The Philippine Islands Part 24

_Civil and Criminal Law Courts_

The Civil and Criminal Law Courts were as follows, viz.:--

2 Supreme Courts in Manila and Cebu, quite independent of each other.

4 First-Cla.s.s Courts of Justice in Manila (called "de termino.") 8 First-Cla.s.s Courts of Justice in the Provinces (called "de termino_.") 10 Second-Cla.s.s Courts of Justice in the Provinces (called "de ascenso.") 19 Third-Cla.s.s Courts of Justice in the Provinces (called "de entrada.") 7 Provincial Governments with judicial powers.

_Judges' Salaries_

President of the Supreme Court of Manila P7,000 President of the Supreme Court of Cebu 6,000 Judge of each of the 12 First-Cla.s.s Courts 4,000 Judge of each of the 10 Second-Cla.s.s Courts 3,000 Judge of each of the 19 Third-Cla.s.s Courts 2,000

_Law Courts Estimate for_ 1888

P cts.

Supreme Court of Manila 90,382 00 Supreme Court of Cebu 49,828 00 All the minor Courts and allowances to Provincial Governors with judicial powers 192,656 00 ------- -- Estimated total cost for the year P332,866 00

_Penitentiaries and Convict Settlements_

Manila (Bilibid Jail) containing on an average 900 Native Convicts And in 1888 there were also 3 Spanish Convicts Cavite Jail contained in 1888 51 Native Convicts Zamboanga Jail contained in 1888 98 Native Convicts Agricultural Colony of San Ramon (Zamboanga), worked by convict labour, contained in 1888 164 Native Convicts Ladrone Island Penal Settlement contained in 1888 101 Native Convicts Ladrone Island Penal Settlement contained in 1888 3 Spanish Convicts In the Army and Navy Services 730 Native Convicts ----- 2,045 Convicts

Total estimated disburs.e.m.e.nts for Penitentiaries and Convict maintenance in the Settlements for the year P82,672.71

_Brigandage_ first came into prominence in Governor Arandia's time (1754-59), and he used the means of "setting a thief to catch a thief," which answered well for a short time, until the crime became more and more habitual as provincial property increased in value and capital was acc.u.mulated there. In 1888 the Budget provided an allowance of 2,000 pesos for rewards for the capture or slaughter of these ruffians. Up to the end of Spanish rule, brigandage, pillage, and murder were treated with such leniency by the judges that there was little hope for the extinction of such crimes. When a band of thieves and a.s.sa.s.sins attacked a village or a residence, murdered its inhabitants, and carried off booty, the Civil Guard at once scoured the country, and often the malefactors were arrested. The Civil Guard was an excellent inst.i.tution, and performed its duty admirably well; but as soon as the villains were handed over to the legal functionaries, society lost hope. Instead of the convicted criminals being garrotted according to law, as the public had a right to demand, they were "protected"; some were let loose on the world again, whilst others were sent to prison and allowed to escape, or they were transported to a penal settlement to work without fetters, where they were just as comfortable as if they were working for a private employer. I record these facts from personal knowledge, for my wanderings in the Islands brought me into contact with all sorts and conditions of men. I have been personally acquainted with many brigands, and I gave regular employment to an ex-bandit for years.

The Philippine brigand--known in the northern islands as _Tulisan_ and in the southern islands as _Pulajan_--is not merely an outlaw, such as may yet be found in Southern and Eastern Europe; his infamous work of freebooting is never done to his satisfaction without the complement of bloodshed, even though his victim yield to him all without demur. Booty or no booty, blood must flow, if he be the ordinary _Tulisan_ of the type known to the Tagalogs as _dugong-aso_ (blood of a dog). as distinguished from the milder _Tulisan pulpul_ (literally, the blunt brigand), who robs, uses no unnecessary violence, but runs away if he can, and only fights when he must.

At Christmas, 1884, I went to Laguimanoc in the Province of Tayabas to spend a few days with an English friend of mine. [110] On the way there, at Sariaya, I stayed at the house of the Captain of the Civil Guard, when a message came to say that an attack had been made the night before on my friend's house, his manager, a Swede, having been killed, and many others in the village wounded. The Captain showed me the despatch, and invited me to join him as a volunteer to hunt down the murderers. I agreed, and within half an hour we were mounted and on their track all through that dark night, whilst the rain poured in torrents. Four native soldiers were following us on foot. We jumped over ditches, through rice-paddy fields and cocoanut plantations, and then forded a river, on the opposite bank of which was the next guards' post in charge of a lieutenant, who joined us with eight foot-soldiers. That same night we together captured five of the wretches, who had just beached a canoe containing part of their spoils. The prisoners were bound elbows together at their backs and sent forward under escort. We rode on all night until five o'clock the next morning, arriving at the convent of Pagbilao just as Father Jesus was going down to say Ma.s.s. I had almost lost my voice through being ten hours in the rain; but the priest was very attentive to us, and we went on in a prahu to the village where the crime had been committed. In another prahu the prisoners were sent in charge of the soldiers. In the meantime, the Chief Judge and the Government Doctor of the province had gone on before us. On the way we met a canoe going to Pagbilao, carrying the corpse of the murdered Swede for burial. When we arrived at Laguimanoc, we found one native dead and many natives and Chinese badly wounded.

My friend's house had the front door smashed in--an iron strong-box had been forced, and a few hundred pesos, with some rare coins, were stolen. The furniture in the dining-room was wantonly hacked about with bowie-knives, only to satisfy a savage love for mischief. His bedroom had been entered, and there the brigands began to make their harvest; the bundles of wearing-apparel, jewellery, and other valuables were already tied up, when lo! the Virgin herself appeared, casting a penetrating glance of disapproval upon the wicked revelry! Forsaking their plunder, the brigands fled in terror from the saintly apparition. And when my friend re-entered his home and crossed the bloodstained floor of the dining-room to go to his bedroom, the cardboard Virgin, with a trade advertis.e.m.e.nt on the back, was still peeping round the door-jamb to which she was nailed, with the words "Please to shut the door" printed on her spotless bust.

The next day the Captain remained in the village whilst I went on with the Lieutenant and a few guards in a prahu down the coast, where we made further captures, and returned in three days. During our journey in the prahu the wind was so strong that we resolved to beach our craft on the seash.o.r.e instead of attempting to get over the shoal of the San Juan River. We ran her ash.o.r.e under full sail, and just at that moment a native rushed towards us with an iron bar in his hand. In the evening gloom he must have mistaken us for a party of weather-beaten native or Chinese traders whose skulls he might smash in at a stroke and rifle their baggage. He halted, however, perfectly amazed when two guards with their bayonets fixed jumped forward in front of him. Then we got out, took him prisoner, and the next day he was let off with a souvenir of the lash, as there was nothing to prove that he was a brigand by profession. The second leader of the brigand gang was shot through the lungs a week afterwards, by the guards who were on his track, as he was jumping from the window-opening of a hut, and there he died.

The Captain of the Civil Guard received an anonymous letter stating where the brigand chief was hiding. This fact came to the knowledge of the native _cuadrillero_ officer who had hitherto supplied his friend, the brigand, with rice daily, so he hastened on before the Captain could arrive, and imposed silence for ever on the fugitive bandit by stabbing him in the back. Thus the _cuadrillero_ avoided the disclosure of unpleasant facts which would have implicated himself. The prisoners were conducted to the provincial jail, and three years afterwards, when I made inquiries about them, I learnt that two of them had died of their wounds, whilst not a single one had been sentenced.

The most ignorant cla.s.ses believe that certain persons are possessed of a mystic power called _anting-anting_, which preserves them from all harm, and that the body of a man so affected is even refractory to bullet or steel. Brigands are often captured wearing medallions of the Virgin Mary or the Saints as a device of the _anting-anting_. In Maragondon (Cavite), the son of a friend of mine was enabled to go into any remote place with impunity, because he was reputed to be possessed of this charm. Some highwaymen, too, have a curious notion that they can escape punishment for a crime committed in Easter Week, because the thief on the cross was pardoned his sins.

In 1885 I purchased a small estate, where there was some good wild-boar hunting and snipe-shooting, and I had occasion to see the man who was tenant previous to my purchase, in Manila Jail. He was accused of having been concerned in an attack upon the town of Mariquina, and was incarcerated for eighteen months without being definitely convicted or acquitted. Three months after his release from prison he was appointed petty-governor of his own town, much to the disgust of the people, who in vain pet.i.tioned against it in writing.

I visited the Penal Settlement, known as the Agricultural Colony of San Ramon, situated about fifteen miles north of Zamboanga, where I remained twelve days. The director of the settlement was D. Felipe Dujiols, an army captain who had defended Onate (in Guipuzcoa, Spain), during the Carlist war; so, as we were each able to relate our personal experiences of that stirring period, we speedily became friends. As his guest, I was able to acquire more ample information about the system of convict treatment. With the 25 convicts just arrived, there were in all 150 natives of the most desperate cla.s.s--a.s.sa.s.sins, thieves, conspirators, etc., working on this penal settlement. They were well fed, fairly well lodged, and worked with almost the same freedom as independent labourers. Within a few yards of the director's bungalow were the barracks, for the accommodation of a detachment of 40 soldiers--under the command of a lieutenant--who patrolled the settlement during the day and mounted guard at night. During my stay one prisoner was chained and flogged, but that was for a serious crime committed the day before. The severest hardship which these convicts had to endure under the rule of my generous host, D. Felipe, was the obligation to work as honest men in other countries would be willing to do. In this same penal settlement, some years ago, a party of convicts attacked and killed three of the European overseers, and then escaped to the Island of Basilan, which lies to the south of Zamboanga. The leader of these criminals was a native named Pedro Cuevas, whose career is referred to at length in Chap. xxix.

Within half a day's journey from Manila there are several well-known marauders' haunts, such as San Mateo, Imus, Silan, Indan, the mouths of the Hagonoy River (Pampanga), etc. In 1881 I was the only European amongst 20 to 25 pa.s.sengers in a canoe going to Balanga on the west sh.o.r.e of Manila Bay, when about midday a canoe, painted black and without the usual outriggers, bore down upon us, and suddenly two gun-shots were fired, whilst we were called upon to surrender. The pirates numbered eight; they had their faces bedaubed white and their canoe ballasted with stones. There was great commotion in our craft; the men shouted and the women fell into a heap over me, reciting Ave Marias, and calling upon all the Saints to succour them. Just as I extricated myself and looked out from under the palm-leaf awning, the pirates flung a stone which severely cut our pilot's face. They came very close, flourishing their knives, but our crew managed to keep them from boarding us by pushing off their canoe with the paddles. When the enemy came within range of my revolver, one of their party, who was standing up brandishing a bowie-knife, suddenly collapsed into a heap. This seemed to discourage the rest, who gave up the pursuit, and we went on to Balanga.

The most famous _Tulisan_ within living memory was a Chinese half-caste named Juan Fernandez, commonly known as _Tancad_ ("tall," in Tagalog) because of his extraordinary stature. His sphere of operations was around Bulacan, Tarlac, Morong, and Nueva Ecija. He took part in 21 crimes which could have been proved against him, and doubtless many more. A man of wonderful perception and great bravery, he was only 35 years old when he was captured in Bulacan Province by the Spanish Captain Villa Abrille. Brought before a court-martial on the specific charge of being the chief actor in a wholesale slaughter at Tayud, which caused a great sensation at the time, he and ten of his companions were executed on August 28, 1877, to the immense relief of the people, to whom the very name of _Tancad_ gave a thrill of horror.

No one experienced in the Colony ever thought of privately prosecuting a captured brigand, for a criminal or civil lawsuit in the Philippines was one of the worst calamities that could befall a man. Between notaries, procurators, barristers, and the sluggish process of the courts, a litigant was fleeced of his money, often worried into a bad state of health, and kept in horrible suspense for years. It was as hard to get the judgement executed as it was to win the case. Even when the question at issue was supposed to be settled, a defect in the sentence could always be concocted to re-open the whole affair. If the case had been tried and judgement given under the Civil Code, a way was often found to convert it into a criminal case; and when apparently settled under the Criminal Code, a flaw could be discovered under the _Laws of the Indies_, or the _Siete Partidas_, or the _Roman Law_, or the _Novisima Recopilacion_, or the _Antiguos fueros_, Decrees, Royal Orders, _Ordenanzas de buen Gobierno_, and so forth, by which the case could be re-opened. It was the same in the 16th century (_vide_ p. 56).

I knew a planter in Negros Island who was charged with homicide. The judge of his province acquitted him, but fearing that he might again be arrested on the same charge, he came up to Manila with me to procure a ratification of the sentence in the Supreme Court. The legal expenses were so enormous that he was compelled to fully mortgage his plantation. Weeks pa.s.sed, and having spent all his money without getting justice, I lent his notary 40 to a.s.sist in bringing the case to an end. The planter returned to Negros apparently satisfied that he would be troubled no further, but later on, the newly-appointed judge in that Island, whilst prospecting for fees by turning up old cases, unfortunately came across this one, and my planter acquaintance was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, although the family lawyer, proceeding on the same shifty lines, still hoped to find defects in the sentence in order to reverse it in favour of his client.

Availing one's self of the dilatoriness of the Spanish law, it was possible for a man to occupy a house, pay no rent, and refuse to quit on legal grounds during a couple of years or more. A person who had not a cent to lose could persecute another of means by a trumped-up accusation until he was ruined, by an "_informacion de pobreza_"--a declaration of poverty--which enabled the persecutor to keep the case going as long as he chose without needing money for fees. [111]

A case of this kind was often started at the instigation of a native lawyer. When it had gone on for a certain time, the prosecutor's adviser would propose an "extra-judicial arrangement," to extort costs from the wearied and browbeaten defendant.

About the year 1886 there was a _cause celebre_, the parties being the firm of Jurado & Co. _versus_ the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. The Bank had agreed to make advances on goods to be imported by the firm in exchange for the firm's acceptances. The agreement was subject to six months' notice from the Bank. In due course the Bank had reason to doubt the genuineness of certain doc.u.ments. Mr. Jurado was imprisoned, but shortly released on bail. He was dismissed from his official post of second chief of Telegraphs, worth P4,000 a year. Goods, as they arrived for his firm, were stored pending litigation, and deteriorated to only a fraction of their original value. His firm was forced by these circ.u.mstances into liquidation, and Mr. Jurado sued the Bank for damages. The case was open for several years, during which time the Bank coffers were once sealed by judicial warrant, a sum of cash was actually transported from the Bank premises, and the manager was nominally arrested, but really a prisoner on parole in his house. Several sentences of the Court were given in favour of each party. Years after this they were all quashed on appeal to Madrid. Mr. Jurado went to Spain to fight his case, and in 1891 I accidentally met him and his brother (a lawyer) in the street in Madrid. The brother told me the claim against the Bank then amounted to P935,000, and judgement for that sum would be given within a fortnight. Still, years after that, when I was again in Manila, the case was yet pending, and another onslaught was made on the Bank. The Court called on the manager to deliver up the funds of the Bank, and on his refusal to do so a mechanic was sent there to open the safes, but he laboured in vain for a week. Then a syndicate of Philippine capitalists was formed to fleece the Bank, one of its most energetic members being a native private banker in Manila. Whilst the case was in its first stages I happened to be discussing it at a shop in the _Escolta_ when one of the partners, a Spaniard, asked me if I would like to see with my own eyes the contending lawyers putting their heads together over the matter. "If so," said he, "you have only to go through my shop and up the winding back staircase, from the landing of which you can see them any day you like at one o'clock." I accepted his invitation, and there, indeed, were the rival advocates laughing, gesticulating, and presumably cogitating how they could plunder the litigant who had most money to spend. At one stage of the proceedings the Bank specially retained a Spanish lawyer of great local repute, who went to Madrid to push the case. Later on Mr. Francis, Q.C., was sent over to Manila from Hong-Kong to advise the Bank. The Prime Minister was appealed to and the good offices of our Amba.s.sador in Madrid were solicited. For a long time the Bank was placed in a most awkward legal dilemma. The other side contended that the Bank could not be heard, or appear for itself or by proxy, on the ground that under its own charter it had no right to be established in Manila; that, in view of the terms of that charter, it had never been legally registered as a Bank in Manila, and that it had no legal existence in the Philippines. This was merely a technical quibble. Several times when the case was supposed to be finally settled, it was again re-opened. Happily it may now be regarded as closed for ever.

A great many well-to-do natives have a mania for seeing their sons launched into the "learned professions"; hence there was a mob of native doctors who made a scanty living, and a swarm of half-lawyers, popularly called "abogadillos," who were a pest to the Colony. Up to the beginning of the 18th century the offices of solicitors and notaries were filled from Mexico, where the licences to practise in Manila were publicly sold. After that period the colleges and the university issued licences to natives, thus creating a cla.s.s of native pettifogging advocates who stirred up strife to make cases, for this purpose availing themselves of the intricacies of the law.

The Spanish-Philippine _Criminal Law Procedure_ was briefly as follows:--(1) The Judge of Instruction took the _sumaria_, i.e., the inquiry into whether a crime had been committed, and, if so, who was the presumptive culprit. It was his duty to find the facts and sift the case. In a light case he could order the immediate arrest of the presumptive delinquent; in a grave case he would remit it. (2) In the Court of First Instance the verbal evidence was heard and sifted, the _fiscal_, or prosecuting attorney, expressing his opinion to the judge. The judge would then qualify the crime, and decide who was the presumptive culprit. Then the defence began, and when this was exhausted the judge would give his opinion. This court could not acquit or condemn the accused. The opinion on the _sumaria_ was merely advisory, and not a sentence. This inquiry was called the "vista"; it was not in reality a trial, as the defendant was not allowed to cross-examine; but, on the other hand, in theory, he was not called upon to prove his innocence before two courts, but before the sentencing court (_Audiencia_) only. The case would then be remitted with the _sumaria_, and the opinion of the Court of First Instance, to the _Audiencia_, or Supreme Court, for review of errors of law, but not of facts which remained. The _Audiencia_ did not call for testimony, but, if new facts were produced, it would remit back the _sumaria_ to the lower court, with the new written testimony added to the _autos_ (doc.u.ments in the case). These new witnesses were never confronted with the accused, and might never be seen by him, and were not cross-examined. If no new facts were elicited, the record of the lower court would be accepted by the _Audiencia_, errors of law being the only point at issue, and this court might at once pa.s.s sentence. In practice the _Audiencia_ usually treated the finding of the lower court as sentence (not merely opinion), and confirmed it, if no new testimony were produced and there were no errors of law. But, although the opinion of the lower court might be practically an acquittal, the _Audiencia_ might find errors of law, thus placing the accused twice in jeopardy. If the case were remitted back, in view of new testimony, it finally returned to the _Audiencia_ for decision, nine judges being required to give their opinion in a grave case, so that if the Court of First Instance and five judges of the _Audiencia_ found the accused guilty, there was a majority against him. The sentencing court was always the _Audiencia_. If the sentence were against the accused, a final appeal could be made, by "writ of error," to the Supreme Court of Spain, whose decision, however, rested not on facts, but on errors of law.

The (American) Insular Government tacitly admitted that the Spanish written law was excellent, notwithstanding its fulfilment being dilatory. The Spanish Penal Code has been adopted in its general application, but a new code, based on it, was in course of compilation in 1904. The application of the Spanish Code occasionally evolves some curious issues, showing its variance with fundamental American law. For instance, in September, 1905, a native adulteress having been found by her husband _in flagrante delicto_, he stabbed her to death. The Spanish law sustains the husband's right to slay his faithless consort and her paramour, in such circ.u.mstances (_vide_ p. 80), but provides that the lawful slayer shall be banished from the country. The principle of this law is based on Roman law, human instinctive reasoning, and the spirit of the law among the Latin nations of Europe. American law a.s.sumes this natural act of the husband to be a crime, but whilst admitting the validity of the Spanish Code in these Islands, the American bench was puzzled to decide what punishment could be inflicted if the arraigned husband committed contempt of court by thereafter returning to his native land.

CHAPTER XV

Trade of the Islands Its Early History

From within a year after the foundation of the Colony up to the second decade of last century direct communication with Mexico was maintained by the State galleons, termed the _Naos de Acapulco_. The first sailings of the galleons were to Navidad, but for over two centuries Acapulco was the port of destination on the Mexican side, and this inter-communication with New Spain only ceased a few years before that Colony threw off its allegiance to the mother country. But it was not alone the troubled state of political affairs which brought about the discontinuance of the galleons' voyages, although the subsequent secession of Mexico would have produced this effect. The expense of this means of intercourse was found to be bearing too heavily upon the scanty resources of the Exchequer, for the condition of Spain's finances had never, at any period, been so lamentable.

The Commander of the State _Nao_ had the t.i.tle of General, with a salary of P40,000 per annum. The chief officer received P25,000 a year. The quarter-master was remunerated with 9 per cent, on the value of the merchandise shipped, and this amounted to a very considerable sum per voyage.

The last State galleon left Manila for Mexico in 1811, and the last sailing from Acapulco for Manila was in 1815.

These ships are described as having been short fore and aft, but of great beam, light draught, and, when afloat, had a half-moon appearance, being considerably elevated at bows and stern. They were of 1,500 tons burden, had four decks, and carried guns.

The Gov.-General, the clergy, the civil functionaries, troops, prisoners, and occasionally private persons, took pa.s.sage in these ships to and from the Philippines. It was practically the Spanish Mail.

The Colony had no coin of its own. [112] It was simply a dependency of Mexico; and all that it brought in tribute and taxes to its Royal Treasury belonged to the Crown, and was at the King's disposal. For many years these payments were made wholly--and afterwards partially--in kind, and were kept in the Royal Stores. As the junks from China arrived each spring, this colonial produce belonging to the Crown was bartered for Chinese wares and manufactures. These goods, packed in precisely 1,500 bales, each of exactly the same size, const.i.tuted the official cargo, and were remitted to Mexico by the annual galleon. The surplus s.p.a.ce in the ship was at the disposal of a few chosen merchants who formed the "_Consulado_,"--a trading ring which required each member to have resided in the Colony a stipulated number of years, and to be possessed of at least eight thousand pesos.

For the support of the Philippine administration Mexico remitted back to Manila, on the return of the galleon, a certain percentage of the realized value of the above-mentioned official cargo, but seeing that in any case--whether the Philippine Treasury were flourishing or not--a certain sum was absolutely necessary for the maintenance of the Colony, this remittance, known as the "_Real Situado_," or royal subsidy, was, from time to time, fixed. [113]

The Philippine Colony was therefore nominally self-supporting, and the _Situado_ was only a guaranteed income, to be covered, as far as it could be, by shipments of foreign bartered manufactures and local produce to Mexico. But, as a matter of fact, the Mexican subsidy seldom, if ever, was so covered.

By Royal Decree of June 6, 1665, the Mexican subsidy to the Philippines was fixed at P2,500,000, of which P2,000,000 was remitted in coin and P500,000 in merchandise for the Royal Stores. Against this was remitted value in goods (Philippine taxes and tribute) P 176,101.40 so that the net Subsidy, or donation, from Mexico was P 2,323,898.60.

Hence, in the course of time, coin--Mexican dollars called _pesos_--found its way in large quant.i.ties to the Philippines, and thence to China.