This measure was so outrageous and so unnecessary that it had an effect on the people exactly opposite to what the governor-general hoped for. Those Filipinos who had been neutral were made angry by it. It enraged the rebels and drove many others into the insurgent camp.
The rebels themselves responded by a document calling upon all Filipinos to rise in defense of the country. This document demanded that the friars should be expelled, and that land seized by them should be returned to the towns to which it belonged; that all livings and parishes should be divided equally between the Spanish and the native priests. It asked for representation by Filipinos in Parliament; for freedom of the press; for religious toleration; and for more just laws in the islands. It demanded that there should be equal terms and pay for Spanish and native civil servants; that no citizen should be banished from the Philippines; and that there should be equal punishment for Spaniards and Filipinos who should offend against the laws of the land. It declared that the war would be prolonged until Spain was compelled to grant the demands of the people. To these demands Aguinaldo added an appeal to the people to join the rebellion. Many Filipinos responded, and the force of the rebels was greatly increased.
General Primo de Rivera now began to urge the home government to grant some of the demands made by the Filipinos. The authorities at Madrid were coming to see that something must be done. The war in Cuba had so drained the resources of Spain that she had neither men nor money to expend in punishing the rebel Filipinos, and it was therefore decided to make some concessions to their demands.
In August, 1897, Señor Pedro Alisandro Paterno (äl ē sän´drō pä ter´nō), a Filipino, educated in Europe, a man of means and position in Manila, was made the agent of Spain to try to arrange terms of peace with the rebel leaders. He visited Aguinaldo in the mountains of Bulacan Province. There he talked with the Filipino leader, and was given power to act in his name. Aguinaldo stated to Señor Paterno the terms on which peace could be made. It must always be a matter of regret that these terms were never made public, either by the Filipinos or by the Spaniards. In the disputes that afterwards arose, the Spanish government denied the claims made by the Filipinos, and declared that the terms of peace had included nothing of what the Filipinos stated had been agreed upon. It will, therefore, never be certainly known what these terms were.
BIAC-NA-’BATO, WHERE THE TREATY WAS MADE.
Certain reforms in the government were demanded. These reforms were opposed by the friars, whose power was lessened by them. The friars endeavored to prevent the government from yielding the terms, whatever they may have been, and succeeded in prolonging the trouble for several months.
At last, however, Señor Paterno was given authority to act for the captain-general of the forces in the islands, representing the Spanish government. On September 19 he had a meeting with Aguinaldo and his generals, and an agreement was entered into. This conference took place at Biac-na-’bato (bē äk´nä´bä tō), a mountain fastness not far from the famous sulphur springs, near Angat, in the province of Bulacan.
Here was made what is now known to history as the treaty of Biac-na-’bato. It was made between Aguinaldo and the other Filipino generals on the one hand, and Señor Paterno, acting for the Spanish government, on the other. By its terms the Filipinos agreed to deliver up their arms, all ammunition, etc., to the Spaniards. They were to give up all places held by them, and to cease, for three years, all plotting against the Spanish authority. These three years the government should have for bringing about the reforms demanded and promised. Aguinaldo and thirty-four others of the insurgent leaders promised to leave the country, not to return until they were given permission by the Spanish government.
The government, on its side, agreed to pay the rebels $1,000,000, Mexican, as indemnity, and to reimburse the Filipinos not in arms, but who had suffered by the war, in the sum of $700,000, Mexican. This latter sum was to be paid in three equal installments, the last one to be paid in six months after the Te Deum should be sung in token that peace was secured.