The Philippines: Past and Present Volume II Part 56

"'1. That he is a duly appointed Public Land Inspector of the Bureau of Lands of the Government of the Philippine Islands and that acting in such capacity on the 3d day of June, 1913, he visited the sitio of Buyon, barrio of Maddelaro, Munic.i.p.ality of Camalaniugan, province of Cagayan and there investigated the complaint of homestead entrymen Pascual Valdez and Tomas Valdez whose applications for land in the said sitio of Buyon under provision of Act No. 926 as amended had been entered by the Director of Lands under No. 9253 and No. 9254 respectively, that they were prevented from occupying said homesteads and deriving the benefits therefrom by certain persons living in the barrio of Maddelaro:

"'2. That while so investigating the claim of the said entrymen and their opponents he was told by Placido Rosal, one of the opponents to the homestead entrys, that "it was immaterial to him what decision was made by the Director of Lands concerning the land as, if he (Rosal) lost the land he and others would burn the houses of the entrymen and if necessary kill them"; this in the Spanish language with which he is familiar.

"'3. That at that time he was accompanied by Mr. Blas Talosig of the barrio of Buyag, who was acting as his interpreter in speaking in the Iloco language and that these threats were made in his hearing and that he, W. A. Northrop, was informed by said interpreter that he not only heard them but that he heard similar threats made in the Iloco language by various other persons, henchmen of Placido Rosal and his family.

"'4. That on the 9th day of June, 1913, said entrymen came to him in the City of Aparri and reported that on the night on the 7th day of June the granary of Eduardo Baclig, resident in the said sitio of Buyon and a son-in-law of Tomas Valdez had been burned and an attempt made to burn his house and that while the entrymen were not in position to prove that said Placido Rosal or his henchmen had started the fires they were sure they were of incendiary origin, as due to the direction of the wind the fires could not have originated from sparks from kitchen fires.'

"Further deponent sayeth not.

(Signed) "W. A. Northrop.

"Subscribed and sworn to before me this 24th day of July, 1913, in Tuguegarao, Cagayan, Philippine Islands, the affiant first having exhibited his cedula, No. 1516, issued in Manila, January 3, 1913.

(Signed) "Primitivo Villanueva

"Notario Publico, "Mi nombramiento expira el "31 de Diciembre de 1913."

"Extract from a report of H. O. Bauman, chief of Bureau of Lands survey party No. 27. Report dated June 30, 1913:

"In 1905 the applicant (Fernando Asirit) entered an application for homestead and proceeded to clear the remainder of the land not already cleared. Sometime during the following year or two, this Catalino Sagon began to clear a piece of land included in the homestead application. When Fernando Asirit saw the man cleaning the land, he told the man that that particular land was included in the homestead and that the work he was doing was useless. Catalino admitted this to me personally. However, the applicant to show his good faith, paid Catalino a sum of ten pesos for the small area that he had cleaned and took a receipt therefor and Catalino left the land. Now when the private surveyor came in 1910, this Catalino appears and claims this land despite the fact that he never cultivated nor occupied the land and that he received payment in full for the work that he had done in clearing an acre of the land. When the land was surveyed in 1910, Catalino at the request of a politician of Ilagan, made a protest against the land and between the two they frightened the applicant into letting this Catalino have possession of the land. Since 1910, Catalino has not cultivated the land but loaned it out to another person, Frederico Mayer by name. Personally, Catalino did not ever cultivate or live on the land. The politician who has been stirring up this trouble is Gabriel Maramag, third member of the Provincial board. The applicant is an old man seventy years old and this Maramag had the old man fined P125.80 for refusing to let these two have his land. They also told him that if he persisted in refusing to let them have the land, they would fine him P500. As the old man has no such amount and being thoroughly bulldozed by these cheap politicians, he had no other course to pursue. The co-partner of the third member is the Sheriff Joaquin Ortega against whom the people are very bitter on account of his shady dealings. It might be noted here that these men are under investigation by the Constabulary now for accepting money illegally. Furthermore this Maramag has the plans of the land of a great many men in his house and thus has a hold on them and they cannot do anything without his consent."

[159] The best evidence of what the average Filipino cultivates is found in the free patents. Of the 15,885 free patents applied for the average area is declared to be 7-3/4 acres; 4,025 Free Patents have been actually surveyed; their average area is only 5 acres.

[160] Frequently and wrongly called rosewood.

[161] Damar.

[162] An extensive open region covered with cogon is called a cogonal.

[163] First year for which statistics are available.

[164] Twice the actual figures for the first half of the year: $3,942,647; $194,296; $123,339.

[165] First year after Payne Tariff Bill took effect.

[166] On March 1, 1913.

[167] On January 1, 1913; increase of six months only.

[168] Only railroad line in operation prior to 1907 was 122 miles of the main line of the Manila Railroad Company.

[169] First year of operation.

[170] On February 1, 1913; increase of six months only.

[171] The Philippine Railway Company has recently changed its accounting from the basis of the Government fiscal year (beginning July 1) to a calendar year basis. Figures are not therefore available for a complete twelve months subsequent to June 30, 1912. The figure for the first year on the new basis (ending December 31, 1912, and duplicating part of the last amount given above) is $376,512.

[172] No accurate statistics before 1907 and 1910, respectively.

[173] Increase due to change in definition.

[174] On January 1, 1913.

[175] Increase of six months only.

[176] No accurate statistics before 1907.

[177] Literally "disillusion."

[178] Oct. 1, 1913.

[179] "Of course, the writer did not mention that Manila is an out-of-the-way place, so far as regards the main-travelled routes across the Pacific Ocean, and also forgot that, as has been suggested once before, the carrying trade of the world, and the s.h.i.+ppers on which it depends, in the contest of the nations for the markets of Asia, would never take to the practice of unloading at Manila by way of rehearsal, before finally discharging cargo on the mainland of Asia, where the name of the Ultimate Consumer is legion."--Blount, p. 49.

[180] "... Manila, being quite away from the mainland of Asia, could never supersede Hongkong as the gateway to the markets of Asia, since neither s.h.i.+ppers nor the carrying trade of the world will ever see their way to unload cargo at Manila by way of rehearsal before unloading on the mainland;..."--Blount, p. 44.

[181] Unhusked rice.

[182] There were also exported 423,877 pounds of cuttings, clippings and waste during 1910, and 914,630 pounds of the same materials during 1912.

[183] Made of Manila hemp, and used for sewing into hats.

[184] Blount, p. 571.

[185] First year for which statistics are available.

[186] Twelve-sevenths of the actual figures for the first seven months of the year: $15,320,794; $13,751,421; $29,072,215.

[187] Estimate based on collections to March, 1913.

[188] Estimate made pro rata on the basis of the figures for the first seven months.

[189] "It is precisely these Americans, and their business a.s.sociates in the United States, who have gotten through Congress the legislation which enables them to give the Filipino just half of what he got ten years ago for his hemp, and other like legislation, and the Filipinos know it."--Blount, p. 118.

Also the following:--

"Apparently, Messrs. Roosevelt and Taft thought, in 1907, that granting the Filipinos a little debating society solemnly called a legislative body, but wholly without any real power, was ample compensation for deserted tobacco and cane plantations, and for the price of hemp being beaten down below the cost of production by manipulation through an Act of Congress pa.s.sed for the benefit of American hemp manufacturers. If we had had a Cleveland in the White House about that time, he would have written an essay on taxation without representation, with the hemp infamy of this Philippine Tariff Act of 1902 as a text, and sent it to Congress as a message demanding the repeal of the Act. But the good-will of the Hemp Trust is an a.s.set for the policy of Benevolent a.s.similation. The Filipino cannot vote, and the cordage manufacturer in the United States can. No conceivable state of economic desolation to which we might reduce the people of the Philippine Islands being other than a blessing in disguise compared with permitting them to attend to their own affairs after their own quaint and mutually considerate fas.h.i.+on, the Hemp Trust's rope, tied into a slip-knot by the Act of 1902, must not be removed from their throats. By judicious manipulation of sufficient hemp rope, you can corral much support for Benevolent a.s.similation. Therefore, to this good hour, the substance of the hemp part of the Philippine Tariff Act of March 8, 1902, remains upon the statute books of the United States, to the shame of the nation."--Blount, pp. 614-615.

[190] First year of operation.

[191] On December 31, 1912; increase of six months only.

[192] Twelve-sevenths of the actual figure for the first seven months of the year: 736,246 tons.

[193] The figures for coal importations are exclusive of the quant.i.ties imported from the United States by the federal government. These are excluded because they have been for the most part made in large quant.i.ties in alternate years, and would, therefore, while considerably increasing the average total amounts imported, give a false idea of the rate of increase of the more strictly domestic consumption.

[194] Twice the actual figure for the first half of the year: 204,094 tons.