MURDER AS A GOVERNMENTAL AGENCY
In discussing the prevalence of slavery in the Philippine Islands,
Sr. Manuel Quezon has stated that it has never existed there as an
institution. This is true, to the extent at least that it has never
been recognized as a legal institution, nor directed nor authorized by
order of any competent governmental authority. The same statements
cannot be truthfully made with reference to murder, as I shall
conclusively show by the records of the Insurgent government.
I wish at the outset to draw a sharp line between acts of barbarity or
ferocity, committed without authority by ignorant and irresponsible
Insurgent officers or soldiers during the heat of battle or as
the result of passions aroused by armed strife, and those which I
now discuss. The former must be regarded as breaches of military
discipline. Aguinaldo sought to protect his government from their
consequences by issuing endless orders in Spanish strictly forbidding
them.
His troops were ordered again and again to respect American prisoners
and treat them with humanity.
So far as concerns his own people, however, he displayed a very
different spirit from the outset.
As we have already noted there exists among the Insurgent records
a document written in Tagálog by him, and therefore obviously
not intended for the information of Americans, which contains the
following:--
"Any person who fights for his country has absolute power to kill
any one not friendly to our cause." [82]
Aguinaldo armed not only ignorant and irresponsible people, but
thieves, outlaws and murderers, and turned them loose on the common
people with blanket authority to kill whomsoever they would, and they
promptly proceeded to exercise it. "Dukut" [83] stretched out its
bloody hand even in Manila, under the very eye of American officers,
and as often as not struck down wholly innocent victims.
Aguinaldo was not alone in his views on the subject of murder. Felipe
Agoncillo, long secretary of the Hongkong junta, and official
representative of the Insurgent government in Europe and the United
States, wrote him on August 1, 1898, from Hongkong, suggesting that
he kill the Spanish prisoners "if the country requires" that this be
done, and adding, "if you deem it wise you should secretly issue an
order to kill the friars that they may capture." [84]
Obviously Aguinaldo did not deem it wise to order the murder of the
Spanish prisoners as a whole, nor that of the friars as a whole.
The following letter, marked "confidential," addressed to his cousin
Baldomero Aguinaldo, for a time the Insurgent secretary of war,
tells a significant tale of the course finally decided upon:--
"Filipino Republic,
"Office of the Military Governor,
"Malolos, February 17, 1899.
"Señor Secretary of War:--
"Referring to your note in regard to an unhealthy town or place
in the province of Nueva Ecija fit for the concentration there of
the friars; beside the town of Bongabong there is no good place
except the town of La Paz in the province of Tarlac, because,
according to my observation, even the persons born there are
attacked by malarial fever and ague and if they are strangers
very few will escape death.
"Your always faithful subordinate,
(Signed) "Isidoro Torres.
"17th February, 1899." [85]
Evidently General Torres' recommendation was favourably acted upon,
for among the papers of the Insurgent government is a memorandum,
[86] apparently in Aguinaldo's handwriting, stating that--
"there were 297 Spanish friars held prisoners in Luzón, and that
on February 17, 1899, those in Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, and Pampanga,
111 in all, had been ordered by him to be concentrated in La Paz"!
In many instances other prisoners were murdered outright. This hard
fate befell three Spaniards, of whom one was a friar, and two were
shipwrecked Englishmen, who were butchered in Zambales in December,
1899, upon the approach of the American troops, apparently by the
order of the governor, Vicente Camara. [87]
On February 15, 1900, an expedition under the immediate command of
Brigadier-General J. M. Bell sailed from Manila under the personal
supervision of Major-General Bates. This was composed of troops
detailed to take possession of North and South Camarines and Albay,
to which provinces Insurgent troops, having many Spanish prisoners
in their possession, had been forced to retire as a result of the
operations in Tayabas Province. In compliance with these instructions
the town of Daet was occupied after some resistance and the Insurgents
in that quarter were driven to the northeast, taking with them a number
of Spanish prisoners. A large proportion of these were murdered by
command of the officer in charge of the guerilla band guarding them,
probably because he was not able to force them to move as rapidly as
his own men.
On November 15, 1900, Simeon Villa, of evil fame, issued a
circular letter [88] to chiefs of guerillas in the Cagayan valley,
recommending that they all "learn the verb 'Dukutar' [89] so as to
put it into immediate effect," and adding "it is the most efficacious
specific against every kind of evil-doer, and most salutary for our
country." This, too, under the "Filipino Republic" before the outbreak
of war with the United States, and at a time when we are assured that
"profound peace and tranquillity" prevailed in this region.
This villanous order was approved and made general in its application
by Aguinaldo himself, on November 15, 1900. [90]
Aguinaldo's orders were not always couched in such general terms
as the one above quoted. Among the most interesting of the captured
Insurgent documents is the following:--
"Our Honourable President: We, the signers, who subscribe the
declaration appended; by these presents protest against the
American proclamation; we recognize no authority but that of
God and the Revolutionary Government, and we offer our lives and
property for the independence of our country.
"Manila, San Miguel, January 12, 1899.
"Feliciano Cruz
"Severino Quitiongco."
(25 signatures follow.)
(On the back is written in the handwriting of E. Aguinaldo):
"Leberino Kitionko:
"Feliciano de la Cruz: Commissioned to kill General Otis." [91]
The difference in the spelling of the name Severino Quitiongco is
doubtless due to the fact that Aguinaldo wrote it down as it sounded
to him.
When the Insurgent government began to be pinched for funds, failure
to pay taxes became, in many cases, sufficient ground for murdering
the delinquent.
The method of procedure is set forth in the testimony of a tax
collector, published in General Orders, No. 259, 1901, Division of
the Philippines:--
"I carried a letter of authorization to act as special agent,
which means authority to commit murder. Each time a murder was
ordered a letter was sent to one of four men (named above) by one
of the chiefs (naming them). Afterward the letter was taken up and
burned. If a man did not pay his contributions to the insurgent
collector he was ordered to be killed."
The chief cause for murder was friendliness toward the Americans. As
time passed and the common people had an opportunity to contrast the
brutality of their own soldiers with the kindly treatment usually
accorded them by the American troops, they welcomed the latter. Weary
of danger to life and property, the better men in the towns became
very desirous to see the reëstablishment of local governments, and
ready to assist in the work. The answer of the Insurgent leaders took
the form of wholesale orders for the murder or assassination of all
persons friendly to the Americans. I shall cite enough such orders
to show that this policy was duly provided for throughout the length
and breadth of the Insurgent territory.
Many of the Visayans were friendly toward the Americans from the
outset. On March 24, 1900, "General in Chief" Maxilom, of Cebú, issued
an order providing for the execution, after a most summary trial,
of the presidentes of all towns which subscribed to and recognized
American sovereignty. This rule was to apply to Filipino citizens,
including even the wealthy, a most unusual arrangement! Failure to
be "subject to the will of the Honourable President Señor Emilio
Aguinaldo" spelled death. [92]
Outside the Cebú towns occupied by the Americans the guerillas
commanded by Maxilom were able to collect tribute by the employment of
such methods as were provided for on June 22, 1900, by Maxilom's order
fixing the duties of the magdudukuts, or secret avengers, who were
empowered to "execute without remorse all notorious traitors." [93]
This was, in practice, a general warrant to commit murder.
Pursuant to these instructions Pablo Mejia, a Filipino of high
character and conspicuous ability, was assassinated in a street of
Cebú in August, 1899. The Visayans had reason to be proud of him and
to execrate his assassins.
On January 31, 1900, Pio Claveria, delegate to the Military Government
of Iloílo province, Panay Island, wrote the presidente of Tigbauan,
that if it was true that he and various other residents of that
town had taken an oath recognizing American sovereignty and did not
retract it the town would be razed to the ground, and they would be
"deserving of the terrible penalties prescribed by the laws of the
revolution!" [94]
On April 3, 1900, General Leandro Fullón, who signed himself
"Political and Military Governor" of Antique, and was one of
Aguinaldo's emissaries, wrote a circular letter, to be sent "by
the fastest carriers from one town to the other," imposing sentence
of death and confiscation of property on people who had taken out
certificates of citizenship issued by the Americans, together with
annihilation of their towns. [95]
On July 11, 1900, Fullón issued a more sweeping order, containing
the following provisions:--
"1. Any meeting or assembly of a popular character, held at the
instance of the Officers of the United States, for the purpose
of recognizing the liberty and independence of the towns of this
province, is absolutely forbidden.
"2. The person arranging such meeting shall be shot at once
without trial or court martial, unless forced to do so by majeure.
"3. Any Filipino filling any office in the name of the United
States shall be considered a traitor to his country, and in
addition to the penalties imposed by the Penal Code of Spain,
provisionally in force, all his property shall be confiscated,
and if this should not be possible, the authorities of the
Philippine Republic shall endeavour to ..." (remainder of sentence
unintelligible). [96]
In Samar General Vicente Lucban ordered, on February 1, 1901, that
persons who collected food for the enemy be killed, as well as those
who "finding themselves in our camp pass to the enemy without previous
permission from this government." [97]
In Leyte, Honesto Ruiz warned all his "soldiers and bolo-men that
whenever a real Americanista, like the police and volunteers, is caught
he will be killed." On August 11, 1900, he reported to General Moxica
that "the result is that every day they are killing traitors to our
country." [98]
The following is a sample order for the assassination of an obnoxious
individual:--
"October 4, 1900.
"Confidential.
"To the Local Chiefs of Sogod, Kabalián, Anajauan, Hinundayan,
and Hinunangan (Leyte):
"Immediately upon the appearance in the town under your
jurisdiction of the traitor to the Mother Country, Severino
Komandao, you will secure his person and send him to these
headquarters under the proper guard; or if that person should
come into the town followed by an American force, you shall
try to have him killed by treachery (traidoramente), by 'Dukut'
(assassination), for this is what a Filipino deserves who does
not know how to respect his own land and proceeds to injure the
beautiful ideal that we have in view.
"Return the present communication, treating it as
confidential. Health and fraternity.
"Maninging, October 4, 1900.
"M. Pacheco,
"Military Commander."
"The Military Commander:
"The undersigned, Local Chief, notes the orders contained in the
present circular and will strictly comply therewith.
"Kabalián, October 6, 1900.
"B. Veloso,
"Local Chief." [99]
In Negros, the Tagálogs long failed to effect a lodgement. Ultimately,
however, they managed to stir up trouble, and to secure the help
of "Pope" Isio, a noted outlaw. On May 19, 1900, he suggested the
advisability of punishing "by decapitation all those who go with
the Americans" and ordered that "if it should appear that they are
real spies of the enemy they must be beheaded immediately without
any pretext whatsoever against it." To be considered a "real spy,"
it was necessary only to be seen talking to Americans.
The letter from which I quote was addressed to Señor Rufo Oyos,
General of Operations. [100]
Evidently he obeyed orders, for he was still alive in November, 1901,
at which time "Papa" Isio wrote him again, directing that there be
an uprising of all the towns on December 20.
Towns which did not rise on the appointed day were to be "reduced to
ashes and all their inhabitants killed, men, women, children and old
people." Any presidente who had not collected the taxes of his town
before the arrival of Isio was to be "hung without any hesitation
whatever." [101]
Obviously Isio's order was not without effect, for we learn that
sometime during August, 1900, a man had just left the camp "with the
head of the infamous Juan Carballo to hang it in a public place with
a label saying 'Juan Carballo, a man pernicious to the revolution. May
he rest in peace.'" [102]
Isio's agents collected blackmail according to a regular tariff,
based roughly on the value of estates, threatening that those who
did not pay up would be regarded as spies of the heretics. [103]
And now let us briefly review conditions in Luzón. Here many of
the common people were at first hostile to the Americans, but flesh
and blood could not endue what they had to suffer at the hands of
vicious Insurgent officers and ignorant soldiers, and ultimately,
having learned by experience that Americans were not the incarnate
fiends which they had been led to expect to find them, they began to
turn to them for help. And the answer of the Insurgent leaders was
everywhere the same,--death. On March 20, 1900, Tinio ordered the
killing of all officials who did not report to the nearest guerilla
commander the movements and plans of the American troops. [104]
It has been claimed that there was no opposition to the Katipúnan
Society, and that the Filipinos everywhere joined it gladly. This
was not the case. At different times there were a number of similar
organizations opposed to it, and most important of these was the
"Guards of Honour." [105] Its members were ruthlessly murdered. On
April 18, 1900, a guerilla chief in Union Province found it necessary
to order that all towns in which members of the "Guards of Honour"
lived should be burned with the property of the members of that
association; that their fathers, mothers, wives and sons should be
beheaded, while the men themselves should receive that punishment
or be shot. All grown men in every town, and the Sandatahan, were
to proceed immediately to aid in the attack upon the Americans and
Guards of Honour under pain of being shot or beheaded. [106]
In July, 1900, General J. Alejandrino ordered:--
"1st. That the Commanders of Columns proclaim as traitors all those
in their respective Zones who in obedience to personal interests or
from weakness under pressure of the enemy, accept civil positions
and they shall be treated as such when they fall into our hands.
"2nd. The commanding officers of columns will concentrate their
forces so as to fall upon the towns where exist individuals who
favour the formation of such unpopular and despotic Governments
and will use every means to arrest the said traitors." [107]
Nowhere is the policy which was being carried out set forth with more
brutal frankness than in the following letter:--
"August 3, 1900.
"This letter is folded in envelope shape and addressed: Sr. Teodoro
Sandico, Colonel, 1st Military Chief of Staff in Santo Domingo.
"My Respected Chief and Dear Brother: I have received your
respected order, regarding the organization of the Committee in
the towns of Zaragosa, Aliaga, and Licab; (Nueva Ecija) from the
movements and actions of these towns, I don't believe it possible
to organize immediately. Before we can, it will be necessary
that four or five lives be taken in each town. I believe that
what ought to be done to those towns is to make a new conquest of
them, especially the town of San Juan de Guimba; it is difficult
there to set straight the Tagálogs and Ilocanos of importance,
as they are badly inclined and they care to do nothing but pervert
our soldiers.
"This is what I am able to inform you, in fulfilment of the
respected order of the Chief.
"God guard you many years.
"San Cristobal, August 3, 1900.
(Signed) "C. Gonzales." [108]
The organization of municipal governments by the Philippine Commission,
in towns north of Manila, especially aroused the ire of Insurgent
leaders, one of whom issued an order declaring traitors all persons
who accepted municipal office under the Americans. [109]
In October, 1900, we find General Vito Belarmino ordering that
Filipinos in Ambos Camarines who accept office under Americans "be
treated as traitors," and that "commanders of columns and detachments
will cause their forces to fall on those pueblos in which there are
individuals who are in favour of the organization of such unpopular
and therefore despotic governments." [110] One Tuason, an American
adherent, is notified that he and two other persons, who are named,
will be shot and their bodies hung on the cathedral tower as a lesson
to the inhabitants. [111]
In La Laguna province Cailles, who was now in command there, found
himself compelled not only to fight the Americans in the field,
but to combat their growing popularity in the towns, and he promptly
inaugurated a reign of terror, ordering the death of any person whom
he considered an undesirable. His victims were shot, bayoneted or
boloed. If they took refuge within the American lines, they were
followed and assassinated. In his book of letters sent, [112] there
appear the names of thirty-one men whom he ordered killed between
August 20, 1900, and April, 1901. Some of these men were described as
highwaymen or assassins, and probably deserved their fate, but others
were classed as "spies" or "traitors," and certainly did not, unless in
this country where it is claimed that Aguinaldo had his people a unit
at his back it was an offence worthy of death to prefer peace and order
under American rule to conditions such as Insurgent rule fostered.
Cailles did not hesitate to report the results of his orders for the
assassination of individuals, giving full and grewsome details. The
following is a sample circular letter on this subject, sent out
by him:--
"To the local Chiefs and Commanders of Columns, of the province:--
"On this date I have received a communication from the Presidente
of Santa Cruz which is as follows:--
"Sr. General: ... I am pleased, much pleased my General, to inform
you with much satisfaction of the end in this world of the villain,
of the great traitor, Salvador Reyes, in the following manner:--
"This morning at 8 o'clock, according to the reports of Srs. Lázaro
Alfonzo and Modesto de los Reyes, who would gladly give their lives
for our honour and glory, your coachman told them that the traitor
was proceeding to the northern part of the town. They followed
him and upon coming to the front of the house and shop of Cabezang
Jacinto Talcon, the aforementioned Sr. Modesto attacked him with
a bolo like a tiger, with all the strength of his body and soul,
hitting by chance his left jaw, when the other, that is to say,
Sr. Lázaro Alfonso, followed the first, catching the traitor by
the throat with his right hand and with the other fired three
pistol shots at him, one of which missed and the other two took
effect in the traitor's shoulder, from the effects of which he
fell like a stone upon his face.
"Lastly, Sr. Modesto stabbed him with a bolo, and upon seeing that
he was dead, took away his revolver, and carrying the traitor by
his belt to Calle de Maria Christina, threw the body down. This was
done in plain daylight and in plain view of everybody...." [113]
"On January 6, 1901, 'the lieutenant-general of the Philippine
Islands' ordered that all persons who disobeyed the orders of
the Katipúnan were to be tried and sentenced. A member of the
organization who found that any person was contemplating taking
action opposed to the purposes of that venerable society was
authorized to kidnap him, and when the Katipúnan laid hold upon
a man he was henceforth seen no more among the living." [114]
The organization of the Federal Party caused an outburst of fury among
the Insurgent leaders beside which that aroused by the organization
of municipal governments was mild.
Throughout the islands the murdering of officers, members and agents
of this party was ordered, and even those who sympathized with its
ends were to be shot.
The following is a sample of the orders sentencing to death the
adherents of this truly patriotic organization:--
"March 22, 1901.
"Señor Emilio Zurbano y Kajigal,
"Lieutenant Colonel and Military Governor of the Province of
Tayabas.
"2nd. In view of the preceding section, the Local Presidentes
and Commanders of the columns of this province, will carefully
watch their respective jurisdictions in order that not one agent
of the enemy nor of the Federal Party, may be secretly able to
obtain any signatures of the residents, they shall seize any one
who may do it and send him to me with all the possible safeguards
for the execution of what is ordered in the foregoing section.
"3rd. All persons who may show themselves to be inclined to the
Federal Party, will also be captured and shot on being arrested
prior to the proceedings and legal formalities, because being
inclined towards this party, is the same as declaring oneself a
traitor to the country.
"4th. The commander of a column or local presidente who shall
tolerate the existence of the Committees of the Federal Party
in his jurisdiction, being able to avoid it, will be tried and
in case he is found guilty, will be discharged from his duty and
will also be shot, as a traitor to his country.
"5th. The presidentes of the popular committees, will furnish
detailed information to the local presidentes and commanders of
columns of persons within the towns occupied by the enemies who
are engaged in the propagation of the Federal Party or in getting
adhesions in any way, either directly or indirectly, to the said
party, and the presidente of the popular committee who may fail
to accomplish so sacred a duty, will also be punished with the
penalty of death.
"6th. When any of the representatives of the federal party, or
any of its adherents cannot be captured on account of remaining
constantly with the enemy or being protected by him, the local
presidentes and commanders of the columns will procure by all
means the execution of the said representative or adherent within
the line of the enemy through persons of known decision and of
patriotism worthy of all commendation.
"7th. All the citizens living in the province of Tayabas who
may be representatives or adherents to the Federal Party, aside
from the criminal liability which he incurs personally, will be
deprived of the benefits of his property, which will be seized
by the Government, who will take charge of the profits of the same.
"8th & last. The Local Presidente of the pueblo in which exists any
Committee of the Federal Party and the Commander of the column to
whose protection the pueblo is entrusted on pain of incurring the
punishment detailed in section third of the present proclamation,
will proceed to the total destruction of the pueblo in which
there is a federalist committee, if, after having been ordered
to disband it, at the expiration of seven days the same continues
in its traitorous and criminal functions.
"Issued at the Military Government, March 22nd, 1901.
"Emilio Zurbano,
"Lieutenant Colonel, Military Governor." [115]
On March 3, 1899, Antonio Luna, general in chief of operations
about Manila, directed that all persons who either directly or
indirectly refused to aid the execution of his military plans were
to be immediately shot without trial. Nothing could have been more
sweeping than was his order, and the commanders of detachments of
insurgents found in it an authoritative statement that the lives and
property of the inhabitants of the Philippines were theirs to do with
as they chose. [116]
Mabini made this vicious and cruel order the subject of bitter protest,
writing to Aguinaldo, on March 6, 1899, a letter in which he says that
Luna has grossly exceeded his powers, and making the very pertinent
inquiry "if an educated man [117] can hardly understand his duties,
how will the uneducated one understand his?" He suggests that it
would be better to remove Luna. [118] It does not appear that this
order was ever modified.
I might furnish many similar data, but enough of orders. Any one
who is not convinced by these extracts from the official Insurgent
records that murder was a duly authorized governmental agency under
the Philippine "Republic" is not amenable to reason or influenced by
incontrovertible facts.
But were these brutal instructions carried out? They were,
indeed, with a ferocity and a cold-blooded barbarity which make one
shudder. Fortunate indeed was the man who was really shot, like the
presidente of Nagcarlan, [119] and it made no difference if innocent
bystanders were wounded or killed as well.
One of the common methods of procedure with victims of "dukut" was
to bury them alive. A number of individuals suffered this fate at
Taytay, near Manila. They were taken out at night, made to kneel
beside graves already dug, hit over the head with an iron bar and
knocked into their last resting places and the earth was shovelled
in on to them. They were confessed by a native priest, and people of
the town were required to stand by and see them meet their end.
An American lawyer who afterward defended some of their murderers
when the latter were apprehended and brought to trial, told me that
among other grewsome details furnished by his clients, who shamelessly
admitted to him their guilt, were the following:--
A victim who watched the murder of others, while awaiting his turn,
did not want to be struck on the head and begged that as a special
favor the blow from the iron bar be omitted in his case. His request
was granted, whereupon he climbed into his grave, lay down, covered his
face with his handkerchief, and directed his murderers to proceed. I
could cite numerous specific cases in which persons were buried alive,
and will do so if my word is called in question. [120] If not, enough
of this!
Burning alive was occasionally resorted to. [121] More frequently,
the victims had their eyes put out, their tongues cut out, and were
then turned loose to shift for themselves. Justice Johnson, [122] of
the Philippine Supreme Court, has described to me a case in which four
policemen of a town which had received him in a friendly manner, were
served in this way, and the procedure was a comparatively common one.
Taylor gives the following account of certain incidents which occurred
in Ilocos Sur:--
"On page 154 is a record of part of the murders of a body of men
in the town of Caoayan, Ilocos Sur Province, who, in July, 1900,
calling themselves 'Sandatahan,' appointed a chief executioner,
assistant executioners and a requisite number of grave-diggers,
and then, with set purpose, proceeded to assassinate all persons
who manifested reluctance to join them or to contribute to their
support or to the support of the insurgents in the hills whom
their leader claimed they were serving. They operated secretly at
night, the leaders usually selecting their victims one at a time;
and when they were secured they were conducted to a lonely beach
covered with tall grass where the grave-digger had already dug
the requisite number of graves and where the executioners were
already assembled. There in the presence of the assembled band,
men and women, bound and helpless, were placed upon the brinks of
their opened graves, their bodies were run through with swords and
bolos and then buried. The band then dispersed, each man going to
his own home. These operations were continued with industrious
persistency through two months or more until the lengthening
row of graves reached, in the language of one of the witnesses,
'about thirty, more or less.'" [123]
The Insurgent leaders themselves reported in a most businesslike manner
their orders for assassination and the results of their activities
in this direction.
The following are sample communications of this sort:
"Headquarters Camp No. 6.
"Tierra Libre (Free Soil), Saluyan (Laguna Province)
"November 18th, 1900.
"General Juan Cailles,
"Military Governor of La Laguna:
"In Nagcarlang it appears that there will be soon a spy, one Juan,
a native of Biñang, for he has already commenced to disobey the
committee, and so I with much prudence have ordered his eternal
rest. The inhabitants have left the town and no one will serve
either as barber or laundry-man to the Americans.
(Signed) "Julio Infante." [124]
"Proclamation of Lieutenant Colonel Emilio Zurbano,
"Military Governor of Tayabas, To His Fellow-citizens.
"Headquarters and Military Government,
"Tayabas, April 23, 1901.
"Fellow-citizens: The holiness, purity and elevation of purpose of
us who fight for our independence has caused the execution of five
of our fellow-citizens on the 18th instant at five o'clock in the
afternoon. They were shot on the plaza of the town of Sampaloc....
"Vivencio Villarosa, for assassination of eleven foreigners and
for disloyalty; Pedro Cordero, for disloyalty and spying; Remigío
Aviosa, for improper exercise of authority, for many assaults
and robbery in a band; Segundo Granada, for many assaults and
stealing many animals, and Rufino Sabala for being addicted to and
a disseminator of the doctrines of the Federal Party have fallen
on the plaza of Sampaloc at the very moment when the twilight of
the happy triumph of our ideal began to advance over the horizon
of our country until now hidden in clouds of blood. May they rest
in peace.
(Signed) "Emilio Zurbano." [125]
After reporting to his subordinates that the local chief of Bay had,
under his orders, arrested Honorato Quisumbing, an Americanista who
had never served as a spy, and that his captor had killed him when
he called to American troops who were near to help him, Cailles adds:
"His companion was likewise duly executed as a spy and guide for the
enemy. Let us offer up a prayer for their eternal rest." [126]
Blount has made the following statement:--
"I have heard, so far as I now recollect, of comparatively
few barbarities perpetrated by Filipinos on captured American
soldiers. Barbarities on their side seemed to have been reserved
for those of their own race whom they found disloyal to the cause
of their country." [127]
One may well doubt whether he himself wrote the book which goes
under his name, for in it he is made constantly to contradict
himself. Relative to this matter he has also said:--
"He [128] can never forget the magnificent dash back into the
wide, ugly, swollen stream, made by Captain Edward L. King of
General Lawton's staff, as he spurred his horse in, followed
by several troopers who had responded to his call for mounted
volunteers to accompany him in an effort to save the lives of the
men who went down. Their generous work proved futile. But it was
inspired partly by common dread of what they knew would happen to
any half-drowned soldier who might be washed ashore far away from
the column and captured. If an army was ever 'in enemy's country,'
it was then and there." [129]
As a matter of fact, not only did the Insurgents repeatedly torture
and murder American prisoners, but they poisoned soldiers. Lucban and
others directed that this should be done, described the procedure to
be followed, and furnished the poison. [130]
Directions for poisoning soldiers were included in a letter written on
August 21, 1900, to the Brigadier General Superior Military Commander
of the Province of Leyte as follows:--
"It would also be well, in my humble opinion, for you to find out
from the old men and quack doctors the kind of poison that can
be mixed in alcoholic drinks and in cocoanut wine (tuba), as our
enemies now drink these liquors; and after this poison has been
known and tried, let it be used in such a way as to undermine the
constitution of the man, until some day death occurs; for which
purpose you ought to have persons, wherever there are Americans,
to poison them. These things are now being done in Luzón, Cebu
and Panay.
"There is a tree here in the province whose leaves inflame the
body of a man considerably, once applied; for I have seen about
Manila the leaves converted into powder, rolled in pellets of
paper and shot in the faces of Americans. This causes the parts
to swell and become completely useless; and I believe it would be
well to do this within the towns, and especially to the drunkards
asleep along the roads and to the fellows making love." [131]
Various other orders for the poisoning of soldiers or the use of
poisoned arrows or spears were issued. [132] Furthermore, they were
faithfully carried out, [133] and the results were duly reported.
The murder of sentries and of soldiers who straggled was often ordered,
practised and reported. [134]
As damnable as any of these horrible documents was the order of
General Antonio Luna for the massacre of all Americans, foreigners and
"disloyal" Filipinos in Manila.
Blount has alleged that Taylor "obtained no evidence convincing to
him," relative to the authorship of this order [135] and that "a like
investigation by General MacArthur in 1901 had a like result." Whether
he is ignorant of the facts as to the authentication of the authorship
of this very important document, or chooses to ignore them, I do
not know. Taylor in the end conclusively settled the matter, and
so reported. Luna's order, [136] which was issued on February 7,
1899, provided for the massacre of all Americans and foreigners
in Manila. The lives of Filipinos only were to be respected. All
others, of whatsoever race, were to be given no quarter, but were to
be exterminated, "thus proving to foreign countries that America is
not capable of maintaining order or defending any of the interests
which she has undertaken to defend."
This effort to massacre all white persons in the city fell through,
partly because the plan leaked out, and partly because Cavite
Insurgent soldiers did not obey orders.
I consider it important that the authenticity of this
much-discussed order should be placed beyond reasonable doubt,
and so give Taylor's findings in full. He says:--
"A synopsis of this order was telegraphed to Washington by General
Otis on February 21st, 1899, as having been 'issued by an important
officer of the insurgent government at Malolos, February 15th,
1899, for execution during the evening and night in this city'
of Manila. Page 157, Senate Document 208, Fifty-sixth Congress,
First Session. On March 2, 1901, a Senate resolution called for all
information in the possession of the Secretary of War 'relating to,
or tending to show, the authenticity and genuineness of the alleged
order for the massacre of the foreign residents of Manila, P. I.,
on the evening and night of February 15, 1899;' and, further,
whether the original of that order was or ever had been in the
possession of the War Department, and whether it had ever been
seen by such a person. This order required a search in Manila,
which was made. As a result of this it was ascertained that
the synopsis which was telegraphed by General Otis was brought
to Maj. F. C. Bourns, [137] an officer of the provost marshal
general's office, by a rather prominent Filipino [138] who had
given a good deal of information which on the whole had proved
to be correct. He stated that the paper which he handed him was
a copy of the original which had just been sent to officers of
the bolo organization, the sandatahan, of Manila, but that he
had not time to copy the whole of it; yet as far as it went the
paper was an exact copy of the original order, which was signed
by Sandico. Major Bourns said that at the time the paper was
received there was no reason to doubt 'the man's statement that
it was an exact copy of the original order, for we knew that some
such order was under consideration, that this bolo organization
existed, and it was under the orders of Sandico, who, in turn,
was entirely under the influence of Luna. Since my return to the
Philippines, however, several little things have occurred which
have caused me to question whether or not the paper was an exact
copy of the original order. That in the main it was correct,
I do not doubt; but I am just a little inclined to think the man
may have "stretched" things a little.'
"The search was continued, and finally one of the original orders,
a translation of which immediately precedes this note, was produced
by Dr. Manuel Xeres y Burgos who was then a surgeon employed in
the Bilibid prison in Manila and who had been an officer in the
territorial militia of that city. Doctor Burgos wrote in July,
1901, to Colonel Crowder, military secretary to the Military
governor of the Philippines, that if he gave him all the details
in regard to the means he had employed in obtaining the document,
it would require many sheets of paper, and the story would seem
like a novel to those who only superficially knew the customs of
the Philippines. He said that 'a few days after the beginning
of hostilities we were given to read an order of a mysterious
character; we were not allowed to take a copy thereof or to keep it
in our possession, probably from fear of some treachery. However
the bearer told me that several copies had been made which were
to be sent to all the districts in which the "Filipino militia"
had been distributed. The chief of the latter were the men called
upon to execute said order. You know that, thank God, it was not
executed, not only through lack of arms, but also because most of
the chiefs who were in Manila felt a repugnance to execute such a
barbarous and foolish order, which, had it been attempted, would
have been the cause of the extermination of all the Filipinos
who were within the American lines as a just reprisal for such
an atrocious order.
"'Luckily, not only the savage measure prescribed was never carried
into execution, but it was impossible to attack the American army,
the men who had been detailed to do it in Manila having only a few
hundred bolos as arms, and the chiefs of the militia understood
that with such arms they could not think of resisting the rifles
and cannon of the Americans.
"'Up to the middle of April, 1899, several Filipinos who came
from the lines declared that General Luna had sentenced us to
death for having disobeyed that terrible order. We were 14 who
were considered as traitors to our country, and we were precisely
those who had worked for the release of the prisoners in whom we
had the greatest confidence, answering for them to the authorities
and exposing ourselves to get into trouble if they had broken
their word.
"'We had decided to collect all papers which referred to certain
facts, in order to show some day who were those who had lent
real services to the country, and we resolved to try and find
the document which was the principal cause of the danger which
had threatened us at that time.
"'We would have had the paper in our possession since August last
if it had not been for the terror inspired by the secret police
with its unjustified arrests, and our emissaries fled from Manila
and did not come back until after the end of the persecution.
"'On the 25th of February, 1901, our friend Benito Albey, who had
been lieutenant of the militia and had distinguished himself in
the war against Spain, began, on our advice, a new investigation,
which was crowned with success.
"'The document was found among the baggage left by Colonel Leyba
to Teodoro de los Santos at Malolos, and which the latter had
remitted to a certain Tolo Quesada at Alava, Pangasinán.
"'I am sincerely happy that said document, which is the clear
proof of General Luna's iniquitous methods, should have been
found so that it may serve as a voucher to the thoroughness of
General Otis' investigations; although I would have liked to keep
it among my papers, I have more satisfaction to be useful to the
American General, who has obtained the sympathy of the Filipinos
by his kind treatment.
"'And I hope, General Crowder, that you will say as much to
General Otis, as I wish him to know that there are Filipinos who
have kept a grateful recollection of him, and that all Filipinos
are not ungrateful.
"'Very respectfully,
"'Manuel Xeres Burgos.
"'General Crowder.'
"On June 30, 1901, the original of this order, signed by Luna and
produced by Burgos, was shown to Aguinaldo, who, after examining
it, stated that the signature was that of General Antonio Luna,
with which he was well acquainted. He furthermore stated that
he had no personal knowledge of such an order, and had hitherto
been unaware of its existence. He was then asked whether General
Luna's authority, as Director of War, was of sufficient scope to
authorize him to issue such an order without express authority
from the insurgent government. He declined to answer this question.
"A photographic reproduction of the original of the order of Luna,
dated February 7, 1899, a printed copy in Spanish, the translation
which preceded this note, and the correspondence upon which the
foregoing statement is based, is given beginning on page 1903,
Senate Document No. 331, part 2, Fifty-seventh Congress, First
Session, 'Hearings before the Committee on the Philippines of
the United States Senate.'
"There does not seem to me to be the slightest reason for doubting
the authenticity of this order. It was an atrocious one, but that
argument is not sufficient to prove that the order delivered up
by Dr. Burgos was a forgery in whole or in part.
"The facts of the case seem to me to be the following: In
January, 1899, Doctor Burgos was employed in Bilibid prison by the
Americans, and as an officer of Sandatahan was deep in the plotting
for a general massacre of the foreigners in Manila. Sometime that
month he wrote to Aguinaldo that the uprising in Manila should
begin in Bilibid prison, and that the Sandatahan should be posted
on San Pedro street and the adjacent thoroughfares in preparation
for an attack upon the Zorilla theatre, where the Pennsylvania
regiment was quartered across the way from the prison (Exhibit
349). His suggestion was adopted as part of the plan for the
uprising. Burgos, like the majority of the Filipinos in Manila,
believed that Aguinaldo would win, and was doing what he could
to aid his cause, but without giving up his position under the
American government. The plan embodied in Luna's order was to be
carried out as part of the attack upon Manila; but that attack
was delivered prematurely, and it was found impossible to carry
out the uprising in Manila which was to have preceded the attack
upon the American lines. After February 5, 1899, the majority
of the Filipinos in Manila ceased to believe that Aguinaldo was
going to beat the Americans, and Burgos, who was known to have
taken part in the movement in Manila headed by Sandico, found it
expedient to ward off any investigation of his conduct by giving
information. He wanted to stay out of prison, and he wanted to
remain surgeon of Bilibid prison. He was well aware that Sandico
was known by the Americans to have organized bodies of sandatahan
in Manila, and he therefore delivered to the provost marshal
general a partial copy of Luna's order which, if it was not then
in his possession, he had seen; and he saw no reason for telling
more than seemed expedient for the attainment of his immediate
purpose, he said that it had been issued by Sandico, who he well
knew the Americans would believe was the man most likely to have
issued it. He naturally desired to avoid having to make too many
explanations. In 1901, Luna being dead, and Burgos being safe
from his vengeance, he found no great difficulty in delivering
up the original document, which was probably, as he said, in the
papers of Colonel Leyba, or Leiva, a native of Manila whose family
lived there and whose house had probably been a centre of insurgent
intrigue. In 1899 or 1900 Colonel Leyba, a trusted and confidential
aid of Aguinaldo, had been murdered by 'The Guards of Honour'
in Pangasinán Province, and Burgos seems to have had access to
his papers. This, at least to me, seems a plausible explanation
of the incomplete form in which this first order appeared, and
why it appeared at all. It is true that I have found no record of
it among the record-books kept at Malolos; but this order was not
of a character to be written out in full in any letter-sent book;
and, furthermore, the record-books of the government at Malolos
show that almost no records were kept there for a week after the
outbreak of hostilities. The clerks and officials were probably
busy in preparing to defend the place against an advance of the
Americans, whom they had hitherto looked upon with contempt.
"John R. Taylor." [139]
In reality there was nothing novel about the issuing of such an order
in the Philippines.
Alfonso Ocampo, who was to have led the attack in an attempt to
massacre all Spaniards in Cavite at the outbreak of the revolt of 1896,
testified as follows concerning the proposed movement:--
"It was to be carried out in conjunction with the towns of Imus
and others of the province; the people were to enter by the Porta
Vaga (the main gate of Cavite) and uniting into groups, were
to assault, kill and rob all the Spaniards. The deponent was in
charge of this affair. The jailer of the prison was to distribute
daggers among the prisoners and then release them. When the plot
was discovered, some of these arms had been distributed. The
object of the rebellion was to assassinate all the Spaniards,
then to rape the women, and cut their throats, as well as those
of their children, even the smallest." [140]
On June 26, 1896, there was issued an order for an uprising in Manila,
which contained the following provisions, among others:--
"Fourth. While the attack is being made on the Captain-General
and other Spanish authorities, the men who are loyal will attack
the convents and behead their infamous inhabitants. As for the
riches contained in said convents, they will be taken over by
the commissioners appointed by this G. R. Log. for the purpose,
and, none of our brothers will be permitted to take possession of
that which justly belongs to the treasury of the G. N. F. [Grand
Philippine Nation?--Tr.].
"Fifth. Those who violate the provisions of the preceding paragraph
will be considered malefactors, and will be subjected to exemplary
punishment by this G. R. Log. [Grand Regional Lodge?].
"Sixth. On the following day the brothers designated will bury the
bodies of all the hateful oppressors, in the field of Bagumbayan,
as well as those of their wives and children. Later a monument
commemorating the independence of the G. N. F. (Grand Philippine
Nation?) will be erected on that site.
"Seventh. The bodies of the friars will not be buried, but will
be burned in just payment for the crimes which during their lives
they committed against the noble Filipinos, for three centuries
of hateful domination." [141]
As much is said, in the very numerous orders for assassinations,
of trials by courts of most summary procedure, especial importance
attaches to Taylor's statement that there is an almost complete absence
of records of trials or legal proceedings among the two hundred and
fifty thousand documents on which his work was based. He says that
"there are probably less than twenty-five records of trials among
these papers, and not above one or two records of military courts of
summary procedure. Law was the will of the official who would force
obedience to his desire. If he wanted to kill he killed." [142]
General MacArthur is credited by Blount with the following statement:--
"The cohesion of Filipino society in behalf of insurgent
interests is most emphatically illustrated by the fact that
assassination, which was extensively employed, was generally
accepted as a legitimate expression of insurgent governmental
authority. The individuals marked for death would not appeal to
American protection, although condemned exclusively on account
of supposed pro-Americanism." [143]
As a matter of fact, plenty of people appealed to the Americans
for protection and got it. I have seen document after document each
recommending some individual to American officers everywhere as worthy
of protection, and as needing it on account of services rendered to
Americans. Relative to this matter, Taylor says:--
"Among the papers of the insurgents there are a few letters
to American officers asking for protection against the
insurgents. They represent a protest against conditions which
were rapidly becoming unbearable; but most of them must have
been sent without copies, for in case they fell into the hands
of the guerillas they would have served as death warrants for
the men who signed them. From early in 1900, they were much
more frequent all over the archipelago than the number which
have survived, either in the official records of the American
army in the Philippines, or among the papers of the insurgents,
would lead the investigator to believe. Those which were sent to
the commanders of American detachments were not kept as a rule,
for a small detachment has few records. As early as March, 1900,
the head of the town of Passi, Panay, asked American protection
against robbers and insurgents." [144]
General MacArthur had a fixed idea that all Filipinos were against us,
but he was wrong. [145]
In very many cases our efforts to furnish protection were necessarily
futile. It is easy enough to protect a town from an open attack. It
is often excessively difficult to protect an individual against an
assassin who proffers him one hand in assumed friendship and stabs
him with the other.
We shall never know how many men were murdered in accordance with
the orders which I have cited, and other similar ones.
On February 10, 1900, General P. García wrote to General Isidoro
Torres advising him to inform the inhabitants of Bulacan, among
whom it was understood that the Americans were about to establish
municipal governments, "of what occurred in the Island of Negros
where two hundred men have been shot and forty more have been cast
into the water for having accepted the American sovereignty, and
because they were suspected of not being adherents of the cause of
the independence of our country." [146]
In reviewing the sentence of the Taytay murderers, General Adna
R. Chaffee, who, as the ranking military officer in the Philippines,
was closely in touch with the situation, made the following
statement:--
"The number of peaceful men who have been murdered in these
islands at the instigation of the chiefs, while impracticable of
exact determination, is yet known to be so great that to recount
them would constitute one of the most horrible chapters in human
history. With respect to these chiefs, the commanding general
has, therefore, no other recourse than to invoke the unrelenting
execution of the law upon them and to appeal to the intelligent
and educated among the Filipino people to aid him by renewed
efforts to end a reign of terror of which their own people are
the helpless victims." [147]
Taylor has made the following summary of the facts:--
"The justice of the United States was slow in its course;
witnesses had to be examined, and before a notorious criminal
could be punished it had to be proved that he had committed some
particular crime. Unless the crime was proved to the satisfaction
of a military commission by witnesses, the greater part of whose
testimony had to be translated into English from some native
language by an interpreter, who was almost never an American,
the man whom a whole village knew to be an assassin would escape
punishment and would return to avenge himself upon those who
had denounced him. The justice of Aguinaldo was a different
matter. The Americans might hang for murder, but he would bury
alive for serving them. The Americans might send a man to prison
for burning a town, only to release him when an error was found in
the proceedings. There were no errors in the proceedings of the
guerillas. There was usually no summoning of witnesses, no slow
taking of testimony and no careful search for laches which would
invalidate the finding of the court and inure to the benefit of
the accused. It was sufficient for some native to be denounced
as in the employment of the Americans, or as an agent, or as a
civil officer under the United States, for a summons to be issued
for his appearance before a court of summary procedure, which
was a court in name only; or for a mandate to be sent ordering
that 'the serviceable method of dukut was to be employed in his
case.' That meant that he was kidnapped and murdered, usually
after a priest had received his confession; or that he was sent
back to the town hamstrung and with his tongue out, as a warning
to the people that the justice of Aguinaldo was sharp and that
his arm was long." [148]
The blood of these men cries out against those who would deceive the
American people into believing that the Filipinos were ever united in
loyalty toward the Filipino Republic or the leaders who made murder
a governmental agency in the Philippine Islands.
Most of the men who wrote the orders and perpetrated the acts which
I have cited are alive and active to-day. Were independence granted,
they would rule again the country that they ruled before. Is there any
reason for believing that their warped intelligences have straightened,
or their hard hearts softened? Would the United States care to assume
responsibility for any government which they could set up or would
maintain?