Note 3 — Chapter XV · The Administration of Justice

The other is the unreliability of many witnesses and their shocking readiness to perjure themselves. It is always possible to manufacture testimony at small expense. While the criminal libel suit brought against certain members of the staff of the newspaper El Renacimiento, which libelled me, was in progress the judge showed me the opinion of the two Filipino assessors3 in one of the cases and told me that it was written by an attorney for the defence. I could not believe this, but a few days later an assessor in another of the cases called at my house, bringing a draft of the opinion of himself and his associate which he sought to submit to me for criticism or modification, saying that I knew much more about the case than they did! He was nonplussed at my refusal to read the document, and left saying “acqui tiene V. nuevo servidor.”4 Had I redrafted the opinion, as I might have done, my “new servant” would have called later for a quid pro quo.