“This is a fact, and a proof of their indifference and stolidity.” (Mas, p. 78.)
[76] The lengua franca is the trade-jargon of the Orient. The original of the passage above is as follows: “Deó grande nopillar fantacia; mondo cosi cosi; si estar escrito in testa andar andar; sino acá morir.” M. reads “an andar andar,” and has other slight differences. D. reads “ha (de) andar” and has also other slight differences.
The full name of the author above mentioned is Gabriel Gomez de Losada, and his book is Escuela de trabaios, in quatro libros dividida: Primero, del cautiverio mas cruel.... Segundo, Noticias y govierno de Argel: Tercero, necessidad y conveniencia de la redempcion de Cautivos Christianos: Quarto, el mejor cautivo rescatado.... (Madrid, 1670).
[77] M. and D. add (though with a slight difference in wording) “for they will not believe that he who loves danger will perish in it.”
Some Indians are fatalists, but not all, says Delgado (p. 310). The Visayans are generally careful, and watch out for the crocodiles. Those who have been devoured by those reptiles have always been evil, and were so punished by God for their sins. Mas says (p. 79), that this fatalism must have been imported from Asia.
[78] Delgado says (p. 310): “This proceeds from their barbarous condition, and because the Spaniards commonly deceive them, and teach them things that are not very good, especially the convict guachinangos, of whom this country is full. But that they cannot be persuaded that it is a sin to steal from the religious or from the Spaniards, I regard as a misapprehension, or at least it is not common for this to happen, although his Paternity brings forward such evidence, that one cannot doubt him. For I have seen the contrary in many villages.”
Mas (pp. 80, 81), says: “It is a fact that some Indians have but little scruple in stealing from Spaniards, for they say that all that the latter possess is of the Philippines and consequently theirs. But do not believe that they have any consideration for their fellow-countrymen. In its proper place we shall see that theft is the greatest part of the criminality of the islands.... It is to be noted that they generally rob on a small and rarely on a large scale; for their ambition is limited to satisfying a vice or to bettering their present condition, but not in changing it.
“The father provincial of the Augustinian religious, said in his printed report, in the compilation made concerning the causes of the insurrection in Ilocos in 1807:
“‘The Indians of Ilocos have become highwaymen, like those of the other provinces. They steal cows, horses, and carabaos from their own countrymen; and those who are occupied in this trade are ready for all sorts of evil. It is not surprising that many of these should have come with the deserters who first rebelled in the mountains of Piddig, and that others should unite with them when the fire was fanned. But one can not call this a cause for insurrection, nor do I believe that for such thefts the means should be to take the stealers of carabaos to Manila so that they might be punished; but it is enough for the alcaldes-mayor to watch over their province and punish these thefts. By so doing they would succeed in lessening thefts, for the extermination of them is as impossible as is making an end of the classes of the thieves according to the proverb of the Indians, “When the rats die, then the thieves will come to an end.”’
“It is true that perhaps one ought not to ascribe all this demoralization to a perverse disposition. One must not have lived among the Filipinos, or have been very blind in regard to them, to say that they are all thieves. There are very many who, although they could steal with impunity, do not do so.... The frequency of theft may proceed from other causes. Perhaps the system of mercy and impunity that has dictated and is dictating the sentences of the Audiencia of Manila has contributed thereto....”