The Inhabitants of the Philippines

by Frederic H. Sawyer

Places had to be found for them, and a bureaucratic administration partly copied from French practice, was rapidly substituted for the old paternal régime. New departments were organised or the old ones greatly extended. Far more money was spent on the salaries of engineers and assistant-engineers than on public works. The salaries of the officials of the Woods and Forests exceeded the revenue derived from dues on timber cut in the Crown forests, and their regulations seriously interfered with the privileges of the natives previously mentioned, and caused great discontent. The salaries of the Inspectors of Mines were almost a useless expense, for there was no revenue derived from mines, in fact there were no mines, only placers and washings. A medical service was organised at great cost and to little advantage. Doctors were appointed to reside at the hot springs, and one could not take a bath there without paying a fee. Model farms and Schools of Agriculture were started, to find places for more Spaniards, for the officials received their salaries, but no funds were forthcoming for material or establishment.

In 1886 there took place the separation of the executive and the judicial functions, and eighteen civil governors were appointed to the principal provinces. Later on, eighteen judges of first instance were nominated to these same provinces. After centuries of rule, the Alcaldes Mayores were abolished.

Then came a period when certain bureaucrats in Madrid conceived what they thought a vast and patriotic idea. They founded a school of politicians who called themselves Asimilistas. Their grand idea was to assimilate the administration of the Philippines to that of the Mother Country. They thought it wise to assimilate the institutions of a tropical dependency with eight millions of native inhabitants, of whom one-sixth part were independent heathen or Mahometans, to the gradually evolved institutions of Old Spain.

By way of a commencement they began to speak and write of the Philippines as “that beautiful province of Spain.” The Philippine army had always been distinct from the Peninsular army, but now by a paper reform it was embodied in it, and the regiments were re-numbered, the 1st Visayas Regiment becoming the 74th, etc. This was considered to be a strong link to bind together the Mother Country and the Colony.

The extra expense of these crowds of employés and of some expeditions to Mindanao and Joló was very heavy, accordingly every year saw some new and oppressive tax. In 1883 the “Tributo,” or tribute that had been paid by the natives since the conquest, was replaced by a tax on the Cédula Personal, or document of identity, and this was paid by all adults of both sexes, whether Spaniards, foreigners, or half-castes. In the Appendix will be found a facsimile of my cédula.

The Customs duties were several times raised, sometimes without much notice. A tax on all trades and professions, on horses and carriages, a heavy port tax, a vexatious tax on all animals slaughtered, even down to a sucking pig, taxes on the hand-looms used by the women in their spare time, taxes on sugar-mills, rice-mills, on boats and lighters, and on houses; all these and many more were collected.

There were also serious agrarian disputes between the Dominicans, the Augustinians, and the tenants on their estates, owing to excessive rents demanded by the friars. All these circumstances brought about a great change in the relations between the Spaniards and the natives. Whereas formerly the wealthy native kept open house on feast days, and received with pleasure the visits of Spaniards, generally elderly men used to the country and speaking the language of the people, he now found his house invaded by a crowd of young officials new to the country and its ways, who fell on the eatables like a swarm of famishing locusts, and soon devoured the turkeys and hams and other good things he had provided to entertain his friends. Besides, his women-folk would probably not be treated by the new-comers with the courtesy and consideration they had been used to.

An estrangement gradually made itself felt, and increased year by year, in direct proportion to the influx of Spaniards. Not one in a hundred of these did any useful work or added in any way to the wealth of the community. They were the drones of the hive, and were in fact directly harmful, for they had to be supported from the Treasury, and they irritated the natives by their illegal exactions and overbearing conduct whenever they came in contact with them.

Still year after year passed without disturbances. From 1877 to 1892, whilst I was in the country, I can testify that almost perfect order reigned. The fighting in Mindanao and Joló went on as a matter of course like the Acheen war in Sumatra, and an expedition was sent against the Igorrotes. But in the civilised districts of Luzon and Visayas good order was kept. The only outbreak I remember was the religious excitement in Samar, which closed when the false gods were shot down.

Crime was infrequent, and in those fourteen years I do not think half-a-dozen executions took place. There was less risk of burglary in Manila than in a London suburb. Whatever their faults I must give the Spanish Administration credit for the perfect order they kept. Manila, in this respect, compared favourably with Hong Kong, and still better with Singapore, where the authorities, perhaps remembering the fate of Governor Eyre of Jamaica, and in terror of Exeter Hall, tolerated the incredible insolence of the Chinese secret societies. These villainous organisations, which in Singapore successfully defied the law, never raised their heads in Manila, and Rajah Brooke showed how to treat them in Sarawak.