Insurgent Rule in the Visayas and Elsewhere
Referring to the conditions alleged to have been found by Sargent and Wilcox in the Cagayan valley, Blount says:—
“Had another Sargent and another Wilcox made a similar trip through the provinces of southern Luzón about this same time, under similar friendly auspices, before we turned friendship to hate and fear and misery, in the name of Benevolent Assimilation, they would, we now know, have found similar conditions.”[1]
So far as concerns the provinces of Mindoro and Palawan, and the great island of Mindanao, he dodges the issue, alleging the unimportance of Mindoro and Palawan, and claiming that “Mohammedan Mindanao” presents a problem by itself. Under such generalities he hides the truth as to what happened in these regions.
I agree with him that there was essential identity between actual conditions in the Cagayan valley and those which prevailed under Insurgent rule elsewhere in Luzón and in the Visayas. I will go further and say that conditions in the Cagayan valley did not differ essentially from those which prevailed throughout all portions of the archipelago which fell under Insurgent control, except that in several provinces captured friars and other Spaniards were quickly murdered whereas in the Cagayan valley no friar was quite killed outright by torture. Those who ultimately died of their injuries lived for some time.
Let us now consider some of the actual occurrences in these other provinces, continuing to follow the route of our tourists until it brings us back to Manila.
South Ilocos
The first province visited by Messrs. Wilcox and Sargent after leaving Aparri was South Ilocos. The conditions which had prevailed at Vigan, the capital of the province, shortly before their arrival, are described in a letter signed “Mariano” and addressed under date of September 25, 1898, to Señor Don Mena Crisólogo, from which I quote extracts:—
“Dear Mena: I read with a happy heart your letter of the 3rd instant, and in answer I have to say:—