Scanned by CamScanner ~ Joe Rizal ba Verda La polidaridad Democratic Fortnightly YearI BARceLONA, May 31, 1889 No.8 ‘SUBORIPTION RATES minnie oui ae pues ores cational an a st Noor Single copy 15 centavos VERY DISTURBING ‘THE TRUTH FOR EVERYBODY ‘Very disturbing has been the scandal which took place during the last days of Congress owing to the abstention of President Mertos to vote on the Villaverde proposal ‘The attitude of Mr. Martos has weakened the ‘government, in spite of the majority it counted on in the issue. No doubt Sagasta was left alone in the hands of Providence. ‘Today intrigues and compromises are made to achieve unity, to search for means to calm the turbulent spirit of the majority against the conspirators, But whether Mr. Sagasta fails or succeeds, the government has Tost its ‘We predicted all the scandals in Congress long. ‘ago because the party in power lacks unity and definite policies in its program which should al- ways vitdlize the whole party. A party composed of divergent groups with different interests, with definite and determined leaders atthe helm can unify it temporarily, but sooner oF ater the party dissolves when confronted by difficulties. ‘The attitude of Mr. Martos and of all the con- spratos ress; and when te President ofthe lar Chamber adopts this poliey, somethin FER plowed which ough to be feared bocatse itis @ Machiavellian move. os ‘Moreover, tne spectacle which the majority had shown in putting the President on the spot ‘was a glaring mistake. | We regret it for the loss of prestige of paris: ment. Tf Sagasta remains weak in the wake of this serious Station the rotum ofthe Conservatives ‘would not be long in coming, ‘And then, it would be the end of progress. 169 “Two lengthy acts ened “Pestons” and “he Authorities tne Philippines" were pubs lished test Marc by a newspaper of Mato the effet thatthe principales f te towns are despicable people ars, depraved, troublesome, trecherous prone f0 evil Going inciferent 10 everything 08, who nether understand what they say nor practice what they know, tht all these are defect snberent inthe race; that their Complains should no be taken setiosly agaist thoes, who shou ke pital te joy immunity ees tat the destiny ofthe people, Ar sory, shold be placed in te hands of tres ons selected and chosen by these vey sane Tmpeccable persons, and that these thee only Should be coneemed vith consactng rods, cle ‘These have become the source of many ambigs- us phrases, suggestions ané directives, “That faults of a few are transferred to the entre race 18 nota new thing tous. To vilfy & ration, tere ie noting beter than to generaize the bad tn jst ae fo ennabe iy one should stengtien it by good examples, The system as an be seen bears frit That hey should berate Sd insult the mast of the Filipino people—the eight milion fahbiants who feed thousands and tibosands. of thet Spanish brothers with the oct of terol ané who shed ther blood for ain toeeangunge iy Ral spea nda they should d al these safely Behind 2 preudos nyt doesnot surprise us either. Inthe Philipines insults from those above are permissible; to tak back is nt allowed, I seems that Spanish fend geclemlinest are thrown over ter lands inthe Peninsula t would be nally te hee ines. tte Plippines it would be Board in1, 8, May 31, 1889 (On our part, we shall leave those insults re- counted and noted. We shall analyze the basis of such concealed accusations. ‘We agree that there is much immorality in the Philippines, much disogreement, much intrigue ‘and much misrule, but we shall not accuse the people ofall these; we shall not divest ourselves Phd others of the charges. In a household where the head of the family has unlimited power, he js responsible for the state of affairs. The sufferings ofa people without freetom should not be ascribed to them but to their rulers. To be responsible, it is necessary that one be master of fis own acts, but the Filipino people are not free in their actions or in their thoughts. ‘This iter thought may be galling to many, but since some people have already exposed dinty linen in public, let them expose everything Let us study how the unfortunate principales of the towns ate selected and appointed. Excepting a few honorable ones, the majority of these unfortunate people if not weary of the office are contemptible slaves, blind instruments fof some, cowardly minions of others, humble and ‘complaisant to all the wishes of thei superiors, {sensible and tyrannical to their inferiors and to the poor people whose wellbeing i paced in their hands. Yes, we know that what many of them think cbout is to servein order to cominand, to bribe in order to exploit, to abase themselves in order to humiliate others and satisfy their vile passions, But why is this so? What isthe origin of this attitude? ‘We shall describe once more internal polities in the towns of the Philippines so that the Home ‘Government can be informed of them and can take strong measures which are necessary. ‘Unquestionably, in each town there are two groups to start with: one, the educated, the inde- pendent, those Who live by themselves without {he necessity of crutches or sponsors, those eager ‘or justice and peace, those filled with reproaches against the iniquities and tyrannies of some Clases, those, in short, denounced by their en, ties && flibusteros because they are composed ff honorable men and from which group the real {filibusteras would compe ifthe present lamentable system were continued. The other group is Corn posed of the shiflles, the intriguer, improperly falled the party of the friars because they obey ‘and serve them and because they are cont as the strong supporters ofthe ftiars, although the Tater have neither love nor respect for them and may become their most contemptible enemies when they are no longer useful. A small erouP ‘belongs toa neutral position. These people are the indifferent ones. ‘Naturally, between these two groups, the par~ {sh priest who aspires to command in order 0 Strengthen himself and be dominant over the of- Scanned by CamScanner ficials chooses the second for being more docile, more amenable, more blindly obedient, and the better tool for the execution of their ideas. From them the fiars get their secret information. Their members aro extolled while those of the other grup are painted as the most dangerous enemies ofthe state. This is what many are made to believe in, Itums out then that the servant, the sexton, the ingratiating mischief-maker of the curate ‘occupies very often, thanks to the powerful influ: ence of the master in official circles, the first place of honor in the town, to the prejudice of the educated class. The new local tyrant thus pays back in official dispatches, denunciations, et¢. sided by his master, who also looks after his own interests. The practice is to serve the master s0 that the latter will protect him when he is accused of exploiting the poor or be remiss in his duties. ‘Teetacnal hing to haves powerful sponser, ‘Consequently this practice produces hatred in the opposing party, hatred which constitutes the desideratum of some politicians who have no other knowledge and no other trick than to intro- duce divisions and emnities among the people, favoring this or that party, demoralizing them, without suspecting that similar weapons may someday be dangerous to them also, Who sows an illewind, says the proverb, reaps a whirlwind. ‘Debased and degraded, these honorable peo- ple of the towns where there is honor stil pre Served in some Filipino families that have not been contaminated, refrain as much as possible from occupying the seat left vacant by a con- temptible man; the educated families, those who Tove their country, keep to themselves in gloomy silence..-andsigh, We know wealthy proprietors ‘who have given their money and bribed cabezas {Jo that the latter do not vote and elect them. Who she, with sill alitle pride, who would take the ‘staff sll damp with the seat of a despicable and Mile hand—that staff that once was a symbol of Dower but nwa symbol of eorupion and sav ‘Nevertheless there are sil afew of those who will retire to a useless Stoicism and, like Caesar, ‘rap themselves in a mantle and surrender them Selves to their assassins, ‘Among a great many of the people, there is dissatisfaction. Some, in order not to tee their enemies protected while they expose themselves {oattacks, ry to oppose them by placing obstacles to prevent molestations; others, and there are ‘many more ofthese, carried by the bad example ‘without a solid moral education wish to take part the feast, and they say: “The social machine is drawn by the blood ofthe poor; we shall oppress fb that we are not oppressed.” A few, very rare few, perhaps te foolish ones, fightalso dreaming ‘of iuproving the town, introducing reforms, jus- imee ee ee ee ee 1, 8, May 31, 1889 tice, honor, but, these persons if they win d tog honor Mareum Decusy ty ae ales Oat posed of sent into some exile, Tn this petty war all means, good oF bad, are employeds bribes, gifts, lies, accusations, tating, ttc, We know of ruined families who recovered theit wealth after two years in office; on the other hand, there are rich ones, who ruin themselves by pleading to the people after they had paid voters. Kind if he were the candidate of the friar, thanks fo the later’s influence and machinations, he ‘would win while his opponent may consider himself lucky if he were not exiled. This was what ned to Manaksa of Kabuyaw. tis thus that passions are excited, resentments aroused, and these are the causes of the general hatred of the friars in the Philippines. “The columnist of La Voz de Espafia mentioned petits signed by the principales who knew hothing of their contents. We shall not deny his Siatement because we know very well and for quite sometime now that many cabevas de Harangay have signed, on urgings of the curate, ‘written in Spanish the contents of which They had not even read. ‘The excuse given us was that they were Uhrestened by the curate. We do rot condone the cowardice of such cabezas, but neither shall we praise the machinations of the fiiar If there are persons who would doubt these facts, we shall cite examples of towns and persons who ate still alive, “This is why the friar works hard to make the native remain ignorant and blind; but it would not be dificult to understand how these blindness and ignorance have tumed against him, and how the ays the friar taught bim are now employed {guinst the friar. In spite ofthis, all the writings directed against the friars are different from what they unleash against their enemies: the former ask the Government to clarify facts, te latter d6 not allow the enforcement of the law or the defense of the accused. The author of the above statements placed himself at the head of the antifriar movement roused by an inquiry of the government, The reply, if it were to be based on truth, would have: bon prejudicial to the interests ofthe friars. The fiars' wanted that it be answered according 'o theirdictation and convenience and not accom to Guth; but since their wish would have tamed the reply far from the wuth and remiss in g008 citizenship the author wrote the, reply with 2 Setzled explanation, He then translated the dock mont into Tagalog and read its contents before everybody and before the messengers ofthe friars themselves so that they might contradict, 20y portion of it they believed in 4 protested, Everybody signed the document, Cliding the partisans of the friars because fatter could hot deny the evidence. During the Scanned by CamScanner 173 procedure, the author reminded all those: who signed that they would be presenting all their complaints against those in power. ‘What happened? The document was pre~ senteds it coursed throngh all legal channels; then it was tabled. The friars wanted to take revenge. ‘The town presented another document, request- ing the intervention of the government because the latter was not a party to the case; but the government kept silent, saying neither yes nor no; it prepared no legal brief; it didnot clarify the charges; it was afraid to fight for truth and it abandoned the poor town, And yet the entire petition dealt with agriculture, with industraliza- tion, Mr, Columnist of La Voz de Espana! It did not attack the immaculate friar; it did not expose Corruption because the author of the petition ‘ever wanted to soil his pen with the filth that covered some habits! ‘There was nothing in it but Hanis, lands roads, sooo, hours, 2 ‘The focument was signed by all the principales; it sie ned y te aor himself with is fal rrame; it was signed by women, proprictors, Chinese, servants, laborers, everybody 1n town. "The document was read to everybody—to friends ‘and enemies alike, to officials, to Peninsulars ‘because we had the courage of our convictions and because we believed in the sincerity of the goverment and in its love and concern for the country. ‘Nothing, absolutely nothing, was done and so ‘vengeance was heaped on the poor people, vie- tims of their loyalty to the government and of their good faith. The Power of the Friars by Plaridel reproduces some imperfect copies of these petitions inthe Appendix. The governor of the province can testify that what we are saying here isthe absolute truth. We know this from our ‘own experience: we shall not say more about the others. "la Vor de Espafta wants the municipal gov- cxnment ofthe towns to busy itself with petition- ng that buildings, roads, etc,, be constructed. Does the columnist. know for sure how these works are undertaken? At the cost of the poor Deople—-gratutous labor, accompanied by many Pesntions ond many blows, and then... what for? Th the town of Kalamba two stone school- houses for boys and girls were constructed at the Post of the people's and of the town governor's Sroney. The children, in spite of allthis, still have mroschoolhouse; the buildings are used today for the court and jail, ‘In the town of Los Bafios @ hospital was built by dint of civic conscience and labor of all the people ofthe province. Every laborer drafted by The’ government was paid eight cuartos daily roel the ordinary wage was two pesetas weesor reales fuertes. Charity sales and bazaars Crore held to help finance the building. The ar-1, 8, May 31, 1889 chitect was a Franciscan lay brother, The hospital Giss constructed, a palace was buill for the Cap- tain-General, agriculture and the people suffered Hot, and now those buildings rot, abandoned like ing accursed by the tears, by the cries of ‘who have been condemned to suffer for it. Why should the people who pay their taxes be obliged to work gratuitously? pay at all if they are mot permitted to Tive for their families? Must they pay to be enslaved? Does the taxpay- ex's money serve to hire petty tyrants and not to Satisfy the needs of the community? Is the Span- ish flag the flag of slavery? ‘Does the columnist wish that the people seal their lips to all the corruption of the so-called ministers of God and of those in power? We believe that the columnist is not a filibustero by choice, but it is well to remember that when lips ate sealed, hands are freed. La Voz de Espatia should be careful of what it asks. "No, the doors should not be closed— the con- science of mankind, the cry of the people should not be stifled, The air may be a light, compress- ible substance, but it explodes and bursts never- theless when it is tightly compressed, The laws which govern the physical world are the same as those that govern the moral and politieal world, ‘We say this to the Spanish government; We shall say what we believe in although many may be displeased; we like to be loyal to the Home Government and to its high officials, "They are much mistaken about the Filipino people. The writers who have talked of them have tccused falsely because, in depicting the people, they have taken for models their servants, those tmalude of poor unfortunates—witout county, education and home who flock to the big cities. They have described those ridiculous persons who ingratiate themselves like parasites round about the offices and banquets. The educated class, those who upon secing such dirt and mis- ery, wrap themselves in isolation—they are pot known, in the same way that theix nature, their language or their sufferings are not known. | ‘Well then, inthis unfortunate struggle between the friars on'the one hand who want ignorance and darkness, like the bandit who, waylays at night and in isolated places, and the, educated class, on the other hand—honorable citizens Who ‘want enlightenment, unity, direct contact with Spain, the conduct of the government in lending itself to serving like an arm of the monastic orders hurts the feeling of the people and the true infer- esis of the nation. The people are disheartened; they see that they are alienated; that the govern: ment on whom they rely does not protect them buts afraid of their enemies, The people suspect, ‘acillate; their love for Spain wanes; their in justice wavers; they are tired of pleading ris. If the Watch out! The people oppose tbe Scanned by CamScanner 175 government places itself on the side of the friars ‘completely, it makes enemies of the people; it confesses to being the enemy of progress; and then, they themselves would have started a new and unfortunate eral To try to subject the Filipinos to darkness, to ‘brutalize them is physically and morally impos sible. Our enemies may be able to preach from their pulpits, to make use of all kinds of means— imprisonments, exiles, censures, prohibitions, ‘Yexations, search, etc., but they will not achieve their purpose. The educated Filipinos, the liberals ‘who increase their number every day—thanks to the persecutions, and we the Filipino youth in Europe have dedicated ourselves to the welfare’ of our country, We ite this may be possible to ilate another revolt like that of Cavite and then, because of it, cut off the heads of many educated persons, but from the blood spilled, resher and more’ shoo wil sprout jofore the catastrophe of 1872, there were less thoughtful people, less anti-friars; they sacrificed innocent victims; but now you have the young, the women, and the young ladies declaring them- selves in favor of the same cause. vat the sacrifice and the executioners will be sealing their own fate, ‘No, those who are still befuddled should disa- ‘buse themselves. It is necessary to look after the needs of the people, if it is desired to preserve their love. The Filipino cannot be blinded nor ‘enslaved in otder to be later given freedom and rights. There is no example in history which ‘hows that a people retrograded because of edu- cation. Decadence does not come until after the ‘apogee; the Waterfall does not rise, the fruit does ‘not return to the flower. Does the government ‘want to be assured of the love of the Philippines? Give it rights; treat it as it deserves to be treated. Do you wish to lose it? Then continue in your ‘unjust oppression, close your ears to the plead- ings of the people, condemn them into slavery. ‘In concluding, we repeat: there is much cor- ruption in the Philippines; the ministers of God and the propagators of light (!) have not planted and do not sow Christian morality; they have tot taught faith but rites and superstitions. ‘The nation that they wish to call a “child” has had bad teachers, has learned bad examples. Like teacher, like student. The government is also to blame for letting them do this, for being weak; and so.are the people who fold their arms because ‘of egoism and who shroud themselves in amantle of desperate silence. This demoralization cannot be corrected by sealing the lips of those who accuse, as La Vor de Espana wishes to do, but by leting the government inquire into the causes, and in punishing the guilty and—letting fall those who should fall. Give liberties so that nobody will have the right to conspire; representatives so that1,8, May 31, 1889 ! their complaints and their murmurings are not confined to the privacy of the homes where they Pecome the cause of future siorms. Treat the ie wel, teach them the sweetness of peace Sothat they can love it and maintain it. If the policy of banishments, imprisonments, and as- faults without cause were followed; if your own faults were punished on them, you discourage peace, you take away the horror of revolutions nd of revolts; you harden the people and you incite them to battle. In the Philippines, today, there is still no jilibusterisrao but there will be for sure and it would be terrible, if the abuses con- tinue. If you wish your neighbor's dog to rave, let it be known that he is mad. What could be. ‘worse filibusterimo than the flibusterismo of de- spair? JOSE RIZAL THE SYSTEM OF TAX COLLECTION ‘The system of collection of some taxes in the Philippines is replete with anomalies which con- tinue to confuse the public treasury and those charge of the collection. ‘The personal cedulas ofthe nnthlass, second group which are what the majority of the people pay, ae collected by the cabezas de barangay, agents of the Treasury whose position is honor "gh cabera bas a taxpayers’ list copied from the census lt that every parish has. Jn this Ht are the number of inhabitants living, dead, present, and absent, all of whom are listed in the cabeza's collection which he must turn over to the ‘administrative agency ofthe corresponding prov- ince, In accordance with the number of names ap- pearing on thelist, the cabeza receives from the administration a corresponding number of blank cedula receipts, equal to the collection he ought to gather from ‘the taxpayers. ‘The cabezas collect and then turn over to the Provincial government the amount: This is cred- ited to his total accountability, ‘Included in the cabeza’s responsibility are the unpaid cedulas which he failed to collect because ‘of the death or absence of the taxpayer. TO be credited for these, a “justification” is required for So eee eee iin than the price of the rgeable vec tla ofthe nih class, econ uD, . r year, but to obtain the Blank cedulas turned init i necessary (0 20 through an arduous and costly procedure: pay the pice of stamped paper, remuneration of 2 clerk, ‘resents to peity clerks and chiefs of the council ‘80 that they would attend to the preliminary gov Scanned by CamScanner 77 ‘ernment uiremen; uring the testimonies Samealeg is of securing the test citizens, the information of the rincipalia and the’ publicetion and approval of the parish priest. After all these, to present it to the provincial government for approval itis nec- essary also fo Spend for some eg tips hat the cabeza makes, each tip costing him 3 to 4 pesos, depending on the distance of his town from the provincial capital; also the expenses of his meals, gifts tothe employees to facilitate the business of Hiberating him from paying the 1.50 pesos for a non-collectable cedula, ‘Thusit is tha the cabeza prefers to pay the tax, which is impossible to collect, out of his own pocket rather than go through the process of s¢- ‘curing a “justification,” Yet, the ‘Treasury refuses to accept the return of blank cedulas unless ac- companied by such “justification.” When the cabeza is no longer sble to cover the amount charged to him out of his own funds, then he is accused of malversation of public funds. ‘We have had occasion to study the criminal cases against cabezas de barangay for malversa- tion of public funds and invariably the matter of uncollected cedulas appeared in the charge. ‘Although until now no plan has been definitely formulated, there are hopes in the Archipelago that this assignment which causes great injustices will be removed. Tis our opinion thot if the government does not wish to institute a radical change, then it should adopt a means to make the service more honorable. ‘We propose, for example, that the cabezas de barangay be allowed the same means of coll tion which are allowed to the city collectors. Th is to give the cabezas the cedulas oftheir taxpa crs signed by the administrator or agent and with full names of the taxpayer written on them; to give a deadline for the period of collection, after Which the cabeza turns over the amount collected and the cedula receipts which have not been pai the receipts would then be revised by an exa jning commission who should charge the deli quent taxpayer and not the cabecas who have been hitherto responsible. “The cabezas should not be considered as bondsmen or guarantors of the collection,’ but only as deputy collectors. It would not be fair 10 sake them responsible for something they have fot collected or would not be able fo collect. ‘Owing 1 hase difficult, although the po- sition of cabeza de barangay is honorary, comes tepugnant and worse, ruinous to the holder. : “The delinquencies can easily be charged to the indolence of the native, to his love for the ‘cockpit: bt the government should know that no problem can be solved by such a recriminatory system.