THE GOVERNMENT OF THE NON-CHRISTIAN TRIBES
When I visited Benguet in July and August of 1900, I found conditions
there such that the early establishment of civil government seemed
practicable and desirable. The people had taken no part in the
insurrection and nowhere in the province was there any resistance
to American authority. An act providing for the government of the
province and its settlements was accordingly passed on November 23,
1900, Benguet being thus the first province to pass from the control
of the military.
In drafting this act I was fortunate in having the coöperation of
Mr. Otto Scheerer, a German citizen who had lived for a number of
years among the Benguet Igorots, understood them fully and was most
kindly disposed toward them.
The Benguet law, in considerably amplified form, was applied to Nueva
Vizcaya when that province was organized on January 28, 1902, and on
April 7, 1902, a carefully considered act entitled "An Act providing
for the Establishment of Local Civil Governments in the Townships
and Settlements of Nueva Vizcaya" was passed by the commission.
On May 28, 1902, the province of Lepanto-Bontoc was established. It
had three sub-provinces, Amburayan, Lepanto and Bontoc. The two Nueva
Vizcaya acts above mentioned were made applicable to it, and to its
towns, respectively.
On June 23, 1902, an act was passed organizing the province of Palawan
(Paragua) and extending to it, and to its towns, the more essential
provisions of the two Nueva Vizcaya acts.
On the same day Mindoro was incorporated with the province of
Marinduque under the regular Provincial Government Act, which was
then being made applicable to all provinces populated chiefly by
Filipinos. As might have been anticipated, it did not prove feasible
properly to administer the affairs of Mindoro under this act, and on
November 10, 1902, a province of Mindoro, including the main island
and numerous neighbouring small islands, was established under a law
embodying the essential provisions of the Nueva Vizcaya Act. Certain
provisions of the Nueva Vizcaya township and settlement act were made
applicable to its municipalities, while on December 4, 1902, other
provisions of the same act were made applicable to the settlements
of the wild Mangyans, who occupy the whole interior of this great
island so far as it is occupied at all.
The desirability of uniform legislation for the government of the
non-Christian tribes, except those of the Moro Province, soon became
evident, and after much experience in the practical working of the
several acts above mentioned under the conditions presented in the
five provinces, Benguet, Nueva Vizcaya, Lepanto-Bontoc, Palawan and
Mindoro, I drafted the so-called "Special Provincial Government Act,"
and "The Township Government Act." The former was made applicable to
the five provinces above mentioned, and the latter to all settlements
of non-Christian tribes throughout the Philippines except those of
the Moro Province.
On August 20, 1907, an act was passed carving the province of Agusan
out of territory which had previously belonged to Surigao and Misamis,
and organizing it under the Special Provincial Government Act.
Finally, on August 18, 1908, the Mountain Province was established
in northern Luzón.
At the same time that the Ifugao territory was separated from
Nueva Vizcaya there was added to the latter province the Ilongot
territory previously divided between Isabela, Tayabas, Nueva Ecija
and Pangasinán.
Before considering the details of the work accomplished in the
several special government provinces and sub-provinces, I will state
the general principles which have been found useful in bringing the
non-Christian peoples under control and in establishing friendly
relations with them, and will explain how these principles have been
applied in actual practice.
I have always considered the opening up of adequate lines of
communication an indispensable prerequisite to the control and
development of any country, and this is especially true of the
territory of the wild man. No matter how unruly he may be, he is apt
to become good when one can call on him at 2.30 A.M., since that is
the hour when devils, anítos and asuáng are abroad, and he therefore
wants to stay peaceably in his own house! Again and again we have
built a trail to an ugly, fighting, head-hunting settlement whose
people have at first thrown spears at our road labourers, but later,
when they found that the trail was really going to arrive, have ended
by building one out to meet it. Constabulary garrisons which we have
expected to be forced to establish have often proved unnecessary when
communication was opened up.
We have had scanty funds for public works in these regions. At the
outset I had to get along with four or five thousand dollars a year
in the territory now included in the Mountain Province and the task
which confronted me seemed utterly hopeless. Nevertheless, I made
a beginning and did the best I could. Now the Mountain Province has
annual receipts of about $85,000, of which some $65,000 are expended
for public works and permanent improvements. This is made possible by
the fact that the salaries and wages of the provincial officers, and
certain contingent expenses as well, are met by direct appropriation
of insular funds.
Another principle to which I have steadfastly adhered is never to
impose taxes on a wild man until he can be made to realize that direct
good to him will result from their collection. One of several reasons
why the Spaniards never could dominate the hill people of Luzón was
that they insisted at the very outset upon exacting "tribute" from
them. The hill people regarded the money thus contributed as a present
to the man who collected it, and rebelled against making presents to
people who did not treat them well and whom they did not like.
The most important tax in the special government provinces is the
so-called "public improvement tax."
The law imposing it does not become operative on the non-Christians
of any given territory without the prior approval of the secretary
of the interior.
It provides for the collection from every able-bodied adult male
between the ages of 18 and 55 of an annual contribution of two
pesos. [20] The taxpayer is allowed to render ten days of service
upon public works in lieu of cash payment if he prefers, and most
non-Christians do prefer to settle the obligation in this way. All
money derived from this source is expended on public works, going to
pay for supervision, dynamite, powder, caps, fuse, steel, road tools
and the like, as it is seldom necessary to hire labourers.
We paid for all labour on the first trails constructed, and it was
only when the people themselves learned to comprehend the usefulness
to them of improved means of communication that I made the public
improvement tax applicable to them.
Except under very special circumstances, I did not allow the
construction of a trail with a grade higher than six per cent. There
are two reasons for this rule. First, the torrential rain-storms of
the tropics rapidly destroy high-grade trails in spite of all efforts
to provide adequate drainage; second, if trails are constructed on
low grades, every shovelful of earth which is thrown is just so much
accomplished toward the eventual opening up of cart roads, carriage
roads or automobile roads, the whole subsequent question involved
being one of widening and surfacing.
In constructing a trail we first carefully stake what seems the best
possible line between the two points to be connected; then build on
this line a path which is cut into the hill [21] four feet, the dirt
being thrown outward. No special effort is made to give the bank
a proper slope; the Almighty does this in the course of the first
rainy season, when the earth sloughs off on to the trail in those
places where it stands too steeply. It is then promptly thrown off
the road-bed while still loose, and much hard pick and shovel work and
many "pop shots" are thus saved. Only the most necessary drainage is
provided before the first rainy season, for the reason that experience
has shown that what seem dry beds of streams and look as if they would
be converted into raging torrents during the rainy season sometimes
then hardly carry water enough to wash one's face in; while, on the
other hand, destructive torrents come charging down the crests of
hogbacks in places where one would least expect them, and cut out
the trail completely where they strike it. With the first rain the
maintenance gangs get to work, noting where drainage is especially
needed and providing it, throwing off loose earth and stones when
slides occur, and widening the trail or cutting off sharp corners
when not otherwise engaged.
American and Filipino road foremen were at first used for trail
construction, but the Igorots, Ifugaos and Kalingas, all of whom
are very intelligent people, soon learned to serve as foremen. I had
Ifugaos who ran about clad in clouts only, but were nevertheless quite
capable of carrying a road or trail across the face of a precipice,
doing all of the powder work.
The wild men soon learn to take great pride in their trails, and
usually keep them in an excellent state of repair. It is a remarkable
fact that on the thousand miles of road and trail which have been
constructed since the American occupation in the Mountain Province
and Nueva Vizcaya no one has as yet been murdered. In the wildest
regions there has been an understanding from the outset that people
travelling over government roads were to be let alone!
The establishment of government, and of a decent state of public
order, have gone hand in hand with the opening up of lines of
communication. Wherever practicable it is highly desirable to police
the wild man's country with wild men, and this has proved far easier
than was anticipated. The Bontoc Igorots make good, and the Ifugaos
most excellent, constabulary soldiers. They are faithful, efficient,
absolutely loyal and implicitly obedient. The Ifugaos are born
riflemen, and their carbine practice is little short of marvellous when
one considers their very limited experience. Natural fighters as they
are, the people of these two tribes make the best of soldiers. They are
absolutely fearless, and fight much as do the Ghurkas of India. Benguet
Igorots and Kalingas are now being enlisted as constabulary soldiers,
and from the very outset the people of many of the non-Christian tribes
of the islands have been used as policemen in their own territory.
The annual inspection trip which the secretary of the interior is
required by law to make to every province organized under the special
provincial government act has become very important in the control
and advancement of the non-Christian tribes.
It is now customary to hold fiestas, or as they are locally designated,
cañaos, at central points, to which are invited great numbers of
the wild people from the neighbouring country. At the outset these
gatherings served to bring together men who had hardly seen each other
except over the tops of their shields when lances were flying. They
were all friendly with me, but they were by no means friendly with
each other, and trouble threatened on various occasions. Within the
space of thirty seconds I have seen a couple of thousand men draw
their war knives and snatch up their lances, and have feared that a
record killing was about to occur, but in the end the excited warriors
always quieted down.
We took advantage of these great gatherings to bring about the
settlement of old difficulties between hostile towns and they have
thus proved an important factor in the establishment of peace and
order throughout the wild man's territory. Furthermore, they afford
excellent opportunity to discuss past events and future plans under the
most favourable conditions. I well remember the occasion on which the
Ifugao headman of Quiangan requested that the public improvement tax
be imposed upon them and their fellow tribesmen. There was at that
time but one decent trail in this sub-province. It had been built
by paid labour. Some of the headmen who had gone to Bontoc with me
had seen excellent trails there and had asked why Ifugao could not
have some just as good. I had replied that the Bontoc Igorots were
more civilized than the Ifugaos and had come so to appreciate the
benefit of trails that they were willing to build them without being
paid for their labour. Vehement exception was taken to my contention
that the Bontoc Igorots were further advanced than the Ifugaos. The
latter insisted that they were much better men than the Igorots, and
could and would build better trails. I explained to them in detail
the practical working of the public improvement tax, and asked if
they would be willing to have this contribution imposed on them. They
insisted that they wanted it, and I finally gave it to them, although
I doubted their ability to bring their people into line. On the
following day there was a precisely similar occurrence at Banaue. I
soon found that I had underrated the influence of the headmen. That
year twenty thousand Ifugaos worked out their road tax. The following
year twenty-four thousand men rendered the prescribed ten days'
service; and the number has steadily increased year by year ever since,
with the result that the sub-province is crisscrossed with trails,
many of which are already wide enough for considerable distances to
permit the passage of automobiles if they could be brought there,
while the main line of communication with Bontoc on the one hand and
the capital of Nueva Vizcaya on the other is open for cart travel
from the western to the eastern boundary of the sub-province.
At many of the cañaos we have athletic contests, which the wild
men, with their splendid physical development, greatly enjoy. It
is much better for two hostile towns to settle their differences
by a tug-of-war, or a wrestling match, than by fighting over them,
and they are now often quite willing to adopt these more pacific
means provided the audience is sufficiently large and enthusiastic,
for the average wild man has a very human love of playing to the
gallery. He takes to the athletic contests of the American like a
duck to the water, and soon learns to excel in them. No sooner is a
cañao over than those who have taken part in it begin to look forward
to the next one, and the small expense involved is repaid a thousand
fold in the good feeling produced.
In the course of a year the people of each of the non-Christian tribes
do many things for us simply because we want them to, and it seems
only fair that we should give them at least one opportunity during
the same period to have a good time in their own way.
The personal equation is of vital importance in dealing with wild
men. They know nothing of laws or policies, but they understand
individuals uncommonly well.
The men in immediate control of them must be absolutely fearless,
must make good every promise or threat, must never punish except in
case of deliberate wrong-doing committed in spite of warning duly
given, and must, when punishment is thus made necessary, inflict it
sternly but not in anger. The wild man thus dealt with is likely to
call quits when he has had enough, and if he promises to behave must
be treated like a man of his word, which he usually is.
As a result of such just, firm and kindly treatment governors and
lieutenant-governors soon find themselves endowed by their people
with powers far in excess of those conferred on them by law. They are
ex officio justices of the peace, but are just as apt to be asked to
settle a head-hunting feud between towns, which has caused a dozen
bloody murders, as a quarrel growing out of the joint ownership of
a pig. They are the law and the prophets, and no appeals are taken
from any just decisions which they may make, nor is their authority
questioned. On the contrary, their people usually object when sent
to the courts, as is of course often necessary.
These officers are always on the watch for opportunities to get the
people of hostile towns to swap head-axes, or dance together, and so
become friends.
When one town has been in the very act of raiding another the timely
appearance of an unarmed Apo [22] has sufficed to shame the culprits
into laying down their arms and going home without them.
No one who has not seen for himself can appreciate the courage,
tact and patience of the handful of Americans who have not only
brought under control the wildest tribes of the Philippines, but have
established the most friendly relations with them.
Having now outlined in a general way the principles which have been
followed in the work for the non-Christian tribes of the special
government provinces, I will set forth some of the more important
results which have been obtained.
In Benguet, which under the Spanish régime was organized
as a comandancia, [23] there dwell a kindly, industrious,
self-respecting, silent tribe of agriculturists known as the Benguet
Igorots. Governmental control was established over them by the
Spaniards. They have never indulged in head-hunting nor caused any
serious disturbance of public order, but have persistently refused
to give up their ancient religious beliefs, and for this reason were
not allowed by the Spaniards to obtain education, so that, with rare
individual exceptions, they were completely illiterate. When I first
visited their country I found the men clad in clouts, supplemented in
the case of the more wealthy by cotton blankets. The women usually
wore both skirts and upper garments, and bound towels around their
heads for turbans.
The Benguet Igorots were formerly compelled to trade for the
necessaries of life in the lowlands of the neighbouring province of
Union, where they were shamelessly exploited by the Filipinos. They
had been obliged by the Spaniards to pay taxes for which they received
no adequate return. They had furthermore been roughly treated by the
Insurgents during the war, and were extremely fearful and timid. Men
ran away at my approach. Women overtaken unexpectedly on the trail
leaped down the steep mountain sides, squatting where they first
struck the ground and covering their faces with their hands.
It proved a simple matter to establish friendly and helpful relations
with these simple and gentle people. Fortunately for them Mr. Otto
Scheerer, who had lived among them for years, helped organize their
settlements. Some of them were still so wild that they ran away at
his approach, sitting up on the high mountain sides and watching him
from a distance, but declining to come down. Patience, perseverance
and kindness soon overcame their fears, and local governments were
established in the several settlements.
Travel through Benguet was then dangerous and difficult because of the
condition of the trails, which were mere footpaths. None of the streams
were bridged. Work was promptly begun upon a trail system, and now
one can ride a large horse rapidly to every settlement of importance.
At first the people had nothing to sell, and no money with which to
buy what they needed. From time to time they packed coffee and Irish
potatoes down to the lowlands and traded them for salt, cloth and
steel, which they needed, and for vino, which was poison to them.
We have protected them in their property rights and encouraged them
to increase their agricultural holdings. As they were too ignorant to
understand and exercise their right to obtain free patent to small
tracts of land which they had long occupied and cultivated, I sent
out a special survey party to help them make out their applications
in due form.
The gradual development of Baguio, first as a health resort and later
as the summer capital, afforded them an ever increasing market for
their products; while trail construction, the opening of the Benguet
Road and the erection of buildings at Baguio made it possible for every
one desiring it to secure remunerative employment. In the old Spanish
days they had been forced to build trails without compensation, and
to feed themselves while doing it. When they realized that the new
régime had come to stay, their gratitude knew no bounds.
For a time they could not be persuaded to try the white man's
medicines, but ultimately the wife of the most important chief
in the province, who was dying of dysentery, was persuaded to let
Dr. J. B. Thomas, a very competent American government physician, treat
her case. She recovered, and the news spread far and wide. After that
Igorots came in constantly increasing numbers to the hospital which
had meanwhile been established, and to-day their sick and injured
are often carried to it from a distance of fifty miles or more.
Schools were soon established in several important settlements. The
boys proved apt pupils. At the outset parents would not allow their
girls to attend. Gradually the prejudice against sending them to
school was overcome, and at three different places girls are now
given instruction in English and in practical industrial work.
The children learn English readily and the old folks pick it
up from them. Mrs. Alice M. Kelly, who started the first Igorot
school, taught her boys respectfully to salute her in the morning,
and shortly thereafter American travellers over the Benguet trails
were addressed by Igorots with the cheerful greeting, "Good morning,
Mrs. Kelly." Their feelings were doubtless identical with those of the
traveller in Japan to whom a beginning student of book English said,
"Good morning, Sir, or Madam, as the case may be!"
The Benguet Igorots have responded quickly to the opportunities
afforded them, and several serious dangers which have threatened
their progress have been met and overcome.
The Filipino peoples will never become victims of alcoholism. They
drink in moderation, but seldom become intoxicated. The non-Christian
peoples, on the contrary, never lose an opportunity to get
boiling drunk. All of them make fermented alcoholic drinks of their
own. Fortunately most of these beverages are comparatively mild and
harmless; but if a hill man can get hold of bad vino or worse whiskey
he will get so drunk that he thinks he has to hang on to the grass
in order to lie on the ground.
The Filipinos had long taken advantage of this weakness of the
Benguet-Lepanto Igorots to debauch them with vino and cheat them
while they were intoxicated. I regret to say that since the American
occupation some white men who wanted them as labourers have used liquor
as a bait. Because of these conditions, and of more or less similar
ones throughout the rest of the wild man's territory, I drafted
and secured the passage of an act making it a criminal offence to
sell or give white man's liquor to a wild man, or for such a man to
drink such liquor or have it in his possession. This law has been very
successfully enforced. Although Benguet-Lepanto Igorots have sometimes
succeeded in purchasing liquor at Baguio or Cervantes, their use of
strong alcoholic stimulants has steadily decreased, and throughout much
of the wild man's territory strong drink is absolutely unobtainable.
The Benguet Igorots have an abiding love for gambling, and some of
them learned new tricks, which did them no good, through contact with
Filipinos when working on the Benguet Road. Strict enforcement of the
law against gambling has, however, prevented any considerable spread
of this evil.
One of the most interesting results thus far obtained is the arousing
of a strong commercial instinct among them. It was literally true
at the outset that one could not buy from them an egg, a chicken or
a basket of camotes, much less a pig or a cow. Now special market
buildings have been erected for them at Baguio, and they are thronged
on Sundays. The Igorots have money and spend it wisely. They also
have farm products to sell, know what they are worth, and insist on
getting full value for them. Among other things there may be mentioned
sleek cattle, the best fat hogs grown in the Philippines, chickens,
eggs, cabbages, Irish potatoes, peas, beans, tomatoes, squashes,
camotes and strawberries.
There have been some interesting episodes in connection with the
work for the Benguet Igorots. At one time it became necessary for the
provincial governor, Wm. F. Pack, to undergo a severe and dangerous
surgical operation. Word spread through Benguet that the doctors
were going to cut him to pieces. Palasi, an old Igorot chief of Atok,
gathered his cohorts and came in hot haste to Baguio to stop it. He
was assured by Governor Pack himself that the cutting was to be done
with his consent, but still entertained some doubts about the matter
and asked to be allowed to be present. His request was granted. There
was then no operating room in Baguio, so one was extemporized in the
governor's house. He walked out to the operating table, and Palasi,
who was standing by, once more asked him if he was to be cut up with
his own consent, offering to stop the performance even then if the
governor so wished!
On March 30, 1913, I sat at a luncheon given at Trinidad, Benguet,
in honour of former Lieutenant-Governor E. A. Eckman, who had just
been promoted to the governorship of the Mountain Province. At the
long tables were seated a representative gathering of decently clad
Benguet Igorot head-men, the hosts of the occasion. They understood
the use of knives, forks and spoons. At the close of the luncheon they
presented Governor Eckman with a beautiful silver cup. The presentation
speech was made by an Igorot named Juan Cariño, who had been shot and
badly wounded by American soldiers from whom he foolishly endeavoured
to escape in 1900!
Fortunately old Juan was not killed. Like every other Igorot in Benguet
he is to-day a good friend of the Americans. The people of his tribe
are now sober, industrious, cheerful, contented and prosperous. As
time passes they keep cleaner, wear more and better clothes and build
better houses. In this case, at least, a primitive people has come
in close contact with the white man and has profited by it.
Lepanto, like Benguet, was a comandancia in the Spanish days. Its
Igorot inhabitants are fellow-tribesmen of their Benguet neighbours,
and like them are, and have long been, peaceful agriculturists,
raising camotes, rice, coffee and cattle. They also mine gold and
copper. In the extreme southeastern and the extreme northern parts
of Lepanto the people are wilder and less law-abiding than those of
Benguet, and some of them are prone to indulge in cattle stealing.
This subprovince has one Ilocano town, Cervantes, which was made the
capital of the province of Lepanto-Bontoc. At the outset communication
with the coast was maintained over a very bad horse-trail crossing the
coast range at Tilad Pass. It zigzagged up one slope of the mountains
and down the other on a grade such as to make travel over it very
difficult. Furthermore, after reaching the lowlands on the west side
of the range, it crossed a river some fourteen times. During the rainy
season there were weeks at a time during which this stream could not
be forded. In the early days of the American occupation a good wagon
road was built from the coast to the point where the trail began,
and the trail itself was put in the best possible condition. It was
subsequently well maintained, but after the establishment of a Filipino
provincial government in South Ilocos the wagon road was allowed
to fall into such a state of neglect that travel over it, even for
persons on horseback, became impossible during wet weather. Mr. Kane,
the supervisor of the Mountain Province, was nearly drowned in mud
when trying to ride over it, being thrown from his horse into soft
ooze so deep that his hands did not reach bottom, and had it not
been for a timely rescue by Filipinos who chanced to be passing,
he would certainly have lost his life.
Although forty or fifty thousand pesos' worth of supplies were annually
sent into the mountain country by the people of South Ilocos over this
trail, that province refused to spend a peso in keeping the connecting
road up. The constantly growing trade of the mountain country made it,
in my opinion, necessary that it should have a good outlet to the
coast, and a route for a road was surveyed from Cervantes directly
west over the Malaya range, traversing the subprovince of Amburayan
from east to west and coming out at the municipality of Tagudin. In
order to prevent the occurrence of a state of affairs such as had
rendered the Tilad Pass trail practically useless during much of
the rainy season, this Ilocano town was annexed to Lepanto-Bontoc,
thus giving the province a route to the coast within the limits of
its own territory.
The people of Tagudin were at first inclined to protest against
annexation to the country of the non-Christians, but soon discovered
that the change was greatly to their advantage. Their town had long
been threatened with destruction by the encroachment of the Amburayan
River, and they had appealed in vain to South Ilocos for help. The
Mountain Province gave them assistance in the construction of a
protecting wall which held the river within bounds and adequately
safeguarded the town. Their business rapidly increased when Tagudin
became the western terminus of an important trade route. They soon
began to take an active interest in improving local conditions, and
their municipality was gradually changed from a dirty, down-at-the-heel
place to a neat, clean, sanitary town in which its people could take
justifiable pride. An old feud which had long separated the leading
men into two parties so bitterly hostile to each other that the mere
fact of advocacy of a given measure by one of them was sufficient to
cause determined opposition to it by the other, died out, and Tagudin
is to-day quite a model place in comparison with the general run of
Filipino towns.
The opening up of transportation lines has placed the people of
Lepanto within much easier reach of a market for their rice, coffee
and cattle. The successful combating of cattle disease by the Bureau
of Agriculture has been a great boon to them, as has the suppression of
the liquor traffic. Schools have been established in a number of their
settlements. Last, but by no means least, their lives are no longer
endangered by the head-hunting Bontoc Igorots. They are now a peaceful,
prosperous people, and are progressing steadily in civilization.
In Spanish days there was a comandancia known as Amburayan wedged in
between the provinces of La Union and Ilocos Sur. After the American
occupation this territory was at first organized as a part of Ilocos
Sur, but it soon became necessary to make of it a separate subprovince
and add it to Lepanto-Bontoc, to the end that its people might be
adequately protected. In contact on two sides with Christian Filipinos,
they were shamefully maltreated and oppressed, and they appealed to
me for help.
Filipinos were graciously permitting them to cut firewood and lumber
in the public forests, and taking the lion's share of the products
in return for their consent! They were debauching the Igorots with
vino. I remember particularly the case of one unfortunate individual
who owned five carabaos, two of which got to fighting. As usually
happens with these animals, the one that was whipped ran away, and
the victor blindly pursued it. Both charged over a precipice and broke
their legs. The owner killed them, dressed them, and divided the meat
among his family and friends. He was arrested, given a mock trial for
killing carabaos without a license, and fined three carabaos--all he
had left--which of course went to his persecutors!
Instances of this sort of thing could be indefinitely multiplied.
Amburayan was freed from the vino traffic soon after it became a
subprovince of Lepanto-Bontoc. This alone was a great boon to its
Igorot inhabitants, who little by little were helped to assert
their rights as they gained greater confidence in their American
lieutenant-governor and learned to go to him freely with their
troubles. They had so long been helpless and hopeless that it was some
time before they could be convinced that a new day had dawned for them.
And now let us betake ourselves to the country of the real wild man,
and consider briefly past and present conditions in the subprovince
of Ifugao.
The people of the tribe known as Ifugaos are a remarkable lot. Their
country is almost entirely made up of exceptionally steep mountain
sides with hardly a naturally level piece of ground in it. On almost
precipitous slopes they have built wonderful series of irrigated rice
terraces held in position by stone retaining walls which have been laid
without mortar or cementing material of any kind, and are so skilfully
constructed that they withstand even the terrific rains which sometimes
occur during typhoons. Accurate rainfall statistics for Ifugao are not
obtainable, but, as we have seen, in the neighbouring subprovince of
Benguet, there is of record a period of twenty-four hours during which
forty-nine and nine tenths inches of rain fell! Under such conditions
as this, exceptionally good work is necessary to prevent structures of
any sort built on mountain sides from sliding into the valleys below.
Up to the time of the American occupation the Ifugaos had always
been inveterate head-hunters. Unlike the Bontoc Igorots, who depend
on large numbers of fighting men for protection, they live in small
villages usually placed in inaccessible spots which can be reached
only by ascending the almost perpendicular rice-terrace walls.
Not only were the people of this tribe then constantly fighting among
themselves, but they from time to time raided the Bontoc country or
that of the Kalingas, and they persistently victimized the people of
Nueva Vizcaya, making travel so unsafe on the main road between Nueva
Vizcaya and Isabela that the Spaniards found it necessary to maintain
several garrisons along it, and forbade private persons to pass over
it without a military escort. Even so, parties of travellers were cut
down from time to time, the savages making their attacks at the noon
hour when Spanish soldiers had a way of going to sleep beside the road.
I have already narrated my earliest experiences in this subprovince,
which occurred in 1903, and have called attention to the fact that
when I returned in 1905 I was able to traverse it from east to west
without the slightest danger. This condition of affairs was due to the
efforts of Governor Louis G. Knight, supplemented by those of Captain
L. E. Case of the Philippine constabulary, who had established his
headquarters at Banaue and had exercised a strong influence over his
unruly constituents.
Perhaps I ought to change my statement and say that order was
established by Captain Case, assisted by Governor Knight. Captain Case
was very fortunate in his dealings with the Ifugaos. He was a kindly
man, who won their friendship at the outset. He resorted to stern
measures only when such measures were so imperatively necessary that
the Ifugaos themselves fully recognized the justice of employing them.
On my trip through the Ifugao country in 1906 I was accompanied from
Mayoyao to Banaue by Lieutenant Jeff D. Gallman, who had come to the
former place to meet me. This young man had been especially selected
by Colonel Rivers, of the Philippine constabulary, to be trained for
work among the Ifugaos. Never was a selection more fortunate. When
Captain Case injured himself by over-exertion in climbing a steep,
terraced mountain side in the hot sun, and had to return to the United
States for recuperation, Gallman took up his work and devoted himself
most effectively to the task of bringing the Ifugaos under control,
protecting them, and improving their conditions. He was a dead shot
with revolver and carbine; was absolutely fearless; was of a kindly,
cheerful disposition, and soon not only won their respect but gained
their love.
As the years went by, the Ifugaos came to regard him as but little
less than a god. He had extraordinary success in training them
for service as constabulary soldiers. On the occasion of the first
general rifle competition between all the constabulary organizations
in northern Luzón ten Ifugao soldiers were sent to the lowlands to
participate. Gallman, who had trained them, was travelling with me at
the time, so they were taken down by a comparatively inexperienced
officer who, instead of selecting the best ten men from among the
ninety possible candidates, took ten from the twenty who happened to
be stationed at Mayoyao.
The hot climate of the lowlands troubled them. The Filipino
constabulary soldiers made fun of them because they wore no trousers,
and bedevilled them in various ways. The best shot among them lost his
nerve in consequence. Nevertheless, when the competition was over they
ranked Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, respectively, an Ilocano
soldier from the lowlands being tied with the last man for tenth place!
Ifugao soldiers are submissive to discipline, obey orders implicitly,
and are loyal and brave to a fault. When on duty they attend strictly
to business. No prisoner ever yet escaped from one of them. This is
more than can be said of the Bontoc Igorots. It is of record that on
one occasion when a prisoner guarded by a raw recruit of the latter
tribe made a break for liberty, the recruit followed him, firing
as he ran. After missing the fleeing man five times, he threw his
carbine at him, lance-fashion, and speared him with the bayonet! So
long as an Ifugao has a cartridge in his magazine he does not indulge
in bayonet practice.
The same general policy was pursued in Ifugao which had been found
so effective elsewhere. Lines of communication were opened up;
after a short time criminals were for the most part apprehended and
turned in by the head-men themselves; whenever possible, hostile
towns were left to sulk until they had learned from the experience
of their neighbours that there was nothing to be afraid of or to
complain about, and voluntarily came into the fold; head-hunting was
suppressed with a heavy hand, but only after due warning as to what
the fate of transgressors would be. It is now some six years since a
head has been taken in this region. Travel not only in Nueva Vizcaya
but in Ifugao itself is at present absolutely safe, and general
conditions as to law and order are better than those which prevail
in many American communities. The people have been assisted in the
construction of irrigation ditches, and little by little are being
persuaded to come down from their steep and overpopulated mountain
sides to the neighbouring fertile, level vacant plains. They are loyal
and friendly to a marked degree, and I experience no greater pleasure
than that which I derive from travelling through their country.
Credit for this happy result is chiefly due to the efforts of Jeff
D. Gallman, who speedily rose to be a captain in the constabulary and
at an early date was made lieutenant-governor of Ifugao. He has done
a monumental work for civilization in the Philippines.
The Kalinga country was at the outset administered as a
part of Bontoc. This made that subprovince so large that one
lieutenant-governor could not hope satisfactorily to cover it,
especially as there were no good lines of communication. Although a
constabulary garrison was early stationed at the town of Lubuagan,
comparatively little progress was made in bringing the Kalingas under
effective control until their territory was made a separate subprovince
of the Mountain Province and Lieutenant-Governor Walter F. Hale,
of Amburayan, was transferred to it as its lieutenant-governor.
Lieutenant-Governor Hale has now been in the special government
service longer than any other man who remains in it, and has an
admirable record for quiet efficiency. Like Gallman, he is a man with
chilled-steel nerve, and he needed it in the early days in Kalinga
where the people, who had been allowed to run wild too long, did not
take as kindly to the establishment of governmental control as had
the Bontoc Igorots and the Ifugaos. The Kalingas are a fine lot of
head-hunting savages, physically magnificently developed, mentally
acute, but naturally very wild. Hale soon made friends with many of
the local chiefs, and thereafter when he received invitations from
outlying rancherias to come over and have his head taken would quietly
accept to the extent of setting out accompanied by a few soldiers,
or none at all, and talking the matter over with the people who had
made the threat! In the end they always decided that he was too good
a man to kill.
Here, as in Ifugao, we felt our way, avoiding trouble with hostile
settlements as long as it was possible to do so. And here, as in
Bontoc and Ifugao, head-hunting was abolished and law and order
were established practically without killing. In a few instances
settlements which absolutely refused to come into the fold, and
persisted in raiding and killing in the territory of people who
had already become friendly, were given severe lessons, which they
invariably took in good part.
One of the pleasant things about dealing with people like the Kalingas
and the Ifugaos is their manliness when they fight. They let one know,
so plainly that there can be no mistake about it, whether they are
friendly or hostile, and even if thoroughly whipped they bear no ill
will provided they know that they deserve a whipping, but come calmly
walking into camp to tell you that they have had enough and are going
to be good. And they keep their promises.
In Kalinga, as elsewhere throughout the Mountain Province outside of
Apayao, an admirable trail system has now been opened up and travel
is not only safe but comfortable. The people are most friendly and
loyal, and while head-hunting has not completely disappeared, cases
of it are extremely rare and occur only in the most remote parts of
the subprovince.
Apayao has proved a hard nut to crack. As previously stated, I made
a trip across this subprovince from west to east in 1906, without
encountering any hostility whatsoever. Unfortunately, the officer
who commanded my escort saw fit to go blundering back there with a
constabulary command a few weeks later. He managed to get into a fight
and was whipped and chased out of the country. A so-called punitive
expedition was then sent in, which came near meeting a similar fate,
but finally withdrew in fairly good order after having inflicted
slight damage on the town of Guennéd, the people of which made the
original attack.
Apayao was at first organized as a subprovince of Cagayan, and
Colonel Blas Villamor, who had accompanied me on my two longest
exploration trips through northern Luzón, was appointed its
lieutenant-governor. The attitude of the provincial officials of
Cagayan toward the difficult task which confronted them in Apayao was
most unsatisfactory. Indeed, the governor of that province informed me
that in his opinion the best way to settle the Apayao problem was to
kill all of the inhabitants. As Colonel Villamor reported that there
were some fifty-three thousand of them [24] this procedure would have
presented practical, as well as moral, difficulties! I myself was of
the opinion that the Apayao people, who proved to be wild Tingians,
were altogether too good to kill.
Colonel Villamor was a native of Abra, where approximately half the
population is made up of Tingians who have attained to a high degree
of civilization. He was already quite familiar with the dialect
spoken by these people, and speedily learned the language of their
wild brethren in Apayao, many of whom understood Ilocano, which was
his native tongue.
At the outset he made excellent progress in bringing his people
under control. The task was undoubtedly more difficult than that
in any other subprovince of the Mountain Province, both because the
Spaniards had failed to penetrate into this region, leaving the people
untouched by civilization up to the time of the American occupation,
and for the further reason that their head-hunting is connected with
religious beliefs. They think that when a man dies his prospect for a
good time in the future world is bad unless the members of his family
take a head within six months, and this idea has a tendency to keep
society in a somewhat disturbed condition.
For reasons which I have never been able fully to fathom, Villamor's
progress in establishing governmental control grew steadily slower as
time went by, and ultimately came to a standstill. During my absence
from the islands it was deemed best to accept his resignation, for
reasons not immediately connected with his administration of the
affairs of his subprovince. Before surrendering his post he caused
word to be spread among the Tingians that the kindly policy which
had thus far been pursued in dealing with them was to be superseded
by one of severity, greatly alarming them, and seriously retarding
work which he had quite auspiciously begun. There was absolutely no
justification for his statements, as no one thought for a moment of
dealing with the Apayao Tingians in a fashion differing at all from
that invariably followed in our relations with non-Christians in the
special government provinces.
Mr. Norman G. Connor was appointed to succeed Señor
Villamor. Mr. Connor had been acting governor of Nueva Vizcaya and
had rendered very satisfactory service. He has made material progress
in establishing control over the people of Apayao, where the work
of trail construction has now begun. At the outset communication
was maintained by boats on the Abulúg River and its branches, near
which most of the wild Tingian villages are situated, but it is a
dangerous stream to navigate, especially when in flood, and lines of
land communication must therefore be opened up.
We found the subprovince of Bontoc peopled by a tribe of wild, warlike,
head-hunting Igorots over whom the Spaniards had never been able to
establish effective control. At the time of the American occupation
their numerous settlements were constantly at war with each other,
and with the Kalingas and the Ifugaos as well.
The Bontoc Igorots build large towns and depend on the numbers of their
hardy fighting men for protection. Each town formerly kept a profit and
loss account of heads with every town of its enemies. Physically these
people are splendid men, and we soon found that they were usually both
brave and fair in their fighting, formally making and breaking peace,
and serving due notice on their enemies before attacking.
If a small town felt itself aggrieved by a big one, it would send
a messenger to say, "You have more fighting men than we have, but
they are no good! Pick fifteen of the best from your thousand and
send them to a certain place at a certain time to meet fifteen real
fighting men selected from among our five hundred." At the appointed
time the thirty warriors would meet in deadly combat, while their
fellow-townsmen looked on.
The Bontoc Igorots are naturally truthful and honest, and they soon
became most friendly, gladly bringing many of their troubles to their
lieutenant-governor for settlement. Fortunately, head-accounts between
different towns can be adjusted by proper payments made by those who
hold the highest scores. We took advantage of this fact to establish
peace between the towns, and when once established it was, as a rule,
religiously kept.
Trail construction was promptly inaugurated and has been steadily
pushed. Most of the towns have thus been made readily accessible.
When friendly relations had been established, and we were in a position
to back orders with force if necessary, settlement after settlement
was warned that head-hunting must cease and was further informed as to
what would happen if the mandate was disobeyed. Certain dare-devils
promptly broke over, partly, I fancy, to see what would happen,
and partly, no doubt, because they found the influence of tribal
customs too strong to resist. We made our warnings come true. One
settlement required three bitter lessons. For others a single mild
one sufficed. The majority of the towns were content to get their
experience vicariously. We were amazed at our own success in stopping
this horrible practice. At the outset we burned towns if their people
engaged in head-hunting. [25] The Igorots recognized the justice of
this action because the whole town was invariably cognizant of, and
party to, every head-hunting raid made by any of its people. Later,
when head-hunting became comparatively rare, we began to deal with
the individuals concerned. They were arrested, brought before the
courts, and tried like any other criminals. To-day head-hunting in
Bontoc is almost unknown. When it does occur the people themselves
usually capture and turn over the culprits.
The respect of the Bontoc Igorots for the law is extraordinary. In
1910 a Constabulary soldier shot the presidente of Tinglayan without
just cause. The people of the place rushed to arms, meaning to kill
the soldier. Chief Agpad, assisted by the son of the murdered man,
took station before the door of the house in which the assailant had
sought refuge, and the two stood off their fellow-townsmen, saying
that the government had promised to kill evil-doers and that this
man must be turned over to the government to be killed! When I passed
through their town a few weeks later, with Governor-General Forbes,
they begged to have him killed promptly.
In the early days I myself had a rather stormy clash with some of the
Bontoc Igorots. During Aguinaldo's long flight he had passed through
half a dozen of their towns, as had the American soldiers who pursued
him. The Igorots did not like this, so tore out the trail to Ifugao,
between Bontoc and Samoqui, and built high-walled rice paddies where
it had been, with the result that persons making the journey had to
use the river bed for several miles. This was all very well if the
river was low, but was no joke if it chanced to be in flood.
I ordered that the trail be rebuilt, the Igorots to be paid for their
work, and for the resulting damage to their rice fields, and this
was done.
The lieutenant-governor was a weak man, and the Igorots, after getting
their money, tore the trail out again and rebuilt their stone terrace
walls across the place where it had been, just to see what he would
do about it. He did nothing. I found things in this condition when
I arrived, and was obliged to come down the river bed at dusk, with
the result that my horse and I took several impromptu baths.
The Samoqui warriors came dancing out to meet me, playing their gansas
[26] and making a grand hullabaloo. Summoning my sternest expression,
I refused to shake hands with them, telling them to go home and to
report at Bontoc at nine the following morning.
The fighting men of the town of Bontoc met me on the other side of
the river, and I served them the same way. The official under whose
nose they had destroyed the trail was greatly alarmed, and assured me
that if I ordered it rebuilt, as I told him I would do, there would
be a fight, and the Igorots would cut the heads off all the Americans
in town, including the ladies. He added, "Think how the ladies would
look without any heads!" While this was a disquieting reflection,
I remained obdurate.
At the appointed hour the Samoqui and Bontoc men appeared, armed with
head-axes and lances. I asked them if they would rebuild that trail,
and they said no! I told them that if they did not I would cut their
main irrigating ditch and put a constabulary guard on it to see that
it was not repaired until they changed their minds. This might have
meant the loss of their rice crop. They knew me quite as well as
they did their lieutenant-governor, and promptly rebuilt the trail
for nothing, as I told them they must.
When the Mountain Province was established, the town of Bontoc
was made the capital, as Cervantes, which had been the capital of
Lepanto-Bontoc, was hot, had proved unhealthful, and was not centrally
situated. Bontoc has a cool, delightful climate, is near the geographic
center of the province, and from it radiates a road and trail system
of constantly increasing importance. Things have moved rapidly there
since the status of the place was changed.
To-day the town has modern public buildings of brick and stone. The
bricks have been made, burned and laid by Igorots. Much of the stone
has been cut and laid by Igorots. The mortar used has been mixed
by Igorots with lime burned by Igorots. Some of the carpenter work
has been done by Igorots. There is a modern hospital to which the
Igorots flock. There are schools in which Igorot boys and girls
learn the English language, and become adept in the practice of
useful industries.
Perhaps the most unique of the Bontoc institutions is the provincial
jail. Years ago I discovered to my horror that a two-year sentence
to Bilibid, the insular penitentiary, was a death sentence for a
hill-man! Not all who were sent there died, but the average term
of life of men from the hills was two years only, while those who
served out their sentences and returned to their mountain homes had
invariably become adepts in crime as the result of prolonged contact
with vicious Filipinos. I promptly drafted an act providing for
the establishment at Bontoc of a penitentiary where all prisoners
from the highlands should be confined, and the commission passed
it. The prison has been made a real educational institution. Most
of its inmates have been guilty of crimes of violence, committed in
accordance with tribal customs, and are not vicious at heart. The
jail building is perfectly sanitary. Its occupants are required to
keep their persons clean and their quarters both clean and in perfect
order. They live amid healthful surroundings and receive abundant and
nourishing food. They are taught useful trades and are compelled to
work hard, which they do not in the least mind, as industry is the
rule in the mountain country. They usually leave the jail better men
than when they entered it, and thereafter, instead of being a menace
to law and order, assist in their enforcement and maintenance.
We do odd things with some of these prisoners. Last year we paroled
a man from Ifugao who had a score of heads to his credit. Learning
that his people believed him to be dead and were greatly troubled,
we told him to go home, show himself to them, tell them how he was
treated in jail, and come back. He did it!
Proof of the kindliness of the relations which have existed with the
Bontoc Igorots is found in the fact that no member of this tribe has
ever yet turned his hand against an American. On the contrary, there
are not a few Americans who owe their lives to Igorots. Agpad, of
Tinglayan, has twice dived into rivers swollen by typhoons and rescued
Americans who had sunk for the last time beneath the rushing, muddy
waters, while their fellow-countrymen stood by paralyzed with fear.
Last year there occurred an event of profound significance. In
the past, American officials have often worked hard for days to get
representatives of two hostile towns to dance together, for this would
make friends of them. On the occasion in question there had gathered
at Bontoc to meet me representatives from every settlement in the
subprovince. Each town had brought its gansas and its dancers. On
the second day of my visit the people of one of the towns started
a dance on the plaza. They were promptly joined by representatives
from another town which had long been hostile to them. People from
yet other towns followed suit, until finally the plaza swarmed with a
great crowd of dancers in which every settlement in the subprovince
was represented. Even at that late day I should not have dared to
attempt to bring about such a thing. It happened of itself, and to
the initiated told an eloquent tale of the results of our years of
patient work!
The first time I climbed Polis Mountain, on my way from the Bontoc
country to the land of the Ifugaos, four Igorots went ahead of me,
armed with head-axes and lances, carrying their shields in position. At
each turn in the steep, worn-out trail, they drew back their lances
ready to throw. I had eighty-six armed men with me, and knew that I
might need them. To-day I travel through the length and breadth of
the Mountain Province unescorted and unarmed. Furthermore, I usually
take my wife with me.
Prior to 1903, if an Ifugao showed himself on the north side of the
Polis range he lost his head. Now people of this tribe stroll into
the town of Bontoc almost daily. They travel north through the Bontoc
Igorot country to Lubuagan, in Kalinga, and west to Cervantes, in
Lepanto, or even to Tagudin on the coast, crossing three subprovinces
on the latter trip. They also go south to Baguio.
All freight was formerly packed in from the coast on men's backs a
distance of eighty odd miles over steep, narrow, stony trails which
were really foot-paths. Now it comes in carts over a good road which
has a maximum grade of six per cent.
The people of the settlement had to get their water from the river. Now
it is piped into town.
There was not a shop in the place, and every one had to go to the
coast to make the smallest purchases. There are at present half a
dozen good stores, beside the provincial exchange, a store where the
government sells the Igorots what they want at reasonable prices,
thus preventing shopkeepers from overcharging them.
Commodious quarters for visiting Igorots and Ifugaos have been
provided, and there is a fine market where they may display and sell
their products. This market is a busy place.
The population is rapidly increasing, now that head-hunting has
practically ceased. The area of cultivated lands steadily grows larger,
for the men are freed from the necessity of being constantly under
arms, and we are helping them to get more irrigation water, so that
they can extend their rice fields.
There are a thousand or so Bontoc Igorots in Benguet to-day,
contracting for railroad excavation work. Times have changed.
When Nueva Vizcaya was first organized, its non-Christian inhabitants
greatly outnumbered its Filipino population, as there were at least
one hundred fifteen thousand Ifugaos in addition to several thousand
Ilongots and a few Benguet Igorots, locally known as Isinayes,
who had strayed over the boundary line. With the transfer of the
Ifugao territory to the Mountain Province, the Filipinos were left
in the decided majority. Later all of the Ilongot territory which
had previously belonged to the provinces of Isabela, Tayabas, Nueva
Ecija and Pangasinán was added to Nueva Vizcaya, in order that the
members of this wild and primitive tribe might be brought under one
provincial administration.
The Ilongots are a strictly forest-inhabiting people. Many of them
have a considerable admixture of Negrito blood and live a semi-nomadic
life. Their settlements, which are small and more or less transient,
are usually situated in remote and inaccessible places surrounded by
the densest jungle. It is at present impracticable to open up horse
trails through their country, for the number of inhabitants is so
small, in comparison with the area occupied, that such trails could
not be built with Ilongot labour, nor indeed could they be maintained
even if built. One main trail is, however, being constructed, and it
is planned to build foot trails from this to the more important of
the settlements which it does not reach.
A special assistant to the Provincial Governor of Nueva Vizcaya for
work among the Ilongots has been appointed and assigned to duty at
Baler, on the Pacific coast of Luzón, from which place he can more
conveniently reach the Ilongots east of the coast range. These people
were very wild at the outset, and it proved difficult to establish
friendly relations with them, but this has now been successfully
accomplished, and their fear of the white man is largely a thing of
the past.
There is a school for Ilongot children at Campoté. They prove to be
bright, capable pupils.
At the same place there has been established a government exchange,
where the Ilongots can sell such articles of their own manufacture as
they wish to market, and can purchase what they need at moderate cost.
They still fight more or less with each other, but depredations by
them upon Filipinos have ceased.