Note 10 — Chapter XVIII · Governor Wright—1904

All the presidentes that I have talked with, and this man Hill,10 said that they wanted some protection for their towns. Except at Borongan there are no guns in the hands of the municipal police.11 This band near Taft was said to have nineteen guns, and they felt they could not defend their towns with spears against these guns. There were reported to be between 200 and 600 in operation on the coast at that time, and they felt that they could not defend their towns with the means at hand. I found at Taft that they had taken all the records of the municipality, and the money, and taken it over to an island away from the main coast, in order to protect their money and their records, and I understand the same thing was done at Llorente. At Oras they had practically decided to take the same step if it became necessary. All of the commercial houses on the east coast and a large number of people congregated at Borongan, which was safe on account of the protection of the constabulary; and the constabulary there were doing very good work, doing everything they could with their small force, and they (the presidentes) felt that if they had guns in the hands of the municipal police or if they had the constabulary to guard their towns, they could go out after these people themselves.