[Power of Propaganda to Misrepresent Conditions]
So powerful is propaganda in misrepresenting actual conditions that
the Philippines used to mean, and often still means, a mere fringe
of civilization, or something similar to it, where the Spaniards
had planted and the Americans had watered, but within all was still
savagery and primeval ways.
An exhibition of an Igorot village at the St. Louis World's Fair of
1904 probably spread in America more of the notion of the Philippines
as an untamed wilderness than tons of statistics could correct. These,
then, were the people America had undertaken to govern--wild, naked
creatures, beside whom the North American Indian was a gentleman and a
scholar! Indeed, a long time must elapse before you can reduce these to
suspenders and beefsteaks. A long time? Why, centuries and centuries!
[Non-Christian population]
Again, to the assiduous readers of press dispatches, the typical
Filipino has come to mean the fierce Mohammedan Moro; although, there
are in the Islands less than 400,000 Mohammedans of all kinds, whether
fierce or urbane. Still others have concluded that the wild-eyed nomad
of the mountains, the man with the bow and arrow, with no religion at
all, must be the determining factor of the situation because there are
so many of his kind; and yet the census reveals the total number of
persons in all the Islands that do not profess either Christianity,
Mohammedanism, or Buddhism as only 102,000.
[Literacy]
So, too, the ignorance of the Filipinos has always been believed to be
appalling and a bulwark of darkness not to be overcome in generations,
if ever; and yet the census reveals the percentage of literacy in the
entire Islands at 49.2 per cent. The percentage compares favorably
with the literacy of many of the small independent nations of the
world at present.
The facts are these, as regards the Filipinos even in Pre-Spanish days:
[Facts of Filipino Attainments in Pre-Spanish Days]
The Spaniards found that the inhabitants of the Islands built and
lived in planned houses, had a machinery of government of their own,
maintained a system of jurisprudence, in many cases dwelt in ordered
cities and towns and practised the arts familiar to the most advanced
peoples of their times.
Gunpowder they knew and used before 1300, when it had not yet
been introduced in Europe; and they made firearms that astonished
the Spaniards. At the siege of Manila, 1570, the natives defended
their city with cannon, and the conquerors found within the walls
the factory where these guns had been forged, as well equipped and
ordered as any abroad.
The Islanders were expert in other metal-working, skilful
ship-builders, able carpenters. Copper they had worked; but bronze,
of which their great guns were made, they imported from China. Some
of their art in silver-work excites admiration even now, for their
beautiful design and fine workmanship.
They wove cloths of cotton, hemp, and other fibers. They were, in fact,
inheritors of two great cultural infiltrations upon what original
culture the Malays had two thousand years before: on one side, was
the influence of the Hindus and on the other the civilization of the
Chinese, and to these had been added, years before the Spaniards came,
stray gleams of information transmitted roundabout from Europe.
[Religion, alphabet, and books]
All this is inconsistent with the fanciful theory of the head-hunter
and the wild man of the woods, but is nevertheless the incontestable
record. Heathen they were called, but they had a religion,
and a code of morals, not at all contemptible. They were natural
musicians, possessed a variety of musical instruments, and had native
orchestras. They were fond of poetry and and honored their poets. They
had also a written alphabet and they wrote books. Every settled
town had a temple and most temples had collections of books. They
were written in the native characters on palm leaves and bamboo,
and stored with the native priests. The subjects were historical and
legendary, folk-lore tales, statutes, deeds of heroism and poems. The
Spanish enthusiasts burned these books as anti-Christian and thereby
destroyed documents priceless to succeeding ages, the few that escaped
the flames testifying poignantly to the great loss. A small collection
of them was recently discovered in a cave in the Island of Negros and
ethnologists have hopes of others that may have escaped the sharp
eyes of the destructors. Professor Beyer, whose investigations of
early Filipino life and history have been so extensive, has come upon
other evidence of early Filipino letters, including an epic poem of
considerable length; but this exists now only in the memories of the
reciters. The four-thousand-odd lines of it that Professor Beyer has
translated show a rare gift of versification and imagery.
Of the written alphabets in use before the coming of the Spaniards,
fourteen were of Malay origin, one was Arabic, and one Hebrew. Of
the Malayan alphabets many were structurally alike, so that a learned
Visayan must have been able to make out Tagalog words and a Pampangan
to spell Ilocano. We are not to imagine that every Filipino could
read the written speech; there were in the Islands at that time,
as in India, Spain, England, and elsewhere, the educated and the
uneducated. But it seems likely that the percentage of literacy in
the Philippines, about the year 1500, let us say, was as large as in
Spain, larger than in India and compared favorably with the percentage
in other places.
[Traders and artisans]
The inhabitants were able traders as well as skilful artisans. Manila
was one of the great commercial centers of the East and long had
been so; it was not a mere collection of fishermen's huts. When the
inhabitants of England were wearing skins, painting their bodies, and
gashing their flesh in religious frenzies, the Filipinos were already
conducting commercial marts in which were offered silks, brocades,
cotton and other cloths, household furniture, precious stones, gold
and gold dust, jewelry, wheat from Japan, weapons, works of art and
of utility in many metals, cultivated fruits, domesticated animals,
earthenware, and a variety of agricultural products from their rich
volcanic soil.
[Able Agriculturists]
The people understood how to make agricultural implements which,
if crude by present standards, were nevertheless serviceable. They
knew how to make machines, to hull and separate rice, to express oil
from coconuts, and to weave their cloths. They worked out their own
problems of irrigation and in their own way. The huge rice terraces in
some parts of Luzon were and still are the wonder of all beholders. "I
know of no more impressive examples of primitive engineering," says
Dean C. Worcester, "than the terraced mountain-sides of Nueva Vizcaya
beside which the terraced hills of Japan sink into insignificance."
WRITTEN AND UNWRITTEN LAWS.--The people had both written and unwritten
laws. They were made and promulgated by the chiefs after consultation
with the elders, and were "observed with so great exactness that it
was not considered possible to break them in any circumstance."
The laws covered many of the subjects which are common in modern
times. A few of the most striking points were: Respect of parents
and elders, carried to so great a degree that not even the name of
one's father could pass the lips, in the same way as the Hebrews
regarded the name of God. Even after reaching manhood and even after
marriage, the son was under a strict obligation to obey his father and
mother. Marriage had reached the stage of mutual consent. Marriage
ceremonies approaching the religious were elaborate, according to
rank. Husband and wife were equal socially and in the control of their
property. Property was acquired principally by occupation, but also by
gift, purchase, and succession. Wills were sometimes made. Contracts
were strictly fulfilled. The Chinese writer, Wang Ta-yuan; in a book
of 1349 says: "The natives and the traders having agreed on prices,
they let the former carry off the goods and later on they bring the
amount of native products agreed upon. The traders trust them, for
they never fail to keep their bargains." In fact, non-performance of
a contract was severely punished. Partnerships were formed and the
respective obligations of the partners enforced.
The Code of Calantiao.--The penal law was the most extensive. Penalties
were severe, altho compared with present laws, they appear cruel and
illogical. However, they compared favorably with Greek and Roman laws
as well as with the contemporary Spanish and English criminal laws.
Calantiao, the third chief of Panay, had, in 1433, promulgated a
penal code. It ran as follows:
"Ye shall not kill; neither shall ye steal; neither shall ye do
harm to the aged; lest ye incur the danger of death. All those
who infringe this order shall be condemned to death by being
drowned with stones in the river, or in boiling water.
"Ye shall obey. Let all your debts with the headmen (principales)
be met punctually. He who does not obey shall receive for the
first offense one hundred lashes. If the debt is large, he shall
be condemned to thrust his hand thrice into boiling water. For
the second offense, he shall be condemned to be beaten to death.
"Observe and obey ye: let no one disturb the quiet of graves. When
passing by the caves and trees where they are, give respect
to them.
"Ye shall obey: he who makes exchange for food, let it be always
done in accordance with his word. He who does not comply, shall be
beaten for one hour, he who repeats the offense shall be exposed
for one day among ants.
"They shall be burned: Those who by their strength or cunning have
mocked at and escaped punishment; or who have killed young boys;
or try to steal away the women of agorangs (rich men).
"Those shall be killed who profane sites where idols are kept,
and sites where are buried the sacred things of their diuatas
(spirits) and headmen."
[Testimonies of Occidental Writers]
All which bespeak a culture of no mean order, and occidental writers
themselves have given it the credit that it deserves, as shown by
the following testimonies:
"They had already reached a considerable degree of civilization
at the time of the Spanish conquest."--Professor Ferdinand
Blumentritt.
"The inhabitants of these Islands were by no means savages,
entirely unreclaimed from barbarism, before the Spanish advent
in the sixteenth century. They had a culture of their own."--John
Foreman.
"The inhabitants of the Philippines possessed a culture of their
own prior to the coming of the Spaniards to the Islands. Those
along the coasts were the most advanced in civilization. Their
material wealth was considerable. The chief occupations were
agriculture, fishing, weaving, some manufacturing, and trade
both inter-island and with the mainland, generally in the form of
barter. They were expert navigators. They used standard weights
and measures. The year was divided into twelve lunar months. They
had a peculiar phonetic alphabet, wrote upon leaves, and had a
primitive literature. The majority of the people are said to have
been able to read and write."--Justice George A. Malcolm.
"The inhabitants practise various kinds of industry; they weave
matting of extraordinary fineness and of the brightest colors,
straw hats, cigar-cases and baskets; they manufacture cloth and
tissues of every sort from leaves of the aguana, make cambric of a
texture much finer than that of France; and they also manufacture
coarse strong cloth for sails, etc.; and ropes and cables of all
dimensions; they tan and dress leather and skins to perfection;
they manufacture coarse earthenware and forge and polish arms of
various kinds; they build ships of heavy tonnage and also light
and neat boats, and at Manila they frame and finish off beautiful
carriages; they are also very clever workers in gold and silver
and copper; and the Indian (Filipino) women are especially expert
in needlework and in all kinds of embroidery." (Twenty years in
the Philippines, pp. 304, 307.)
PROGRESS DURING SPANISH RULE.--The Spanish rule in the Philippines
lasted 350 years. The Spanish Crown meant well, but the way her
policies were translated into deeds was all but desirable. The best
men could not be induced to go to Manila. The Church wielded tremendous
power, and at times was more powerful than the government itself. Each
village was under the rule of a priest. Character was stifled; progress
was deliberately discouraged; independence of thought stamped out.
It would be doing Spain a great injustice, however, if no credit
whatever is given her rule in the Philippine Islands. She introduced
Christianity into the Islands and unequivocably converted the
inhabitants to the creed, thus setting up the only Christian country
in this part of the globe with a Christian outlook on life; in the
women, particularly, the tenets of Christianity instilled dignity
and it freed them from Hindu and Mohammedan degradations.
[Schools and Colleges]
Efforts were also taken to teach the people the rudiments
of education. Access was thus given to the splendid tongue of
Castile, and, thru that, to all the glories and traditions of Latin
civilization. As early as 1866, for a population of 4,000,000 people,
there were 841 schools for boys and 833 for girls. In 1892, six years
before the coming of the Americans, there were 2,137 schools. There
were also colleges and universities where professional training
was given. The colleges were: University of Santo Tomas, Manila,
established in 1611 (twenty-five years older than Harvard); San Juan
de Letran, Municipal Athenaeum, Normal School, College of San Jose,
the Nautical School, the School of Commercial Accounting, the Academy
of Painting and Drawing, and many other private schools, fourteen
of which were in Manila. There were also seminaries in Manila,
Nueva Segovia, Cebu, Jaro, and Nueva Caceres, where all branches of
secondary instruction were taught in addition to those prescribed
for the priesthood.
Many of the prominent Filipinos in Philippine history, as stated above,
including the national hero, Jose Rizal, had their first instructions
in these schools established by Spain.
[Filipino Record Abroad]
A number of the ambitious students were sent by their parents
to complete their education in Spain, France, England, Belgium,
and Germany. Groups of these young men took part in the various
liberal movements of nineteenth century Europe. They wrote and
spoke in behalf of liberal institutions for the Islands, in terms
that would have cost them their lives in the Philippines; in fact,
Rizal was put to death upon his return to his native land. Several of
these young Filipinos even rose to eminence in the public service,
a right which was denied them at home except in a few cases in the
minor judiciary. In the eighties and nineties, a group of them of
which Rizal, Juan Luna, Resurrección Hidalgo, M. H. del Pilar, Lopez
Jaena, Pedro A. Paterno, and Dr. Pardo de Tavera were the leading
spirits--made a deep impression in the literary and artistic circles of
Madrid, Paris, and Berlin. A newspaper was founded by them in Madrid to
further their political views. Although proscribed in the Philippines,
their books and articles were circulated secretly in the Islands and
helped to arouse the people and to consolidate the growing unrest.
Opinions of Foreign Authors.--On Spain's achievements in the
Philippines, foreign authors have been considerate. The famous French
explorer of the Pacific, for example, La Perouse, who was in Manila
in 1787, wrote:
"Three million people inhabit these different islands, and that
of Luzon contains nearly a third of them. These people seem to
me no way inferior to those of Europe; they cultivate the soil
with intelligence, they are carpenters, cabinet-makers, smiths,
jewelers, weavers masons, etc. I have gone through their villages
and I have found them kind, hospitable, and affable." ("Voyage
de la Perouse autour du Monde," Paris, 1787, II, p. 347.)
"Almost every other country of the (Malay or Indian) Archipelago
is, at this day, in point of wealth, power, and civilization,
in a worse state than when Europeans connected themselves with
them three centuries back. The Philippines alone have improved in
civilization, wealth, and populousness. ("History of the Indian
Archipelago," by John Crawford, F. R. S. Edinburgh, 1820, Vol. ii,
pp. 447, 488.)
The Austrian professor, Ferdinand Blumentritt, wrote in La Solidaridad
of October 15, 1899, to this effect:
"If the general condition of the civilization of the Tagalos,
Pampangos, Bicols, Bisayans, Ilocanos, Cagayanes, and Sambales
is compared to the European constitutional countries of Servia,
Roumania, Bulgaria, and Greece, the Spanish-Filipino civilization
of the said Indian districts is greater and of larger extent than
of those countries."
And the foremost American scholar on the Philippines, gives the
following résumé of the results of the Spanish administration:
"The Spaniards did influence the Filipinos profoundly, and on the
whole for the better. There were ways, indeed, in which their
record as a colonizing power in the Philippines stands today
unique in all the world for its benevolent achievement and its
substantial accomplishment of net progress. We do not need to
gloss over the defects of Spain; we do not need to condone the
backward and halting policy which at last turned the Filipinos
against Spanish rule, nor to regret the final outcome of events,
in order to do Spain justice. But we must do full justice to her
actual achievements, if not as ruler, at any rate as teacher and
missionary, in order to put the Filipinos of today in their proper
category." (Le Roy: "Philippine Life in Town and Country," 1905,
pp. 6, 7.)
[The Background on Which America Had Built]
It was on all that cultural background--the native and the
Spaniard--that America had built. Without belittling what she, alone,
has done for the Filipinos since 1898 it hardly can be disputed that
the rapid progress towards modern democracy in the Islands has been due
mainly to the materials she found there. This fact has made her task
a great deal easier, and is the reason why even the early military
governors thought best to preserve the old municipal institutions
with very slight changes.