“Manila, San Miguel, January 12, 1899.
“Feliciano Cruz
“Severino Quitiongco.”
(25 signatures follow.)
(On the back is written in the handwriting of E. Aguinaldo):
“Leberino Kitionko:
“Feliciano de la Cruz: Commissioned to kill General Otis.”[10]
The difference in the spelling of the name Severino Quitiongco is doubtless due to the fact that Aguinaldo wrote it down as it sounded to him.
When the Insurgent government began to be pinched for funds, failure to pay taxes became, in many cases, sufficient ground for murdering the delinquent.
The method of procedure is set forth in the testimony of a tax collector, published in General Orders, No. 259, 1901, Division of the Philippines:—
“I carried a letter of authorization to act as special agent, which means authority to commit murder. Each time a murder was ordered a letter was sent to one of four men (named above) by one of the chiefs (naming them). Afterward the letter was taken up and burned. If a man did not pay his contributions to the insurgent collector he was ordered to be killed.”