In his notable study on Criminal Anthropology of the Philippines,
Dr. Sixto de los Angeles (p. 119) says:
The easy credulity fomented by the over-development of
religious fanaticism, has constituted from the beginning to
this day one of the defects unfortunately so widespread still
among the native inhabitants of the country * * *. Devoted
to their inherited traditions and customs and lacking in
adequate opportunities to acquire proper knowledge, the mass
of the people have to adhere as it is logical and natural,
to their beliefs, which by their not requiring any effort to
understand are imbedded and deeply rooted in a spontaneous
manner in their minds. As it is shown in our annals of the
judiciary, superstition occupies a notable place among the
factors of criminality in this country.
The superstitions to which Doctor de los Angeles alludes are not only
those of the old paganism of the Filipinos which the missionaries
after more than three centuries have not succeeded in completely
eradicating. The superstitions referred to in this work are those
brought here by the same missionaries, and which they have easily
succeeded in implanting in the conscience of the Filipinos naturally
disposed to credulity by means of the efficient and generous
distribution of the novenas and other booklets of devotion.
Since until the coming of the Americans the instruction in the
Philippines was always and exclusively religious, and was directed
by the Roman priests, the persistence of these old superstitions are
evident proofs of the failure of religious education. As an excuse
missionaries will perhaps attribute this to the invincible rudeness
of the Filipinos, which we shall admit for courtesy's sake and to
avoid discussions. But what is all-important is not that they were
unable to take out something (of the superstitions), out of the
supposed hardheadedness of the Indio, but the tremendous wealth of
superstition which for more than three centuries these missionaries
inculcated (han hecho penetrar) in that same head to the detriment
of his mentality and his morality.