THE PHILIPPINE LEGISLATURE
From September 1, 1900, to October 16, 1907, the Philippine Commission
was the sole legislative body. The Act of Congress of July 1,
1902, temporarily providing for the administration of the affairs
of civil government in the Philippine Islands, had provided for the
taking of a census after the insurrection should have ceased and a
condition of general and complete peace should have been certified to
by the commission. It had provided further that two years after the
publication of the census, if such condition of peace had continued in
the territory not inhabited by Moros or other non-Christian tribes,
and was certified to the President by the commission, the President
should direct the commission to call, and the commission should call,
a general election for the choice of delegates to a popular assembly
to be known as the Philippine Assembly, and that after said assembly
should convene and organize all the legislative power theretofore
conferred on the commission in all that part of the islands not
inhabited by Moros or other non-Christian tribes should be vested
in a legislature consisting of two houses, the Philippine Commission
and the Philippine Assembly.
The first of the certificates required of the commission was issued
on September 8, 1902. President Roosevelt on September 23, 1902,
issued an order for the taking of the census.
On March 28, 1905, Governor-General Wright proclaimed the publication
of the census. On March 28, 1907, the commission issued the second
of the certificates required of it. [149]
The following day a cablegram was received from the President directing
the commission to call a general election for the choice of delegates,
and on March 30, 1907, the commission adopted the necessary resolution
calling such election to be held on July 30, 1907, in accordance with
an election law previously passed on January 9 of the same year. This
law provided for eighty-one delegates proportioned among thirty-five
provinces according to population, except that each province entitled
to representation was allotted at least one delegate, no matter how
few people it might have. Cebú, the most populous of all, was given
seven. The Mountain Province, the Moro Province, Nueva Vizcaya and
Agusan were left without representation because of the predominance of
Moros or other non-Christians among their people. On April 1, 1907,
the governor-general issued a proclamation embodying the resolution
of the commission.
The election was duly held, and on October 16, 1907, the first session
of the Philippine Legislature was opened, under authority of the
President, by Mr. Taft, then secretary of war, who had returned to
the Islands for this and other purposes.
The action of the commission in issuing its second certificate has
been criticized on account of conditions which arose subsequent to
the publication of the census, in Cavite, La Laguna and Samar. These
conditions were referred to in the commission resolution. There was no
desire to conceal or misrepresent them. As we have already seen, the
trouble in Samar was stirred up by abuses among the hill people. It
has been claimed that they were not members of any non-Christian
tribe. There are a limited number of genuine wild people in Samar,
but the great majority of the so-called pulájanes were in reality
remontados [150] or the descendants of remontados.
In La Laguna and Cavite disorder caused by wandering ladrone bands
at one time had become so serious that it was deemed advisable
temporarily to suspend the writ of habeaus corpus and to authorize the
reconcentration of the law-abiding inhabitants of certain regions to
the end that they might be adequately protected and to make it easier
to distinguish between good citizens, and thieves and murderers.
Whether these occurrences were or were not to be considered as of such
a nature as to render it impossible to certify that a condition of
"general and complete peace, with recognition of the authority of the
United States" had continued to exist in the Philippine territory not
occupied by Moros or other non-Christians, was a matter of judgment,
and the commission exercised the best judgment it possessed.
During the Spanish days ladronism had always been rampant, affecting
every province in the islands and being especially bad in the
immediate vicinity of Manila. When we issued our certificate we had
little hope of promptly ridding the archipelago of ladrones, as has
since been done. On the contrary we expected that a certain amount
of ladronism would continue for many years. We did not think that it
should be considered public disorder within the meaning of the act of
Congress. Furthermore, we were all anxious to encourage the Filipinos
and to give them a chance to show what they could do. I for one hoped
that by this act of liberality we might win the good-will, and secure
the real coöperation, of many of the Filipino politicians. It is always
easy to look back and see one's mistakes. I now know that nothing could
have been more futile than the hope of gaining the good-will of the
men with whom we were dealing by any concessions whatsoever, yet the
attempt was worth making. It is the wild men in the hills and the good
old taos [151] in the lowland plains who appreciate and are grateful
for fair treatment when they realize that they are receiving it.
The politicians of the present day are a hungry lot. The more they
are fed, the more their appetites grow, and the wider their voracious
maws open. Most of them are without gratitude or appreciation, and
regard concessions as evidences of weakness on the part of those who
grant them. Philippine officials and lawmakers might as well make
up their minds to do what is right because it is right, and let it
go at that. By the same token they should refrain from doing what is
questionable in the hope that the good-will resulting will more than
counterbalance the possible evil effect of doubtful measures.
It cannot be denied that the issuance by the commission of its
certificate of March 30, 1907, was a somewhat doubtful measure,
involving a rather strained construction of the words "general and
complete peace, with recognition of the authority of the United States"
in the Act of Congress of July 1, 1902. I am now firmly of the opinion
that in thus giving the Filipinos the benefit of the doubt we erred,
with the result that the Philippine Assembly came at least ten years
too soon. Its creation in 1907 has resulted in imposing a heavy
financial burden on the country for which there has been no adequate
compensating return.
In the Philippine Legislature neither house enjoys any special
privileges, and either may originate any bill which the legislature is
authorized to pass. The assembly has been characterized as "a harmless
little debating society" and the government of the Philippines has been
called "a toy government" because it was claimed that no real powers
were given to the lower house. The commission has exclusive power to
legislate for certain non-Christian territory. In all other legislative
matters the assembly and the commission have equal power. The passage
of legislation requires affirmative action by both houses, a condition
which is certainly sufficiently common in legislative bodies composed
of two houses, and one that does not ordinarily evoke criticism.
Of late the assembly has claimed for itself the exclusive right to
initiate appropriation bills, but there is not a vestige of legal
authority for such a claim, and even the so-called "Jones Bill" does
not confer such right on the lower house. It shares, with the upper
house, one power of deadly effectiveness. It can prevent legislation
on any subject whatsoever. It has not hesitated to employ this power,
when occasion arose, to obstruct the passage of many important and
desirable measures, either in the hope of being able in the end
to make a trade and thus securing the passage of acts of more than
doubtful utility, or because of a purpose to prevent the enactment
of laws dealing with the matters in question.
The most striking instance of the blocking of important legislation
by the assembly is afforded by its action in tabling four anti-slavery
acts passed by the commission at successive legislative sessions. This
matter has already been fully discussed. [152]
The history of the Cadastral Survey Act affords an example of the
holding up by the assembly of a measure of undoubted and undenied
utility in order to attempt to force the passage of positively
vicious acts.
The case of the would-be landowner who has occupied land for years
under such conditions that he could have completed an unperfected
title to it, and who finally desires for one reason or another to do
so, has been a rather hard one, as the cost of the necessary survey
is chargeable to him and when a survey party has to be sent a long
distance to measure a little tract of land the ratio of such cost
to the value of the land is often very high. Cost of surveys can be
materially reduced if all the privately owned land parcels in a given
area are surveyed consecutively, and this procedure has the further
great advantage of effectively delimitating the public domain in the
area in question.
In the interest of small property owners, advantage has been taken
of provisions of the Public Land Act which make it possible to
compel the survey of private lands under certain conditions in
cases of doubt as to ownership. As soon as the people concerned
could be made to understand our object in doing this they became
enthusiastic about it, but the legal procedure authorized was by
no means adequate or satisfactory, and there was great need of
the passage of a carefully drafted Cadastral Survey Act providing
the necessary legal machinery for accomplishing the desired end
with the least possible delay and at the lowest possible expense,
and providing further for the distribution of such expense between
the insular, provincial and municipal governments and the property
owners. All are interested parties, the insular government because
it learns what land in a given region belongs to the public domain;
the provincial and municipal governments because the collection of
taxes is facilitated, and accurate maps of towns and barrios are made.
Such an act was passed by the commission. It was clearly and
indisputably designed expressly for the benefit of poor Filipinos. No
legitimate objection could be made to it. The treatment accorded it by
the Philippine Assembly conclusively demonstrates the irresponsibility
of that body, and its unfitness to deal with great questions which
vitally affect the common people. Realizing that the commission, and
especially the governor-general, were earnestly desirous of securing
its passage, the assembly refused to pass it. It was duly reintroduced
at the next session of the legislature.
I was a member of the commission conference committee appointed
to meet a similar committee from the assembly and discuss it. The
assembly committee informed us at the outset that a sine qua non
for the discussion of the bill was that we should agree to an
amendment which would admit, without examination, to the work of
making public land surveys Filipino so-called surveyors, known to
be utterly incompetent, who could not make correct surveys under the
most favourable circumstances. But this was not all. It was generally
understood that an additional requirement was to be an amendment to
the Judiciary Act providing for a number of new judges. The commission
committee believed that they were unnecessary, and were asked for with
a view to making places for political appointees. Needless to say, the
Cadastral Survey Act failed in conference. In the session of 1912-1913
it finally passed, with practically all of these objectionable
features eliminated, but it is at present much less useful than it
might be for the reason that an act amending the Judiciary Act so as
to provide more judges in the Court of Land Registration, where they
are badly needed, instead of for courts of first instance, where no
such necessity exists, was killed in the assembly.
As it will take the Court of Land Registration something like three
years to finish hearing the cases already in hand, the preparation
of a large additional number for it, as a result of the application
of the Cadastral Act, will not materially help the present situation
unless the number of its judges is increased. There is reason to
fear that future attempts to bring this about will be met by demands
that there be more judges of first instance, and that they be given
jurisdiction in land cases, which should be decided by specially
trained and qualified men.
One who examined only the laws actually passed by the legislature
might gain the impression that the assembly had done good work. It
should be remembered that 312 acts passed by that body have been
disapproved by the commission. Had they become laws there would have
been a very different story to tell. One hundred and seven acts
passed by the commission have been disapproved by the assembly. A
careful study of these two groups of acts will be found worth while,
but in order to make the picture complete it should be supplemented
by detailed consideration of the amendments to assembly bills made
by the commission before they have been passed, which have sometimes
involved the striking out of everything after title, and the insertion
of practically new provisions. It should further be remembered
that many really good measures, which have apparently originated
as assembly bills, have been drafted by members of the commission,
or under their direction, and then first presented in the assembly
in order to facilitate their passage.
Had some one of the several gentlemen who have made brief visits to
the Philippines and then expressed their views as to the fitness of
the Filipinos for early independence devoted himself to the line of
study above outlined, he would have gained valuable information on
their present fitness to legislate, and we should perhaps now be
profiting by the practical results of an experiment already made,
instead of embarking on a new and dangerous one.
I cannot here do more than briefly call attention to the nature
of a few of the bills killed by the commission and the assembly
respectively. For convenience of reference, I refer to these bills
by session and number.
FIRST LEGISLATURE
Inaugural Session
Assembly Bill 117 was "An Act to extend the period within which
provincial boards organized under the Provincial Government Act may
remit the collection of the land tax in their respective provinces."
This was the first of a very long series of assembly measures designed
to abolish or reduce existing taxes, or indefinitely to postpone the
time for their collection. Provincial boards, with a majority of their
members elective, were very amenable to influence in the matter of
"postponing" the collection of the land tax.
The per capita rate of taxation is lower in the Philippines than in
any other civilized country. Money is badly needed for education,
health work and the improvement of means of communication, and all
of these measures were ill-advised.
First Session and Special Session of 1908
Assembly Bill 23 provided for the appointment of jurors in courts
of first instance and justice of the peace courts. Under it the
provincial boards were to select the eligibles from a list of names
submitted by the municipal councils of the provincial capitals. This
would in effect have put the administration of justice in the hands
of the political party in power.
Assembly Bill 104 was entitled "An Act amending Act numbered fifteen
hundred and thirty-seven of the Philippine Commission on horse-races
in the Philippine Islands."
Gambling is the besetting sin of the Filipinos, and in the city
of Manila gambling in connection with horse racing had grown to be
such a scandal that the commission had been compelled to take action
limiting the days on which it was permitted to legal holidays and
one Sunday per month. The evil had reached large dimensions. Several
race-tracks were maintained in one small city, and the money that
went through the totalizer, or gambling machine, had reached the
enormous sum of $3,500,000 per year. Even poorly paid clerks were
leaving their work to bet on the races, and then stealing in order to
recoup themselves for their losses. The morals of the community were
being rapidly undermined. The act passed by the commission interfered
with the business of conducting daily crooked races. It certainly
left plenty of opportunity to indulge in horse-racing as a legitimate
sport. The amendment proposed by the assembly permitted horse-racing
on all Sundays, on three days prior to Lent and on all legal holidays
except Memorial Day, Rizal Day and Thursday and Friday of Holy Week. If
passed it would have protected certain vicious interests and opened
the way to a prompt extension of the gambling business.
Assembly Bill 134 reduced the tax on distilled intoxicating liquors
one-fourth. The tax was already low. The rate proposed by the assembly
was a concession to the demand of powerful interests and its attitude
was worthy of severe condemnation.
Assembly Bill 136 abolished provincial boards of health, substituted
therefor district health officers and took important powers away from
the director of health and gave them to provincial boards. Substantial
progress had been made in improving provincial sanitary conditions
through provincial boards of health, under the control of the director
of health. As was to be anticipated in a country like the Philippines,
many necessary health measures were unpopular. This bill, vitally
affecting one of the most imperative needs of the islands, would if
concurred in by the commission have resulted in widespread disaster.
Assembly Bill 148 provided for the teaching of the local native
dialects in the public schools. This would have had the effect of doing
away with the teaching of English, or preventing its inauguration,
in many places; would have emphasized and perpetuated the different
native dialects; would have helped to keep the people speaking these
several dialects apart, and would thus seriously have hampered progress
toward national unity. One of the most important and useful things
that the American government is doing is to generalize the knowledge
of the English language, which not only gives the several peoples
of the archipelago a common means of communication, but opens up new
fields of knowledge to them and makes it easy for them to travel. Even
during the days of the Filipino "republic" Mabini advocated making
English the official language. [153]
Assembly Bill 197 abolished the Bureau of Civil Service and organized
in its stead a division attached to the Bureau of Audits. This bill,
ostensibly an economy measure, was designed to minimize the usefulness
of one of the most important bureaus of the government. In the early
days of the American régime Filipinos who had served the government
were often deeply offended that appointments were not given to members
of their families or to their near relatives, absolutely irrespective
of their fitness for office. Naturally they disapproved of the civil
service law when they found that it prevented such appointments.
Second Session
Assembly Bill 201 prohibited the employment of foreigners as engineers
or as assistant engineers on vessels in the Philippine Islands. There
were at this time an extremely limited number of Filipinos capable of
filling such positions, which were largely held by Spaniards and other
Europeans who had married native women and had lived in the islands
for years. This measure would have crippled shipping companies and
would have been a grave injustice to the men above referred to.
Assembly Bill 278, which heavily reduced taxes on distilled spirits and
cigarettes, was another attempt to make concessions to certain large
tobacco and liquor interests, which could perfectly well afford to
pay at the rates then prescribed. It would have decreased the annual
insular revenues about $1,000,000 at a time when it was anticipated
that free trade with the United States, resulting from the passage
of the Payne Bill, would greatly reduce customs duties. Such a loss
would seriously have crippled the administration of the islands.
Assembly Bill 352 exempted all uncultivated land, except land
in Manila, from the payment of the land tax for a period of five
years. The excuse given for its passage was the alleged lack of
draft animals. Its real purpose was to exempt valuable property
from taxation. It would have encouraged the continued holding of
great tracts of uncultivated land and was in the interest of large
landowners whose land taxes were likely to be burdensome if they did
not come to a reasonable agreement with their tenants and bring their
holdings under cultivation.
Assembly Bill 360, "specifying the responsibility in a publication
and amending certain sections of the existing libel law," would have
rendered that law abortive by making it possible for a newspaper to
employ as a "libel editor" some irresponsible person who would be
glad to go to jail upon occasion for a consideration.
The Philippines has a fairly good libel law and it was imperatively
needed, for in oriental countries especially, the tendency of a public
press which has been subjected to the strictest censorship is to run
to license when complete liberty suddenly comes.
Assembly Bill 370, creating the new province of Zamboanga, embodied
an attempt on the part of that body to legislate for territory
inhabited by Moros and other non-Christian tribes, over which it had
no jurisdiction. If passed, it would have led to bloodshed between
Moros and Filipinos.
Assembly Bill 433 was an act prohibiting the use of lumber imported
from foreign countries in the construction of public buildings. It
was not then possible to get enough native lumber to erect the public
buildings authorized and needed. The passage of this act under the
circumstances showed lack of business sense.
Assembly Bill 487 provided for compulsory school attendance. It was
so worded as to make it largely inoperative, and if operative it
would have been impracticable, as there were something like 1,200,000
children of school age in the islands and there were neither teachers
enough to instruct them, schoolhouses enough to hold them, nor
funds available with which to pay for new buildings and additional
teachers. Its passage showed lack of business sense.
Assembly Bill 547 amended the so-called "bandolerismo [154] act." Up to
the time of the American occupation brigandage had been a crying evil
throughout the islands. The amendment proposed would not only have
greatly weakened the act under which it had been very successfully
suppressed, but would have turned loose 1156 criminals, many of whom
were desperate and hardened, seriously disturbing the tranquillity of
the country and necessitating the early hunting down of many of them.
Assembly Bill 567 was "An Act empowering the Secretary of Commerce
and Police to make contracts with silk producers, insuring them the
purchase of their silk at a price not to exceed $9 per pound." The
Bureau of Science had conclusively demonstrated the possibility of
establishing a silk industry in the Philippines. This extraordinary
measure would have made it possible for an executive officer to provide
for the expenditure of all the revenues of the government in case of
a great development of the silk industry. Its passage showed lack of
business sense.
Assembly Bill 558 was "An Act to provide for a permanent annual
appropriation of $15,000 to reward the inventor of a steam plough or
any mechanical engineer who shall perfect a ploughing machine." It was
a foolish measure, as there were various successful steam ploughs and
other motor-drawn ploughs then in use, and there was no good reason for
offering a reward for the invention of a thing which already existed.
Assembly Bill 395 was a most extraordinary and dangerous measure. The
Spanish law fixed the age of consent of women at twenty-three, which
is about ten years after the time when young girls in the Philippines
begin to turn their thoughts toward marriage. Whenever a man had
sexual relations with a woman under twenty-three he was liable to
go to jail for rape unless pardoned by the parents, grandparents or
guardian. This provision of law was continually taken advantage of in
blackmailing persons. Suit would be brought and the necessary proof
provided. Pardon would be offered for a consideration. The crime
was known as a private crime, not a crime against the public. The
commission had amended the Penal Code, making it a public crime so
that once complaint was made no pardon on the part of the interested
persons could stop the proceedings. There had been a consequent
noticeable falling off in the number of cases brought for the purpose
of extorting money. Assembly Bill 395 was designed to change this state
of affairs and restore the old conditions. It was a vicious measure.
Special Session 1910
Assembly Bill 396 authorized the use of certain kinds of sledges on
improved roads, although it had been abundantly demonstrated that
they were veritable road destroyers. The commission had passed a law
prohibiting their use and the natives had been compelled to substitute
for them carts with wide-tired wheels that turned freely on their
axles, and improved the roads instead of ruining them. This bill was
an effort to authorize a return to the road-wrecking practices which
had previously prevailed.
Assembly Bill 481, "An Act prohibiting the admittance of women and of
minors under eighteen years of age into cock-pits established in the
Philippine Islands," was a measure encouraging vice, masquerading in
the guise of a reform. By inference it permitted the entrance of women
and minors more than 18 years of age to cock-pits for the purpose of
gambling, and it provided that women and minors could go as sightseers!
Assembly Bill 491 authorized certain classes of people to have firearms
irrespective of their individual characteristics. The presence of
firearms in the hands of irresponsible people had been a source of
great trouble and the granting of gun licenses was then restricted to
persons in whom the government had entire confidence. This had been
an important factor in suppressing brigandage and highway robbery,
and the proposed change in the law was highly undesirable.
Second Session
Assembly Bill 141, "An Act repealing the last paragraph of Act
Numbered 1979," took away from the governor-general authority to
approve suspension of the additional cedula tax for road purposes,
and gave it to provincial boards. The need of improved highways
was very great as the inadequate system which had existed under the
Spanish régime had gone to pieces during the war. A comprehensive
plan of highways for the islands had been worked out and was being
put into effect as rapidly as possible. This act would have allowed
provincial boards to determine whether funds should be collected for
road construction and maintenance, thus bringing this fundamentally
important question into the domain of local politics.
Assembly Bill 168 provided that "the Spanish language shall continue
to be the official language of the courts until such time as the
Philippine Legislature shall provide otherwise."
The reasons why the generalization of English was desirable in the
Philippines have already been stated. Under then-existing provisions
of law it was to become the official language of the courts in
1913. Assembly Bill 168 would have had the effect of leaving Spanish
the official court language for an indefinite time, thus discouraging
the use of English and discriminating against young lawyers who had
made every effort to obtain a good knowledge of it because of its
supposed certainty of usefulness to them.
A novel and objectionable feature of Assembly Bill 947, which
appropriated $375,000 for the construction of roads and bridges,
was that it made executive action of the secretary of commerce and
police subject to the approval of a committee of the legislature.
First and Special Sessions of 1913
Assembly Bill 91 was "An Act prohibiting the exhibition of inhabitants
of the non-Christian tribes, and establishing penalties for its
violation."
This act grew out of the desire of the assembly to conceal the fact
of the existence of wild peoples in the Philippines. It prohibited
the publication of indecent photographs of non-Christians, and the
appearance at any fair or carnival of a member of a non-Christian
tribe clothed in such a manner as to offend against public morals. The
commission committee which had this Act under advisement stated,
as a part of their report on it, that:--
"It is obvious that no indecent or immoral picture should be
published, irrespective of whether the person or persons depicted
are Christian or non-Christian. It is equally evident that no
person should be allowed to appear at any exposition, fair or
carnival in a costume which offends against morality, whatever
may be his religious beliefs or his tribal relationships. Your
committee is of the opinion that there now exists on the statute
books adequate legislation properly penalizing the one offense
and the other."
This act also attempted to limit the right of non-Christians to enter
into contracts.
Assembly Bill 130, "An Act declaring invalid the confession or
declaration of a defendant against himself, when made under certain
circumstances," provided that courts should not give any value to a
confession or declaration, oral or written, of any defendant against
himself made before the agents of the constabulary, municipal police,
judicial or executive officers, or before any other person not vested
with authority, during his preventive detention, or while in their
custody, unless ratified by the defendant himself in proper style
before a competent court.
Only persons familiar with the extreme timidity of many Filipino
witnesses, and with the frequency with which they deny in court true
statements previously made by them, can appreciate the dangerous
character of this measure.
Assembly Bill 170, "An Act obliging manufacturing, industrial,
agricultural, and commercial enterprises in the Philippine Islands
to provide themselves with a duly qualified physician and a medicine
chest for urgent cases of accident and disease among their laborers,
and for other purposes," would have had the effect of forcing the
employment of a large number of incompetent Filipino physicians for
the reason that no one else would have been available to fill many
of the positions in question.
Assembly Bill 172, "An Act protecting the plantation of the cocoanut
tree," prohibited the damaging, destroying, uprooting or killing of
any cocoanut plant or plants without the owner's consent. There was
then going on a large amount of highway construction and widening. This
bill would have strengthened the position of certain persons disposed
to ask exorbitant prices for land needed for rights of way. At about
this time the Manila Railroad Company was compelled to pay a large
sum for orange trees on a piece of land through which its road was
to pass. On investigation the orange trees proved to be cuttings
from branches, or young seedlings, recently stuck into the ground,
many of them being already dead.
Assembly Bill 250 would if passed have had the effect of depriving
agents of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of the power
to make arrests, and of compelling the payment of all fines imposed
and collected through the efforts of the society into the insular
treasury, so that the society would have been dependent upon direct
appropriations for funds with which to prosecute its work. For three
successive years there had been no appropriation bill. The Filipinos
have little sympathy with the work of this society, and this was a
scheme to kill it. Under the existing law one-half of the fines in
question go to it for use in promoting its objects.
Assembly Bill 251, "An Act to create rural guards in all the
municipalities organized under Act No. 82, and for other purposes,"
would seriously have interfered with the maintenance of a proper
state of public order. The duties which it proposed to vest in rural
guards are now performed most satisfactorily by the Philippine
Constabulary. The effect of the bill would have been to restrict
the administrative authority of the director of constabulary over
the movements of his force, and to interfere with the administrative
authority of municipal presidents to utilize their police as in their
judgment the public interests require.
Assembly Bill 262 contained the following:--
"Provided: That the Director of Agriculture or his agents shall not
adopt quarantine measures in provinces organized under Act No. 83
without previous agreement with the Provincial Boards concerned."
For many years no more serious problem has faced the insular
government than that of stamping out the contagious diseases which
were decimating the horses and cattle of the islands and threatening to
render agriculture almost impossible. The director of agriculture was
necessarily given wide authority in the matter of establishing proper
quarantines. This act would have taken necessary powers from him and
vested them in provincial boards. Quarantining was very unpopular with
the very people who were benefited most by it, hence the passage of
this act.
Assembly Bill 282 was designed to do away with the public improvement
tax in the provinces of Palawan, Mindoro and Batanes, and to substitute
therefor the so-called double cedula tax. This would have resulted
in decreasing by one-half the amount of money available for the
construction of public works in those provinces and increasing in
the same amount that available for paying salaries of officials
and employees.
Assembly Bill 312, amending "The Philippine Road Law" "so as to
punish the violent occupation of land on both sides of any public
highway, bridge, wharf, or trail at present occupied by other persons,
since prior to the passage of such Act," would have prevented the
recovery by the government of highway rights of way where they had
been encroached upon by abutting owners during the long period of
neglect of road maintenance attendant upon war.
Assembly Bill 319, entitled "An Act to prohibit, and punish judges
for the issuance of orders of arrest at hours of the night or on days
other than working days," was a most extraordinary measure, the object
and effect of which are apparent from merely reading its title. There
are 365 nights and 63 legal holidays in the year, so that the time
during which judges could issue orders of arrest without exposing
themselves to punishment would have been somewhat restricted.
Assembly Bill 324, entitled "An Act amending certain articles of
the Penal Code of the Philippine Islands," had for its object the
reduction of the age of consent of women to the crimes of abduction
and seduction.
Assembly Bill 348 provided for the formation of a "poor list," and
regulated "gratuitous medical attendance at public dispensaries and
hospitals in the city of Manila and the municipalities, or public
hospitals in the provinces."
One of the great things which the American government has done for
the Philippines is to bring medical and surgical service of a high
order within the reach of a very large number of poor persons. By
the proposed bill free service to Filipinos was limited to those
who declared themselves to be paupers. Many of the deserving poor
would have preferred to perish miserably rather than make such a
declaration. Most of the self-respecting poor of the islands are
not paupers. Free service could be rendered to foreigners only on
presentation of certificates of poverty from their consuls, usually
residing in Manila, which would have worked great hardship on such
persons living in remote parts of the islands and in need of immediate
attention. Charitable free service furnished by the government was
objected to by certain Filipino physicians, who hoped to get paid
for attending the persons thus relieved. The practical result of the
bill would have been to force the poor to depend on these people,
and to pay their charges, which are frequently very exorbitant.
COMMISSION BILLS DISAPPROVED BY THE ASSEMBLY
SECOND LEGISLATURE
Commission Bill 55, amending "The Philippine Administrative Act
by including vessels within the provisions of Sections 322 and
323 of said Act," was designed to make vessels responsible for the
transportation of contraband cargo, or for smuggling merchandise,
in the same degree that attached to vehicles for land transportation,
the attorney-general having held that the word "vehicle" used in the
existing law could not be construed to include vessels. This measure
was important in connection with the suppression of opium smuggling.
Commission Bill 59 amended an act providing for the punishment of
perjury "by changing the punishment for perjury and by punishing
persons who endeavour to procure or incite other persons to commit
perjury." Its object was to remedy a defect in existing law under
which there is no punishment provided for subornation of perjury in
official investigations.
Commission Bill 60, "An Act defining habitual criminals and providing
additional punishment for the same," had for its object the breaking
up of petty thieving, the records of the Bureau of Prisons showing
that one hundred twenty-nine persons had been convicted twice,
twenty a third time and one as high as thirty-two times. It would
unquestionably have been a very useful measure.
The Supreme Court of the United States had found that certain
punishments of the Spanish Penal Code, particularly with reference
to the falsification of public and private documents, were cruel
and unusual, and under its decisions a number of criminals, who
should have served moderate sentences, were turned loose because the
sentences actually imposed were admittedly too severe. The Penal Code
fixed the penalties in such cases and gave no option to the judge to
impose lesser ones. This decision of the Supreme Court of the United
States had the practical effect of making it impossible to penalize
certain crimes at all. Commission Bill 61 remedied this situation by
providing moderate penalties. The bill was asked for by the secretary
of finance and justice, who is a Filipino, and by the president of
the code committee, but the assembly would not pass it.
THIRD LEGISLATURE
First Session and Special Session
Commission Bill 59 provided "more severe punishment for illegal
importers and dealers in opium."
Great difficulty has been experienced in endeavouring to check the
use of opium in the islands.
Commission Bill 70 provided for gradually restricting cock-fighting
by decreasing from year to year the number of days on which it was
allowed. It imposed annual license fees of $5 on each fighting cock or
cock in training, prohibited persons under 18 years of age and women,
except tourists, from entering cock-pits, and forbade all games of
chance of any kind on the premises of a cock-pit.
This very cursory review of some of the acts which have failed of
passage will serve to show, in a general way, the attitudes of the
two houses toward a number of important questions.
Had the commission not prevented the passage of much dangerous and
vicious legislation approved by the assembly the public service would
have suffered seriously, and public order would have been endangered.
Heretofore the commission has prevented the enactment of really vicious
legislation. By giving the Filipinos a majority in this body a very
important safeguard has been removed.
Another serious result will follow. It was undoubtedly the will of
Congress, when its Act of July 1, 1902, was passed, that Americans
should control legislation for the Moros and other non-Christians;
hence the power to legislate for the territory which they inhabit was
reserved by Congress for the commission. Under the new arrangement
Filipinos will control in this matter also, and so the will of
Congress will be defeated, although the letter of the law is not
violated. The outlook for the backward peoples of the islands, under
these circumstances, cannot fail to arouse grave apprehension among
all who are genuinely interested in them.
The elections for delegates to the assembly have caused endless
trouble in many of the provinces. Neither the people at large nor
the candidates themselves have as yet learned cheerfully to accept
the will of the majority, and the number of protested election cases
is out of all proportion to the number of delegates.
In many towns, like Cuyo, these elections have given rise to serious
feuds which have brought their previously rapid social and material
progress to a standstill, divided families against each other,
and in general have produced very disastrous results. Many of the
best people of Cuyo are now begging to have the right to elect an
assemblyman taken from their province, on the ground that otherwise
there is no hope for the restoration of normal conditions.
The assembly is the judge of the qualifications of its members. It
has seen fit to admit a number of very disreputable characters. In
my opinion neither the character of its members nor that of the
legislation passed by it has justified its establishment, much less
the "Filipinization" of the commission.