Note 14 — V. The Nineteenth Century and Economic Development

“The first result was the collision of the new arrivals with the exploiters of the old order, whose peaceful possession of a livelihood which suited them—because nobody questioned it or disturbed it—was suddenly threatened by the competition of more active, more industrious, better prepared and richer individuals, supported by firms located in the most important centers of the commercial world. In the same manner as, by arrival of the Spaniards, the old Filipino caciques were subjected to the Spanish officials, now the caciques who dominated during the period of tutelar sequestration found themselves immediately supplanted and converted into something lower than the new caciques of the economic order. They (the former) understood that such supremacy would give them (the latter) supremacy in everything. To defend their position they had recourse to the anti-foreign sentiments of the entire community; foreigners had always been regarded as the enemies of Spain and God; they must be the enemies of the Filipinos, too. The crusade was not new; it had been used before with excellent results at the time of the English domination. This campaign was hardly started when the cholera for the first time made its appearance in Manila. Taking advantage of that event, which was also called providential, the rumor was started that the foreigners had poisoned the waters of the Pasig, with the results that in 1820 the people of Manila exterminated the foreigners who were then residing at the capital.” (Tavera, Ibid.)