The Katipunan Part 17

"2nd. It is known that the same Serrano frequents the Archbishop's palace and the College of San Juan de Letran with the peculiarity that in both establishments his symbolic name in known, and he has manifested in the formed establishment that he is a man whose companionship is to be avoided because he occupies himself with giving information.

"3rd. It happened later on that the said Serrano presented himself in the house of Sr. Marte, gr. 3, late secretary of the lodge Nilad, demanding the handing over of doc.u.ments of the secretaryship which he said belonged to him, threatening that otherwise he would report the matter to General Blanco, and the extraction of the doc.u.ments would be made by the friar parish priest of the said suburb.

"4th. Lastly: in the meeting of the parochial clergy held in the Archbishop's palace--the morning of the 13th of this month-- ... masonry and masons were discussed; and the Archbishop said to the parish priest of Quiapo: you must tell the school-master of your suburb that it is not sufficient to have abjured his masonic beliefs, but that it is also necessary to fulfill the conditions agreed upon.

"Consequently it will be convenient that you gather together the Cam. del Medio and read therein the present doc.u.ment, adding the explanation and comments you deem necessary, and that with respect to the other CCam. you limit yourselves to giving account of the fact, demonstrating its enormity, pointing out its author and taking what steps are necessary to prevent contagion.

Receive Ven. Mast. and G. bro. the fraternal embrace of peace we send you.

Manila 31st November 1894.

The Gr. Pres.

Musa (Ambrosio Flores).

APPENDIX D.

Anting-antings const.i.tute the remnants of what was once, what might be called the religion of the peoples of the Philippines. They are most commonly met with in the form of amulets which their possessors carry about with them to ward off dangers of all kinds. There are amulets for protection against fire arms, against sword thrust or bolo slash; against diseases of all parts of the body; amulets against the bursting of fire arms or to prevent them making a noise when discharged by the wearer of the amulet; against snakes and their bites, against lightning; amulets to protect their wearers against the courts of justice and against the authorities when they pursue them for robbery. In a word amulets or anting-anting against everything.

As a rules these amulets consist of small booklets containing prayers composed of Latin and Spanish words mixed with words and abbreviations of the native dialects. Some times they are stones or mineral deposits found in the bodies of animals, or the seed portion of petrified fruits, or even parts of the skeletons of children.

Although one would suppose that such superst.i.tions had long since ceased to exist among the indians of the archipelago such is not the case; and it is more than probable that the majority of the members of the federal party and may be two out of the three native members of the Commission carry their anting-anting carefully guarded in one of their pockets. However their use is most common among native doctors, that is those who have not studied medicine, but who dabble in the art for what they can get out of it, and by tulisanes or armed robbers. They were also much in vogue among the enlightened officers and men of the insurgent ranks, many of whom considered themselves perfectly safe from the bullets of their enemies when they carried in their person an amulet or anting-anting.

The following are samples of pages of one of the booklets found on the person of a wounded tulisan. The first of these two pages contains a prayer against fire-arms, and the second a conglomeration which no one has never been able to decipher.

+---------------------------+ +-----------------------------+ talis misereren.o.bis Amin. Prele queno niar en res tom Domi nom nos tom Oracion de S. Pablo contra armas de foigo ip. Ntro. y Av. h [+] a [+] [+] [+] Jesus S. Pablo Ponitom Q [+] n quiter Deus Salucam tuam, Amin. +---------------------------+ +-----------------------------+

Anting-anting is also found in other forms, sometimes merely a strip of paper bearing some inscription, and which receives its virtue from some action performed over it, such as the saying of the ma.s.s whilst the paper is on the altar.

A parish priest of a pueblo in a neighboring province once related to me the discovery of one such an anting-anting in his church. He approached the altar to recite the Ma.s.s, and upon genuflecting at the centre of the altar noticed that there was something unusual, although small, under the altar cloth. He put his hand under the cloth to see what it was and found there a slip of paper bearing three crosses, thus:

This paper had been carelessly folded and placed where he found it, upon the altar stone. Had it remained undisturbed and the service of Ma.s.s been said over it, it would have, in the belief of the indian who put it there, become infused with marvelous virtues and could have protected its wearer from the dangers to be incurred in the armed rising against the Spaniards which they were about to attempt.

In all probability Buencamino carried some anting-anting with him to Washington to protect him from a.s.sa.s.sination or from ... nausea.

APPENDIX E.

Manila, 10th January 1897.

"I Faustino Villaruel y Zapanta, 52 years of age, publicly declare that as I was born so wish I to die--a Spaniard, a christian, a Roman Apostolic Catholic; and that I detest with my whole soul any rebellion or treason against our beloved mother Spain.

"I also repent of having belonged to masonry and of having devoted myself to its propaganda in these islands and having been such a bigoted mason that I caused my two children to enter also into the society I now curse. I counsel my children and all my friends to renounce the said society, and beg pardon of G.o.d, as I do now, it being condemned by the Church.

"I beseech the most Excellent and Ill.u.s.trious Archbishop to make public this my spontaneous and free retraction.--Faustino Villaruel. Witnesses:--the official guard of the Chapel, Antonio Pardo.--the sergeant of the Guard, Felix Garcia."

APPENDIX F. G. H. I. J.

These latter appendices have been suppressed in this first edition for want of s.p.a.ce.

NOTES

[1] The numbers which will be found throughout this doc.u.ment signify notes to be found in the appendix. The letters in brackets signify footnotes of minor importance.

[2] Barcelona.

[3] About this same time a lodge composed of Filipinos was formed in Madrid, and known as the Solidaridad. There it was that steps were taken to catechize the ma.s.ses of the Filipinos in their own homes.

[4] In the Official Bulletin of the Gr. Or. Esp. for Sept. 1896, Morayta, speaking of this a.s.sociation of separatists said: "It was born strong,--the filipino colony numbered then more than 70 members, by the side of whom labored several peninsular Spaniards." It is a pity Morayta did not cla.s.sify these peninsular Spaniards, for had he done so we might perhaps have found among their number some of the social outcasts who have since aided the insurgent element against the legitimate authority of the United States.

[5] These aspirations almost all turned upon the idea of independence. The ability of the natives to govern themselves has had many tests. During the last days of Spanish rule a taste of this privilege in minor grade was allowed the native as a test, and it needed but a drop of the independence tincture to put the patient into a burning fever. It truly takes a visionary to claim for the Filipino the ability to govern his own country. In the Filipino family the woman "wears the breeches" and in the pueblo all is subservient to the "boss", the presidente. The aspirations of the pre-American Filipinos are the same as the aspirations of the Federal Party: aspirations which can never be realized till the character of the aspirant radically changes. "Filipinas" yet awaits in expectation to find the Filipino who can govern his own household!

[6] The executive committee of the Liga was composed of Moises Salvador, Ambrosio Flores, Apolinario Mabini, Domingo Franco, Numeriano Adriano, Timoteo Paez, Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista, and the brothers Venancio and Alejandro Reyes. Testimony of Antonio Salazar. (fols. 1118 to 1129).