The Inhabitants of the Philippines Part 10

He would make large contributions to the funds of the Order, with the surplus revenue of his parish.

If, however, the priest whose career we have been following, had shown sufficient character for a champion, and had become popular in the Order, he might, perhaps, be elected Provincial, and then, disposing of the influence of his Order, some day get himself made a Bishop or even Archbishop of Manila, should a vacancy occur, and so become a prince of the Church.

Whatever talents a friar had, a sphere could always be found for their exercise. If he had a gift for preaching, he could be appointed Orator of the Order. If he was good at Latin and Greek, he could be made a professor at the university. If he was a good business man, he could be chosen procurator. If he had diplomatic talents, he could be made commissary of the order at Madrid. In any case he was sure to be taken care of to the end of his days.

As for the Orders in themselves, I have already said that, excepting the Society of Jesus, they are little republics, and that office-holders are elected by the votes of the members. When a general Chapter of the Order is held for this purpose, the members come from all parts and a.s.semble in their convent in Manila.

I am sorry to say that there has sometimes been so much feeling aroused over the question of the distribution of the loaves and fishes, that the opposing parties have broken up the chairs and benches to serve as clubs, and furiously attacked each other in the battle royal, and with deplorable results.

In consequence of this, when the chapter or general a.s.sembly was to be held, the governor-general nominated a royal commissary, often a colonel in the army, to be present at these meetings, but only to interfere to keep the peace. It was something of an anomaly to see a son of Mars deputed to keep the peace in an a.s.sembly of the clergy. The meeting commenced with prayer, then one by one all the dignitaries laid down their offices and became private members of the Order, so that at the end of this ceremony every one was absolutely equal.

Then the eldest rose and solemnly adjured any one present who held a Bull of the Holy Father, to produce it then and there under pain of major excommunication. Three times was this solemn warning delivered.

It owes its origin, perhaps, to some surprise sprung on a brotherhood in former days, yet it is to be noted that one of the privileges of their Catholic majesties the kings of Spain was, that no Bull should run in their dominions without their approval.

Then free from outside interference, and all present being on an equal footing the election takes place. Amidst great excitement the Provincial, the Procurator, the Orator, the Definidores, or Councillors, are chosen according to their popularity, or as they are deemed best fitted to advance the interests of the voter or the Order.

The selection of office-holders is a matter of the greatest importance to the members, as those in power distribute the benefices and are apt to be more alive to the merits of their supporters, than to the pretensions of those who have voted for others.

But, however divided they may be on these occasions, they unite against any outsider, and unless the question is evidently personal, he who offends a member finds the Order ranged against him, and, perhaps, the other Orders also, for in matters affecting their interests the Orders act in unison, and as has been said, have succeeded in removing not only governors of provinces, but governors-general also when these have failed to do their bidding.

CHAPTER VIII.

THEIR ESTATES.

Malinta and Piedad--Mandaloyan--San Francisco de Malabon--Irrigation works--Imus--Calamba--Cabuyao--Santa Rosa--Binan--San Pedro Tunasan--Naic--Santa Cruz--Estates a bone of contention for centuries--Princ.i.p.al cause of revolt of Tagals--But the Peace Commission guarantee the Orders in possession--Pacification r.e.t.a.r.ded--Summary--The Orders must go!--And be replaced by natives.

The Augustinians own some fine estates near Manila. In 1877 I visited Malinta and Piedad, which, according to an old plan exhibited to me, drawn by some ancient navigator, measured over 14,000 acres in extent, a good part of which was cultivated and under paddy; still a large expanse was rocky, and grew only cogon (elephant gra.s.s). The lay-brother in charge, Aureliano Garcia, confided to me that he went about in fear, and expected to end his life under the bolos of the tenants. I was then new to the country, and saw no signs of discontent. I afterwards visited Mandaloyan, another estate nearer Manila. This was nearly all arable land. The house was large and commodious, and was used as a convalescent home for the friars. I have not a note of the extent of this estate, but it occupies a great part of the s.p.a.ce between the rivers Maibonga and San Juan, to the north of the Pasig. The lay-brother in charge, Julian Ibeas, did not seem at all anxious about his safety. The land here was more fertile than that of Malinta, and there was water carriage to a market for the crops.

In view of my report, which was not, however, unduly optimistic, my clients deputed me to ask the Augustinians for a lease of the above three estates for twenty-five years, the rent to be $40,000 [7]

per year for three years, and each year after that an addition of a thousand dollars, so that the ultimate rent would be $62,000 per annum. However, after taking some time to consider, the procurator declined the offer.

On the above estates there was little or nothing done by the owners to improve the land. They had limited themselves to building large and convenient houses and granaries for their own accommodation, and to entertain their friends.

In 1884 I constructed a pumping station on the River Tuliajan in this estate, and laid a pipe line right through the property to supply fresh water to the sugar refinery at Malabon, five miles distant. I had no difficulty in obtaining permission, indeed, Fray a.r.s.enio Campo (now Bishop of Nueva Caceres) facilitated the work in every way. The only protest was by Doroteo Cortes, a half-caste lawyer, who interposed as the pipe had to pa.s.s between two fish-ponds belonging to him, and he extorted a blackmail $800 to withdraw his opposition. Let the reader contrast the behaviour of the Spaniard and the half-caste, now posing as an "Americanista."

San Francisco de Malabon, another possession of theirs, is a magnificent property, situated on the fertile, well-watered land that slopes from the summits of the Tagaytay range, north of the vast crater-lake of Bombon, to the sh.o.r.es of the ever-famous Bay of Bacoor, the scene of Spain's naval collapse.

Through the volcanic soil three rivers, the Ilang-ilang, the Camanchile, and the Jalan, have cut deep gashes down to the bed-rock, on the surface of which the rapid waters rush downwards to the sea.

A n.o.bly-proportioned house of stone, almost a fortress, was planted where it commanded a grand, a stately view. From its windows the spectator looked over fields of waving grain, over fruit trees, and town and hamlets, down to the sea sh.o.r.e, and across the vast expanse of placid bay to where in the far north solitary Arayat rears his head. The thick walls and lofty roof excluded the solar heat, and the green-painted Venetians saved the inmate from the glare. Very welcome was that hostel, furnished in severe ecclesiastical almost mediaeval style, to me, after the dusty up-hill drive of eight miles from Cavite.

I visited this estate in 1879, and found that extensive irrigation works had been carried out. A new dam on one of the rivers, about fifty feet high, was approaching completion. Unfortunately, the work had been executed by a lay-brother, a stone mason, without professional supervision. He was ignorant of the necessity of taking special precautions when preparing the seat for the dam. Although he had a bed of volcanic tuff to build upon he would not go to the trouble to cut into and stop all faults and crevices in the rock before laying his first course of masonry, and he hurried on the job to save expense as he supposed. For the same reason he did not attempt to follow the correct profile of the dam. When the pressure came on, the water spouted up in little fountains, and gradually increased as it cut away the soft stone. I advised them what to do, and after a good deal of work, Portland cement and puddled clay got them out of their difficulty.

About four miles to the eastward of San Francisco de Malabon, and on the same volcanic soil, is the great estate of Imus belonging to the Recollets, or unshod Augustinians. It is about five miles from the landing-place at Bacoor. Here again three rivers run through the property, and the view from the house is the same.

The house itself was a grim fortress and served the rebels well in 1896, for they found arms and ammunition in it, and successfully defended it against General Aiguirre who had to retire, being unable to take it without artillery.

In 1897 the army of General Lachambre advanced against Imus, and on the 24th March took the outer defences of the town, notwithstanding the determined resistance of the Tagals, of whom three hundred were killed in a hand-to-hand combat. Next day the estate house, which adjoins the town and had been for six months the stronghold of the Katipunan, was bombarded and burnt, only the ruins remain.

There are extensive works of irrigation at this place also, and formerly a large sugar works was built here by the owners, but it failed, as there was no one fit to take charge of it.

I have not visited this Hacienda, and cannot give its extent or value.

Of all the Orders the greatest land-owners are the Dominicans. They have vast estates in Calamba, Cabuyao, Santa Rosa, Binan, and San Pedro Tunasan, all on the Lake of Bay, also at Naic and Santa Cruz on the Bay of Manila. I have several times visited their estates at the first two places, and can affirm that they have expended considerable sums in building dams for irrigating the lands, and I supplied them with some very large cast-iron pipes for the purpose of making a syphon across a ravine or narrow valley to convey water for irrigating the opposite plain. They have consequently very largely increased the value of these lands.

The house at Calamba, solidly built of stone, with a strong and high encircling wall, served as a fortified camp and headquarters for the Spanish army in operation against the rebels in 1897.

This estate of Calamba has earned a sad notoriety in the Philippines, for the disputes which constantly arose between the administration and their tenants.

It is hardly too much to say that the possession of estates has been fatal to the Orders. They claim to have always been good and indulgent landlords, but the fact remains that all these estates are in Tagal territory, that only the Tagals revolted, and that the revolt was directed against the Orders because of their tyranny and extortions, and because they were landlords and rack renters.

It was, is now, and ever will be an Agrarian question that will continue to give trouble and be the cause of crime and outrage until settled in a broad-minded and statesman-like manner.

These estates have been a bone of contention for centuries, and were a princ.i.p.al cause of the last revolt of the Tagals. Yet the Peace Commission at Paris appears to have given the three Orders a new t.i.tle to their disputed possessions by guaranteeing to the Church the enjoyment of its property, which, if the Spaniards had continued to rule the islands, must ultimately have been taken from it in the natural course of events, as has happened in every other Catholic country.

I have no doubt that the pacification of the Philippines by the American forces has been greatly r.e.t.a.r.ded, and is now rendered more difficult, by this clause, which must have been accepted by the American commissioners under a misapprehension of its import, and from imperfect information as to the status quo. This difficult matter can still be arranged, but it will require the outlay of a considerable sum of money, which, however, would eventually be recouped.

In present circ.u.mstances I venture to say that a garrison would be needed at each estate to protect an administrator or collector, for the Tagal tenants are as averse to paying rent for land as any bog-trotter in Tipperary. I do not envy anybody who purchases these estates, nor would I consider the life of such a one a good risk for an insurance company, if he intended to press the tenants for rents or arrears.

To sum up the Religious Orders, they were hardy and adventurous pioneers of Christianity, and in the evangelisation of the Philippines, by persuasion and teaching, they did more for Christianity and civilisation than any other missionaries of modern times.

Of undaunted courage they have ever been to the front when calamities threatened their flocks; they have witnessed and recorded some of the most dreadful convulsions of nature, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and destructive typhoons. In epidemics of plague and cholera they have not been dismayed, nor have they ever in such cases abandoned their flocks.

When an enemy has attacked the islands they have been the first to face the shot. Only fervent faith could enable these men to endure the hardships, and overcome the dangers that encompa.s.sed them.

They have done much for education, having founded schools for both s.e.xes, training colleges for teachers, the university of St. Thomas in Manila, and other inst.i.tutions.

Hospitals and asylums attest their charity. They were formerly, and even lately, the protectors of the poor against the rich, and of the native against the Spaniard. They have consistently resisted the enslavement of the natives.

They restrained the constant inclination of the natives to wander away into the woods and return to primitive savagery by keeping them in the towns, or, as they said, "Under the bells."

On the other hand, peace and plenty (those blessings for which we pray), have corrupted and demoralised the Orders. No longer liable at any moment to be called upon to fight for their lives, the sterner virtues have decayed. Increased production and export enriched the people, a gold coinage was introduced, and the friars allowed avarice to possess their souls.

In those lands of perpetual summer no death duties have to be paid to a Chancellor of the Exchequer, as in this island of fog and mist.

But the friars have a system of charges for performing the funeral ceremonies, which comes to much the same in the end. I call it a system; it is a very simple system, and consists in extorting as much as they can get, taking into consideration the wealth of the family. To give an instance, I have been a.s.sured by a son of Capitan Natalio Lopez, of Balayan, a native gentleman well known to me, that the parish priest charged the family six hundred dollars for performing their father's funeral ceremony. The same rule applies to baptisms and marriages, and this abuse calls for redress, and for the establishment of fixed fees according to the position of the parties.

Each friar, as a parish priest, was an outpost of the central government, watching for symptoms of revolt. Only thus could the Spaniards hold the archipelago with fifteen hundred Peninsular troops, and a small squadron of warships.

The greatest, and the best-founded, complaint of the natives against the priests, was that whoever displeased them, either in personal or money matters, was liable to be denounced to the authorities as a filibuster, and to be torn from home and family and deported to some distant and probably unhealthy spot, there to reside, at his own cost, for an indefinite time, by arbitrary authority, without process of law. Such a punishment, euphoniously termed "forced residence,"

sometimes involved the death of the exile, and always caused heavy expense, as a pardon could not be obtained without bribing some one.