PHILIPPINE LANDS
Especial interest attaches to the subject of Philippine lands for
three reasons: first, the very large majority of small landholders
in the islands have no titles; second, there are enormous areas of
unoccupied, unclaimed, uncultivated land which are doing no one
any good at present and ought to be brought under cultivation as
rapidly as possible; third, not only insular government officials,
but Mr. Root and Mr. Taft have been very unjustly attacked for the
land policy pursued in the Philippines.
As regards ownership, some 31,879 square miles may be considered to be
private land to which owners have obtained titles or could have done
so had they known how to assert their rights. Only about 8937 square
miles of this total amount are estimated to be under cultivation at
the present time.
Excepting only private lands and a few acres belonging to municipal
or provincial governments or to the insular government as the case
may be, the remaining land constitutes the public domain of the
Philippine Islands which is the property of the government of the
United States, but is administered by the insular government. It is
made up of forest land, mineral land, agricultural land, and foreshore
and land under water.
Fifty-four thousand square miles are estimated to be forest land. The
rest is now provisionally classified as agricultural land for the
reason that the mineral land and foreshore have never been segregated.
The condition in which private land titles were found at the time of
the American occupation was very distressing. It had been a difficult
matter to secure title under the Spanish régime and the very large
majority of the common people had accordingly put it off until a
mythical to-morrow which never came. Even those who had succeeded
in obtaining formal documents had in many instances lost them as a
result of the vicissitudes of war.
The Public Land Act of the Philippine Commission, passed under the
provisions of the Act of Congress of July 1, 1902, became effective
on July 26, 1904. It contained liberal provisions relative to Spanish
grants and unperfected titles.
Any citizen of the Philippine Islands or of the United States or of
any insular possession thereof over the age of twenty-one years or
the head of a family can obtain a forty-acre homestead by five years
of cultivation, two years of occupancy and the payment of $10.
The Public Land Act also provided for the issuance of a free patent
to a tract not exceeding forty acres in extent to any native of the
Philippine Islands then an occupant and cultivator of unreserved,
unappropriated, agricultural public land who had continuously occupied
and cultivated such land either by himself or through his ancestors
since August 1, 1898; or who prior to August 1, 1898, continuously
occupied and cultivated such land for three years immediately prior
to such date, and who had been continuously since July 4, 1902, until
the date of the taking effect of the Public Land Act, an occupier
and cultivator of such land.
Most liberal provision was thus made for the small landowner, or
would-be landowner, but neither Congress nor the commission reckoned
with the ignorance of the common people nor with the opposition to
the acquisition of land by poor Filipinos which developed on the part
of their richer and more intelligent fellow-countrymen. This latter
difficulty has proved to be a quite serious one. The cacique does not
wish his labourers to acquire land in their own right, for he knows
well enough that if they did so they would become self-supporting,
and it would cease to be possible for him to hold them as peons, as is
commonly done at present. Serious obstacles are therefore frequently
thrown in the way of poor people who desire to become owners of
land, and if this does not suffice, active opposition is often made
by municipal officers or other influential Filipinos, who claim as
their own private property land which poor men are trying to get. [158]
The Bureau of Lands now interests itself actively and directly in
protecting the public lands against such spurious claims, and thus
keeps large areas open to claim by the common people.
Absolute ignorance of the law was the commonest of all causes
of the failure of the poor to take advantage of its very liberal
provisions. Every known resource was exhausted in endeavouring to
enlighten them. Pamphlets informing them of their rights were published
in all important native dialects, and widely circulated. The schools
coöperated in this good work. Provincial and municipal officials
were instructed to inform the people of their rights, but in very
many cases these instructions were disregarded.
Because of the complete illiteracy of practically all of the members
of the non-Christian tribes in Benguet and Lepanto, I caused a survey
party to be sent out from the Bureau of Lands to inform them of their
rights and to assist them in making the necessary applications. It
was from this territory that proportionately the largest number of
applications were sent in.
The period within which applications might be made was extended from
January 1, 1907 to January 1, 1909, yet it is undoubtedly true that
when it finally expired the vast majority of those who might have
profited by the free patent privilege had failed to take advantage
of it because of ignorance that it existed.
With the rapid spread of the English language such a condition would
not now arise. At its last session the Philippine Legislature passed an
act to renew for a period of ten years the right to secure free patent,
but this act, like the one which it amends, is subject to the approval
of the President and of Congress. It is to be hoped that such approval
will be given. In my opinion every reason which made it advisable to
grant free patents in the first instance is still of full force.
The total number of homestead applications received since the
Public Land Act took effect is only 19,313, and of these it has
been necessary to reject 4811 because the provisions of law were not
complied with. Forty-eight patents have been issued, and there are
8225 approved applications, while 6219 not yet approved by the bureau
are pending.
The figures for free patents are as follows: Number of applications,
15,885; free patents issued, 722; cases still pending, 11,871;
rejected for cause, 3292.
One reason why so many of the free patent cases are still pending
is that there never has been, and is not now, a sufficient force of
surveyors to keep the work of the Bureau of Lands up to date, all
efforts to secure the necessary additions to this force having failed.
Under the Land Registration Act provision was made for the issuing
of so-called Torrens titles for which the government is virtually
responsible, once they are given out, so all that is now necessary
to make it possible rapidly and effectively to remedy the existing
situation is the appointment of a sufficient number of judges in the
Court of Land Registration.
Government lands of provinces or municipalities are chiefly those
needed and utilized as sites for public buildings, plazas and the
like. The insular government owns a similar class of lands, and has
certain lands in trust, such as the San Lazaro Estate, which was
set aside long ago as a source of income for the support of lepers,
but the so-called friar lands, which have a history of their own,
are its most important holdings.
Under the Spanish régime several of the religious orders acquired
large wealth in the form of estates, most of which were brought under
high cultivation, although several of the largest, like the San José
Estate in Mindoro, and the Isabela Estate in the province of the same
name, were nearly or quite uncultivated, and a number of the others
contained large uncultivated areas.
Field labour was performed exclusively by tenants who were settled
on the estates in large numbers and in a number of instances had
built up large and well-organized towns. For various reasons bitter
hostility arose between them and their landlords. In some parts
of the islands the friars were detested by the populace on general
principles. Furthermore, the Filipino becomes greatly attached to his
home, especially if his fathers have lived there before him. Tenants
on the friar estates could be, and not infrequently were, arbitrarily
dispossessed, and the possibility that this might occur was a thorn
in their flesh.
During the insurrection the confiscation of the friar estates was
very seriously considered by the so-called Insurgent government,
which nominally took over their administration. As a matter of fact,
there was then no real administration of them, and the occupied lands
passed under the control of the tenants, who remained in undisturbed
possession for years and came to consider themselves the virtual
owners of their holdings. We have already seen how hostility to the
friars reached its climax at this time. Some were killed outright,
and others imprisoned under such conditions as to make death probable,
but the majority of those captured were in effect held for a long
time for ransom, their liberty being offered on condition of a large
cash payment.
Upon the inauguration of civil government and the reëstablishment
of law and order the friars naturally endeavoured to reassert their
rights. With few exceptions their former tenants absolutely refused
to pay rent. The friars threatened action in the courts, and would
have been abundantly justified in bringing it, but such a course
would unquestionably have led to serious disturbances of public order.
Agitators and demagogues had succeeded in firmly convincing many
of the tenants that they were the actual owners of their lands, and
those of them who knew better were bright enough to take advantage
of the peculiar situation.
Hostility between Filipinos and friars had become so general that the
return of the latter to their parishes, accustomed as they had been to
the exercise of a large measure of control over their parishioners,
and with the memory of grave abuses recently suffered fresh in their
minds, was deemed to be undesirable, but their permanent withdrawal
from the provinces was hardly feasible so long as they continued to
hold very large estates there. It was believed to be in the public
interest to encourage the several tenants to buy their individual
holdings so that they might become responsible landowners rather than
remain discontented and ready at any time to become ladrones. It was
believed that without great difficulty they could be persuaded to
attorn to the government, and that if the estates could be purchased
at a reasonable price individual holdings could eventually be sold
to their occupants. Because of the beneficial influence of such a
course on public order and the probable resulting improvement in
social conditions, the purchase of these estates was believed to be
in the public interest.
Had there been sufficient funds in the treasury the insular government
would have been within its right in making this purchase, but as
the total sum involved was large, and a bond issue was required to
raise it, it became necessary to get the consent of Congress. This
was given in sections 63, 64 and 65 of the Act of July 1, 1902. Under
the authority thus conferred the commission passed the so-called Friar
Lands Act, which provided among other things for the temporary leasing
and ultimate sale of their holdings to tenants as well as for the
determination of values and the fixing of rentals and purchase prices.
Naturally the first thing to be done was to get tenants to acknowledge
the ownership of the government. Until this could be brought about
little could be accomplished toward assisting them to buy their
holdings. With all possible promptness temporary leases were issued
to them. No effort was made carefully to ascertain the real extent
or value of their holdings, and unless their statements were upon
their face obviously very gravely in error they were accepted as a
basis for the first leases issued. The amount of opposition which
was encountered was, under the circumstances, surprisingly small,
and the progress of the work was unexpectedly rapid.
Planimeter surveys were made as rapidly as possible, and it was
soon found, as had been anticipated, that tenants in general had
understated both the size and value of their holdings. While the
rate of rentals as compared with values remained unchanged, there
was a resulting general increase in their amounts, and this caused
murmuring, but no really serious trouble resulted. There followed as
rapidly as possible the completion of accurate surveys and the fixing
of final values which necessitated further changes in rentals. The
volume of work was simply enormous. Many of the estates were divided
into an incredible number of small holdings with boundaries of the
utmost irregularity. An effort was made to get the consent of the
tenants to a readjustment of boundaries on a rectangular system,
leaving the size of their holdings unchanged but straightening them
out. It had to be abandoned. A tenant would be unwilling to part with
a given clump of bamboo or a magnificent mango tree planted by his
great-great-grandfather. The fact that these valuable possessions
occupied salient angles in his boundary naturally did not worry him
at all.
The definite right to purchase their holdings was from the outset
conferred upon lessees so that from the time the first leases were
issued the only possible reasons for the failure of a tenant to
purchase his holdings would be unwillingness to do so or lack of funds.
In passing the Friar Lands Act, which they did during my absence
on leave, the commission, none of whose members were posted on land
matters, rather thoughtlessly made applicable to the sale of vacant
lands the conditions and limitations of the Public Land Act.
We had been compelled to purchase some vacant estates and to forego the
purchase of several which were thickly occupied, for the reason that
the friars insisted on selling the one and absolutely refused to sell
the other. We had to take the best bargain we could get. The vacant
lands on certain of the estates could not be sold in small tracts.
The Friar Lands Act was accordingly amended by the Philippine
Legislature, of which the Philippine Assembly was then the Lower
House, and all restrictions on the areas of those lands which might
be sold were removed, so as to make it possible to get rid of the
vacant friar lands.
Interest was piling up on the purchase price of the latter, and
obviously it was best for the government, which had to administer
them, and for the people, who had to pay the bill, that they should
be disposed of as soon as possible.
Ultimately an opportunity presented itself to sell the San José Estate
of some fifty-eight thousand acres in its entirety to an individual,
and it was thus sold after consultation with the attorney-general of
the Philippines and the attorney-general of the United States as to
the rights of the government in the premises, and with the approval
of the secretary of war and of President Taft first had. The buyer
acted as an agent for Messrs. Welch, Havemeyer and Senf, who were all
heavily interested in sugar growing and desired to establish a modern
sugar estate in the Philippines. This fact, when it became known,
was the beginning of trouble.
Two very distinct classes of men were interested in imposing the
existing legislative restrictions relative to the sale of Philippine
lands. The first were influenced by the most honourable of altruistic
motives. They feared the monopolization of agricultural lands and the
evils of absentee ownership. The other class were the representatives
of certain important sugar interests in the United States who wished to
keep out Philippine sugar at all hazards and had shrewdly figured out
that the simplest way to do this would be to prevent its production
on a commercial scale. They therefore sought to restrict the sale
of public land so as to make it impossible for an individual or an
association to buy enough to establish a modern sugar estate. This
they succeeded in doing. They even went further, and by limiting the
land which a corporation might own and control made it impossible
for a corporation to purchase enough land of any sort for such an
estate. But that is another story with which we are not here concerned.
They built a fence around Philippine lands which they deemed to be
"pig-tight, horse-high, and bull-strong," but we unwittingly cut a
small hole through it. The limitations on the sales of land did not
apply to land belonging to the insular government which had first
imposed certain restrictions on the size of the areas of vacant friar
land which might be sold and had then removed them, having the same
right to do the one thing that it exercised in doing the other.
The San José Estate was sold to an individual. By him it was sold
in part to other individuals who had the undoubted right to acquire
as much land as they could get, and in part to a corporation not
authorized to engage in agriculture which acquired only such land as
it needed to conduct its legitimate business and was therefore within
its legal right. The transaction was a perfectly legitimate one from
every view point. It spread consternation among the beet-sugar men,
and Congressman Martin of Colorado, a state which has extensive
beet-sugar interests, made upon the floor of the House a scurrilous
attack upon President Taft, Secretary Root and the insular government
officials concerned in which he accused them of violating the law and
of having formed a gigantic conspiracy with great corporate interests,
more especially with certain sugar interests, not only to deprive
the friar land tenants of their holdings but to prevent Filipinos in
general from acquiring land and to turn the Philippines over to the
trusts. Mr. Martin and his fellows insisted that section sixty-five
of the Act of July 1, 1902, in itself imposed the restrictions of
the Public Land Act on the sale of friar lands; that the commission
in imposing these limitations in the first instance had merely voiced
the will of Congress and that its act in subsequently withdrawing them
was illegal and iniquitous. They apparently lost sight of the fact
that if so, the iniquity was shared by the Philippine Assembly. Later
they endeavoured to explain the action of the assembly by saying that
it did not know what it was doing, and certain members of that body
made a similar claim, for political effect. As a matter of fact, I
myself explained to the members of the assembly friar lands committee
the purpose of the bill with which they were then in full accord.
I requested an investigation. One was authorized by the House. It was
made by the Committee on Insular Affairs. Its cost to the United States
was very large. The secretary of the interior, the executive secretary,
the attorney-general, the director of lands and other witnesses, were
called to Washington from the Philippines and taken away from their
work at a rather critical time. The result was a complete vindication
of the several persons who had been attacked. Congressman Martin
failed to make good his charges in any particular, and incidentally
members of the committee and such other persons as cared to follow
the proceedings were given a valuable demonstration of the manner in
which the insular government transacts its business.
There was, however, one unfortunate indirect effect. In view of
the difference of opinion among congressmen as to whether Congress
had or had not intended to make the limitations to the Public Land
Act relative to areas which could be sold applicable to friar lands
the secretary of war issued an executive order providing that their
sale should be subject to such limitations, pending an expression by
Congress of its will in the matter. Congress has never acted.
There are large tracts of vacant friar lands which cannot be sold for
years to come, if subject to existing restrictions, either because
they are situated in very sparsely inhabited regions where there
is no demand for them on the part of would-be small landowners,
or because the price as fixed by law is materially in excess of
that of equally good, adjacent, unoccupied public lands which can
be had subject to identical conditions as to areas purchasable. As
the Philippines are "land poor," the inadvisability of such a policy
would seem to be sufficiently evident. The argument against large
estates is without force, both because the amount of land concerned
is relatively insignificant, and because there are already in the
islands so many large estates, owned in many instances by Filipinos,
that the addition of a few new ones more or less would not perceptibly
change the existing situation.
The question might well be raised as to the authority of the secretary
of war to suspend by an executive order the operation of a law duly
enacted by the Philippine legislature pursuant to powers conferred by
Congress, especially as Congress has power, and has had opportunity,
to disapprove it. I think it possible that the director of lands could
be compelled by mandamus to sell vacant friar lands in any quantity
to an individual applicant.
The facts as regards forest lands are set forth in sufficient detail
in the chapter on the Philippine forests.
The existing legislation relative to mineral lands is defective,
or objectionable, in several minor particulars, but on the whole is
reasonably satisfactory except for the provision that a person may
locate but one claim on a given vein or lode. Such a provision would
have very greatly hampered the development of the mining industry in
the United States and it greatly hampers it in the Philippines.
Recommendations that Congress amend the law relative to mining
claims have been persistently made by the commission and have been
persistently ignored, probably for the reason that Congress is too
busy with other matters to give much attention to such requests from
the Philippines.
We now come to the subject of public agricultural lands. I have
already called attention to the fact that little advantage has been
taken of the liberal provision of the Public Land Act relative
to free patents and homesteads. There has been some agitation in
favour of a homestead of one hundred sixty acres instead of the
forty acres now allowed. Personally I do not attach great importance
to this matter. Five acres is as much as the average Filipino will
cultivate [159] and if he has forty there is abundant room for him so
to distribute his cultivated area as to let much of his land "rest,"
which he is very fond of doing. To increase the size of the homestead
would help a very limited number of Americans, but a better way of
accomplishing this would be to allow them to buy what they require,
within reasonable limits.
No one who has not travelled widely in the Philippines can be
adequately impressed with the insignificance of the areas now under
cultivation as compared with those which would richly repay it. The
country is failing to produce food enough for eight millions of people,
yet if advantage were taken of the opportunities which nature so
bountifully affords it could readily feed eighty millions.
Under such conditions the present restrictions on the sale of public
lands, which make it impossible for an individual to buy more than
forty acres, or for a corporation or association of individuals to
buy more than twenty-five hundred acres, are simply absurd. What we
want is not the indefinite preservation of our present vast trackless
wastes of the richest public agricultural land, but productive farms.
Every opportunity should be extended to each native of these islands
who desires to obtain land and cultivate it with his own hands.
The same statement holds for persons who wish to secure land and to
employ others as labourers. Large estates on which modern machinery
and modern agricultural methods are employed are greatly needed. The
methods employed by Filipino owners of such estates are primitive. The
natives believe what they see, and learn far better by example than in
any other way. Absolutely no harm has resulted from the establishment
of large sugar plantations on the San José Estate in Mindoro and the
Calamba Estate in Luzón. On the contrary, both of these great farms
have supplied abundant labour at increased wages to a very large number
of needy people; have taught labourers much about sanitary living,
and have given them very valuable object lessons in agriculture. Both
are frequently visited by intelligent agriculturists glad of the
opportunity to acquire the practical knowledge which can there be so
easily obtained by observation.
It may be a revolutionary statement to make, but if I personally
controlled the public lands of the Philippine Islands, I would
without hesitation give them to persons who would cultivate them,
making the amounts conceded dependent strictly upon the ability of
their would-be owners to cultivate, and restoring to the public domain
any lands not promptly and properly utilized.
The money which the government now derives from the sale of public
lands is a bagatelle compared with the benefit which would result to
the country if cultivated areas were widely extended, and there is
abundant labour here to extend them very rapidly. All that is needed
is the introduction of modern machinery, modern agricultural methods
and capital.
The existing provisions of the Public Land Act relative to leases are
very liberal, but the average man wants to own land before he spends
much money on it.
There are several serious omissions in the provisions of the act of
Congress relative to the sale of public lands. No authority exists
for their sale for residence purposes, business purposes, or cemetery
purposes, except within town sites. The need of land for cemetery
purposes became so acute that I deemed it wise to stretch the law a bit
in meeting it. Many of the old cemeteries were situated in the midst
of dense centres of population, or immediately adjacent to sources
of public water supply. Their areas were usually grossly inadequate
properly to accommodate the very large number of bodies requiring to
be buried. Shockingly unsanitary conditions resulted, and it became
necessary for the Bureau of Health to close many of them. Because of
the trouble between the Aglipayan and Catholic churches, it was often
impossible for representatives of the Catholic church to purchase
private lands for cemetery purposes. Their old cemeteries were
closed; yet they could not open new ones, although able and willing
to pay liberally for the necessary land. Under these circumstances I
ruled that public land could be sold to them, and that occupation by
caretakers, and such cultivation as is ordinarily given in beautifying
cemeteries, would be held to constitute occupation and cultivation
within the meaning of the law, so that title could eventually pass.
In closing let me emphasize the fact that the only method of informing
the common people of the Philippines relative to their rights in the
matter of acquiring public lands thus far found practicable has been
to send special land inspectors from house to house, to convey the
information by word of mouth. A considerable number of such inspectors
are now employed, and more are badly needed.
The total area of all public lands sold to Americans or foreigners
since the American occupation is seventeen thousand acres; that of
all public lands leased by such persons, seventeen thousand three
hundred ninety acres. This is the answer to those who claim that
there has been exploitation of the public domain.
The needs of the Philippine Islands in the matter of land legislation
may be briefly summarized as follows:--
More judges in the Court of Land Registration so that the cadastral
survey work may be expedited, and the poor man may be able to obtain
title to his holdings promptly and at small expense.
The employment of more surveyors on public land work.
A renewal of the privilege of obtaining free patents on the old
conditions during a period of at least ten years.
The employment of more public land inspectors to inform the poor and
ignorant of their rights, and to assist them in obtaining them.
More liberal legislation relative to the size of the tracts of public
land which may be purchased, and the number of mining claims on a
given vein or lode which an individual may record.
Authorization for the sale of public agricultural lands outside of town
sites for residence purposes, business purposes, and for cemeteries.