The Inhabitants of the Philippines

by Frederic H. Sawyer

He acquires the European vices without the virtues; loses his native modesty and self-respect, and develops too often into a contemptible pica-pleito, or pettifogger, instead of becoming an honest farmer.

The more educated Tagals are fond of litigation, and with the assistance of native or half-caste lawyers will carry on the most frivolous and vexatious lawsuit with every artifice that cunning and utter unscrupulousness can suggest. The corrupt nature of the Spanish courts is a mainstay to such people. Although they may be possessed of ample means litigants often obtain from the court permission to sue a foreigner in forma pauperis.

They are unscrupulous about evidence, and many will perjure themselves or bring false witnesses without shame. It is said that blank stamped paper of any year can be obtained for a sufficient price for the purpose of forging documents relating to the sale of land; as there are people who regularly keep it for this purpose.

The feeling of envy is strong within them, and any Spaniard or foreigner who appears to be succeeding in an industrial enterprise in the provinces, such as planting or mining, is sure, sooner or later, to be attacked by the pettifoggers or their men of straw, and he will be bled heavily when he comes before the courts, and perhaps have to go to the Court of Appeal or even to the Tribunal Suprémo in Madrid before he can obtain a verdict in his favour.

The credulity of the Tagal is remarkable; he has on occasion given way to outbursts of ferocity, involving death and destruction to numbers of innocent people.

In 1820, during an epidemic of cholera, he was led to believe that this strange sickness had been produced by the foreigners, who had poisoned the water. An indiscriminate massacre of foreigners was the consequence of this calumny, and but few escaped. The authorities, always prompt to repress uprisings against the Government, allowed time for the foreigners to be massacred before they interfered. It is not easy to say how many English, French, or Americans met their deaths at the hands of the populace, for such details are never allowed to be published.

I may say, however, that one should not be too hard on the Tagals for this crime, since at a much later date a massacre of priests occurred in Madrid, on account of a similar belief. It was started because a lad, the servant of a priest, was seen to throw some white powder into the Fuente Castellana. I have not at hand the details of this massacre, but the friars were slaughtered like pigs.

In the dreadful epidemic of cholera in 1882, the natives behaved very well, and I must give General Primo de Rivera credit for keeping strict order and promptly organising the construction of temporary hospitals, the inspection of every parish of the city, the conveyance of the sick to hospital, and the burial of the dead. It was done under military direction, and with the assistance of the priests, the civil authorities, and the principal inhabitants. No disturbances occurred owing to the strong hand of the Governor-General, although some of the evil-disposed natives began to murmur about the doctors carrying about the disease.

The mortality was dreadful; I believe that some 30,000 people lost their lives in the city and province of Manila in three or four months. In order to nurse the sick and bury the vast number of dead, it was necessary to employ the convicts and prisoners. All these people behaved remarkably well, although many succumbed to the disease. The survivors were pardoned outright, or had their sentences reduced. If the Governor-General had shown signs of weakness, the horrors of 1820 might have been repeated.

To give a better idea of the credulity of the Tagals and other natives, I may say that in 1868 telegrams were received in Manila (viâ Hong Kong), which were made public in the islands, announcing the Spanish revolution of September, and the news, with stupendous exaggerations, reached the remotest villages and the most miserable huts. A general and indelible idea took possession of the minds of the natives that Revolution (they thought it was a new emperor or a great personage) had decreed that all were equal, that there should be no difference between Indians and Spaniards, that the latter had to return to Spain and Indians be substituted in all employments, and that the tribute would be greatly reduced. That there would be no conscription nor corvée (personal work), that the Pope would name several Indian bishops, and that the Spanish priests would return to the Peninsula. That a new captain-general would arrive who would marry a native lady, who would be made a princess, that their children would be kings and sovereigns of the Philippine Empire.