I wish here to acknowledge my very great indebtedness to Major J. R. M. Taylor, who has translated and compiled the Insurgent[4] records, thereby making available a very large mass of reliable and most valuable information without which a number of chapters of this book would have remained unwritten. Surely no man who bases his statements concerning Filipino rule on the facts set forth in these records can be accused of deriving his information from hostile or prejudiced sources.
Of them, Major Taylor says:—
“No one reading the Insurgent records can fail to be impressed with the difference between the Spanish and the Tagálog documents. Many of the former are doubtless written with a view to their coming into the hands of the Americans, or with deliberate purpose to have them do so, and are framed accordingly. All Tagálog documents, intended only for Filipinos, say much that is not said in the Spanish documents. The orders of the Dictator[5] to his subjects were conveyed in the latter series of documents.”
[1] Cuyo, Palawan, Balabac, Cagayan de Joló, Joló proper, Basilan, Mindanao, Panay, Guimaras, Negros, Siquijor, Cebu, Bohol, Samar, Leyte, Masbate, Marinduque and Mindoro.
[2] I employ the noun Filipinos to designate collectively the eight civilized, Christianized peoples, called respectively the Cagayans, Ilocanos, Pangasináns, Zambalans, Pampangans, Tagálogs, Bicols and Visayans, or any of them; the adjective Filipino to designate anything pertaining to these peoples, or any of them; the noun Philippines to designate the country, and the adjective Philippine to designate anything pertaining to the country as distinguished from its people.
[3] Busuanga, Culion, Tawi Tawi, Tablas, Romblon and Sibuyan.
[4] I use the word “Insurgents” as a proper noun, to designate the Filipinos who took up arms against the United States, hence capitalize it, and the adjective derived from it.
[5] General Aguinaldo.