The Philippines: Past and Present Volume II Part 21

Much has been said relative to the probable att.i.tude of large American landowners toward Filipino labourers. Thus far their att.i.tude, and that of all other cla.s.ses of Americans, has been infinitely better than has that of the wealthy Filipinos themselves. The truth is that peonage is repugnant to the average American. One of the complaints persistently made against us by the Filipinos is that we have raised the daily wage throughout the islands, and this is true. When I was there in the Spanish days, it was possible, in many regions, to obtain abundant labour at five cents per day with food, and ten cents with food was the general rule. Now the same cla.s.s of labour costs at least twenty-five cents per day with food, and in some provinces it costs fifty cents or more. It must be frankly admitted that Americans are responsible for this sad condition of affairs! American landowners who desire to pay their employees regularly a living daily wage encounter difficulty in doing so, for the reason that the labourers have become accustomed to the old system, the evils of which they know, and are afraid of a new one, fearing that it may involve worse evils of which they know nothing.

Incidentally, Americans have learned that their labourers are worth more if well fed, and this is another grievance held against us in certain quarters.

With many of the Filipinos it is a different story.

The rich and powerful man, commonly known as a cacique, encourages the poor man to borrow money from him under such conditions that the debt can never be repaid, and holds the debtor, and frequently the members of his family as well, in debt servitude for life. One might fill a score of volumes with records of cases and I can here do no more than to select a few typical ill.u.s.trations of the workings of this vicious system.

The Filipinos are born gamblers. Gambling is their besetting sin. The poor are usually glad to get the opportunity to borrow money, and will do this on almost any terms, if necessary, in order to continue to indulge in their pet vice. They are thoughtless about their ability to repay loans, and thus readily fall into the power of the cacique money-lenders, who thereafter use them as house servants or labourers, under conditions such as to render their escape from debt-servitude practically impossible.

Indeed, if they seek to escape, the caciques often threaten them with the law, or actually invoke it against them, while if they endeavour to homestead public land and thus better their condition, the caciques only too often cause opposition to be made to their claims and keep it up until they become discouraged.

The following facts have been furnished me by Hon. James A. Ostrand, judge of the court of land registration.

"In 1907 a woman, whose surname, I think, is Quintos, asked me to lend her twenty-five pesos with which to 'redeem' her daughter who had been mortgaged for that amount to a Chinese merchant, whose name at present I do not recall, but who had his establishment on the ground floor of the house of Ubaldo Diaz in Lingayen. The woman stated that the Chinaman was corrupting the morals of the girl, and that this was the reason why she wanted to make the redemption. I told her that under the circ.u.mstances no redemption was necessary, but that I would see that the girl was allowed to leave the Chinaman, who, on proper representations, was induced to let the girl go home. She stayed with her mother for a couple of weeks but, by adding P75 to the mortgage debt, the Chinaman got her back and shortly before I left Lingayen I learned that the girl, though scarcely fifteen years old, had given birth to a child."

"In 1907 a woman from the town of Balincaguin in Pangasinan came to my office and stated that she, about six years before had 'mortgaged' [the terms 'salda' in Ilocano and 'sanla' in Pangasinan are usually translated mortgage, but also imply pledge, as the creditor generally takes possession of the mortgaged property] her twelve-year old son for some twenty pesos to Don Cirilio Braganza, the member of the second Philippine legislature for the district in which I was then living; that her son had been working for Braganza ever since, and that, according to her reckoning, the debt had already been paid, but that Braganza had unjustly charged the loss of a carabao to her son's account, thus adding P120, if I remember correctly, to the debt. She further stated that she had asked Braganza to release the boy, but that he refused to do so. I informed her of the provisions of the Philippine Bill in regard to involuntary servitude, and advised her that her son was free to leave Mr. Braganza's services if he so desired. She said that if the boy should leave, she was afraid something might happen to him as Braganza was very influential in that locality. I then gave her a note for Braganza requesting him to let the boy go. Shortly afterwards Braganza came to me and gave me his version of the case, stating that he had always treated the boy well, and that the loss of the carabao was entirely due to the boy's negligence, and that he, Braganza, would not consent to the boy's leaving him before the carabao was paid for. At last reports the boy was still with Braganza and may be there yet. I may add that I believe Braganza told the truth, and that the boy was guilty of negligence in connection with the loss of the carabao."

The net result in this case was that a boy was "mortgaged" for a P20 debt and after six years the debt had very largely increased, probably in part as a result of the carelessness of the boy.

In a letter to Judge Ostrand I had defined peonage as "the condition of a debtor held by his creditor in a form of qualified servitude to work out a debt." Of its prevalence the judge says:--

"While practising law in the Province of Pangasinan, during the years 1905 to 1909, hardly a week pa.s.sed but what cases of involuntary servitude, as defined in the within communication, came under my observation."

He also calls attention to the fact that interference with the system does not increase one's popularity:--

"Interference by third parties in cases of involuntary servitude is not looked upon with favour, and is generally considered highly reprehensible. I remember, for instance, a case where Mr. Pedro Sison [not the member of the Legislature], then a prominent resident of Lingayen, was, as he himself regarded it, made the victim of unwarranted interference. A woman bought a small parcel of land from Mr. Sison, agreeing to work out the purchase price, forty pesos. She worked with Mr. Sison for six years, at the end of which period the debt had increased to over sixty pesos, according to Mr. Sison's accounts. In the meantime the woman became a Protestant, and Rev. E. S. Lyons, the Methodist missionary in Pangasinan, advised her to leave Mr. Sison's service. Upon her doing so Mr. Sison became very indignant not only at her, but also at Mr. Lyons, and for some time thought seriously of having the latter criminally prosecuted. He appeared to be very much surprised when he found that there was no penal provision covering Mr. Lyons's action. Mr. Sison was otherwise a very estimable and good-natured man, but he never until his dying day, which occurred a couple of years afterwards, got over his bitter resentment toward Mr. Lyons."

Judge Ostrand summarizes the results of his observations as follows:--

"Nearly all the involuntary servitude cases of which I have any knowledge have arisen from the practice of mortgaging half-grown children. The sum advanced is usually some twenty or thirty pesos. As the money seldom draws interest at a lower rate than ten per cent a month, and the creditor furnishes the child food and such clothing as it may need, its services are ordinarily not considered worth more than the amount of the interest, and the debt instead of being reduced usually increases as the years pa.s.s. I venture to say that among the Filipinos in some sections of the Islands the majority of house servants are obtained and employed in this manner."

It would indeed seem that with interest at the rate of 120 per cent per year and the creditor in a position to fix his own price for food, clothing and other necessaries furnished his debtors while they were trying to work out their debts, they would not be likely to succeed in doing so!

In this connection I call attention to the fact that in the course of the discussion recently caused by requests for the resignation of certain public officials who had been loaning money at usurious rates of interests, several of the native papers took the att.i.tude that 18 per cent per year was a very moderate rate of interest.

If the unfortunate peon finally rebels, the rich cacique often invokes the law against him by having him prosecuted on some false criminal charge.

In this connection the following letter is of interest:--

"Philippine Constabulary, "Office of the Senior Inspector, "Pampanga, San Fernando, September 26, 1912.

"The Superintendent, Information Division, P. C., "Manila, P. I.

"(Thru' Adjutant, District of Central Luzon.)

"Sir: Reference to the prosecution of Maria Guzman before the Justice of the Peace of Apalit for 'Infraction of Law 2098'

(your file No. 8634-75) I have the honour to attach copy of decision in the case, and remarks:--

"About three (3) years ago Simeon de los Reyes, by and with the consent of his wife Maria Guzman, borrowed and signed receipt for fifty pesos (P50) to Maria Santos of Apalit, contracting that his wife work out the debt moulding earthen jars--that for every hundred jars made Maria Guzman received P1, 25 centavos of which was to go on the debt. The woman states she could make about fifty jars per week, so that her actual wages were 50 centavos per week, or $.005 per jar. This without board, as the woman states that any money she got for food was charged on original debt.

"By the first part of this year the debt had 'decreased' to P70, when another receipt for that amount was signed by the husband, de los Reyes, and the old receipt for P50 destroyed. In the month of August ultimo the Santos woman refused to advance Maria Guzman more money, so Maria Guzman left and joined her husband, who was working in Manila. The debt at time of trial amounted to P79 and a fraction.

"Warrants of this nature are being continually sent from Pampanga, either by messenger or mail, direct to the Superintendent Information Division, without pa.s.sing through my hands. The reason is evident.

"It is respectfully requested that in the future all warrants reaching your office in this way be referred back to me before execution.

"Very respectfully,

(Signed) "L. T. Rohrer, "Senior Inspector."

This woman, if she succeeded in making fifty earthen jars per week, received wages amounting to twenty-five cents against which her creditor charged her food and doubtless also her clothing. In other words, she was in effect charged for the privilege of making fifty jars per week for her master. The interest on her debt was meanwhile piling up while the princ.i.p.al steadily increased, and when she grew weary of her hopeless task and ran away, her taskmaster prosecuted her.

The following letter presents a typical case of peonage:

"Rosales, "March 26, 1912.

"Chief of the Secret Service Dept., Manila:

"Dear Sir: On behalf of Garegorio Almario a young girl residing at my house I write to ask you if you cannot have this matter attended to.

"Six years ago a man named Tomas Almario, living at present in Rosales, borrowed some money (twenty pesos only). This man was unable to repay this money so he sold this girl named Inocencia Almario to a Mr. Galban. I think he is the President of Bautista. Her sister has been to Bautista to take this girl away but she has been rebuked by these people in my presence. They state she owes P60 the extra P40 being interest on the P20 borrowed 6 years ago. They have got this girl and another girl working as slaves and to-day I heard that the girl escaped in a carromatta but they sent an automobile after her and took her into Bautista beating her all the way. In the interest of justice I hope you will have this girl released and hand her over to her sister in my house here out of the hands of those wretches. I also found out that this girl is being sent from place to place amongst men who take girls to cover debts. If you send a man here to Rosales I have the proof and will show you where this girl is and will get the evidence against these people. I understand that the President of Bautista is the man who is at the bottom of the whole affair. I hope you will put a stop to this slavery. I have the man here who owes the money and sold the two girls to this man. I have the sister here; also the other relatives to prove that this girl has worked as a slave for 6 years to cover a debt of twenty pesos and now they want 60 before they will release her. Please release my sister and oblige

"Yours truly,

"+ Garegorio Almario.

Witness: (Signed) "W. A. Cole.

"Address Garegorio Almario, "c/o W. A. Cole, Rosales, Pang."

I have not made the slightest effort to get the peonage records of Philippine a.s.semblymen, but have taken cases as they came, yet three of the limited number here discussed concern members or ex-members of the a.s.sembly. Is it any wonder that that body refuses to consider a law prohibiting and penalizing peonage?

My investigation of this matter has developed some interesting phases of human nature. Knowing the certain unpopularity which would result from telling the truth, not a few persons who might have given valuable testimony refused to tell what they knew, or even denied that they knew anything. Others made written statements which I was unable to use, as they insisted that their names be withheld, and I wanted testimony only from witnesses who had the courage of their convictions. Fortunately there was no lack of people unafraid to tell the truth. Among witnesses to the existence of chattel slavery were army officers, constabulary officers, the Manila chief of police and many men of the police force of that city, judges, Catholic priests, the mother superior of a convent, the insular auditor and a number of his deputies, provincial governors, both Filipino and American, provincial treasurers, the director of education, school teachers, an ethnologist, newspaper men, business men and women both English and American. I accepted only written and signed statements. The long list of cases in my official report was a sample list, not an exhaustive one. I stand ready to furnish specific instances of chattel slavery, ad nauseam, giving names of slaves, their vendors and purchasers, prices paid and dates of transactions. I hold more than a thousand typewritten pages of evidence, and it continued to come in up to the day of my departure from Manila.

The att.i.tude of the Filipino politicians toward this great ma.s.s of data and the witnesses who furnished it is a most interesting study, from which may be deduced logical conclusions of far-reaching importance. Let us examine it.

In the issue of the Boston Herald for June 24, 1912, Sr. Quezon, resident delegate from the Philippines to Congress, published an article ent.i.tled "The Filipinos as Legislators," [74] attacking Governor-General Forbes for referring in a public speech to the att.i.tude of the a.s.sembly on the slavery question. I will quote and comment on its essential statements:--