Chapter VI: Insurgent Rule in the Cagayan Valley (2)

"For two long hours we were detained in the middle of the
street under the rays of a burning sun and to the scandal of
the immense crowd which had been gathered together to witness
the denouement of the tragedy. The priests had hardly come into
the presence of Villa when Fathers Isidro and Florentino were
called out for the purpose of having heaped upon them a flood
of insults and affronts. Father Isidro was ordered by Villa to
interview Sr. Sabas Orros, who, Villa supposed, would wreak his
revenge blindly upon him, but he was greatly mistaken, as said
gentleman treated the priest with great respect; the tyrant
remained talking to Father Florentino in the reception room
of the headquarters building, and when it appeared that such
talk would come to blows, the elder of the Americans left one
of the rooms toward the reception room, and the scene suddenly
changing, Villa arose and addressing the priest said: 'I am
pleased to introduce to you an American Brigadier-General,
Mr. N.' The latter returned a cordial greeting in Spanish to
the priest who made a courteous acknowledgment; after this
exchange of courtesies, Villa resumed his defamatory work,
pouring out a string of absurdities and infamous insults
upon the friars, going so far as to say in so many words:
'from the bishop down you are all thieves and depraved' he
added another word which it would be shameful to write down,
and so he went on from one abyss to another without regard
to reputations or the respect due to venerated persons.

"The American let his disgust be seen while Villa was talking,
and the latter understood these protests and ordered the
priest to withdraw, the comedy coming to an end by the
American shaking hands with the priest and offering him
assistance. Villa would not shake hands with him, as was
natural, but the priest was able to see that he was confused
when he saw the distinction and courtesy with which an
American general had treated a helpless friar. What a narrow
idea did the Americans form of the government of Aguinaldo,
represented by men as savage and inhuman as Villa!

"The natives averred that the Americans referred to were
spies who had come to explore those provinces and were
making maps of the strategic points and principal roads,
so that a very careful watch was kept upon them and Villa
took measures to have them go down the river without landing
at any place between Echague and Ilagan. At Ilagan they were
given an entertainment and dance, Villa being a skilled hand
in this sort of thing, and a few days later he accompanied
them to Aparri [288] without allowing them to set foot on
land. The government of Aguinaldo no longer had everything
its own way, and secret orders had been given to have every
step of the explorers followed. The commanding and other
leading officers of the Valley, supporting the orders of the
government, circulated an order throughout the towns which
read as follows:--

"'_To All Local Officers_:

"'You will not permit any maps to be made or notes
to be taken of strategic points by Americans or
foreigners; nor will you allow them to become
acquainted with the points of defence; you will
endeavour to report immediately to this Government any
suspicious persons; you will make your investigations
secretly, accompanying suspected persons and feigning
that their investigations are approved, and finally
when it shall seem to you that such suspected persons
have finished their work, you will advise without
loss of time, in order that their notes may be seized.'

"Despite this order the Americans were able to
inform themselves very thoroughly of the forces in
the Valley and its state of defence, and Filipinos
were not lacking who for a few pesos would put them
abreast of all information regarding the plans and
projects of Aguinaldo's government."

Relative to this Wilcox-Sargent trip Taylor says:--

"In October and November, 1898, Paymaster W. B. Wilcox,
U.S.N., and Naval Cadet L. R. Sargent, U.S.N., travelled
through Northern Luzon from which they returned with a
favourable impression of the government which had been set
up by Aguinaldo's agents.

"It was realized by the subtle men whom they met that it
was highly expedient that they should make a favourable
report and accordingly they were well received, and although
constant obstacles were thrown in the way of their seeing
what it was not considered well for them to see yet the real
reasons for the delays in their journey were carefully kept
from them. At least some of their letters to the fleet were
taken, translated, and sent to Aguinaldo, who kept them,
and constant reports upon them and their movements were made."

Blount refers to the fact that Mr. Sargent tells a characteristic story of Villa, [289] whose vengeful feeling toward the Spaniards showed on all occasions.

It would doubtless have interested the travellers to know that the "robbery" consisted in taking the funds out of the province to save them from falling into Villa's hands, and in paying them to soldiers in Nueva Vizcaya to whom money was due. It would further have interested them to know that this unfortunate Spaniard had been twice tortured within an inch of his life by Villa.

But let us continue our interrupted narrative:--

"The presence of the Americans in Ilagan soon freed us from
certain forms of savagery and barbarous intentions on the
part of Villa. There can be no doubt that the tyrant was
constantly cudgelling his brains to invent new methods of
showing his contempt for the friars; at the unlucky time we
write of he conceived the infamous plan of ordering a circular
enclosure of cane to be made, put a pig into it--we trust
the reader will pardon the details--with a bell hung to his
neck, blindfolded the priests and compelled them to enter the
enclosure with sticks in their hands, and in this ridiculous
attitude, obliged them to strike about when the sound of the
bell appraised them of the animal's proximity; it is obvious
that the principal purpose of the fiendish Villa was to have
the priests lay about them in such a way as to deal each
other the blows instead of the pig. The tyrant also had the
idea of making us and the other priests in Ilagan parade the
streets of that town dancing and playing the band. The wish
to consummate his plan was not lacking but he was deterred by
the presence of the Americans and the arguments of Sr. Sabas
Orros to whom we also owed the signal favour that Villa did
not take us to our prisons at Tumauini and Gamut on foot and
with our clothing in a bundle at our backs."

On October 2 a banquet was given in Villa's honour at Ilagan and the pleasant idea occurred to him to have four of the friars dance at it for his amusement. The people of the town put their handkerchiefs before their faces to shut out the sight, and some wept. Father Campo, one of the priests who was obliged to dance, had great ulcers on his legs from the wounds caused by the cords with which he had been bound when he was tortured with water, and was at first unable to raise his feet from the floor; but Villa threatened him with a rattan until he finally did so. This caused the sores on his legs to burst open so that the bones showed.

On the 3d of October a number of the friars were compelled to get up a band and go out and meet Leyba with music on his arrival. The people of the towns closed their windows in disgust at the sight. A great crowd had gathered to receive Leyba, and the priests were compelled to dance in the middle of the street, but this again only caused disgust. A couple of priests were then beaten in the usual fashion in a private house. This caused murmuring even among those of the soldiers who were natives of the Cagayan valley. At the same time two other priests were horribly whipped in the prison.

This has been a long story, but the half has not been told. Those who escaped torture had their feelings harrowed by the sight of the sufferings of their fellows. They were constantly and grossly insulted; were often confined in the most unsanitary quarters; given poor and insufficient food and bad water, or none at all; robbed of their clothing; compelled to march long distances under a tropical sun when sick, wounded and suffering; obliged to do servants' work publicly; forced to make a ridiculous spectacle of themselves in the public streets; ordered to recant, and heaven knows what not!

The torments practised on them had two principal objects: to compel them to give up money, and to discredit them with the common people. They failed to accomplish this latter result. There is abundant evidence that the natives of the Cagayan valley clothed and fed them when they could, and wept over the painful humiliations and the dreadful sufferings which they were powerless to prevent or relieve.

The tormentors were men from distant provinces, with no possible personal grievances against the priests whom they martyrized. Their action was the result, not of an "ebullition of revenge for three centuries of tyranny" as stated by Blount, but of insensate greed of gold and damnable viciousness. I believe the American people will hold that such cruelities brand those who practise them as unfit to govern their fellows, or themselves.

Lest I be accused of basing my conclusions on _ex parte_ statements I will now return to the Insurgent record of events in the Cagayan valley.

At the outset the Spanish officers of the Tabacalera Company [290] fared comparatively well. In a letter dated September 27, 1898, and addressed to the secretary of war of the revolutionary government, Leyba says of the taking of Tuguegarao that the only terms of the surrender were to respect life. He therefore felt at liberty to seize all the money that the friars had hidden, "which was accomplished by applying the stick." He adds that they did nothing to the agents of the great Tabacalera Company, then the most powerful commercial organization in the Islands, for the significant reason that they had found that its stock was largely held by Frenchmen and feared trouble. [291]

On December 4, 1898, Leyba, concerning whose ideas as to public order we are already informed, wrote a most illuminating letter setting forth the conditions which had existed there. He does not claim that there had been Octavian peace!

It should be borne in mind that this letter covers the very time during which Messrs. Wilcox and Sargent passed through the Cagayan valley. It paints a vivid picture of conditions, and as the painter was the ranking Insurgent officer in the valley during this entire period, he cannot be accused of hostile prejudice. I therefore give the letter in full'--

"_Aparri_, December 4, 1898.

"_Don Baldomero Aguinaldo_,

"_The Secretary of War_:

"_Dear Sir and of My Greatest Esteem_: I take the liberty
of addressing this to you in order to state that owing to
the lack of discipline in the soldiers whom we have brought,
since they are all volunteers and whom I am not able to reduce
to rigorous subordination, for the revolution would find itself
without soldiers with whom to win triumph, they committed many
abuses and misdeed which, for the lack of evidence, I was
not able to punish, although I knew of these abuses but had
no proof, and as a lover of my country and of the prestige
of the Revolutionary Army, I took care not to disclose the
secret to any one, in this way avoiding the formation of an
atmosphere against the cause of our Independence to the grave
injury of us all. But it happened that, in spite of the good
advice which I have given them and the punishments which I have
given to some of the 3d Company of Cauit, they did not improve
their conduct but have gone to the extreme of committing a
scandalous robbery of 20,800 pesos which sum the German, Otto
Weber, was taking to the capital, which deed has caused me
to work without ceasing, without sleeping entire nights, for
I understood what a serious matter it was to take money from
a foreigner. After making many inquiries, it was discovered
that a very large part of the money which reached the sum of
$10,000, a little more or less, was buried under the quarters
which the said company occupied, this with the sanction of
all the officers, it appears to me, because it is impossible
that such a sum could be brought into a house where so many
soldiers are living without the knowledge of the officers.

"Indignant at such shameful behaviour, I reprimanded the
officers and preferred charges against the ones I deemed to
blame in the matter.

"Afterwards I found out that they had attempted to murder
me for trying to find out the originators of the crime. On
account of this, and in order to prevent a civil war which
would have broken out against the said soldiers if precautions
had not been taken, I decided to disarm them, to the great
displeasure of the Colonel who was not aware of my motives.

"This bad conduct has been copied by the soldiers of the 4th
Company stationed in Ilagan, and I believe the Colonel, guided
by my warning, will take the same measures in regard to them.

"As the officers are the first ones to commit abuses and
misdeeds, it is easily seen that the soldiers under their
orders, guided by them, will commit worse ones than the
chiefs, and as these seem to lack the moral strength to
control and reprimand them, I propose to you, if it meets your
approval, that all these soldiers and some of the officers
be returned to their homes by the steamer _Luzon_, if there
should be sufficient coal, or in another if you order it,
since they tell me themselves that because they are far
away from their homes they do not wish to continue in the
service in this province. This is easily arranged as there
are now men stationed in this province for instructing the
native volunteers, many of whom have been students, and will
therefore make good officers and non-commissioned officers,
and in this way a battalion could be formed, well disciplined
from the beginning and disgraceful things would be avoided
not only towards the natives of this province but also towards
foreigners, which is the most important. Having stated my case,
I place myself always at your disposal, requesting you will
attend to this affair.

"With reference to the 4th Company stationed in the Province
of Isabela, whose captain is Don Antonio Monzon of Panamitan,
there are many complaints of thefts and assaults committed
by the soldiers, and in answer to my questions, Don Simeón
Adriano y Villa, Major and Sanitary Inspector and doctor of
this battalion, whom I have stationed there for lack of a
competent person, tells me that he has always punished and
offered advice to officers and soldiers in order to prevent
the recurrence of thefts and assaults, but he has never been
able to suppress them completely, because the soldiers are
abandoned by their officers, and because of lack of example
on the part of the latter; they do not understand that it is
a great blot when they commit these abuses, since when they
discover the goods or house of a Spaniard they believe they
have a right to appropriate everything which they encounter.

"I have learned lately, that some foreigners, residents in that
province, among them some employees of the Tobacco Factory,
'El Oriente' and of the firm of Baer Senior & Co., who have
Spanish employees in various pueblos of that province, have
some very serious complaints to make of assaults committed
against them prejudicial to their interests; however, I
hope that now with the arrival of General Tirona he will
regulate matters, although I believe that this gentleman
is not sufficiently energetic in proceeding against the
officers and soldiers, as I have seen when I reprimanded
and punished them for faults committed he has pardoned them,
and it appears that he censures energetic acts which we must
use in order to subject them to rigorous discipline. The same
thing happened when Major Sr. Victa wished to discipline them;
it appears that the Colonel reprimanded him when he punished
some soldiers for gambling in their quarters, since, as you
know, that gentleman believes that he who is right is the one
who comes to him first, and who is best able to flatter him.

"The Colonel has agreed with me that his first act on arrival
at the province of Isabela should be to disarm and take all
the money he finds among the soldiers of the 4th Company
(Panamitan) in order to serve as indemnity for the property
of the foreigners in case they should make any claim.

"I request that you send some leader or officer in order to
superintend our actions, and to lift the doubt which hangs
over the person who has worked faithfully and honourably in
the sacred cause of our Independence.

"I am filling the position of First Chief in the Port of
Aparri temporarily on account of the absence of the Colonel
who has conferred on me all his duties and power. After the
military operations which were carried on as far as the last
town in Isabela, being tired and somewhat sick, I was put in
charge of these military headquarters, which I found to be
very much mixed up, the town, moreover, being desperate on
account of the assaults committed by my predecessor, Rafael
Perca, who was appointed by the Colonel, and who was formerly
2d Captain of the steamer _Filipinas._ After arriving and
taking charge, having received numerous complaints against
him, I had him arrested and I found that he had been guilty
of robbery, unlawful use of insignia, illegal marriage, rape
and attempted rape. I hold him in custody only awaiting the
arrival of the Colonel in order to convene a court-martial
for his trial, in which the Colonel will act as President
and I as Judge Advocate.

"With nothing more to communicate, I hope you will attend
to my just claim and send a special delegate to investigate
our acts and see the truth, for perhaps if a statement comes
direct from me you will not believe it.

"I am your affectionate and faithful subordinate, who kisses
your hand,

(Signed) "_J. N. Leyba_." [292]

Blount states that conditions existed "just like this, all over Luzon and the Visayan Islands." [293] Unfortunately this was only too true!

The troops complained of by Leyba were made up of Aguinaldo's fellow townsmen. They never obeyed any one else, and left a trail of murder and rapine behind them. Aguinaldo never punished them, and from the time when one of them tried to murder their commander until a guard composed of them murdered General Antonio Luna in June, 1899, they are mentioned only with fear and execration.

Blount describes with enthusiasm the establishment of civil government in Cagayan.

Perhaps Americans will be interested in knowing who was its head and how it worked. The "elections" were held on December 9, 1898, and Dimas Guzman was chosen head of the province. He was the man subsequently sentenced to life-imprisonment by Blount, for complicity in the murder of Lieutenant Piera. In describing his method of conducting his government he says that the people doubted the legality of attempts to collect taxes; that the abuses of heads of towns caused rioting in the towns, in which only Ilocanos took part; and that he not only did not report these things but contrived to conceal them from foreigners in the province. [294]

His failure to report these troubles and disorders to his government is of interest, as Blount alleges [295] that differences between the local authorities were in a number of cases referred to the Malolos government for settlement.

Blount says [296] that General Otis's reports were full of inexcusable blunders about the Tagálogs taking possession of provinces and making the people do things, and cites the relations between Villa and Dimas Guzman to illustrate the error of these allegations.

He has elsewhere [297] referred to Villa as the "arch-fiend" in the matter of torturing the unhappy Spaniards as well as the Filipinos who incurred his ill-will. We have seen that Guzman proved an apt pupil and did credit to his instructor in connection with the torturing of Lieutenant Piera, but it nevertheless appears from Guzman's own statements that his relations with the Insurgent officers and their subordinates involved some rather grave difficulties. Of Major Canoy, for instance, he says:--

"I must add that the said Major Canoy is such a remarkable
character that he saw fit to give my cook a beating for not
taking off his hat when he met him. He insulted the delegate
of rents of Cabagan Viejo for the same reason. He struck the
head man of the town of Bagabag in the face. He put some of
the members of the town council of Echague in the stocks,
and he had others whipped." [298]

It was really incautious for Governor Guzman to complain of these conditions because Major Canoy and his party won, and the Governor had to resign.

But the day of reckoning came. It was in consequence of the atrocities committed by the Tagálog soldiers in the Cagayan valley that Captain Batchelder was able a little later to march practically unopposed through the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela and Cagayan with one battalion of American negro troops, for whom he had neither food nor extra ammunition, and that Tirona surrendered the Insurgent forces in the valley without attempting resistance!