A Visit to the Philippine Islands

by John Bowring

Beyond this point, the creek stretches as far as Molo. Formerly the coasting vessels used, when necessary, to go on to Molo, but the drawbridge through which they had to pass having got out of repair, and the present bridge (now in very bad condition) affording no means of passage, they remain at Iloilo, to which place the Molo traders have had to transfer their warehouses.

The export trade of Iloilo, hitherto confined to the port of Manila and the adjacent islands, is at present chiefly carried on by four Spanish firms resident at Iloilo and owners of the better class of native craft sailing from this port; but to these are to be added a considerable number of mestizos, or half-castes, principally of Chinese descent, living at the neighbouring towns of Molo and Jaro, several of whom are also owners of vessels, and employ considerable sums in the trade.

The principal products exported are leaf tobacco, sugar, sapan-wood, rice in the husk (or paddy); hemp and hides, besides other articles in lesser quantity, including horns, beche-de-mer, mother-of-pearl shell, beeswax, canes, &c., and a considerable amount of native manufactured goods. Leaf, or unmanufactured tobacco, is at present the article of most importance, and the one which the Spanish traders have found most lucrative. It is purchased by them from the small native growers, and shipped to Manila for exclusive sale to the government, at prices fixed by the factory appraisers, according to the size and quality of the leaf. From Iloilo some 30,000 quintals were shipped last year for Manila, and from Capiz 20,000, giving about 50,000 as the exportable quantity of the leaf produced in Panay per annum.

The export of tobacco to Manila, until the year 1845, did not amount in this province to more than 10,000 quintals per annum; but in that year the agent of a Manila firm having raised the usual low prices given by the Iloilo traders from 10 rials to an average of 20 to 21 rials for the three first qualities, the export, in 1847, had rapidly reached 24,000 quintals.

The attention of the government being directed to its growing importance, it was resolved to institute a system of “Coleccion,” through the governor and a staff of collectors, similar to those “Collecciones” that are established at Cagayan, La Union, and Nueva Ecija. By this system, the purchase for, and export to, Manila by private traders, though not positively interdicted (as is the case in the provinces just named), was so much prejudiced and interfered with by the unequal competition with the government (to which the private buyers had ultimately to sell what they shipped), that the total export from Iloilo fell during the six years from 1848 to 1853 from 25,000 to 18,900 quintals. In this latter year the coleccion was withdrawn. In 1853 a company formed at Madrid was allowed the exclusive privilege of the manufacture and export of cigars and leaf tobacco to foreign markets. A large and expensive stone-built factory was erected near Iloilo, the manufacture of cigars organized, and purchases of the leaf effected, and, latterly, the company’s operations were extended to the cultivation of the plant in different parts of the province. A clause, however, in its charter rendered it incumbent on the company to furnish the factories at Manila, if required, with a considerable yearly amount both of leaf tobacco and cigars, equal, if necessary, to the amount annually derived in the province from other sources. As a consequence, the requirements made for the Manila factories (purposely augmented, it is said, by the hostility of the then Intendente de Hacienda to the company) were to such an extent as virtually to deprive it of all power to act on its own account; and, after an existence of nearly three years, its embarrassments were such as to compel its extinction, with the loss of a considerable portion of the capital originally sunk. Had the authorities at Manila favoured its development, the result, though necessarily cramped by the defective principle inherent in all monopolies, might have been favourable, as, with the liberty to manufacture for, and ship to, foreign markets, it could have afforded to give good prices, and might have extended the culture of the tobacco plant. It is a suggestive fact in connection with this subject that one of the Europeans formerly in the employ of the company has since had cigars manufactured for local consumption, which he has sold at 8 dollars per thousand, nearly, if not quite, equal in quality to the “Imperiales” occasionally manufactured at the factory at Manila at 25 dollars per thousand.

Since 1853, and coexistent with the company’s operations, the purchase and shipment of tobacco by private individuals have been resumed on their original footing; and, while the amount so shipped has steadily, though very gradually, increased, prices have maintained a slight upward tendency. The maximum rates, however, which the local traders can afford to pay the native growers are not high enough to bring about a rapid extension of planting, or induce these latter to give time and labour enough to improve the quality of a plant, the proper culture of which requires special attention, and the application of more capital and intelligence than they have it in their power to bestow. The Iloilo shippers complain of the arbitrary manner in which the classification of qualities is made at Manila, and of the fact that, even after delivery of the tobacco at the government stores, it is held entirely at their risk until examined, repacked and ready for shipment to Spain. The qualities shipped at Iloilo are classed as 1st (of which a very small quantity is produced under the present system), 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th; and any rejected by the examiners at Manila as under the 5th quality is retained and burnt, though no allowance on such portion is made to the vendor. The rates given by the factory for the above qualities are 7·75, 6·75, 5·25, 4, and 3 dollars per quintal respectively. The seedlings are planted out in January, and the greater part of the crop comes forward in May and June. The soil of the greater part of the Bisayas is favourable to the growth of tobacco. The island of Negros formerly produced about 8,000 quintals, of very good quality, which the Iloilo traders, through their agents, were in the habit of purchasing from the independent tribes inhabiting the interior; but the measures taken by the present governor to bring the latter into subjection having resulted last year in the slaughter of several hundreds and the dispersion of the rest, supplies from this source are at present stopped. Cebú produces about 15,000 quintals, of rather inferior quality. At Leyte, particularly in the district of Moasin, tobacco of very excellent quality and colour is grown, but it does not pay to produce in large quantity for export to Manila, and is consequently used almost exclusively in the Bisayas, where it is much appreciated. Samar also grows tobacco for local consumption. The manufacture of cigars is allowed throughout the Bisayas, but not for sale at Manila or elsewhere.

For the present the export of tobacco from Panay and the other islands possesses little direct interest for British or foreign merchants, the transactions with government, as at present conducted, not being of a satisfactory nature. It is, however, almost superfluous to say, that if the existing government monopoly of tobacco were abolished (substituted by a system of farming out lands, a direct territorial tax on the quantity under cultivation, or a duty on exports), and both the free manufacture for, and direct shipment to, a foreign market allowed, the export from Panay would immediately become of great importance to the foreign trade. The soil of a very great portion of the island being well adapted for the cultivation of the plant, the export, under the stimulus of much higher prices and the consequent employment of more and better-directed capital, would be capable of great expansion, particularly if, as would in all probability be the case, the culture were undertaken by Europeans, and the present system of small patches cultivated by natives gave place to estates on a large scale, as in Cuba. The benefits which would accrue to the native population by the opening up of larger sources of industry need not be pointed out.

The subject of the suppression of the existing monopoly is a most important one for the Philippines; and it is to be hoped that the government at Madrid, encouraged by the beneficial results of the abrogation, in 1819, of the monopoly in Cuba, will at no distant date resolve to overcome the difficulties which at present surround the question, particularly as its solution becomes yearly more urgent, and more called for on the part of both Europeans and natives.

Sugar, as an article of export, may be said to be as yet comparatively in the germ. By an abstract taken from notes of province cargoes given daily by the Boletin Oficial of Manila, it is seen that nearly 12,000 peculs went forward last year from this province to Manila, of which it may be estimated that about 3,000 were brought over from the Isla de Negros, and sent on to the capital as Iloilo sugar. So great has been the stimulus given by the high prices for this article which have lately ruled, that the quantity exported from Iloilo alone will not fall short of 20,000, or say, with contributions from Negros, about 25,000 peculs, or nearly 1,600 tons; and, were the present rapid extension of planting to continue in the same ratio for three years, the amount exportable would in that time, as there is no want of available land, reach about 80,000 peculs, or 5,000 tons, subject to further augmentation from other sources, should foreign vessels commence loading at this port.[3] At the island of Negros, from whence the voyage occupies from six to ten hours, the soil of which is eminently fertile, and which possesses immense tracts particularly adapted for the growth of sugar, a similar extension of culture is in progress, in spite of the great drawback of the comparative sparseness of its population, which alone prevents it from yielding sugar and hemp in larger proportion than any other province in the Philippines. At present Negros produces about 14,000 peculs, or nearly 900 tons, of sugar, of which more than two-thirds go to Manila direct, and the remainder by way of Iloilo. There is a further available source from whence sugar (in the event of foreign vessels loading at Iloilo) would be derivable at the contiguous island of Cebú, which produces upwards of 90,000 peculs, or 5,695 tons, for the Manila market, and is within easy distance of two to three days’ sail from Iloilo.

The effective nature of the stimulus given by the present prices will be comprehended when it is considered that the value of Iloilo sugar, which in previous years up to 1855 had generally ranged from 2 to 2·10 dollars per pecul in the Manila market, is now 5·68¾ dollars per pecul at Manila, against 3·2 to 3·3 dollars, with 25 per cent. for prem. on silver, or equal to 4·06 dollars to 4·21½ dollars here, and as long as the rate obtainable at Manila does not recede below 3 dollars per pecul of 140 lbs., the extension of planting will be continued. Of late years, owing to the disproportionally low prices paid at Manila, sugar planting had in many districts been abandoned as unremunerative, but during the past and present year it has rapidly increased, particularly since the introduction of a more economical kind of furnace, in which the refuse cane is used to some extent in place of the large amount of wood formerly consumed.