The Philippine Islands Part 52

The smaller islands, adjacent to Luzon, cannot be justly included in this category, because their local rule, which naturally succeeded the withdrawal of Spanish administration, was nothing more than a divided domination of self-const.i.tuted chiefs whose freebooting exploits, in one instance, had to be suppressed at the sacrifice of bloodshed, and, in another, to succ.u.mb to the apathy of the people.

In _Yloilo_, on December 23, 1898, General Diego de los Rios, in the presence of his staff, the naval commanders and the foreign consuls, formally surrendered the town to the native mayor, prior to his evacuation of Panay Island on the following day. On December 27 an American military force (finally about 3,000 strong) arrived in the roadstead in transports under the command of General Miller in co-operation with two American warships, afterwards supplemented by two others. The Spanish troops having departed, the Filipinos who had a.s.sumed control of public affairs made their formal entry into Yloilo to the strains of music and the waving of banners and const.i.tuted a government whose effective jurisdiction does not appear to have extended beyond the town and a day's march therefrom. On January 17 an election was held, Raymundo Melliza, [217] an excellent man, being chosen president for the term of two years. Business was resumed; sugar was being brought from Negros Island, and ships were laden with produce. During the civil administration, which lasted for seven weeks, the absorbing topic was the demand made by General Miller for the surrender of the town. General Miller's force had been despatched to Yloilo waters, after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, simply to make a demonstration in view of possible anarchy resulting from the Spanish evacuation. The ratification of that Treaty by a two-thirds Senate majority was not an accomplished fact until February 6 following. There was no certainty that the Senate would confirm the acquisition of the Islands, and in the interval it was not politic to pa.s.s from a formal demand for the surrender of Yloilo to open hostilities for its possession. These matters of political exigency were undoubtedly beyond the comprehension of the Ylongos. They attributed to fear the fact that a large fighting-force remained inactive within sight of the town, whereas General Miller was merely awaiting instructions from the capital which the Manila authorities, in turn, were delaying, pending the decision in Washington. Intervening circ.u.mstances, however, precipitated military action. On the night of February 4 hostilities had broken out between Aguinaldo's troops and the American forces. Insurgent emissaries had brought Aguinaldo's messages to the Ylongos to hold the town against the invaders, and on February 7 General Miller received orders from Maj.-General Otis to take Yloilo by force if necessary. General Miller thereupon renewed his demand for the surrender of the place, coupled this time with a declaration that he would bombard it if his demand were refused. Later on he notified the consular body that the bombardment would commence on the 12th of the month. During the seven weeks of native government, petty thefts were frequent; an armed insurgent would enter a store and carry off the article selected by him without paying for it; but there was no riotous open violence committed against the townspeople or foreign traders. The squabbles between the armed natives and their leaders, however, were several times on the point of producing bloodshed.

According to ex-insurgent General Pablo Araneta, the insurgent army, at the time, in Panay Island was as follows, viz. [218]:--

Under the leadership of Stationed at Tagalogs Visayos

Fulion Yloilo 250 150 Ananias Diocno Yloilo 400 -- Pablo Araneta Yloilo 250 -- Martin Delgado Yloilo -- 150 Pablo Araneta Molo -- 100 Silvestre Silvio Antique 150 -- Detachment of Diocno's forces Capiz 200 --

Total all armed with guns 1,250 400

The commander-in-chief of the whole army of 1,650 men was Martin Delgado. The Tagalog contingent was under the leadership of Ananias Diocno, a native of Taal, whose severity in his Capiz and Yloilo campaigns has left a lasting remembrance. The headquarters of the Visayos was in the parish-house (_convento_), whilst the Tagalogs were located in the Fine Arts Inst.i.tute. Their stipulated remuneration was 4 pesos a month and food, but as they had received only 1 peso per month on account, and moreover claimed a rise in pay to 5 pesos, the Visayos, on February 3, a.s.sembled on the central _plaza_ of the town and menaced their general officers, who were quartered together in a corner house over a barber's shop. They yelled out to their leaders that if they did not give them their pay they would kill them all, sack the town, and then burn it. Thereupon the generals hastened round the town to procure funds, and appeased the Visayos with a distribution of 1,800 pesos. The Tagalogs then broke out in much the same way, and were likewise restrained by a payment on account of arrears due. But thenceforth the insurgent troops became quite uncontrollable and insolent to their officers. The fact that white officers should have solicited their permission to come ash.o.r.e unarmed could only be interpreted by the Oriental, soldier or civilian, in a way highly detrimental to the white man's prestige. The Americans'

good and honest intentions were only equalled by their nescience of the Malay character. The officers came ash.o.r.e; the townsfolk marvelled, and the fighting-men, convinced of their own invincibility, disdainfully left them unmolested. After the insurgent generals had doled out their pay, the men went round to the shops and braggingly avowed that it was lucky for the shopkeepers that they had got money, otherwise they would have looted their goods. The Chinese shut up their shops from the beginning of the troubles, leaving only a hole in the closed door to do a little business, as they were in constant fear for the safety of their lives and their stocks. A great many families packed up their belongings and went over to Negros Island in small schooners. The little pa.s.senger-steamers plying between Yloilo and Negros were running as usual, crowded to the brim, and flying the Philippine flag without interruption from the Americans. Amongst the better cla.s.ses opinions on the situation were much divided. The best Philippine and Spanish families expressed their astonishment that the Americans made no attempt to take the town immediately after the Spanish evacuation. There were foreign merchants anxious to delay the American investment because, meanwhile, they were doing a brisk trade, and there were others longing to see the town in the hands of any civilized and responsible Power. Delegates from one party or the other, including the native civil government, went off in boats almost daily to parley with General Miller in the roadstead, each with a different line of real or sophistic argument. The best native families, the foreigners of all cla.s.ses--those who desired a speedy entry of the Americans and those who sought to delay it--were agreed as to the needlessness and the mistaken policy of announcing a bombardment. Yloilo is a straggling, open town. The well-to-do people asked, "Why bombard?" There were no fortifications or anything to destroy but their house property. Plans were voluntarily offered showing how and at which points a midnight landing of 400 or 500 troops could be secretly effected for a sunrise surprise which would have cleared the town in an hour of every armed insurgent. The officers ash.o.r.e declared they were ready; and as to the men, they were simply longing for the fray, but the word of command rested with General Miller.

In the evening of February 10 the native civil government held an extraordinary session in the Town Hall to discuss the course to be adopted in view of the announced bombardment. The public, Filipinos and foreigners, were invited to this meeting to take part in the debate if they wished, Raymundo Melliza, Victorino Mapa, Martin Delgado, and Pablo Araneta, being amongst those who were present. It was proposed to burn the town. Melliza vehemently protested against such a barbarous act, and asked why they should destroy their own property? What could they gain by pillage and flames? [219] But a certain V---- and his party clamoured for the destruction of the place, and being supported by an influential lawyer (native of another province) and by one of the insurgent generals, Melliza exclaimed, "If you insist on plunder and devastation, I shall retire altogether," whereupon a tremendous hubbub ensued, in the midst of which Melliza withdrew and went over to Guimaras Island. But there were touches of humour in the speeches, especially when a fire-eating demagogue gravely proposed to surround an American warship with canoes and seize her; and again when Quintin Salas declared that the Americans would have to pa.s.s over his corpse before the town surrendered! Incendiaries and thieves were in overwhelming majority at the meeting; naturally (to the common people in these Islands) an invitation to despoil, lay waste and slay, bolstered up by apparent authority, found a ready response, especially among the Tagalog mercenaries who had no local attachment here. The instigators of this barbarity sought no share of the spoils; they had no property interests in Yloilo, but they were jealous of those who had. The animosity of Jaro and Molo against Yloilo had existed for years, the formers' townspeople being envious of the prosperous development of Yloilo (once a mere fishing-village), which obscured the significance of the episcopal city of Jaro and detracted from the social importance of the rich Chinese half-caste residential town of Molo. [220] Chiefly from these towns came the advocates of anarchy, whose hearts swelled with fiendish delight at the prospect of witnessing the utter ruin and humiliation of their rivals in munic.i.p.al prestige. Yloilo, from that moment, was abandoned to the armed rabble, who raided the small shops for petroleum to throw on to the woodwork of the houses prior to the coming onslaught. The bombardment having been announced for the 12th, they reckoned on a full day for burning and sacking the town. But early in the morning of the 11th the steam-launch _Pitt_, whilst reconnoitring the harbour, was fired upon; the launch replied and withdrew. Natives were observed to be busy digging a trench and hastening to and from the _cotta_ at the harbour entrance; there was every indication of their warlike intentions. Therefore suddenly, at 9 o'clock that morning, without further notification, the Americans opened fire. The natives in the _cotta_ fled along the quayway towards the centre of the town under a shower of bullets hurled from the quick-firing guns. The attack on Yloilo was hardly a bombardment proper; sh.e.l.ls were intentionally thrown over the houses as a warning and burst in suburban open s.p.a.ces, but comparatively few buildings were damaged by the missiles. In the meantime, from early morn, the native soldiery, followed by a riff-raff mob, rushed hither and thither, throwing firebrands on to the petroleum-washed houses, looting stores, and cutting down whomsoever checked them in their wild career. The Chinese barricaded themselves, but the flames devoured their well-stocked bazaars; panic-stricken townsfolk ran helter-skelter, escaping from the yelling bands of bloodthirsty looters. Europeans, revolver in hand, guarded their properties against the murderous rabble; an acquaintance of mine was hastening to the bank to deposit P3,000 when he was met by the leader S----, who demanded his money or his life; one foreign business house was defended by 15 armed Europeans, whilst others threw out handfuls of pesos to stay the work of the _petroleur_. The German Vice-Consul, an old friend of mine, went mad at the sight of his total loss; a Swiss merchant, my friend for over 20 years, had his fine corner premises burnt down to the stone walls, and is now in comparative poverty. Even Spanish half-castes were menaced and contemptuously called _Cachilas_ [221]; and the women escaped for their lives on board the schooners in the harbour. Half the town was blazing, and the despairing cries of some, the yells of exultant joy of others, mingled with the booming of the invaders' cannon.

Two British warships lying in the roadstead sent boats ash.o.r.e to receive British subjects, and landed a party of marines, who made gallant efforts to save foreign property. A few British subjects were, however, unable to get away from the town on account of the premature attack of the Americans, which took place on the 11th instead of February 12, as previously announced.

The American a.s.sault on the town, which lasted until 1 o'clock in the afternoon, was immediately followed up by the landing of about 1,000 volunteers, and General Miller found that the prognostications of the townspeople were perfectly just, for the insurgents fled in all directions. There was not a fighting-man left in the town. Some of them continued their hurried flight as far as Santa Barbara and Janiuay. It was evident that a sudden night-landing, without a word about bombardment, would have been just as effective, and would have prevented much misery and loss of life and property. Indeed, the arrival of the American volunteers under these distressing circ.u.mstances produced a fresh commotion in Yloilo. Without any warrant private premises were entered, and property saved from the natives' grasp vanished before the eyes of the owners. Finally order was restored through the energetic intervention of American officials, who stationed sentinels here and there to protect what still remained of the townspeople's goods. In due course indemnity claims were forwarded to the military authorities, who rejected them all.

The insurgents still lingered outside the town on the road to Jaro, and General Miller marched his troops, in battle array, against them. A couple of miles out of the town, in the neighbourhood of La Paz, the entrenched enemy was routed after a slight skirmish. The booming of cannon was heard in Yloilo for some hours as the American troops continued their march to Jaro, only molested by a few occasional shots from the enemy in ambush. The rebel chief Fulion and another, Quintin Salas, held out for a short while, gradually beating a retreat before the advancing column. The Tagalogs, once under the command of the semi-civilized Diocno, disappeared in all directions, and finally escaped from the province in small parties in canoes or as best they could. The handful of braves who still thought fit to resist decided to make a stand at Santa Barbara, but on the arrival of the American troops they dispersed like chaff before the wind. General Miller then relinquished the pursuit and returned to Yloilo to await reinforcements for a campaign through the Island. In the meantime military government was established in Yloilo, the town was policed, trade resumed its normal aspect, the insurgents in the Island gradually increased, but the Philippine Republic in Panay was no more. It was clear to all the most sober-minded and best-educated Ylongos that Aguinaldo's government was a failure in Panay at least. The hope of agreement on any policy was remote from its very initiation. Visayos of position, with property and interests at stake, were convinced that absolute independence without any control or protection from some established Power was premature and doomed to disaster. Visayan jealousy of Tagalog predominance had also its influence, but the ruling factor was the Tagalog troops' dictatorial air and brutal conduct, which destroyed the theory of fraternal unity. Self-government at this stage would have certainly led to civil war.

Reinforcements arrived from Manila and the Americans entered upon the pacification of the Island, which needed two years for its accomplishment. The full record of the Panay campaign would be a monotonous recital of scores of petty encounters of a.n.a.logous character. Pablo Araneta, in co-operation with a Spanish deserter named Mariano Perez, met the Americans several times, and gave better proof of his generalship in retreat than in advance. He operated only in the province of Yloilo, and at Sambang, near Pavia, his party was severely defeated and the "general" fled. Quintin Salas, over whose dead body, he himself declared, the Americans would have to pa.s.s before Yloilo surrendered, appeared and disappeared, from time to time, around Dumangas. There was an encounter at Potian with Jolandoni which ended badly for his party. The native priests not only sympathized with the insurgents, but took an active part in their operations. Father Santiago Pamplona, afterwards ecclesiastical-governor of the Visayas (Aglipayan), held a command under Martin Delgado. Father Agustin Pina, the parish priest of Molo and the active adviser in the operations around Pavia--Jaro district, was caught by the Americans and died of "water-cure." [222] The firebrand Pascual Macbanua was killed at Pototan; and finally came the most decisive engagement at Monte Singit, between Janiuay and Lambunao. The insurgent generalissimo, Martin Delgado, took the field in person; but after a bold stand, with a slight loss on the American side, the insurgents were completely routed and their leader fled. Pablo Araneta, tired of generalship without glory, surrendered to the Americans on December 31, 1899. The war still continued for another year, Martin Delgado being one of the last to declare his defeat. Early in December, 1900, overtures for peace were made to General Miller, the delegates on the insurgent side being Pablo Araneta, Jovito Yusay, and Father Silvestre Apura, whilst Captain n.o.ble represented the Americans. Martin Delgado and his co-leaders soon surrendered. There was no question of conditions but that of convincing the natives of the futility of further resistance and the benefits to them of peace under American rule. With this end in view, delegates went in commission to the several districts. Pablo Araneta, Father Silvestre Apura, Father Praxedes Magalon and Nicolas Roses visited the district of Concepcion (East Panay) in January 1901 and obtained the submission of the people there. Peace was at length agreed upon; but the Filipinos were not disposed silently to draw the veil over the past without glamour and pomp, even in the hour of defeat. Therefore, on February 2, 1901, in agreement between the parties, the remnant of the little Panay army made a formal surrender, marching under triumphal arches into the episcopal city of Jaro to stack their arms, between lines of American troops drawn up on either side of their pa.s.sage, to the strains of peaceful melody, whilst the banners of the Stars and Stripes floated victoriously in the sultry air. Jaro was crowded with visitors to witness this interesting ceremonial. The booths did a bustling trade; the whole city was _en fete,_ and the vanquished heroes, far from evincing humiliation, mingled with the mob and seemed as merry as though the occasion were the marriage-feast of the headman's daughter.

But to complete the picture of peace some finishing-strokes were yet needful. Antique Province was still in arms, and a native commission composed of Pablo Araneta, Father Silvestre Apura, Father Praxedes Magalon, Victorino Mapa, Cornelio Melliza, and Martin Delgado proceeded there, and succeeded in concluding peace for the Americans at the end of February, 1901.

The Visayan chief who defied the American invader was no stout patriot who leaves his plough to fight for cherished liberty, and cheerfully returns to it when the struggle ends. The leaders of the little Panay army and their civilian colleagues had to be compensated for their acceptance of American rule. Aguinaldo was captured during the month following the Peace of Panay; the war was coming to an end, and Governor W. H. Taft made his provincial tour to inaugurate civil government in the pacified Islands. Martin T. Delgado, the very man who had inflicted such calamities upon the Yloilo people, was appointed, on April 11, to be their first provincial Civil Governor at a salary of $3,000 gold per annum, and held that office until March, 1904. Jovito Yusay was given the provincial government secretaryship with a yearly stipend of $1,800 gold; Pablo Araneta was rewarded with the post of President of the Board of Health at an annual salary of $1,500 gold, and Victorino Mapa was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court with an annual emolument of $7,000 gold. In March, 1904, Raymundo Melliza, ex-president of the native civil government, already referred to as the advocate of social order, succeeded Delgado in the civil government of the Yloilo province by popular vote.

Yloilo, formerly the second port of the Philippines, is situated on the right bank of the creek. From the creek point to the square are sheds used for sugar-storing, with, here and there, a commercial or government office between. The most modern thoroughfares are traced with regularity, and there are many good houses. In the square is the church, which at a distance might be mistaken for a sugar-store, the ruins of the Town Hall, the convent, and a few small, fairly well-built houses of stone and wood, whilst all one side was once covered by a fine new block of buildings of brick, stone and wood, with iron roofs.

The _Calle Real_ or High Street is a winding road, which leads through the town into the country. The houses are indescribable--they are of all styles. Without any pretence at architectural adornment, some are high, others low; some stand back with several feet of pavement before them, others come forward and oblige one to walk in the road. Here and there is a gap, then a row of dingy hovels. This is the retail trading-quarter and the centre for the Chinese. Going from the square the creek runs along at the back of the right-hand-side houses; turning off by the left-hand-side thoroughfares, which cannot be called streets, there is a number of roughly-built houses and a few good ones dispersed in all directions, with vacant, neglected plots between. At the extreme end of the _Calle Real_ is the Government House, built of wood and stone, of good style and in a fair condition, with quite the appearance of an official residence. Before it is a semicircular garden, and in front of this there is a round fenced-in plot, in the middle of which stands a flag-staff. Just past the Government House there is a bridge crossing the Jaro River, which empties itself into the creek of Yloilo, and this creek is connected with that of Otong. [223]

Yloilo lies low, and is always hot. Quite one-third of the shipping and wholesale business quarter stands on land reclaimed from the swamp by filling up with earth and rubble. The opposite side of the creek, facing the shipping-quarter, is a low marshy waste, occasionally converted into a swamp at certain tides. The creek forms the harbour of Yloilo, which is just as Nature made it, except that there is a roughly-constructed quayway on the left-hand sh.o.r.e on entering. Only vessels of light draft can enter; large vessels anchor in the roadstead, which is the channel between Yloilo harbour and Guimaras Island.

The general aspect of Yloilo and its environs is most depressing. In Spanish times no public conveyances were to be seen plying for hire in the streets, and there is still no public place of amus.e.m.e.nt. The Munic.i.p.ality was first established by Royal Order dated June 7, 1889.

Evidences of the havoc of 1899 are still visible at every turn in Yloilo in the shape of old stone walls, charred remains, battered houses, vacant s.p.a.ces, etc. On the other hand, there are many innovations since American administration superseded the native civil government. The _plaza_, till then a dreary open s.p.a.ce, is now a pleasant shady promenade; electric lighting, an ice-factory, four hotels, one American, one English, and three Philippine clubs, large public schools, an improved quayway, a commodious Custom-house, a great increase of harbour traffic, a superabundance of lawyers'

and p.a.w.nbrokers' sign-boards, and public vehicles plying for hire are among the novelties which strike one who knew Yloilo in days gone by. The Press is poorly represented by three daily and one weekly newspapers. Taken as a whole Yloilo still remains one of the most charmless spots in the Archipelago.

The people of _Negros Island_ were in the free enjoyment of local independence since November 6, 1898, the day on which the Spanish Governor, D. Isidro Castro y Cinceros, together with all his official colleagues, capitulated to the revolutionists under the leadership of Aniceto Lacson, Leandro Lacson, Juan Araneta, Nicolas Gales, Simon Lizares, Julio Diaz, and Jose Montilla. Simultaneously with the prosecution of the Panay Island campaign General Miller opened negotiations for the submission of Negros Island to American sovereignty. At that time the government of the Island was being peacefully administered to the satisfaction of the Negros revolutionists, at least, under the const.i.tution proclaimed by them, and presided over by their ex-commander-in-chief, Aniceto Lacson. [224]

General Miller therefore commissioned two Filipinos, Esteban de la Rama and Pedro Regalado, [225] to proceed to Negros and negotiate terms of surrender to the Americans. For the moment nothing further was demanded than a recognition of American supremacy, and it was not proposed to subvert their local organization or depose their president. Aniceto Lacson accepted these terms, and General Miller formally appointed him Governor of the Island in March, 1899. It is evident, therefore, that no union existed between the local government of Negros and Aguinaldo's Republic in Luzon. In fact, when the Tagalog fighting-men, who were everywhere defeated in Panay, made their escape to Negros and raised the cry of insurrection against the Americans, Lacson was constrained to appeal to General Miller to send over troops to quell the movement. Thereupon Colonel Smith was deputed to take troops over to Negros to pursue the common enemy, whilst, in perfect accord with the native governor Lacson, he acted as military governor of the Island. The great cordillera which runs through the centre of the Island from north to south forms a sort of natural barrier between the people of Occidental and Oriental Negros. There are trails, but there are no transversal highroads from one coast to the other, and the inhabitants on each side live as separated in their interests, and, to a certain degree, in their habits, as though they were living in different islands. The people on the eastern side have always strongly opposed anything approaching governmental cohesion with the other side. Moreover, for many years past, the south-eastern district of Negros Island has been affected by sporadic apparitions of riotous religious monomaniacs called _Santones_ (_vide_ p. 189). These conditions, therefore, favoured the nefarious work of the cunning Tagalog and Panay refugees, who found plenty of plastic material in the Negros inhabitants for the fruitful dissemination of the wildest and most fantastic notions anent the horrors awaiting them in the new Anglo-Saxon domination. They found no sympathy with the native government of Occidental Negros, which was as much their enemy as the American troops sent to pursue them, but they entertained the hope that by raising riot in Negros they would draw off troops from Panay, and so favour the movement in that Island. Armed groups rose everywhere against the Americans and the established government. In the south-east the notorious Papa Isio appeared as a _Santon_, preached idolatry, and drew to his standard a large band of ruffians as skilled as himself in villainous devices. Insurgency, in the true sense of the word, did not exist in Negros; opposition to the American domination was merely a pretext to hara.s.s, plunder, and extort funds from the planters and property-owners. The disaffected people increased so largely in numbers that Colonel Smith was obliged to call for reinforcements, and the disturbances only came to an end when it was known that the Panay people had formally laid down their arms in February, 1901. Shortly afterwards Governor W. H. Taft visited Negros Island; the quasi-autonomous government of that region was modified in conformity with the general plan of provincial civil governments, and on August 9, 1901, Leandro Locsin (Ylongo by birth) succeeded to the civil governorship, with a salary of $2,500 gold, by popular vote.

Notwithstanding the severities imposed on the Cebuanos during the last eight months of Spanish rule, the Spaniards were able to evacuate _Cebu Island_ without menace or untoward event. For several months the Governor, General Montero, had held in prison, between life and death, a number of Filipinos of the best families, amongst whom was Julio Llorente, who afterwards became President of Cebu and subsequently a magistrate of the Supreme Court of Manila. General Montero made a compact with a young Philippine lawyer, Sergio Osmena (afterwards acting-Governor of Cebu) that in exchange for two Spaniards held as hostages in the interior he would release Llorente. Osmena procured the liberty of the Spaniards, but it was only on the eve of his departure that Montero permitted the prison doors to be opened.

On December 26, 1898, a chartered merchant steamer called at Cebu to transport the retiring Spaniards to Zamboanga, the place of concentration designated by General Rios. The farewell was sadly brief, and almost in silence the Governor handed over the government property to a most worthy and loyal Cebuano, Pablo Mejia, who was my esteemed friend for many years. The Governor even offered Mejia about 40 rifles; but Mejia, a lover of order, wrongly believing that a long period of tranquillity was about to set in, declined to accept them. And without any manifestation of regret on the part of the governed, the last vestige of Spanish authority vanished from the city which, 333 years before, was the capital of the Philippine Islands.

On the day following the departure of the Spaniards the Cebuanos established a provincial government in agreement with the _Katipunan_ party of Luzon, General Aguinaldo's direct representative being Luis Flores, the chief leader of the armed Cebuanos, to whom Pablo Mejia handed over all that he had received from the ex-governor Montero. From its establishment up to the last day of its existence, this government used the seal and stamps of the Philippine Republic, and was const.i.tuted as follows, viz.:--

_Provincial Council_

President and Commander-in-Chief Luis Flores.

Vice-President Julio Llorente.

Commissioner of Police Gen. Arcadio Maxilom.

Treasurer-General Pablo Mejia.

Minister of Justice Miguel Logarta.

Secretary to the Council Leoncio Alburo.

_Military Department_

Chief-of-Staff Gen. Juan Climaco.

Military Administrator a.r.s.enio Climaco.

(Half-caste Chinese and cousins.)

_Munic.i.p.al Council (Junta Popular)_

Mayor Julio Llorente.

Councillors Several citizens elected by popular vote.

The above const.i.tution was in conformity with a decree of General Aguinaldo dated June 18, 1898, and countersigned by Apolinario Mabini. Local representatives of the provincial government were appointed throughout the Island for the collection of taxes and the maintenance of order, and the system worked fairly smoothly until the arrival of the Americans in Cebu City, February 21, 1899. On that date the American gunboat _Petrel_ and a large steam-launch suddenly appeared in Cebu harbour. The United States Vice-Consul seems to have been the only person who had received prior advice of their intended arrival. The commander of the _Petrel_ sent a message ash.o.r.e saying that he desired an interview with the government representatives and that he demanded the surrender of the city, and gave 14 hours to the people to consider his demands; but, as a matter of fact, the negotiations lasted about 24 hours, during which time a council of Filipinos was hurriedly called to decide upon the course the provincial government should adopt. Very divergent and extreme views were expressed; Pablo Mejia, supported by Julio Llorente and Father Julia, advocated an acceptance of the inevitable under protest, whilst General Gabino Sepulveda declared that he would spill his last drop of blood before the Americans should take possession of the city. But, in the end, Sepulveda reserved his blood for a better occasion, and eventually accepted employment under the Americans as prosecuting attorney in Bojol Island. Pablo Mejia's advice was acted upon, and in the name of the Cebuanos, Luis Flores, the President of the Council, signed a protest [226] which was handed to the commander of the _Petrel_ by Pablo Mejia and Julio Llorente in the presence of the United States Vice-Consul. The commander of the _Petrel_ forthwith landed 40 marines, who marched to the _Cotta de San Pedro_ (the fortress) and hoisted the American flag there in the presence of armed Filipinos who looked on in silence. The marines then returned to their vessel, which remained inactive anch.o.r.ed off the _cotta_, pending the arrival of reinforcements which were sent to Cebu under the command of Colonel Hamer. The provincial government was permitted to continue its functions and use its official seal, and during five months there was no manifest anti-American movement. During this period the American commander of the troops adopted tactics similar to those employed by General E. S. Otis in Manila against Aguinaldo prior to the outbreak in February, 1899. Little by little the Americans required the armed Filipinos to retire farther and farther away from the capital. This practical isolation disgusted the several chiefs, who therefore agreed to open the campaign against the invaders. Every act of the provincial councillors was closely watched and discussed by the Cebuanos, amongst whom an intransigent faction secretly charged Mejia and Llorente with being lukewarm in their protection of Philippine interests and unduly favourable to American dominion. Their death was decreed, and Mejia was a.s.sa.s.sinated as he was pa.s.sing to his house from that of a neighbour a few yards off. Luis Flores had already resigned public office, and Llorente was, at this time, his successor in the presidency of the Council. Fortunately for him, whilst the murderers were plotting against his life he was called to Manila by General E. S. Otis, two weeks after Mejia's death, to become a magistrate in the Supreme Court. Segundo Singson (afterwards chief judge of the Court of First Instance) then a.s.sumed the presidency of the provincial council.

On July 24, 1899, Juan Climaco and Arcadio Maxilom, chafing at the diminution of their influence in public affairs, suddenly disappeared into the interior and met at Pardo, where the military revolutionary centre was established. Aguinaldo's emissary, Pantaleon E. del Rosario, Melquiades Lasala, a Cebuano of Bogo (known as Dading), Andres Jayme, Lorega, and an Ilocano named Mateo Luga who had served in the Spanish army, led contingents under the supreme command of the insurgent General Arcadio Maxilom. In the interior they established a fairly well-organized military government. The Island was divided into districts; there was little interference with personal liberty; taxes for the maintenance of the struggle were collected in the form of contribution according to the means of the donor; agriculture was not altogether abandoned, and for over two years the insurgents held out against American rule. The brain of the movement was centred in Juan Climaco, whilst Mateo Luga exhibited the best fighting qualities. In the meantime American troops were drafted to the coast towns of Tuburan, Bogo, Carmen, etc. There were several severe engagements with slaughter on both sides, notably at Monte Sudlon and Compostela. Five white men joined the insurgent leader Luga, one being an English mercenary trooper, two sailors, and two soldiers; the last two were given up at the close of hostilities; one of them was pardoned, and the other was executed in the _cotta_ for rape committed at Mandaue.

The co-existence of an American military administration in Cebu City conducting a war throughout the Island, and a Philippine provincial government with nominal administrative powers over the same region, but in strong sympathy with the insurgent cause, was no longer compatible. Moreover, outside the city the provincial government was unable to enforce its decrees amongst the people, who recognized solely the martial-law of the insurgents to whom they had to pay taxes. The Americans therefore abolished the provincial council, which was not grieved at its dissolution, because it was already accused by the people of being pro-American. Philippine views of the situation were expressed in a newspaper, _El Nuevo Dia_, founded by a lawyer, Rafael Palma, and edited conjointly by Jayme Veyra (afterwards a candidate for the Leyte Island governorship) and an intelligent young lawyer, Sergio Osmena, already mentioned at p. 521. This organ, the type and style of which favourably compared with any journal ever produced in these Islands, pa.s.sed through many vicissitudes; it was alternately suppressed and revived, whilst its editors were threatened with imprisonment in the _cotta_ and deportation to Guam. Meanwhile the Americans made strenuous efforts to secure the co-operation of the Filipinos in munic.i.p.al administration, but the people refused to vote. Leading citizens, cited to appear before the American authorities, persistently declined to take any part in a dual _regime_. The electors were then ordered, under penalties, to attend the polling, but out of the hundreds who responded to the call only about 60 could be coerced into voting. Finally a packed munic.i.p.al council was formed, but one of its members, a man hitherto highly respected by all, was a.s.sa.s.sinated, and his colleagues went in fear of their lives.

The war in Panay Island having terminated on February 2, 1901, by the general surrender at Jaro (_vide_ p. 518), General Hughes went to Samar Island, where he failed to restore peace, and thence he proceeded to Cebu in the month of August at the head of 2,000 troops. A vigorous policy of devastation was adopted. Towns, villages and crops were laid waste; Pardo, the insurgent military centre, was totally destroyed; peaceful natives who had compulsorily paid tribute to the insurgents at whose mercy they were obliged to live, were treated as enemies; their homes and means of livelihood were demolished, and little distinction was made between the warrior and the victim of the war. Desolation stared the people in the face, and within a few weeks the native provincial governor proposed that terms of peace should be discussed. The insurgent chief Lorega surrendered on October 22; Mateo Luga and Arcadio Maxilom submitted five days afterwards and at the end of the month a general cessation of hostilities followed. A neutral zone was agreed upon, extending from Mandaue to SoG.o.d, and there the three peace commissioners on behalf of the Americans, namely Miguel Logarta, Pedro Rodriguez, and a.r.s.enio Climaco met the insurgent chiefs Juan Climaco and Arcadio Maxilom. As a result, peace was signed, and the doc.u.ment includes the following significant words, viz.: "putting the Philippine people in a condition to prove their apt.i.tude for self-government as the basis of a future independent life." The signatories of this doc.u.ment on the part of the Filipinos were Pantaleon E. del Rosario, Melquiades Lasala and Andres Jayme. After the peace, Mateo Luga and P. E. del Rosario accepted employment under the Americans, the former as Inspector of Constabulary and the latter as Sheriff of Cebu. A few months later, the Americans, acting on information received, proceeded to Tuburan on the government launch _Philadelphia_, arrested Arcadio Maxilom and his two brothers, and seized the arms which they had secreted on their property. On the launch, one of the Maxiloms unsuccessfully attempted to murder the Americans and was immediately executed, whilst Arcadio and his other brother jumped overboard; but Arcadio being unable to swim, was picked up, brought to trial at Cebu, and acquitted. Thus ended the career of General Arcadio Maxilom, whom in 1904 I found living in retirement, almost a hermit's life, broken in spirit and body and worried by numerous lawsuits pending against him.

On April 17,1901, Governor W. H. Taft went to Cebu accompanied by a Filipino, H. Pardo de Tavera, whose views were diametrically opposed to those of the Cebuano majority. Governor Taft established civil government there, although the law of _habeas corpus_ had to be suspended because the war was still raging throughout the Island outside the capital. The provincial government as established by Governor Taft comprises a provincial board composed of three members, namely the Philippine Provincial Governor, the American Supervisor, and the American Treasurer: hence the Americans are in permanent majority and practically rule the Island. The executive of this body is the provincial governor and his staff. The first provincial governor appointed by Governor Taft was Julio Llorente, who resigned the magistracy in Manila and returned to Cebu to take up his new office until the elections took place in January, 1902, when, by popular vote, Juan Climaco, the ex-insurgent chief, became provincial governor, and on the expiration of his term in January, 1904, he was re-elected for another two years.

There is no noteworthy change in the aspect of Cebu since the American occupation. It is a regularly-built city, with hundreds of good houses, many relatively imposing public buildings, monuments, churches, and interesting edifices. It is a cathedral city and bishop's see, full of historical remininscences, and has still a very pleasant appearance, notwithstanding its partial destruction and the many remaining ruins caused by the bombardment by the Spanish warship _Don Juan de Austria_ in April 1838, (_vide_ p. 403). Of special interest are the Cathedral, the Church of _Santo Nino_, or the "Holy Child of Cebu"

(_vide_ p. 183), the Chapels of the Paul Fathers and of the Jesuits, and the _Cotta de San Pedro_ (fortress). Also, just outside the city proper is the Church of _San Nicolas_. Up to about the year 1876 the Jesuits had a fine church of their own, but the friars, jealous of its having become the most popular place of worship, caused it to be destroyed. Until a few years ago the quarter known as the, _Parian_ was the flourishing centre of the half-caste traders. There was also a busy street of Chinese general shops and native ready-made clothiers in the _Lutao_ district, a thoroughfare which ran along the seash.o.r.e from the south of the city proper towards San Nicolas; it was completely destroyed by the bombardment of 1898, and many of the shopkeepers have erected new premises in the princ.i.p.al shopping street, called _Calle de la Infanta_. Again, in 1905, a disastrous fire in the business quarter of the city caused damage to the estimated extent of $500,000 gold.

There is a little colony of foreign merchants in Cebu, which formerly ranked as the third port of the Archipelago, but now stands second in importance to Manila (_vide_ Trade Statistics, Chap. x.x.xi.). Several vice-consulates are established here, and in Spanish times it was the residence of the military governor of Visayas as well as of the governor of the Island and his staff of officials. In 1886 a Supreme Court was inaugurated in Cebu. This city, which was the capital of the Colony from 1565 to 1571, had a munic.i.p.ality up to the time of Gov.-General Pedro de Arandia (1754-59). It was then abolished because there was only one Spaniard capable of being a city councillor. One alderman who had served--Juan Sebastian de Espina--could neither read nor write, and the mayor himself had been deprived of office for having tried to extort money from a Chinaman by putting his head in the stocks. By Royal Order dated June 7, 1889, and put into force by the Gov.-General's Decree of January 31, 1890, the munic.i.p.ality was re-established. The president was the governor of the Island, supported by an _Alcalde_ and 13 officials. For the government of the Island under the Spanish _regime, vide_ Chap. xiii.

The munic.i.p.ality at present existing is that established by the Taft Commission. The Press, in the days of the Spaniards, was poorly represented by a little news-sheet, styled the _Boletin de Cebu_. There are now two periodicals of little or no interest.

There are two large cemeteries at Guadalupe and Mabolo. In 1887 a shooting-b.u.t.ts was established at the end of the Guadalupe road, and the annual pony-races take place in January. On the Mabolo road there is a Leper Hospital, and the ruins of a partly well-built jail which was never completed.

Cebu is a port of entry open to foreign trade, with a Custom-house established since the year 1863. The channel for vessels is marked by buoys, and there are two lighthouses at the north and two at the south entrance to the port. The environs are pretty, with Magtan Island (on which Maghallanes was killed) in front and a range of hills in the background. There are excellent roads for riding and driving a few miles out of the city. The climate is very healthy for Europeans; the low ranges of mountains running north to south of the Island are spa.r.s.ely wooded, some being quite bare of trees, and the atmosphere is comparatively dry. The cactus is very common all over the Island, and miles of it are seen growing in the hedges. About an hour and a half's drive from Cebu City there is the little town of Naga, the environs of which are extremely pretty. From the top of Makdoc Mountain, at the back of the town, there is a splendid view of the Pandan Valley.