Note 16 — Chapter XIV · THE EXILE OF DAPITAN

Rizal. Do not think so. The influence of the friars is waning in all parts of the world. I am bold enough to assure you that wherever a government, even a little advanced, would give a free hand to five or six honest and patriotic men, the power of the friars would disappear. In Madrid it is perfectly well known what the friars are doing here. So true is this that in the first interview I had with Pi y Linares Rivas, when he was a member of the Liberal party of Spain, he told me of things in this country of which, although I was born here, I had been in ignorance. I can cite to you many other instances of men in Spain that have exact data on the lives and characters of the friars in the Philippines. These gentlemen said to me: “The bad governments that in Spain are following one another are blamed for many abuses that in reality are wrought by the religious corporations. On the day when things change we shall not forget the real offenders.” Excuse me for saying this to you, but the friars are not wanted in the Philippines. Always they become more repugnant and hateful as always they interfere the more in conditions and affairs that do not belong to them.16