1868. July 11—The society decides to reward, with a gold and a silver medal, the authors of the best two memoirs which shall be presented proposing “the means which the government and the society can employ to secure the development of agriculture in the country.” October 16—Motion for the establishment of a savings bank and public loan office.
1871. December 11—A gold medal is granted to Don Santiago Patero for the memoir presented to the society by that gentleman upon the cultivation of coffee and cacao, besides the printing of five thousand copies of the said treatise in order that it may be brought to the knowledge of the farmers.
1874. Project for an annual fair and exposition at Manila. A study of the mutual use of bills of exchange in Filipinas. Preparation of a memoir on the cultivation and manufacture of sugar; and others on the trade in coffee and cacao, and the abacá industry. Appointment of a commission for studying the project for establishment of an agricultural bank.
[The limitations of our available space compel us to omit any detailed account of agriculture in the islands; we have chosen to present, in the preceding papers, a view of agricultural conditions at two different periods—in Basco’s decree, 1784; and in Jagor’s account, 1866—with an outline of the efforts and achievements of the Economic Society from 1781 to 1874 (which aimed to develop the agricultural resources of the country and with these its manufactures and commerce), and references to the leading authorities on this subject, most of these works being easy of access for the student and thus rendering unnecessary our further use of them in this series. These references here follow: Comyn, Estado, pp. 6–21, and chart ii at end; Mas, Informe, ii, section on agriculture (47 pp.); Mallat, Les Philippines, ii, pp. 255–282; Buzeta and Bravo, Diccionario, i, pp. 169–206; Jagor, Reisen, in various places; Montero y Vidal, Archipiélago filipino, pp. 204–216; Worcester, Philippine Islands, pp. 503–510—and, for description of native methods,[21] his “Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon,” in Phil. Journal of Science, October, 1906; the Annual Reports of U. S. Philippine Commission; Official Handbook of Philippines, pp. 99–118; Census of the Philippines, iv, pp. 11–394 (including detailed and classified statistics of the subject for the year 1903); and the Farmers’ Bulletins published by the Insular Bureau of Agriculture, Manila. Cf. also the chapters on agriculture, titles to land, and agricultural products, in “Remarks by an Englishman” and Bernaldez’s “Memorial,” in VOL. LI; the section on agriculture in LeRoy’s contribution to the present volume; and titles of works on these subjects which are enumerated in Griffin’s List of Books on the Philippines, Pardo de Tavera’s Biblioteca filipina, Vindel’s Catálogo biblioteca filipina, and Retana’s Aparato bibliográfico de Filipinas (Madrid, 1906).]
[1] A Tagálog word, meaning “that which is in partnership.” [↑]
[2] Pacto de retrovendendo: “A certain agreement accessory to the contract of purchase and sale, by which the buyer obliges himself to return the thing sold to the seller, the latter returning to the buyer the price which he gave for it, within a certain time, or when the seller shall require it, according to the terms in which the agreement is drawn up.” (Diccionario of the Academy, cited by Dominguez.) Cf. the political use of the same phrase in the treaty of Zaragoza (VOL. 1, p. 232). [↑]
[3] The word “composition” (Spanish, composición) as here used has “a technical meaning as applied to lands, and may be defined as a method by which the State enabled an individual who held its lands without legal title thereto to convert his mere possession into a perfect right of property by virtue of compliance with the requirements of law. Composition was made in the nature of a compact or compromise between the State and the individual who was illegally holding lands in excess of those to which he was legally entitled, and, by virtue of his compliance with the law, the State conferred on him a good title to the lands that he had formerly held under a mere claim of title.” Under Spanish administration, there was great confusion and uncertainty in land-titles; the laws in force were too complicated and slow in operation, and left too much power in the hands of indifferent or mercenary officials. Some benefits were yielded by regulations for the composition of State lands which were in force from 1880 to 1894, and in the latter year more definite and positive provisions were made by royal decree (constituting the “public-land law” in force in the islands when occupied by the United States) for the settlement of uncertain land-titles; but in neither case were the results very satisfactory. The same may be said of the registration system known as the Ley hipotecaria (or mortgage law), which in 1889 was extended to Filipinas. During the period of revolution and war (1896–99) many of the land records were destroyed in the provinces, which further complicated questions of land ownership; and the U. S. Philippine Commission was obliged to make provision for the settlement of these by the “Land Registration Act,” which became effective on February 1, 1903. For account of its provisions and mode of operation, see the chapter on “Land Titles” (pp. 127–137) in Official Handbook of the Philippines—where also is presented a more detailed account of the regulations made by the Spanish laws. [↑]
[4] At the foot of the last printed page is a note, evidently written by some person in the secretary’s office of the Council of Indias (to which body this copy of the decree appears to have been sent), which reads in translation: “It came with a letter from the governor of Philipinas, Don Joseph de Basco y Vargas, dated June 16, 1784, and received at the secretary’s office on March 19, 1785.” A penciled memorandum on the fly-leaf indicates that it was published at Sampaloc, 1784. [↑]
[5] By royal decree of Feb. 26, 1886, the alcaldes-mayor of the provinces were restricted to judicial functions, and in others they were replaced by civil governors. [↑]