A Bit of the Pagsanjan Gorge.
It cannot be denied that the issuance by the commission of its certificate of March 30, 1907, was a somewhat doubtful measure, involving a rather strained construction of the words “general and complete peace, with recognition of the authority of the United States” in the Act of Congress of July 1, 1902. I am now firmly of the opinion that in thus giving the Filipinos the benefit of the doubt we erred, with the result that the Philippine Assembly came at least ten years too soon. Its creation in 1907 has resulted in imposing a heavy financial burden on the country for which there has been no adequate compensating return.
In the Philippine Legislature neither house enjoys any special privileges, and either may originate any bill which the legislature is authorized to pass. The assembly has been characterized as “a harmless little debating society” and the government of the Philippines has been called “a toy government” because it was claimed that no real powers were given to the lower house. The commission has exclusive power to legislate for certain non-Christian territory. In all other legislative matters the assembly and the commission have equal power. The passage of legislation requires affirmative action by both houses, a condition which is certainly sufficiently common in legislative bodies composed of two houses, and one that does not ordinarily evoke criticism.
Of late the assembly has claimed for itself the exclusive right to initiate appropriation bills, but there is not a vestige of legal authority for such a claim, and even the so-called “Jones Bill” does not confer such right on the lower house. It shares, with the upper house, one power of deadly effectiveness. It can prevent legislation on any subject whatsoever. It has not hesitated to employ this power, when occasion arose, to obstruct the passage of many important and desirable measures, either in the hope of being able in the end to make a trade and thus securing the passage of acts of more than doubtful utility, or because of a purpose to prevent the enactment of laws dealing with the matters in question.
The most striking instance of the blocking of important legislation by the assembly is afforded by its action in tabling four anti-slavery acts passed by the commission at successive legislative sessions. This matter has already been fully discussed.[4]
The history of the Cadastral Survey Act affords an example of the holding up by the assembly of a measure of undoubted and undenied utility in order to attempt to force the passage of positively vicious acts.
The case of the would-be landowner who has occupied land for years under such conditions that he could have completed an unperfected title to it, and who finally desires for one reason or another to do so, has been a rather hard one, as the cost of the necessary survey is chargeable to him and when a survey party has to be sent a long distance to measure a little tract of land the ratio of such cost to the value of the land is often very high. Cost of surveys can be materially reduced if all the privately owned land parcels in a given area are surveyed consecutively, and this procedure has the further great advantage of effectively delimitating the public domain in the area in question.
In the interest of small property owners, advantage has been taken of provisions of the Public Land Act which make it possible to compel the survey of private lands under certain conditions in cases of doubt as to ownership. As soon as the people concerned could be made to understand our object in doing this they became enthusiastic about it, but the legal procedure authorized was by no means adequate or satisfactory, and there was great need of the passage of a carefully drafted Cadastral Survey Act providing the necessary legal machinery for accomplishing the desired end with the least possible delay and at the lowest possible expense, and providing further for the distribution of such expense between the insular, provincial and municipal governments and the property owners. All are interested parties, the insular government because it learns what land in a given region belongs to the public domain; the provincial and municipal governments because the collection of taxes is facilitated, and accurate maps of towns and barrios are made.
Such an act was passed by the commission. It was clearly and indisputably designed expressly for the benefit of poor Filipinos. No legitimate objection could be made to it. The treatment accorded it by the Philippine Assembly conclusively demonstrates the irresponsibility of that body, and its unfitness to deal with great questions which vitally affect the common people. Realizing that the commission, and especially the governor-general, were earnestly desirous of securing its passage, the assembly refused to pass it. It was duly reintroduced at the next session of the legislature.