Spanish-Philippine Finances

The secession of Mexico from the Spanish Crown in the second decade of last century brought with it a complete revolution in Philippine affairs. Direct trade with Europe through one channel or another had necessarily to be permitted. The “Situado,” or subsidy (vide p. 244), received from Mexico became a thing of the past, and necessity urged the home authorities to relax, to a certain extent, the old restraint on the development of Philippine resources.

In 1839 the first Philippine Budget was presented in the Spanish Córtes, but so little interest did the affairs of the Colony excite that it provoked no discussion. After the amendment of only one item the Budget was adopted in silence. It was not the practice in the earliest years to publish the full Philippine Budget in the Islands, although allusion was necessarily made to items of it in the Gaceta de Manila. However, it could be seen without difficulty in Madrid. Considering that the Filipinos had no political rights, except for the very brief period alluded to in Chapter xxii. (vide Córtes de Cádiz), it is evident that popular discussion of public finance would have been undesirable, because it could have led to no practical issue.

There is apparently no record of the Philippine Islands having been at any time in a flourishing financial condition. With few exceptions, in latter years the collected revenue of the Colony was usually much less than the estimated yield of taxes. The Budget for 1888 is here given in detail as an example.

Philippine Budgets

Financial Year. Estimated Income. Income Realized. Difference.

₱ ₱ ₱

1884–85 11,298,508.98 9,893,745.87 1,404,763.11

1885–86 11,528,178.00 9,688,029.70 1,840,148.30

1886–87 11,554,379.00 9,324,974.08 2,229,404.92

1894–95 13,280,139.40 13,579,900.00 299,760.60

1896–97 17,086,423.00 17,474,000.00 387,577.00

Anticipated Revenue, Year 1888

₱ cts.

Direct Taxes 5,206,836 93

Customs Dues 2,023,400 00

Government Monopolies (stamps, cock-fighting, opium, gambling, etc.) 1,181,239 00

Lotteries and Raffles 513,200 00

Sale of State property 153,571 00

War and Marine Department (sale of useless articles. Gain on repairs to private ships in the Government Arsenal) 15,150 00

Sundries 744,500 00

9,837,896 93

Anticipated Expenditure, year 1888 9,825,633 29

Anticipated Surplus ₱ 12,263 64

The actual deficit in the last previous Budget for which there was no provision was estimated at ₱1,376,179.56, against which the above balance would be placed. There were some remarkable inconsistencies in the 1888 Budget. The Inspection of Woods and Forests was an institution under a Chief Inspector with a salary of ₱6,500, assisted by a technical staff of 64 persons and 52 non-technical subordinates. The total cost for the year was estimated at ₱165,960, against which the expected income derived from duties on felled timber was ₱80,000; hence a loss of ₱85,960 was duly anticipated to satisfy office-seekers. Those who wished to cut timber were subjected to very complicated and vexatious regulations. The tariff of duties and mode of calculating it were capriciously modified from time to time on no commercial basis whatever. Merchants who had contracted to supply timber at so much per foot for delivery within a fixed period were never sure of their profits; for the dues might, meanwhile, be raised without any consideration for trading interests. The most urgent material want of the Colony was easy means of communication with the interior of the Islands. Yet, whilst this was so sadly neglected, the Budget provided the sum of ₱113,686.64 for a School of Agriculture in Manila and 10 model farms and Schools of Cultivation in the provinces. It was not the want of farming knowledge, but the scarcity of capital and the scandalous neglect of public highways and bridges for transport of produce which retarded agriculture. The 113,000 pesos, if disbursed on roads, bridges, town halls, and landing-jetties, would have benefited the Colony; as it was, this sum went to furnish salaries to needy Spaniards.

The following are some of the most interesting items of the Budget:

Curious Items of Revenue

₱ cts.

2,760,613 Identification Documents (Cedulas personales), costing 4 per cent, to collect—gross value 4,401,629 25

Tax on the above, based on the estimated local consumption of Tobacco 222,500 00

Chinese Capitation Tax 236,250 00

Tax on the above for the estimated local consumption of Tobacco 11,250 00

Recognition of vassalage collected from the unsubdued mountain tribes 12,000 00

Industrial and Trading Licences (costing ½ per cent, to collect), gross value 1,350,000 00

Yield of the Opium Contract (farmed out) 483,400 00

Yield of the Cock-fighting Contract (farmed out) 149,039 00

Lotteries and Raffles, nett profit say 501,862 00

State Lands worked by miners 100 00

Sale of State Lands 50,000 00

Mint—Profits on the manipulation of the bullion, less expenses of the Mint (₱ 46,150), nett 330,350 00

Stamps and Stamped Paper 548,400 00

Convict labour hired out 50,000 00

Curious Items of Expenditure

₱ cts.

34 per cent, of the maintenance of Fernando Po (by Decree of August 5, 1884) 68,618 18

Share of the pension paid to the heir of Christopher Columbus, the Duke de Veragua (₱ 23,400 a year) 3,000 00

Share of the pension paid to Ferdinand Columbus, Marquis de Bárboles 1,000 00

The Marquis de Bedmar is the heir of the assayer and caster in the Mint of Potosi (Peru). The concern was taken over by the Spanish Government, in return for an annual perpetual pension, of which this Colony contributed the sum of 1,500 00

The Consular and Diplomatic Services, Philippine Share 66,000 00

Postal and Telegraph Services (staff of 550 persons) 406,547 17

The Submarine Cable Co. Subsidy (Bolinao to Hong-Kong) 48,000 00

Charitable Institutions partly supported by Government, including the “Lepersʼ Hospital” ₱500 26,887 50

The Army and Armed Land Forces

Rank and File and Non-commissioned Officers as follows:—

Infantry, Artillery, Engineer, and Carabineer Corps 9,470

Cavalry Corps 407

Disciplinary Corps (Convicts) 630

Disciplinary Corps (Non-commissioned Officers) 92

Three Civil Guard Corps (Provincial Constabulary) 3,342

Veteran Civil Guard Corps (Manila Military Police) 400

Total number of men 14,341

Army Officers in the Philippines.

Year 1888.

How Employed. Lieutenant-Generals. Brigadier-Generals. Colonels. Lieutenant-Colonels. Majors. Captains. Lieutenants. Sub-Lieutenants. Totals.

Governor-General, with local rank of Captain-General 1 1

Employed in Government Administration, Political Military Provincial Governments, Staff Officers and Officers at the Orders of the Governor-General 1 7 7 14 39 37 23 12 140

With command or attached to Army Corps and Disciplinary Corps 5 11 14 88 136 127 381

Civil Guard 3 3 9 33 54 54 156

Veteran Civil Guard 1 6 6 13

Invalid Corps 1 1

Military Academy 1 1 2 4

Prisons and Penitentiaries 1 1 4 3 9

Commissariat Department 1 1 1 14 18 35

Judicial Audit Department 1 1 2 2 6

In expectation of service 1 3 6 12 12 12 46

In excess of Active Service requirements 3 1 7 9 20

Total of Officers 2 9 19 36 73 191 262 220 812

The Archbishop, as Vicar-General of the Armed Forces, ranked in precedence as a Field-Marshal. (In the Spanish Army a Field-Marshal ranks between a Brig.-General and Lieut.-General.)

Officersʼ Pay Per Annum

After 6 yearsʼ and up to 9 yearsʼ service, an officer could claim a free passage back to the Peninsula for himself and, if married, his family.

After 9 yearsʼ service, his retirement from the Colony for three years was compulsory. If he nevertheless wished to remain in the Colony, he must quit military service. If he left before completing six yearsʼ service, he would have to pay his own passage unless he went “on commission” or with sick-leave allowance.

Estimated Annual Disbursements for—

₱ cts

The Civil Guard (Constabulary), composed of Three Corps = 3,342 Men and 156 Officers 638,896 77

The Veteran Civil Guard (Manila Police) One Corps = 400 Men and 13 Officers 73,246 88

The Disciplinary Corps, Maintenance of 630 Convicts and Material 56,230 63

(For the Disciplinary Convict Corps) 92 Non-commissioned Officers and 23 Officers 47,909 51

₱104,140 14

Army Estimates

₱ cts

Estimate according to the Budget for 1888 Plus the following sums charged on other estimates, viz.:— 3,016,185 91

Disciplinary Corps, maintenance of 630 Convicts and material 56,230 63

The Civil Guard 638,896 77

The Veteran Civil Guard 73,246 88

Pensions 117,200 00

Transport and maintenance of Recruits from Provinces 6,000 00

Expeditions to be made against the Moros—Religious ceremonies to celebrate Victories gained over them—Maintenance of War Prisoners, etc. 11,000 00

Total cost of Army and Armed Land Forces ₱3,918,760 19

Before the walls were built around Manila, about the year 1590, each soldier and officer lived where he pleased, and, when required, the troops were assembled by the bugle call.

At the close of the 16th century barracks were constructed, but up to the middle of last century the native troops were so badly and irregularly paid that they went from house to house begging alms of the citizens (vide p. 53, King Philip II.ʼs Decree).

In the 17th century troops died of sheer want in the Fort of Ylígan (Mindanao Is.), and when this was represented to the Gov.-General he generously ordered that the Spanish soldiers were in future to be paid ₱2 per month and native soldiers ₱1 per month to hold the fort, at the risk of their lives, against attack from the Mahometans.

In the forts of Labo and Taytay (Palaúan Is.) the soldiersʼ pay was only nominal, rations were often short, and their lives altogether most wretched. Sometimes they were totally overlooked by the military chiefs, and they had to seek subsistence as best they could when provisions were not sent from the capital (videp. 157).

Mexican soldiers arrived in nearly every ship, but there were no barracks for them, no regular mode of living, no regulations for their board and lodging, etc.; hence many had to subsist by serving natives and half-breeds, much to the discredit of the mother country, and consequent loss of prestige. Each time a new expedition was organized a fresh recruiting had to be made at great cost and with great delay. There was practically no regular army except those necessarily compelled to mount guard, etc., in the city. Even the officers received no regular pay until 1754, and there was some excuse for stealing when they had a chance, and for the total absence of enthusiasm in the Service. When troops were urgently called for, the Gov.-General had to bargain with the officers to fill the minor posts by promises of rewards, whilst the high commands were eagerly sought for, not for the pay or the glory, but for the plunder in perspective.

In 1739 the Armoury in Manila contained only 25 Arquebuses of native make, 120 Biscayan muskets, 40 Flint guns, 70 Hatchets, and 40 Cutlasses.

The 20 companies were each composed as follows:—

1 captain, 1 lieutenant, 1 sub-lieutenant, 4 sergeants, 2 drummers, 6 first corporals, 6 seconds corporals, and 88 rank and file.

The Gov.-Generalʼs Body Guard of Halberdiers was reformed, and thenceforth consisted of 18 men, under a captain and a corporal.

The Monthly Pay under these reforms was as follows:—

Staff Officers. P. Regimental Officers and Staff P. c. Governor-Generalʼs Body Guard P.

Chief of the Staff 40 Captain 25 00 Captain 35

Adjutant-Major. 25 Lieutenant. 18 00 Corporal 10

Adjutant. 18 Sub-Lieutenant. 14 00 Guards 5

Captain 12 Sergeant 4 00

Drummer 3 00

First Corporal 3 25

Second Corporal 3 00

Rank and File 2 62½

From October 1, 1754, the troops were quartered in barracks, Commissariat Officers were appointed, and every man and every officer was regularly paid fortnightly. The soldiers were not used to this discipline, and desertion was frequent. They much preferred the old style of roaming about to beg or steal and live where they chose until they were called out to service, and very vigorous measures had to be adopted to compel them to comply with the new regulations.

In May, 1755, four artillery brigades were formed, the commanding officer of each receiving ₱30 per month pay.

In 1757 there were 16 fortified provincial outposts, at a total estimated cost of ₱37,638 per annum (including Zamboanga, the chief centre of operations against the Mahometans, which alone cost ₱18,831 in 1757), besides the armed forces and Camp of Manila, Fort Santiago, and Cavite Arsenal and Fort, which together cost a further sum of ₱157,934 for maintenance in that year.

Spanish Vessels in Philippine Waters

Year 1898

Name. Class. Tons. H.P.

Reina Cristina Cruiser 3,500 3,950

Castilla Cruiser 3,260 4,400

Don Ant^o. de Ulloa Cruiser 1,200 1,523

Don Juan de Austria Cruiser 1,130 1,600

Isla de Cuba Cruiser 1,048 2,200

Isla de Luzon Cruiser 1,048 2,200

Velasco Gunboat 1,152 1,500

Elcano Gunboat 560 600

General Lezo Gunboat 520 600

Argos Gunboat 508 600

Marqués del Duero Gunboat 500 550

Manila Transport 1,900 750

General Alava Transport 1,200 1,000

Cebú Transport 532 600

Callao Gunboat, and 4 others very small, besides 3 armed steam launches built in Hong-Kong, viz.:—Lanao, Corcuera, and General Blanco.

Naval Divisions

Station. Commanderʼs Pay.

₱

South Division 5,760

Palaúan (Pta. Princesa) 4,560

Isabel de Basílan 3,360

Balábac Island 3,360

Corregidor Island 3,360

West Caroline Islands 3,360

East Caroline Islands 4,560

Navy Estimates—Judicial Statistics Harbour-Masters

Station. Pay. Station. Pay.

₱ ₱

Manila 3,200 Pangasinán 1,500

Yloilo 3,200 Ilocos Norte y Sur. 1,500

Cebú 1,500 Cagayán 1,500

Cápis 1,500 Ladrone Islands 1,500

Zamboanga 1,500 Laguimanoc (Civilian) 144

The Chief of the Philippine Naval Forces was a Rear-Admiral receiving ₱16,392 per annum.

There were two Brigades of Marine Infantry, composed of 376 men with 18 officers.

Cavite Arsenal

The chief Naval Station was at Cavite, six miles from Manila. The forces at this station were 90 Marines as Guards, and 244 Marines as reserves. One hundred convicts were employed for Arsenal labour.

The Officer in command of the Cavite Arsenal and Naval Station took rank after the Rear-Admiral, and received a salary of ₱8,496 per annum.

The Navy Estimates (Budget for 1888) amounted to ₱2,573,776·27.

Spanish Judicial Statistics

Civil and Criminal Law Courts

The Civil and Criminal Law Courts were as follows, viz.:—

2 Supreme Courts in Manila and Cebú, quite independent of each other.

4 First-Class Courts of Justice in Manila (called “de término.”)

8 First-Class Courts of Justice in the Provinces (called “de término.”)

10 Second-Class Courts of Justice in the Provinces (called “de ascenso.”)

19 Third-Class Courts of Justice in the Provinces (called “de entrada.”)

7 Provincial Governments with judicial powers.

Judgesʼ Salaries

President of the Supreme Court of Manila ₱7,000

President of the Supreme Court of Cebu 6,000

Judge of each of the 12 First-Class Courts 4,000

Judge of each of the 10 Second-Class Courts 3,000

Judge of each of the 19 Third-Class Courts 2,000

Law Courts Estimate for 1888

₱ cts.

Supreme Court of Manila 90,382 00

Supreme Court of Cebú 49,828 00

All the minor Courts and allowances to Provincial Governors with judicial powers 192,656 00

Estimated total cost for the year ₱332,866 00

Penitentiaries and Convict Settlements

Manila (Bilíbid Jail) containing on an average 900 Native Convicts

And in 1888 there were also 3 Spanish Convicts

Cavite Jail contained in 1888 51 Native Convicts

Zamboanga Jail contained in 1888 98 Native Convicts

Agricultural Colony of San Ramon (Zamboanga), worked by convict labour, contained in 1888 164 Native Convicts

Ladrone Island Penal Settlement contained in 1888 101 Native Convicts

Ladrone Island Penal Settlement contained in 1888 3 Spanish Convicts

In the Army and Navy Services 730 Native Convicts

2,045 Convicts

Total estimated disbursements for Penitentiaries and Convict maintenance in the Settlements for the year ₱82,672.71

Brigandage first came into prominence in Governor Arandiaʼs time (1754–59), and he used the means of “setting a thief to catch a thief,” which answered well for a short time, until the crime became more and more habitual as provincial property increased in value and capital was accumulated there. In 1888 the Budget provided an allowance of 2,000 pesos for rewards for the capture or slaughter of these ruffians. Up to the end of Spanish rule, brigandage, pillage, and murder were treated with such leniency by the judges that there was little hope for the extinction of such crimes. When a band of thieves and assassins attacked a village or a residence, murdered its inhabitants, and carried off booty, the Civil Guard at once scoured the country, and often the malefactors were arrested. The Civil Guard was an excellent institution, and performed its duty admirably well; but as soon as the villains were handed over to the legal functionaries, society lost hope. Instead of the convicted criminals being garrotted according to law, as the public had a right to demand, they were “protected”; some were let loose on the world again, whilst others were sent to prison and allowed to escape, or they were transported to a penal settlement to work without fetters, where they were just as comfortable as if they were working for a private employer. I record these facts from personal knowledge, for my wanderings in the Islands brought me into contact with all sorts and conditions of men. I have been personally acquainted with many brigands, and I gave regular employment to an ex-bandit for years.

The Philippine brigand—known in the northern islands as Tulisán and in the southern islands as Pulaján—is not merely an outlaw, such as may yet be found in Southern and Eastern Europe; his infamous work of freebooting is never done to his satisfaction without the complement of bloodshed, even though his victim yield to him all without demur. Booty or no booty, blood must flow, if he be the ordinary Tulisán of the type known to the Tagálogs as dugong-aso (blood of a dog). as distinguished from the milder Tulisán pulpul (literally, the blunt brigand), who robs, uses no unnecessary violence, but runs away if he can, and only fights when he must.

My friendʼs house had the front door smashed in—an iron strong-box had been forced, and a few hundred pesos, with some rare coins, were stolen. The furniture in the dining-room was wantonly hacked about with bowie-knives, only to satisfy a savage love for mischief. His bedroom had been entered, and there the brigands began to make their harvest; the bundles of wearing-apparel, jewellery, and other valuables were already tied up, when lo! the Virgin herself appeared, casting a penetrating glance of disapproval upon the wicked revelry! Forsaking their plunder, the brigands fled in terror from the saintly apparition. And when my friend re-entered his home and crossed the bloodstained floor of the dining-room to go to his bedroom, the cardboard Virgin, with a trade advertisement on the back, was still peeping round the door-jamb to which she was nailed, with the words “Please to shut the door” printed on her spotless bust.

The next day the Captain remained in the village whilst I went on with the Lieutenant and a few guards in a prahu down the coast, where we made further captures, and returned in three days. During our journey in the prahu the wind was so strong that we resolved to beach our craft on the seashore instead of attempting to get over the shoal of the San Juan River. We ran her ashore under full sail, and just at that moment a native rushed towards us with an iron bar in his hand. In the evening gloom he must have mistaken us for a party of weather-beaten native or Chinese traders whose skulls he might smash in at a stroke and rifle their baggage. He halted, however, perfectly amazed when two guards with their bayonets fixed jumped forward in front of him. Then we got out, took him prisoner, and the next day he was let off with a souvenir of the lash, as there was nothing to prove that he was a brigand by profession. The second leader of the brigand gang was shot through the lungs a week afterwards, by the guards who were on his track, as he was jumping from the window-opening of a hut, and there he died.

The Captain of the Civil Guard received an anonymous letter stating where the brigand chief was hiding. This fact came to the knowledge of the native cuadrillero officer who had hitherto supplied his friend, the brigand, with rice daily, so he hastened on before the Captain could arrive, and imposed silence for ever on the fugitive bandit by stabbing him in the back. Thus the cuadrillero avoided the disclosure of unpleasant facts which would have implicated himself. The prisoners were conducted to the provincial jail, and three years afterwards, when I made inquiries about them, I learnt that two of them had died of their wounds, whilst not a single one had been sentenced.

The most ignorant classes believe that certain persons are possessed of a mystic power called anting-anting, which preserves them from all harm, and that the body of a man so affected is even refractory to bullet or steel. Brigands are often captured wearing medallions of the Virgin Mary or the Saints as a device of the anting-anting. In Maragondón (Cavite), the son of a friend of mine was enabled to go into any remote place with impunity, because he was reputed to be possessed of this charm. Some highwaymen, too, have a curious notion that they can escape punishment for a crime committed in Easter Week, because the thief on the cross was pardoned his sins.

In 1885 I purchased a small estate, where there was some good wild-boar hunting and snipe-shooting, and I had occasion to see the man who was tenant previous to my purchase, in Manila Jail. He was accused of having been concerned in an attack upon the town of Mariquina, and was incarcerated for eighteen months without being definitely convicted or acquitted. Three months after his release from prison he was appointed petty-governor of his own town, much to the disgust of the people, who in vain petitioned against it in writing.

I visited the Penal Settlement, known as the Agricultural Colony of San Ramon, situated about fifteen miles north of Zamboanga, where I remained twelve days. The director of the settlement was D. Felipe Dujiols, an army captain who had defended Oñate (in Guipuzcoa, Spain), during the Carlist war; so, as we were each able to relate our personal experiences of that stirring period, we speedily became friends. As his guest, I was able to acquire more ample information about the system of convict treatment. With the 25 convicts just arrived, there were in all 150 natives of the most desperate class—assassins, thieves, conspirators, etc., working on this penal settlement. They were well fed, fairly well lodged, and worked with almost the same freedom as independent labourers. Within a few yards of the directorʼs bungalow were the barracks, for the accommodation of a detachment of 40 soldiers—under the command of a lieutenant—who patrolled the settlement during the day and mounted guard at night. During my stay one prisoner was chained and flogged, but that was for a serious crime committed the day before. The severest hardship which these convicts had to endure under the rule of my generous host, D. Felipe, was the obligation to work as honest men in other countries would be willing to do. In this same penal settlement, some years ago, a party of convicts attacked and killed three of the European overseers, and then escaped to the Island of Basilan, which lies to the south of Zamboanga. The leader of these criminals was a native named Pedro Cuevas, whose career is referred to at length in Chap. xxix.

Within half a dayʼs journey from Manila there are several well-known maraudersʼ haunts, such as San Mateo, Imus, Silan, Indan, the mouths of the Hagonoy River (Pampanga), etc. In 1881 I was the only European amongst 20 to 25 passengers in a canoe going to Balanga on the west shore of Manila Bay, when about midday a canoe, painted black and without the usual outriggers, bore down upon us, and suddenly two gun-shots were fired, whilst we were called upon to surrender. The pirates numbered eight; they had their faces bedaubed white and their canoe ballasted with stones. There was great commotion in our craft; the men shouted and the women fell into a heap over me, reciting Ave Marias, and calling upon all the Saints to succour them. Just as I extricated myself and looked out from under the palm-leaf awning, the pirates flung a stone which severely cut our pilotʼs face. They came very close, flourishing their knives, but our crew managed to keep them from boarding us by pushing off their canoe with the paddles. When the enemy came within range of my revolver, one of their party, who was standing up brandishing a bowie-knife, suddenly collapsed into a heap. This seemed to discourage the rest, who gave up the pursuit, and we went on to Balanga.

The most famous Tulisán within living memory was a Chinese half-caste named Juan Fernandez, commonly known as Tancad (“tall,” in Tagálog) because of his extraordinary stature. His sphere of operations was around Bulacan, Tárlac, Mórong, and Nueva Ecija. He took part in 21 crimes which could have been proved against him, and doubtless many more. A man of wonderful perception and great bravery, he was only 35 years old when he was captured in Bulacan Province by the Spanish Captain Villa Abrille. Brought before a court-martial on the specific charge of being the chief actor in a wholesale slaughter at Tayud, which caused a great sensation at the time, he and ten of his companions were executed on August 28, 1877, to the immense relief of the people, to whom the very name of Tancad gave a thrill of horror.

No one experienced in the Colony ever thought of privately prosecuting a captured brigand, for a criminal or civil lawsuit in the Philippines was one of the worst calamities that could befall a man. Between notaries, procurators, barristers, and the sluggish process of the courts, a litigant was fleeced of his money, often worried into a bad state of health, and kept in horrible suspense for years. It was as hard to get the judgement executed as it was to win the case. Even when the question at issue was supposed to be settled, a defect in the sentence could always be concocted to re-open the whole affair. If the case had been tried and judgement given under the Civil Code, a way was often found to convert it into a criminal case; and when apparently settled under the Criminal Code, a flaw could be discovered under the Laws of the Indies, or the Siete Partidas, or the Roman Law, or the Novisima Recopilacion, or the Antiguos fueros, Decrees, Royal Orders, Ordenanzas de buen Gobierno, and so forth, by which the case could be re-opened. It was the same in the 16th century (vide p. 56).

I knew a planter in Negros Island who was charged with homicide. The judge of his province acquitted him, but fearing that he might again be arrested on the same charge, he came up to Manila with me to procure a ratification of the sentence in the Supreme Court. The legal expenses were so enormous that he was compelled to fully mortgage his plantation. Weeks passed, and having spent all his money without getting justice, I lent his notary £40 to assist in bringing the case to an end. The planter returned to Negros apparently satisfied that he would be troubled no further, but later on, the newly-appointed judge in that Island, whilst prospecting for fees by turning up old cases, unfortunately came across this one, and my planter acquaintance was sentenced to eight yearsʼ imprisonment, although the family lawyer, proceeding on the same shifty lines, still hoped to find defects in the sentence in order to reverse it in favour of his client.

About the year 1886 there was a cause célèbre, the parties being the firm of Jurado & Co. versus the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. The Bank had agreed to make advances on goods to be imported by the firm in exchange for the firmʼs acceptances. The agreement was subject to six monthsʼ notice from the Bank. In due course the Bank had reason to doubt the genuineness of certain documents. Mr. Jurado was imprisoned, but shortly released on bail. He was dismissed from his official post of second chief of Telegraphs, worth ₱4,000 a year. Goods, as they arrived for his firm, were stored pending litigation, and deteriorated to only a fraction of their original value. His firm was forced by these circumstances into liquidation, and Mr. Jurado sued the Bank for damages. The case was open for several years, during which time the Bank coffers were once sealed by judicial warrant, a sum of cash was actually transported from the Bank premises, and the manager was nominally arrested, but really a prisoner on parole in his house. Several sentences of the Court were given in favour of each party. Years after this they were all quashed on appeal to Madrid. Mr. Jurado went to Spain to fight his case, and in 1891 I accidentally met him and his brother (a lawyer) in the street in Madrid. The brother told me the claim against the Bank then amounted to ₱935,000, and judgement for that sum would be given within a fortnight. Still, years after that, when I was again in Manila, the case was yet pending, and another onslaught was made on the Bank. The Court called on the manager to deliver up the funds of the Bank, and on his refusal to do so a mechanic was sent there to open the safes, but he laboured in vain for a week. Then a syndicate of Philippine capitalists was formed to fleece the Bank, one of its most energetic members being a native private banker in Manila. Whilst the case was in its first stages I happened to be discussing it at a shop in the Escolta when one of the partners, a Spaniard, asked me if I would like to see with my own eyes the contending lawyers putting their heads together over the matter. “If so,” said he, “you have only to go through my shop and up the winding back staircase, from the landing of which you can see them any day you like at one oʼclock.” I accepted his invitation, and there, indeed, were the rival advocates laughing, gesticulating, and presumably cogitating how they could plunder the litigant who had most money to spend. At one stage of the proceedings the Bank specially retained a Spanish lawyer of great local repute, who went to Madrid to push the case. Later on Mr. Francis, Q.C., was sent over to Manila from Hong-Kong to advise the Bank. The Prime Minister was appealed to and the good offices of our Ambassador in Madrid were solicited. For a long time the Bank was placed in a most awkward legal dilemma. The other side contended that the Bank could not be heard, or appear for itself or by proxy, on the ground that under its own charter it had no right to be established in Manila; that, in view of the terms of that charter, it had never been legally registered as a Bank in Manila, and that it had no legal existence in the Philippines. This was merely a technical quibble. Several times when the case was supposed to be finally settled, it was again re-opened. Happily it may now be regarded as closed for ever.

A great many well-to-do natives have a mania for seeing their sons launched into the “learned professions”; hence there was a mob of native doctors who made a scanty living, and a swarm of half-lawyers, popularly called “abogadillos,” who were a pest to the Colony. Up to the beginning of the 18th century the offices of solicitors and notaries were filled from Mexico, where the licences to practise in Manila were publicly sold. After that period the colleges and the university issued licences to natives, thus creating a class of native pettifogging advocates who stirred up strife to make cases, for this purpose availing themselves of the intricacies of the law.

The Spanish-Philippine Criminal Law Procedure was briefly as follows:—(1) The Judge of Instruction took the sumaria, i.e., the inquiry into whether a crime had been committed, and, if so, who was the presumptive culprit. It was his duty to find the facts and sift the case. In a light case he could order the immediate arrest of the presumptive delinquent; in a grave case he would remit it. (2) In the Court of First Instance the verbal evidence was heard and sifted, the fiscal, or prosecuting attorney, expressing his opinion to the judge. The judge would then qualify the crime, and decide who was the presumptive culprit. Then the defence began, and when this was exhausted the judge would give his opinion. This court could not acquit or condemn the accused. The opinion on the sumaria was merely advisory, and not a sentence. This inquiry was called the “vista”; it was not in reality a trial, as the defendant was not allowed to cross-examine; but, on the other hand, in theory, he was not called upon to prove his innocence before two courts, but before the sentencing court (Audiencia) only. The case would then be remitted with the sumaria, and the opinion of the Court of First Instance, to the Audiencia, or Supreme Court, for review of errors of law, but not of facts which remained. The Audiencia did not call for testimony, but, if new facts were produced, it would remit back the sumaria to the lower court, with the new written testimony added to the autos (documents in the case). These new witnesses were never confronted with the accused, and might never be seen by him, and were not cross-examined. If no new facts were elicited, the record of the lower court would be accepted by the Audiencia, errors of law being the only point at issue, and this court might at once pass sentence. In practice the Audiencia usually treated the finding of the lower court as sentence (not merely opinion), and confirmed it, if no new testimony were produced and there were no errors of law. But, although the opinion of the lower court might be practically an acquittal, the Audiencia might find errors of law, thus placing the accused twice in jeopardy. If the case were remitted back, in view of new testimony, it finally returned to the Audiencia for decision, nine judges being required to give their opinion in a grave case, so that if the Court of First Instance and five judges of the Audiencia found the accused guilty, there was a majority against him. The sentencing court was always the Audiencia. If the sentence were against the accused, a final appeal could be made, by “writ of error,” to the Supreme Court of Spain, whose decision, however, rested not on facts, but on errors of law.

The (American) Insular Government tacitly admitted that the Spanish written law was excellent, notwithstanding its fulfilment being dilatory. The Spanish Penal Code has been adopted in its general application, but a new code, based on it, was in course of compilation in 1904. The application of the Spanish Code occasionally evolves some curious issues, showing its variance with fundamental American law. For instance, in September, 1905, a native adulteress having been found by her husband in flagrante delicto, he stabbed her to death. The Spanish law sustains the husbandʼs right to slay his faithless consort and her paramour, in such circumstances (vide p. 80), but provides that the lawful slayer shall be banished from the country. The principle of this law is based on Roman law, human instinctive reasoning, and the spirit of the law among the Latin nations of Europe. American law assumes this natural act of the husband to be a crime, but whilst admitting the validity of the Spanish Code in these Islands, the American bench was puzzled to decide what punishment could be inflicted if the arraigned husband committed contempt of court by thereafter returning to his native land.