Note 5 — APPENDIX: AGRICULTURE IN FILIPINAS

A remedy for these abuses would consist in the limitation of districts, and the jurisdiction of the municipality, so that, for the purpose of increasing the landed property for the inhabitants of a village, so much land should remain free as they could at the time reasonably claim—more or less than the so-called municipal field (legua comunal), of which, besides, no law makes mention. All the remaining land located within the jurisdiction should be declared the property of the crown, and the title to all possessions then located outside of municipal control should be valid; but in future all possessions that shall not conform to the said rules shall be declared invalid. Within the municipal limits or the legal property of the village (which may not extend beyond the sound of the bell) the native farmer should be allowed to dwell, [even] outside of the village, in the midst of the lands cultivated by him; and only in case he alienates or abandons these should he be compelled to live in the village. The natives should bring new plots under cultivation within the municipality, and be able to acquire these by paying to the communal treasury a small ground-rent, or a moderate sum once for all. Such grants should proceed, with all publicity, from the entire body of the notables, with the cooperation of the parish priest, and be recorded in a safely-kept book in every village, and should never contain a greater area than the applicant can till with his own carabaos [Büffeln]. If such grant of state land does not exceed a quinõn, it should be issued, according to the aforesaid forms, by the alcalde5 of the province; if of greater extent, in the capital of the colony; but all ought to be recorded in the land-register of the province and village concerned. Those measures that were taken for the benefit of the natives and the promotion of cattle-raising, but which have an opposite effect, ought to be abolished. Agriculture, like every other occupation, needs no protection save clearness and security in its essential conditions of life.