equality and fraternity had begun in the Philippines. [250]
When it is remembered that persons tied up and exposed to the full rays of the sun in the Philippine lowlands soon die, in a most uncomfortable manner, we shall agree with the head of this province that this custom has its objectionable features!
Tarlac
While the failure of Messrs. Wilcox and Sargent to learn of the relations between the Tagalogs of Macabebe and their neighbours, or of the fact that people were being publicly tortured in Pampanga, is perhaps not to be wondered at under the circumstances, it is hard to see how they could have failed to hear something of the seriously disturbed conditions in Tarlac if they so much as got off the train there.
On August 24 the commissioner in charge of elections in that province asked for troops to protect him, in holding them in the town of Urdaneta, against a party of two thousand men of the place, who were going to prevent them.
On September 22 the secretary of the interior ordered that the requirements of the decree of June 18, establishing municipal governments, should be strictly complied with, as in many of the towns "the inhabitants continue to follow the ancient methods by which the friars exploited us at their pleasure and which showed their great contempt for the law." [251]
The following letter to Aguinaldo, from Juan Nepomuceno, Representative from Tarlac, speaks for itself as to conditions in that province on December 27, 1898, shortly after the American travellers passed through it on their return:—
"I regret exceedingly being compelled to report to you that since Sunday the 25th instant scandalous acts have been going on in the Province of Tarlac, which I represent. On the night of the Sunday mentioned the entire family of the Local Chief of Bamban was murdered, and his house and warehouse were burned. Also the Tax Commissioner and the Secretary, Fabian Ignacio, have been murdered. Last night Senor Jacinto Vega was kidnapped at the town of Gerona; and seven travellers were murdered at O'Donnel, which town was pillaged, as well as the barrio of Matayumtayum of the town of La Paz. On that day various suspicious parties were seen in the town of Panique and in the same barrio, according to reliable reports which I have just received.
"All this general demoralization of the province, according to the information which I have obtained, is due to the fact that the province is dissatisfied with the Provincial Chief, Senor Alfonso Ramos, and with Major Manuel de Leon; for this is substantiated by the fact that all the events described occurred since last Sunday, when Senor Alfonso Ramos returned, to take charge of the Office of Provincial President, after having been detained for several days in this town. Wherefore, I believe that in order to restore tranquillity in the province, consideration be given to various documents that have been presented to the Government and to the standing Committee of Justice; and that there be removed from office Senor Alfonso Ramos, as well as said Senor Manuel de Leon, who has no prestige whatever in this province. Moreover on the day when fifty-four soldiers of the command deserted, he himself left for San Fernando, Pampanga." [252]
On November 30, 1898, General Macabulos sent Aguinaldo a telegram [253] from which it evidently appears that there was an armed uprising in Tarlac which he was endeavouring to quell and that he hoped for early success. Apparently, however, his efforts to secure tranquillity were not entirely successful, for on December 18 he telegraphed Aguinaldo as follows:—
"In a telegram dated to-day Lieut. Paraso, commanding a detachment at Camilin, informs me that last night his detachment was attacked by Tulisanes (robbers). The fire lasted four hours without any casualties among our men. This afternoon received another from the captain commanding said detachment, informing me of the same, and that nothing new has occurred. The people of the town await with anxiety the result of the charges they have made, especially against the local president and the justice of the peace, the original of which I sent to your high authority." [254]
Obviously the police machinery was not working quite smoothly when a detachment of Insurgent troops could be kept under fire for four hours by a robber band, and perhaps the attacking party were not all "robbers." Soldiers do not ordinarily carry much to steal.
We obtain some further information from the following telegram of December 27, 1898, sent by the secretary of the interior to the President of the Revolutionary Government:—
"Most urgent. According to reports no excitement except in Bangbang, Tarlac, which at 12 A.M., 25th, was attacked by Tulisanes [bandits or robbers,—D.C.W.]. The local presidente with his patrols arrested six of them. On continuing the pursuit he met in Talacon a party too large to attack. At 7 A.M. of the 26th the town was again attacked by criminals, who killed the tax collector, and others who burnt some houses, among them that of the local presidente, and his stables, in which he lost two horses. I report this for your information." [255]
Evidently tax collectors were not popular in Tarlac.
Still further light is shed on the situation by a telegram from the secretary of the interior to Aguinaldo, dated December 28, 1898:—
"According to my information the excitement in Tarlac increases. I do not think that the people of the province would have committed such barbarities by themselves. For this reason the silence of General Macabulos is suspicious; to speak frankly, it encourages the rebels. Some seven hundred of them, with one hundred and fifty rifles, entered Panique, seized the arms of the police, the town funds, and attacked the houses of the people. I report this for your information. All necessary measures will be taken." [256]
Note also the following from the secretary of the interior, under date of December 27, 1898, to Aguinaldo:—
"I have just learned that not only in Bangbang, but also in Gerona, Onell, and other places in Tarlac, men have been assaulted by numerous Tulisanes, armed with rifles and bolos, who are killing and capturing the inhabitants and attacking travellers, robbing them of everything they have. The President should declare at once that that province is in state of siege, applying martial law to the criminals. That—(remainder missing)." [257]
The secretary of agriculture took a more cheerful view of the situation. Under date of December 28 he telegraphed Aguinaldo as follows:—
"The events in Bangbang, Tarlac Province, according to a witness here worthy of credit, have arisen from an attempt to procure vengeance on the local presidente, and robbery of Chinese shops. Hence they are without political importance. The tax collector killed, and a countryman servant of the local presidente wounded. They burnt two houses of the local presidente, a stable, and a warehouse for sugar-cane." [258]
Obviously the robbery of Chinese shops and the killing of a few individuals was at first considered by the secretary of agriculture to be without political importance. Evidently he changed his mind, however, for on the same day, December 28, 1898, he telegraphed Aguinaldo as follows:—
"I think it necessary to send Aglipay [259] to quiet Tarlac. Send for him. If you desire, I will go to Tarlac to investigate the causes of the disorders, in order to find a remedy for them." [260]
At this stage of events Aguinaldo was summoned to Malolos by a telegram from Mabini under date of December 29, which reads as follows:—
"Most urgent. You must come here immediately. Trias is sick. We can come to no decision in regard to the Tarlac matter. Cannot constitute a government without you." [261]
The measures which were actually taken are set forth in another telegram of the same date from the secretaries of war and interior to Aguinaldo, which reads as follows:—
"We have sent civil and military commissioners to Tarlac; among them the Director of War and persons of much moral influence, in order to stifle the disturbances. The necessary instructions have been given them and full powers for the purpose, and as far as possible to satisfy the people. Have also sent there six companies of soldiers with explicit instructions to their commander to guard only the towns, and make the people return to a peaceful life, using a policy of attraction for the purpose." [262]
Let us hope that the commander was able to attract the people with his six companies of soldiers, and make them return to a peaceful life.
Still further light is thrown on the situation in Tarlac by the following extract from "Episodios de la Revolucion Filipina" by Padre Joaquin D. Duran, an Augustinian priest, Manila, 1901, page 71:—
"At that period the Filipinos, loving order, having been deceived of the emancipation promise, changed by the Katipunan into crimes and attacks on the municipality of the pueblos, discontent broke out in all parts, and, although latent in some provinces, in that of Tarlac was materialized in an ex-sergeant of the late Spanish civil guard. A valorous and determined man, he lifted up his flag against that of Aguinaldo. One hundred rifles were sufficient to terrorize the inhabitants of said province, crushing the enthusiastic members of the revolutionary party.... Having taken possession of four towns, Pecheche would have been everywhere successful if ambition and pride had not directed his footsteps. In January, 1899, the Aguinaldista commander of Tarlac province, afraid that his whole province would espouse the cause of the sergeant, attempted by every means in his power to interrupt his career, not hesitating to avail himself of crime to destroy the influence of Pecheche with the many people who had been incensed by the Katipunan and had in turn become firm partisans of the Guards of Honour.
"The Ilocano Tranquilino Pagarigan, local presidente at that time of Camiling, served as an admirable instrument for this purpose.... Pecheche was invited to a solemn festivity organized by Tranquilino, who pretended to recognize him as his chief, and rendering himself a vassal by taking an oath to his flag. He accepted the invitation, and after the mass which was celebrated went to a meal at the convent, where, after the meal was over, the members of the K.K.K. surrounded Pecheche and 10 of his officers and killed them with bolos or tied them and threw them out of the windows and down the staircase. Some priests were held captive in the building where this took place and were informed of what had taken place immediately afterwards."
This extract shows how easy it then was for any man of determination to acquire a following, especially if he could dispose of a few rifles. It also gives an excellent idea of the methods employed by the Insurgents in dealing with those who opposed their rule.
General Fred D. Grant once told me, with much amusement, of an interesting experience during a fight on Mt. Arayat in Pampanga. His men took a trench and captured some of its occupants. Several of these were impressed as guides and required to show the attacking forces the locations of other trenches. At first they served unwillingly, but presently became enthusiastic and rushed the works of their quondam fellow-soldiers in the van of the American attack. Finally they begged for guns. Grant added that he could start from Bacolor for San Fernando any morning with a supply of rifles and pick up volunteers enough to capture the place, and that on the return trip he could get enough more to attack Bacolor!
Pangasinan
And now we come to Pangasinan, the most populous province of Luzon, and the third in the Philippines in number of inhabitants.
"In July, 1898, the officer in Dagupan wrote to the commanding general of Tarlac Province that he would like to know whom he was required to obey, as there were so many officials of all ranks who gave him orders that it was impossible for him to know where he stood." [263]
In a letter dated August 17, 1898, to Aguinaldo, Benito Legarda complained that a bad impression had been produced by the news from Dagupan that when the Insurgents entered there, after many outrages committed upon the inmates of a girls' school, every officer had carried off those who suited him. [264]
What should we say if United States troops entered the town of Wellesley and raped numerous students at the college, the officers subsequently taking away with them the young ladies who happened to suit them? Yet things of this sort hardly caused a ripple in the country then under the Insurgent flag, and I learned of this particular incident by accident, although I have known Legarda for years.
I quote the following general description of conditions in Pangasinan from a letter addressed by Cecilio Apostol to General Aguinaldo on July 6, 1898:—
"You probably know that in the Province of Pangasinan, of one of the towns in which your humble servant is a resident, the Spanish flag through our good fortune has not flown here for the past few months, since the few Spaniards who lived here have concentrated in Dagupan, a place not difficult of attack, as is said.
"But this is what is going on in this Province" There exist here two Departmental Governments, one calling itself that of Northern Luzon and of which Don Vicente del Prado is the President, and the other which calls itself that of Northern and Central Luzon, presided over by Don Juliano Paraiso. Besides these two gentlemen, there are two governors in the province(!) one Civil Political Military, living in Lingayen, named Don Felipe J. Bartolome, and another living in Real Guerrero, a town of Tayug, named Don Vicente Estrella. And in addition there are a large number of Administrators, Inspectors, Military Judges, Generals,... they cannot be counted. It is a pandemonium of which even Christ, who permits it, cannot make anything. Indeed, the situation is insupportable. It reminds me of the schism in the middle ages when there were two Popes, both legitimate, neither true. Things are as clear as thick chocolate, as the Spaniards say. In my poor opinion, good administration is the mother-in-law of disorder, since disorder is chaos and chaos produces nothing but confusion, that is to say, death.
"I have had an opportunity, through the kindness of a friend, to read the decree of that Government, dated June 18th, of the present year, and the accompanying 'Instructions for the government of towns and provinces.' Article 9 of the said decree says that the Superior Government will name a commissioner for each province with the special duty of establishing there the organization set forth in the decree. Very well so far: which of the so-called Presidents of Northern or of Northern and Central Luzon is the commissioner appointed by that government to establish the new organization in that province? Are military commanders named by you for Pangasinan? I would be very much surprised if either of them could show his credentials. Aside from these, the fact remains that in those instructions no mention is made of Presidents of Departments, there is a manifest contradiction in their jurisdictions, since while one calls himself president of a Departmental Government, of Northern Luzon, the other governs the Northern and Central portion of the Island, according to the seals which they use.
"And, nevertheless, a person calling himself the General Administrator of the Treasury and the said Governor of the Province, both of whom live in Tayug, came to this town when the Spaniards voluntarily abandoned it and gathered all the people of means, and drew up an act of election, a copy of which is attached. From it you will see how this organization violates the provisions of the decree of the 18th of June.
"Another item: They got up a contract with the people of means of this town, and did the same thing in the other towns, in which contract they exact from us $1250 which they call contributions of war (see document No. 2 attached). Among the doubtful powers of these gentlemen is the one to exact these sums included?
Have they express orders from that Government?
"Perhaps these blessed gentlemen—they are high flyers there is no doubt about that,—have struck the clever idea of calling themselves generals, governors, etc., in order to enjoy a certain prestige and to give a certain color of legality to their acts—this, although they don't know an iota of what they are doing. But what I am sure of, and many other men also, is that there is no order, that here there is not a single person in authority whom to obey. This superfluity of rulers will finally lead to strained relations between them and the towns of this province will end by paying the piper.
"But we poor ignorant creatures in so far as the republican form of government is concerned, in order to avoid worse evils took them at their word, obeyed them like automatons, hypnotized by the title of 'Insurgents' which they applied to themselves. But when I had an opportunity to read the said decree, doubts were forced upon me, I began to suspect—may God and they pardon me—that they were trying to impose upon us nicely, that, shielded by the motto, 'have faith in and submit to the will of the country' they came to these towns 'for business.'
"In order to dissipate this doubt, in order to do away with abuses, if there are abuses, I made up my mind to send you this account of the condition of things here. I flatter myself that when you learn of the lamentable situation of this province, you will soon deign to take steps to establish order, because thereon depends the tranquillity of Pangasin~n and in the end a strict compliance with your superior orders.
"There will be no limit to the thanks of the people of this province if their petitions secure favourable consideration and an immediate response from the high patriotism and honourable standpoint of the Supreme Dictator of the Philippines." [265]
It will be noted that the picture thus drawn by Senor Apostol differs in certain important particulars from that painted in such engaging colours by Judge Blount.
In September, 1898, the civil governor of Pangasinan had to have an escort of troops in passing through his province. [266]
On November 20, 1898, the head of the town of San Manuel wrote the provincial governor that his people could no longer support the troops quartered on them, as the adherents of the Katipunan had burned or stolen all of their property. [267]
The sum total of Blount's description of affairs in this, the most populous province of Luzon, is derived from the narrative of Messrs. Wilcox and Sargent and reads as follows:—
"In Pangasinan 'the people were all very respectful and polite and offered the hospitality of their homes.'" [268]
Doubtless true, but as a summary of conditions perhaps a trifle sketchy.
Nueva Ecija
Nueva Ecija was the next province visited by Wilcox and Sargent. They have failed to inform us that:—
"In December, 1899, certain men charged with being members of this society [Guards of Honour] were interrogated in Nueva Ecija as to their purposes. One of those questioned said:—
"'That their purpose was one day, the date being unknown to the deponent, when the Ilocanos of Batac came, to rise up in arms and kill the Tagalos, both private individuals and public employees, excepting those who agreed to the former, for the reason that honours were granted only to the Tagalos, and but few to the Ilocanos.'" [269]
Blount has assured us that the Filipinos were a unit at Aguinaldo's back and were and are an united people, and here are the Ilocanos of Nueva Ecija spoiling his theory by remembering that they are Ilocanos and proposing to kill whom? Not certain individual Filipinos, who might have offended them, but the Tagalogs!
That there were other troubles in Nueva Ecija is shown by the following statement:—
"On January 7, 1899, the commissioner of Aguinaldo's treasury sent to collect contributions of war in Nueva Ecija Province reported that the company stationed in San Isidro had become guerillas under command of its officers and opposed his collections, stating that they were acting in compliance with orders from higher authority." [270]
And now, in following the route taken by our tourist friends, we reach Nueva Vizcaya and the Cagayan valley.
CHAPTER VI
Insurgent Rule in the Cagayan Valley
Nueva Vizcaya is drained by the Magat River, a branch of the Cagayan. While the provinces of Isabela and Cagayan constitute the Cagayan valley proper, Blount includes Nueva Vizcaya in the territory covered by this designation, and for the purpose of this discussion I will follow his example.
Especial interest attaches to the history of Insurgent rule, in the Cagayan valley, as above defined, for the reason that Blount himself served there as a judge of the court of first instance. He says: [271]—
"The writer is perhaps as familiar with the history of that Cagayan valley as almost any other American."
He was. For his action in concealing the horrible conditions which arose there under Insurgent rule, with which he was perfectly familiar, and in foisting on the public the account of Messrs. Wilcox and Sargent, as portraying the conditions which actually existed there, I propose to arraign him before the bar of public opinion. In so doing I shall consider these conditions at some length. We have much documentary evidence concerning them in addition to that furnished by the Insurgent records, although the latter quite sufficiently demonstrate many of the more essential facts.
In describing the adventures of Messrs. Wilcox and Sargent in this region, Judge Blount says: [272]—
"There [273] they were met by Simeon Villa, military commander of Isabela province, the man who was chief of staff to Aguinaldo afterwards, and was captured by General Funston along with Aguinaldo in the spring of 1901."
The facts as to Villa's career in the Cagayan valley are especially worthy of note as they seem to have entitled him, in the opinion of his superiors, to the promotion which was afterward accorded him. He was an intimate friend of Aguinaldo and later accompanied him on his long flight through northern Luzon.
On August 10, 1898, Colonel Daniel Tirona, a native of Cavite Province and one of the intimates of Aguinaldo, was ordered to proceed to Aparri in the Insurgent steamer Filipinas and establish the revolutionary government in northern Luzon. In doing this he was to hold elections for office-holders under Aguinaldo's government and was authorized to approve or disapprove the results, his action being subject to subsequent revision by Aguinaldo. His forces were composed of four companies armed with rifles.
Tirona reached Aparri on August 25 and promptly secured the surrender of the Spaniards there.
He was accompanied by Simeon Villa, the man under discussion, and by Colonel Leyba, who was also very close to Aguinaldo.
Abuse of the Spanish prisoners began at once. It is claimed that the governor of North Ilocos, who was among those captured, was grossly mistreated.
Taylor briefly summarizes subsequent events as follows: [274]—
"Whatever the treatment of the Spanish governor of Ilocos may really have been, there is testimony to show that some of the other prisoners, especially the priests, were abused and outraged under the direction of S. Villa and Colonel Leyba, both of whom were very close to Aguinaldo. Some of the Spanish civil officials were put in stocks and beaten, and one of the officers who had surrendered at Aparri was tortured to death. This was done with the purpose of extorting money from them, for it was believed that they had hidden funds in place of turning them over. All the Spaniards were immediately stripped of everything they had. The priests were subjected to a systematic series of insults and abuse under the direction of Villa in order to destroy their influence over the people by degrading them in their eyes. It was for this that they were beaten and exposed naked in the sun; and other torture, such as pouring tile wax of burning candles into their eyes, was used to make them disclose where they had hidden church vessels and church funds. The testimony of a friar who suffered these outrages is that the great mass of the people saw such treatment of their parish priests with horror, and were present at it only through fear of the organized force of the Katipunan."
Taylor's statement is mildness itself in view of the well-established facts.
The question of killing the Spanish prisoners, including the friars, had previously been seriously considered, [275] but it was deemed wiser to keep most of the friars alive, extort money from them by torture, and offer to liberate them in return for a large cash indemnity, or for political concessions. Day after day and week after week Villa presided at, or himself conducted, the torture of ill-fated priests and other Spaniards who fell into his hands. Even Filipinos whom he suspected of knowing the where-abouts of hidden friar money did not escape.
The following information relative to the conduct of the Insurgents in the Cagayan valley is chiefly taken from manuscript copy of "Historia de la Conquista de Cagayan por los Tagalos Revolucionarios," in which the narratives of certain captured friars are transcribed and compiled by Father Julian Malumbres of the Dominican Order.
The formal surrender of Aparri occurred on August 26. Tirona, his officers and his soldiers, promptly pillaged the convento. [276] The officers left the Bishop of Vigan ten pesos, but the soldiers subsequently took them away from him. Wardrobes and trunks were broken open; clocks, shoes, money, everything was carried off. Even personal papers and prayer-books were taken from some of the priests, many of whom were left with absolutely nothing save the few remaining clothes in which they stood.
On the same day Villa, accompanied by Victa and Rafael Perea, [277] went to the convento and told the priests who were imprisoned there that their last hour had come. He shut all of them except the bishop and five priests in a room near the church, then separated the Augustinians, Juan Zallo, Gabino Olaso, Fidel Franco, Mariano Rodriguez, and Clemente Hidalgo, from the others and took them into the lower part of the convento where he told them that he intended to kill them if they did not give him more money. The priests told him that they had given all they had, whereupon he had their arms tied behind their backs, kicked them, struck them and whipped them with rattans.
Father Zallo was thrown on his face and savagely beaten. Meanwhile two shots were fired over the heads of the others and a soldier called out "One has fallen," badly frightening the priests who had remained shut in the room. Villa then returned with soldiers to this room, ordered his men to load, and directed that one priest step forward to be shot. Father Mariano Ortiz complied with this request, asking that he be the first victim. Villa, however, contented himself with threatening him with a revolver and kicking and striking him until he fell to the floor. He was then beaten with the butts of guns.
Father Jose Vazquez, an old man of sixty years, who had thrown some money into a privy to keep it from falling into the hands of the Insurgents, was stripped and compelled to recover it with his bare hands, after which he was kicked, and beaten with rattans.
Father Aquilino Garcia was unmercifully kicked and beaten to make him give up money, and this sort of thing continued until Villa, tired out with the physical exertion involved in assaulting these defenceless men, departed, leaving his uncompleted task to others, who continued it for some time.
The net result to the Insurgents of the sacking of the convento and of the tortures thus inflicted was approximately $20,000 gold in addition to the silver, bank notes, letters of credit, jewels, etc., which they obtained.
On September 5 Villa had Fathers Juan Recio and Buenaventura Macia given fifty blows each, although Father Juan was ill.
Villa then went to Lalloc, where other priests were imprisoned. On September 6 he demanded money of them, causing them to be kicked and beaten. Father Angel was beaten in an especially cruel manner for the apparent purpose of killing him, after which he was thrust into a privy. Father Isidro Fernandez was also fearfully abused. Stripped of his habit, and stretched face down on the floor, he was horribly beaten, and was then kicked, and struck with the butt of a revolver on the forehead.
A little later the priests were offered their liberty for a million dollars, which they were of course unable to furnish. Meanwhile the torture continued from time to time.
On August 30 Tuguegarao was taken by the Insurgents without resistance. Colonel Leyba promptly proceeded to the convento and demanded the money of the friars as spoil of war. He found only eight hundred pesos in the safe. Father Corujedo was threatened with death if he did not give more. Other priests were threatened but not tortured at this time. The prisoners in the jail were liberated, but many of them had promptly to be put back again because of the disorder which resulted, and that same evening Leyba was obliged to publish a notice threatening robbers with death.
At midnight on September 3 Father Corujedo was taken from the convento by Captain Diego and was again asked for money. Replying that he had no more to give, he was beaten with the hilt of a sabre and stripped of his habit, preparatory to being executed. A mock sentence of death was pronounced on him and he was placed facing to the west to be shot in the back. Diego ordered his soldiers to load, adding, "When I count three all fire," but the fatal count was not completed. Three priests from Alcala were given similar treatment.
The troubles of the priests imprisoned at Tuguegarao were sufficiently great, but they were augmented a thousand fold when Villa arrived on September 11. He came to the building where they were imprisoned, bearing a revolver, a sabre and a great quantity of rattans. He ordered the priests into the corner of the room in which they were confined, and beat those who did not move quickly enough to suit him. He threatened them with a very rigorous examination, at the same time assuring them that at Aparri he had hung up the bishop until blood flowed from his mouth and his ears, and that he would do the same with them if they did not tell him where they had their money hidden. There followed the usual rain of kicks and blows, a number of the priests being obliged to take off their habits in order that they might be punished more effectively.
Fathers Calixto Prieto and Daniel Gonzales, professors in educational institutions, he ordered beaten because they were friars.
Fathers Corujedo and Caddedila were beaten, kicked and insulted. Both were gray-haired old men and the latter was at the time very weak, and suffering from a severe attack of asthma. Father Pedro Vincente was also brutally beaten.
The following is the description given by an eye-witness of conditions at Tuguegarao:—
"Even the Indios of Cagayan complained and were the victims of looting and robbery on the part of the soldiery. So lacking in discipline and so demoralized was that army that according to the confession of a prominent Filipino it was of imperative necessity to disarm them. [278] On the other hand we saw with real astonishment that instead of warlike soldiers accustomed to battle they were nearly all raw recruits and apprentices. From an army lacking in discipline, and lawless, only outrages, looting and all sorts of savagery and injustice were to be expected. Witnesses to their demoralization are, aside from the natives themselves who were the first to acknowledge it, the Chinese merchants whose losses were incalculable; not a single store or commercial establishment remained that was not looted repeatedly. As to the Spaniards it goes without saying because it is publicly known, that between soldiers and officers they despoiled them to their heart's content, without any right except that of brute force, of everything that struck their fancy, and it was of no avail to complain to the officers and ask for justice, as they turned a deaf ear to such complaints. At Tuguegarao they looted in a manner never seen before, like Vandals, and it was not without reason that a prominent Filipino said, in speaking to a priest: 'Vandalism has taken possession of the place.' These acts of robbery were generally accompanied by the most savage insults; it was anarchy, as we heard an eye-witness affirm, who also stated that no law was recognized except that of danger, and the vanquished were granted nothing but the inevitable duty of bowing with resignation to the iniquitous demands of that soulless rabble, skilled in crime."
Villa now set forth for Isabela. Meanwhile the jailer of the priests proceeded to steal their clothes, including shirts, shoes and even handkerchiefs. Isabela was taken without resistance on September 12. Dimas Guzman [279] swore to the priests on his life that he would work without rest to the end that all friars and all Spaniards might be respected, but he perjured himself.
On September 12 Villa and others entered the town of Cabagan Viejo, where Villa promptly assaulted Father Segundo Rodriguez, threatening him with a revolver, beating him unmercifully, insulting him in every possible way and robbing him of his last cent. After the bloody scene was over he sacked the convento, even taking away the priests' clothes.
Villa also cruelly beat a Filipino, Quintin Agansi, who was taking care of money for masses which the priests wished to save from the Insurgents.
After Father Segundo had suffered torture and abuse for two hours he was obliged to start at once on a journey to Auitan. The suffering priest, after being compelled to march through the street shouting "Vivas!" for the Republic and Aguinaldo, spent the night without a mouthful of food or a drink of water.
Father Deogracias Garcia, a priest of Cabagan Nuevo, was subjected to torture because he had sent to Hongkong during May a letter of credit for $5000 which belonged to the Church. Villa and Leyba entered his convento and after beating him ordered his hands and feet to be tied together, then passed a pole between them and had him lifted from the ground, after which two great jars of water were poured down his nose and throat without interruption. [280] In order to make the water flow through his nose better, they thrust a piece of wood into the nasal passages until it came out in his throat. From time to time the torture was suspended while they asked him whether he would tell the truth as to where he had concealed his money. This unfortunate priest was so sure he was going to die that while the torture was in progress he received absolution from a fellow priest. After the torture with water there followed a long and cruel beating, and the unhappy victim was finally thrust into a filthy privy.
Meanwhile Father Calzada was assaulted by a group of soldiers and badly beaten, after which he was let down into the filth of a privy, first by the feet and afterwards by the head.
On the 14th a lieutenant with soldiers entered the convento of Tumauini and as usual demanded money of the occupants, who gave him $80, all they had at the time. This quantity not being satisfactory, a rope was sent for and the hands of the two priests were tied while they were whipped, kicked and beaten. They were, however, released when Father Bonet promised to get additional money. They had a short respite until the arrival of Villa, who still demanded more money of Father Blanco, and failing to get it for the reason that the father had no more, leaped upon him and gave him a dreadful beating, his companions joining in with whips, rattans and the butts of guns. They at last left their victim stretched on the ground almost dead. This priest showed the marks of his ill treatment six months afterward. Not satisfied with this, Villa gave him the so-called "water cure."
Meanwhile his followers had also beaten Father Bonet. Villa started to do likewise but was too tired, having exhausted his energies on Father Blanco. While the tortures were going on, the convento was completely sacked. Father Blanco's library was thrown out of the window.
Villa entered Ilagan on the 15th of September at 8 o'clock at night. Hastening to the convento, with a company of well-armed soldiers, he had his men surround the three priests who awaited him there, then summoned the local priest to a separate room and demanded money. The priest gave him all he had. Not satisfied, Villa leaped upon him, kicking him, beating him and pounding him with the butt of a gun. Many of his associates joined in the disgraceful attack. The unfortunate victim was then stripped of his habit, obliged to lie down and received more than a hundred lashes. When he was nearly senseless he was subjected to torture by water, being repeatedly lifted up when filled with water, and allowed to fall on the floor. While some were pouring water down his nose and throat, others spilled hot wax on his face and head. The torment repeatedly rendered the priest senseless, but he was allowed to recover from time to time so that he might suffer when it was renewed.
The torturing of this unhappy man lasted for three hours, and the horrible scene was immediately succeeded by another quite as bad. Villa called Father Domingo Campo and, after taking from him the little money that he had, ordered him stripped. He was then given numberless kicks and blows from the butts of rifles and 150 lashes, after which he was unable to rise. There followed the torture with water, on the pretext that he had money hidden away.
Meanwhile the houses of Spaniards and the shops of the Chinese were completely sacked, and the men who objected were knocked down or cut down with bolos. Numerous girls and women were raped.
On September 15 Leyba received notice of the surrender of Nueva Vizcaya. I quote the following from the narrative above referred to:—
"Delfin's soldiers [281] were the most depraved ever seen: their thieving instincts had no bounds; so they had hardly entered Nueva Vizcaya when they started to give themselves up furiously to robbery, looking upon all things as loot; in the very shadow of these soldiers the province was invaded by a mob of adventurous and ragged persons from Nueva Ecija; between the two they picked Nueva Vizcaya clean. When they had grown tired of completely shearing the unfortunate Vizcayan people, leaving them poverty-stricken, they flew in small bands to the pueblos of Isabela, going as far as Angadanan, giving themselves up to unbridled pillage of the most unjust and disorderly kind. Some of these highwaymen demanded money and arms from the priest of Angadanan, but Father Marciano informed them 'that it could not be, as Leyba already knew what he had and would be angry.'
"To this very day the people of Nueva Vizcaya have been unable to recover from the stupendous losses suffered by them as regards their wealth and industries. How many curses did they pour forth and still continue to level against the Katipunan that brought them naught but tribulations!"
Confirmation of these statements is found in the following brief but significant passage from the Insurgent records:—
"At the end of December, 1898, when the military commander of Nueva Vizcaya called upon the Governor of that province to order the police of the towns to report to him as volunteers to be incorporated in the army which was being prepared for the defence of the country, the Governor protested against it and informed the government that his attempt to obtain volunteers was in fact only a means of disarming the towns and leaving them without protection against the soldiers who did what they wanted and took what they wished and committed every outrage without being punished for it by their officers." [282]
The effect of the surrender of Nueva Vizcaya on Leyba and Villa is thus described by Father Malumbres:—
"Mad with joy and swollen with pride Leyba and company were like men who travelled flower-strewn paths, crowned with laurels, and were acclaimed as victors in all the towns on their road, their intoxication of joy taking a sudden rise when they came to believe themselves kings of the valley. It was then that their delirium reached its brimful measure and their treatment of those whom they had vanquished began to be daily more cruel and inhuman. In Cagayan their fear of the forces in Nueva Vizcaya kept them from showing such unqualifiable excesses of cruelty and nameless barbarities, but the triumph of the Katipunan arms in Nueva Vizcaya completely broke down the wall of restraint which somewhat repressed those sanguinary executioners thirsting to fatten untrammelled on the innocent blood of unarmed and defenceless men. From that melancholy time there began an era of unheard of outrages and barbarous scenes, unbelievable were they not proved by evidence of every description. The savage acts committed in Isabela by the inhuman Leyba and Villa cannot possibly be painted true to life and in all their tragic details. The blackest hues, the most heartrending accents, the most vigorous language and the most fulminating anathemas would be a pale image of the truth, and our pen cannot express with true ardour the terrifying scenes and cruel torments brought about by such fierce chieftains on such indefensive religious. It seems impossible that a fleshly heart could hold so much wickedhess, for these petty chiefs were veritable monsters of cruelty who surpassed a Nero; men who were entire strangers to noble and humane sentiments and who in appearance having the figure of a man were in reality tigers roaring in desperation, or mad dogs who gnashed their teeth in fury."
On September 18 Leyba continued his march, while Villa remained behind at Ilagan to torture the prisoners who might be brought in from Isabela.
On arrival at Gamut, Leyba at once entered the convento and as usual immediately demanded money from the priests. Father Venancio gave him all he had. He was nevertheless given a frightful whipping, six persons holding him while others rained blows upon him. A determined effort was made to force the priest to recant, and when this failed Leyba leaped upon him, kicking and beating him. He then ordered him thrown down face uppermost, and asked for a knife with the apparent intention of mutilating him. He did not use the knife, however, but instead, assisted by his followers, gave the unhappy priest another terrific beating, even standing upon him and leaping up and down. The priest was left unable to speak, and did not recover for months.
Later Leyba had torture by water applied to Father Gregorio Cabrero and lay brother Venancio Aguinaco, while Father Sabanda was savagely beaten.
On the 19th of September Father Miguel Garcia of Reina Mercedes was horribly beaten in his convento by a captain sent there to get what money he had.
In Cauayan, on September 20, Fathers Perez and Aguirrezabal were beaten and compelled to give up money by five emissaries of Leyba, and the latter priest was cut in the face with a sabre. The convento was sacked. On the 25th Leyba arrived and after kicking and beating Father Garcia compelled him to give up $1700. He then informed the priests that if it were not for Aguinaldo's orders he would kill all the Spaniards.
On the afternoon of the 24th three priests and a Spaniard named Soto arrived at Ilagan. The following is the statement of an eye-witness as to what happened:—
"They led the priests to the headquarters of the commanding officer where the tyrant Villa, always eager to inflict suffering on humanity, awaited them. The scene witnessed by the priests obeisant to the cruel judge was horrifying in the extreme. Four lions whose thirst for vengeance was extreme in all, threw themselves, blind with fury, without a word and with the look of a basilisk, upon poor Senor Soto giving him such innumerable and furious blows on head and face that weary as he was from his past journey, the ill-treatment received at Angadanan and weighted down by years, he was soon thrown down by his executioners under the lintel of the door getting a terrible blow on the head as he fell; even this did not satisfy nor tame down those fierce-hearted men, who on the contrary continued with their infamous work more furious than before, and their cruelty did not flag on seeing their victim at their feet. They could have done no worse had they been Silipan savages dancing in triumph around the palpitating head cut from the body of some enemy.
"The priests who witnessed this blood-curdling scene trembled like the weak reed before the gale, waiting their turn to be tortured, but God willed that cruel Villa should be content with the butchery perpetrated upon unhappy Sr. Soto. Villa dismissed the priests after despoiling them of their bags and clothes telling them, to torment them: 'Go to the convento until the missing ones turn up so that I may shoot you all together.'"
Leyba entered Echague on September 22, promptly going to the convento as usual and demanding money of the priest, Father Mata. When the latter had given him all he had, he received three terrific beatings at the hands of some twelve men armed with whips and sticks, after which Leyba himself struck him with his fist and his sabre. He was finally knocked down by a blow with the sabre and left disabled. It took six months for him to recover.
Shortly after Leyba's arrival in Nueva Vizcaya on the afternoon of the 25th, five priests were summoned to Solano and there abused in the usual fashion in an effort to extort money from them. Only one escaped ill treatment and one was nearly killed.
Leyba now went to Bayombong to carry out the established programme with the priests. There he found Governor Perez of Isabela, who had taken with him certain government moneys and employed them to pay salaries of soldiers and other employees. He insisted on the return of the total amount and threatened to shoot Perez if it was not forthcoming. The Spaniards of the vicinity subscribed $700 which they themselves badly needed and saved him from being shot. The priests of the place were then summoned to Leyba's quarters and were beaten and tortured. One of them was thrown on the floor and beaten nearly to death, Leyba standing meanwhile with his foot on the unfortunate man's neck. Another was given six hundred lashes and countless blows and kicks. Leyba stood on this man's neck also. When the victim's back ceased to have any feeling, his legs were beaten. Leyba terminated this period of diversion by kicking Father Diez in the solar plexus and then mocking him as he lay gasping on the floor. That afternoon one of the priests, so badly injured that he could not rise unaided, was put on a horse and compelled to ride in the hot sun to Solano.
Villa and Leyba had their able imitators, as is shown by the following description of the torturing of Father Ceferino by Major Delfin at Solano, Nueva Vizcaya, on September 27:—
"They wished to give brave evidence of their hate for the friar before Leyba left, and show him that they were as brave as he when it came to oppressing and torturing the friar. This tragedy began by Jimenez again asking Father Ceferino for the money. The priest answered as he had done before. Then Jimenez started to talk in Tagalog to the commanding officer and surely it was nothing good that he told him, for suddenly Delfin left the bench and darting fire from his eyes, fell in blind fury upon the defenceless priest; what harsh words he uttered in Tagalog while he vented his fury on his victim, striking him with his clenched fist, slapping him and kicking him, I do not know, but the religious man fell at the feet of his furious executioner who, being now the prey of the most stupendous rage, could scarcely get his tongue to stutter and continued to kick the priest, without seeing where he kicked him. Getting deeper and deeper in the abyss and perhaps not knowing what he was about, this petty chief made straight for a sabre lying on a table to continue his bloody work. In the meantime the priest had risen to his feet and awaited with resignation new torments which certainly were even worse than the first, for he gave him so many and such hard blows with the sabre that the blade was broken close to the hilt. This accident so infuriated Delfin that he again threw himself upon the priest, kicking him furiously and striking him repeatedly until he again threw him to the ground, and not yet satisfied, his vengefulness led him to throw himself upon his victim with the fury of a tiger after his prey, beating him on the head with the hilt of the saber until the blood ran in streams and formed pools upon the pavement. The priest, more dead than alive, shuddered from head to foot, and appeared to be struggling in a tremendous fight between life and death; he had hardly enough strength to get his tongue to ask for God's mercy. At this most critical juncture, and when it seemed as if death were inevitable, the martyr received absolution from Father Diez, who witnessed the blood-curdling picture with his heart pierced with grief at the sight of the sufferings of his innocent brother, feeling as must the condemned man preparing for death who sees the hours fly by with vertiginous rapidity. The blood flowing from the wounds on the priest's head appeared to infuriate and blind the heart of Delfin who, rising from his victim's body, sped away to the armory in the court house, seized a rifle, and came back furious to brain him with the butt and finish killing the priest; but God willed to free his servant from death at the hands of those cannibals, so that generous Lieutenant Navarro interfered, took the rifle away from him and caught Delfin by the arm, threatening him with some words spoken in Tagalog. Then Navarro, to appease Delfin's anger, turned the priest over with his face to the ground and gave him a few strokes with the bamboo, and feigning anger and indignation, ordered him away.
"Those who witnessed the horrible tragedy, the brutality of the tyrant and the prostration of the friar were persuaded that the latter would never survive his martyrdom. The religious man himself holds it as a veritable portent that he outlived such a terrible trial; but even this did not satisfy them as subsequently the Secretary again called Father Ceferino to subject him to a further scrutiny, as ridiculous as it was malicious, though it did not go beyond words or insults."
Senor Perez, the governor of Isabela, and Father Diez were compelled to go to Ilagan. After they had arrived there on October 2d, Villa proceeded to torture them. At the outset ten soldiers, undoubtedly instructed beforehand, beat the governor down to the earth, with the butts of their guns. Villa himself struck him three times in the chest with the butt of a gun and Father Diez gave him absolution, thinking he was dying. Father Diez was then knocked down repeatedly with the butts of guns, being made to stand up promptly each time in order that he might be knocked down again. Not satisfied with this, Villa compelled the suffering priest to kneel before him and kicked him in the nose, repeating the operation until he left him stretched on the floor half-senseless with his nose broken. He next had both victims put in stocks with their weight supported by their feet alone. While in this position soldiers beat them and jumped onto them and one set the governor's beard on fire with matches. Father Diez was kept in the stocks four days. He was then sent to Tuguegarao in order that personal enemies there might take vengeance on him, Villa bidding him good-by with the following words: "Go now to Tuguegarao and see if they will finish killing you there." Senor Perez was kept in the stocks eight days and it is a wonder that he did not die.
Upon the 25th of September Villa went to the convento in Ilagan prepared to torture the priests, but he succeeded in compelling a number of them to sign indorsements in his favour on various letters of credit payable by the Tabacalera Company and departed again in fairly good humour, having done nothing worse than strike one of them.
Later, however, on the pretext that Fathers Aguado and Labanda had money hidden away, he determined to torture them with water. The first to be tortured was Father Labanda. Villa had him taken to the prison where the priest found his two faithful Filipino servants who had been beaten cruelly and were then hanging from a beam, this having been done in order to make them tell where his money was.
He was tied after the usual fashion and water poured down his nose and throat. During the brief respites necessary in order to prevent his dying outright he was cruelly beaten. They finally dragged him out of the prison by the feet, his head leaving a bloody trail on the stones. After he had been taken back to his companions, one of the men who had tortured him came to beg his pardon, saying that he had been compelled to do it by Villa.
Father Aguado was next tortured in one of the rooms of the convento. Villa finished the day's work by announcing to the band of priests that he would have them all shot the next day on the plaza, and ordering them to get ready.
On the 29th the barbarities practised by this inhuman fiend reached their climax in the torturing to death of Lieutenant Piera. The following description gives some faint idea of one of the most diabolical crimes ever committed in the Philippines:—
"Villa's cruelty and sanguinary jeering grew without let or hindrance from day to day; it seemed that this hyena continually cudgelled his brains to invent new kinds of torture and to jeer at the friars. On the night of the 29th of September the diabolical idea occurred to him of giving the coup de grace to the prestige of the friars by making them pass through the streets of Ilagan conducting and playing a band of music. He carried out his nonsensical purpose by calling upon Father Diograeias to play the big drum, and when this priest had started playing Villa learned that Father Primo was a musician and could therefore play the drum and lead the band with all skill, so he called upon Father Primo to come forward, and with one thing and another this ridiculous function was carried on until the late hours of the night.
* * * * *
"While these two priests were serenading Villa and his gang, the most dreadful shrieks were heard from the jail, accompanied by pitiful cries that would melt the coldest heart. The priests hearing these echoes of sorrow and pain, and who did not know for what purpose Fathers Deogracias and Primo had been separated from them, seemed to recognize the voices of these two priests among the groans, believing them to be cruelly tortured; for this reason they began to say the rosary in order that the Most Holy Virgin might imbue them with patience and fortitude in their martyrdom. Great was their surprise when these priests returned saying that they had contented themselves with merely making fun of them by obliging them to play the big drum and lead the band.
"Although this somewhat tempered their sorrow, a thorn remained in their hearts, fearing that the moving lamentations and the mortal groans came from the lips of some hapless Spaniard. This fatidical presentiment turned out unfortunately to be a fact. The victim sacrificed that melancholy night, still remembered with a shudder by the priests, was Lieutenant Salvador Piera. This brave soldier, who had made up his mind to die in the breach rather than surrender the town of Aparri, was persuaded to capitulate only by the prayers and tears of certain Spanish ladies who had been instructed to do so by a man who should have been the first one to shoulder a rifle. After having been harassed in Aparri he was taken to Tuguegarao at the request of Esteban Quinta or Isidoro Maquigat, two artful filibusters thirsting to revenge themselves on the Lieutenant, who during the time of the Spanish government had justly laid his heavy hand upon them. In the latter part of September they conducted him on foot and without any consideration whatever to the capital of Isabela. In this town he was at once placed in solitary confinement in one of the rooms of the convento and allowed no intercourse with any one. The sin for which they recriminated Piera was his having charged Dimas [283] with being a filibuster, and their revengefulness reached an incredible limit. The heartrending moans of this martyr to his duty still resound in that convento converted into the scene of an orgy of blood. The unfortunate man was heard to shout: 'For God's sake, for God's sake, have pity,' and trustworthy persons tell that under the strain of torture he would challenge them to fight in a fair field by saying: 'I will fight alone against twenty of you;' but the cowardly torturers, a reproach to the Filipino race, looked upon it as an amusement to glut their spite on a defenceless man whose hands were tied. They had him strung up all night with but insignificant refreshment and rest, sometimes being suspended by his arms which finally became disjointed and useless, and at others he was hung up by his feet, the blood rushing to his head and placing him in imminent danger of sudden death. It was the intention of these brutes to torture him as much as possible before killing him, just as a member of the feline race plays with, tosses in the air and pirouettes around the victim which falls into his claws. If to the torture of the rope are added the blows with cudgels and the butts of rifles which were frequently rained upon the victim it will be no surprise that early on the morning of the 30th he was in the throes of death in the midst of which the sufferer had just enough strength to say that he was hungry and thirsty; then those cannibals (the heart is filled with fury in setting forth such cruelty) cut a piece of flesh from the calf of the dying man's leg and conveyed it to his mouth and instead of water they gave him to drink some of his own urine. What savagery!
"The blood from the wound finished the killing of the fainting Piera. The blood shed served to infuriate more the barbarous executioners who in order to give the finishing stroke to the martyr, as an unrivalled expression of their savage ferocity, thrust a red-hot iron into his mouth and eyes. That same night these treacherous and ferocious tyrants whose sin made them hate the light, buried the body in the darkness of the night in a patch of cogon grass adjoining the convento."
Piera's torture was by no means confined to this last night of his life, as the following account of it shows:—
"In the first days of this accursed month, while the padres were bemoaning their fate in jail, a dark drama was being enacted in the convento, whose hair-raising scenes would have inspired terror to Montepiu himself.
"Lieutenant Salvador Piera of the Guardia Civil, commanding officer at Aparri, who, realizing that all resistance was useless, gave way to the persistent solicitations of Spaniards and natives and surrendered that town on honourable terms, which the Katipunan forces did not respect after the capitulation had been signed, was sent for by Villa, the military authority of Isabela. Something terrible was going to happen as Piera himself felt confident, for it is said that before leaving Aparri he went to confession where he settled the important business of his conscience in a Christian manner with a representative of God.
"And so it turned out, for as soon as he arrived in Ilagan he was taken to the convento and placed incomunicado in one of its apartments. Soon after, three or four vile fiends,—for they do not deserve the name of men,—bound him with strong cords and hanged him to a beam. Then they began to charge him with having prosecuted a certain Mason, and inflicted upon him the most frightful tortures. The pen refuses to set forth so many atrocities. For three days they had him in that position while his vile assassins made a martyr of him. Our hair stands on end to think of such crimes. The heart-rending cries of this unfortunate man while prey to such barbarous torments could be heard in every part of the town and carried panic to the homes of all the inhabitants.
"The late hours of the night were always chosen by those treacherous fiends to give Piera the trato de cuerda (this form of torture consists in tying the hands of the victim behind his back and hanging him by them by a rope passed through a pulley attached to a beam; his body is lifted as high as it will go and then allowed to fall by its own weight without reaching the ground); but this torture was administered to him in a form so terrible that all the pictures of this kind of torment found in the dreadful narratives of the calumniators of the Holy Office, pale into insignificance in comparison with the atrocious details of the tortures here recited; at each violent jerk the unhappy victim feeling that his limbs were being torn asunder would cry out 'My God! My God!' This terrifying cry reverberating through the jail would freeze the very blood of the poor priests therein incarcerated.
"On the third day, when those infuriated hyenas appeared to have spent their diabolical rage; after they had thrust a red-hot iron into his eyes and left him with sightless sockets; the poor martyr, the prey of delirium, cried out that he was hungry, and one of those sicarii cut a piece of flesh from Piera's thigh and was infamous enough to carry it to his mouth. On the night of the seventh of the month very late a number of wretches buried in the convento garden a body still dripping warm blood from the lips of which there escaped the feeble plaints of anguish of a dying man."
The feeling of the Spaniards relative to this matter is well shown by the following statement of Father Malumbres:—
"This horrible crime cannot be pardoned by God or man, and is still uninvestigated, crying to Heaven for vengeance with greater reason than the blood of the innocent Abel. So long as the criminals remain unpunished it will be a black and indelible stigma and an ugly stain on the race harbouring in its midst the perpetrators of this unheard-of sin. Words of reprobation are not enough, justice demands exemplary and complete reparation, and if the powers of earth do not take justice into their own hands, God will send fire from Heaven and will cause to disappear from the face of the earth the criminals and even their descendants. A murder so cruel and premeditated can be punished in no other way.
"If the courts here should wish to punish the guilty persons it would not be a difficult task; the public points its finger at those who dyed their hands in the blood of the heroic soldier, and we shall set them forth here echoing the voice of the people. The soulless instigator was Dimas Guzman. The executioners were a certain Jose Guzman (alias Pepin, a nephew of Dimas) and Cayetano Perez."
The matter was duly taken up in the courts, and Judge Blount himself tried the cases.
The judge takes a very mild and liberal view of the occurrence. He says of it: [284]—
"Villa was accompanied by his aide, Lieutenant Ventura Guzman. The latter is an old acquaintance of the author of the present volume, who tried him afterwards, in 1901, for playing a minor part in the murder of an officer of the Spanish army committed under Villa's orders just prior to, or about the time of, the Wilcox-Sargent visit. He was found guilty, and sentenced, but later liberated under President Roosevelt's amnesty of 1902. He was guilty, but the deceased, so the people in the Cagayan Valley used to say, in being tortured to death, got only the same sort of medicine he had often administered thereabouts. At any rate, that was the broad theory of the amnesty in wiping out all these old cases."
He adds:—
"I sentenced both Dimas and Ventura to life imprisonment for being accessory to the murder of the Spanish officer above named, Lieutenant Piera. Villa officiated as arch-fiend on the grewsome occasion. I am quite sure I would have hung Villa without any compunction at that time, if I could have gotten hold of him. I tried to get hold of him, but Governor Taft's attorney-general, Mr. Wilfley, wrote me that Villa was somewhere over on the mainland of Asia on British territory, and extradition would involve application to the London Foreign Office. The intimation was that we had trouble enough of our own without borrowing any from feuds that had existed under our predecessors in sovereignty. I have understood that Villa is now practising medicine in Manila. More than one officer of the American army that I know afterwards did things to the Filipinos almost as cruel as Villa did to that unhappy Spanish officer, Lieutenant Piera. On the whole, I think President Roosevelt acted wisely and humanely in wiping the slate. We had new problems to deal with, and were not bound to handicap ourselves with the old ones left over from the Spanish regime." [285]
But it happens that this was the Filipino regime. Piera's torture occurred at the very time when, according to Blount, Aguinaldo had "a wonderfully complete 'going concern' throughout the Philippine archipelago." |
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