The Philippines a Century Hence
the nobility, they follow with the axe and plow of the pioneer where
the Spaniards had opened the way with cross and sword. A considerable
part of Spanish America already belongs to the United States, and has,
since that occurred, attained an importance which could not have been
anticipated either during Spanish rule or during the anarchy which
ensued after and from it. In the long run, the Spanish system cannot
prevail over the American. While the former exhausts the colonies
through direct appropriation of them to the privileged classes, and
the metropolis through the drain of its best forces (with, besides, a
feeble population), America draws to itself the most energetic element
from all lands; and these on her soil, free from all trammels, and
restlessly pushing forward, are continually extending further her
power and influence. The Philippines will so much the less escape
the influence of the two great neighboring empires, since neither
the islands nor their metropolis are in a condition of stable
equilibrium. It seems desirable for the natives that the opinions
here expressed shall not too soon be realized as facts, for their
training thus far has not sufficiently prepared them for success in
the contest with those restless, active, most inconsiderate peoples;
they have dreamed away their youth."
THE PHILIPPINES A CENTURY HENCE
I.
Following our usual custom of facing squarely the most difficult and
delicate questions relating to the Philippines, without weighing the
consequences that our frankness may bring upon us, we shall in the
present article treat of their future.
In order to read the destiny of a people, it is necessary to open
the book of its past, and this, for the Philippines, may be reduced
in general terms to what follows.
Scarcely had they been attached to the Spanish crown than they had to
sustain with their blood and the efforts of their sons the wars and
ambitions of conquest of the Spanish people, and in these struggles,
in that terrible crisis when a people changes its form of government,
its laws, usages, customs, religion and beliefs the Philippines were
depopulated, impoverished and retarded--caught in their metamorphosis,
without confidence in their past, without faith in their present and
with no fond hope for the years to come. The former rulers who had
merely endeavored to secure the fear and submission of their subjects,
habituated by them to servitude, fell like leaves from a dead tree, and
the people, who had no love for them nor knew what liberty was, easily
changed masters, perhaps hoping to gain something by the innovation.
Then began a new era for the Filipinos. They gradually lost their
ancient traditions, their recollections--they forgot their writings,
their songs, their poetry, their laws, in order to learn by heart
other doctrines, which they did not understand, other ethics,
other tastes, different from those inspired in their race by their
climate and their way of thinking. Then there was a falling-off,
they were lowered in their own eyes, they became ashamed of what was
distinctively their own, in order to admire and praise what was foreign
and incomprehensible: their spirit was broken and they acquiesced.
Thus years and centuries rolled on. Religious shows, rites that
caught the eye, songs, lights, images arrayed with gold, worship in
a strange language, legends, miracles and sermons, hypnotized the
already naturally superstitious spirit of the country, but did not
succeed in destroying it altogether, in spite of the whole system
afterwards developed and operated with unyielding tenacity.
When the ethical abasement of the inhabitants had reached this stage,
when they had become disheartened and disgusted with themselves,
an effort was made to add the final stroke for reducing so many
dormant wills and intellects to nothingness, in order to make of
the individual a sort of toiler, a brute, a beast of burden, and to
develop a race without mind or heart. Then the end sought was revealed,
it was taken for granted, the race was insulted, an effort was made
to deny it every virtue, every human characteristic, and there were
even writers and priests who pushed the movement still further by
trying to deny to the natives of the country not only capacity for
virtue but also even the tendency to vice.
Then this which they had thought would be death was sure
salvation. Some dying persons are restored to health by a heroic
remedy.
So great endurance reached its climax with the insults, and the
lethargic spirit woke to life. His sensitiveness, the chief trait of
the native, was touched, and while he had had the forbearance to suffer
and die under a foreign flag, he had it not when they whom he served
repaid his sacrifices with insults and jests. Then he began to study
himself and to realize his misfortune. Those who had not expected this
result, like all despotic masters, regarded as a wrong every complaint,
every protest, and punished it with death, endeavoring thus to stifle
every cry of sorrow with blood, and they made mistake after mistake.
The spirit of the people was not thereby cowed, and even though it had
been awakened in only a few hearts, its flame nevertheless was surely
and consumingly propagated, thanks to abuses and the stupid endeavors
of certain classes to stifle noble and generous sentiments. Thus when
a flame catches a garment, fear and confusion propagate it more and
more, and each shake, each blow, is a blast from the bellows to fan
it into life.
Undoubtedly during all this time there were not lacking generous and
noble spirits among the dominant race that tried to struggle for the
rights of humanity and justice, or sordid and cowardly ones among
the dominated that aided the debasement of their own country. But
both were exceptions and we are speaking in general terms.
Such is an outline of their past. We know their present. Now, what
will their future be?
Will the Philippine Islands continue to be a Spanish colony, and if
so, what kind of colony? Will they become a province of Spain, with
or without autonomy? And to reach this stage, what kind of sacrifices
will have to be made?
Will they be separated from the mother country to live independently,
to fall into the hands of other nations, or to ally themselves with
neighboring powers?
It is impossible to reply to these questions, for to all of them
both yes and no may be answered, according to the time desired to be
covered. When there is in nature no fixed condition, how much less
must there be in the life of a people, beings endowed with mobility
and movement! So it is that in order to deal with these questions, it
is necessary to presume an unlimited period of time, and in accordance
therewith try to forecast future events.
II.
What will become of the Philippines within a century? Will they
continue to be a Spanish colony?
Had this question been asked three centuries ago, when at Legazpi's
death the Malayan Filipinos began to be gradually undeceived and,
finding the yoke heavy, tried in vain to shake it off, without
any doubt whatsoever the reply would have been easy. To a spirit
enthusiastic over the liberty of the country, to those unconquerable
Kagayanes who nourished within themselves the spirit of the Magalats,
to the descendants of the heroic Gat Pulintang and Gat Salakab of
the Province of Batangas, independence was assured, it was merely a
question of getting together and making a determined effort. But for
him who, disillusioned by sad experience, saw everywhere discord and
disorder, apathy and brutalization in the lower classes, discouragement
and disunion in the upper, only one answer presented itself, and it
was: extend his hands to the chains, bow his neck beneath the yoke and
accept the future with the resignation of an invalid who watches the
leaves fall and foresees a long winter amid whose snows he discerns the
outlines of his grave. At that time discord justified pessimism--but
three centuries passed, the neck had become accustomed to the yoke,
and each new generation, begotten in chains, was constantly better
adapted to the new order of things.
Now, then, are the Philippines in the same condition they were three
centuries ago?
For the liberal Spaniards the ethical condition of the people
remains the same, that is, the native Filipinos have not advanced;
for the friars and their followers the people have been redeemed from
savagery, that is, they have progressed; for many Filipinos ethics,
spirit and customs have decayed, as decay all the good qualities of
a people that falls into slavery that is, they have retrograded.
Laying aside these considerations, so as not to get away from our
subject, let us draw a brief parallel between the political situation
then and the situation at present, in order to see if what was not
possible at that time can be so now, or vice versa.
Let us pass over the loyalty the Filipinos may feel for Spain;
let us suppose for a moment, along with Spanish writers, that there
exist only motives for hatred and jealousy between the two races;
let us admit the assertions flaunted by many that three centuries
of domination have not awakened in the sensitive heart of the native
a single spark of affection or gratitude; and we may see whether or
not the Spanish cause has gained ground in the Islands.
Formerly the Spanish authority was upheld among the natives by a
handful of soldiers, three to five hundred at most, many of whom were
engaged in trade and were scattered about not only in the Islands but
also among the neighboring nations, occupied in long wars against
the Mohammedans in the south, against the British and Dutch, and
ceaselessly harassed by Japanese, Chinese, or some tribe in the
interior. Then communication with Mexico and Spain was slow, rare
and difficult; frequent and violent the disturbances among the ruling
powers in the Islands, the treasury nearly always empty, and the life
of the colonists dependent upon one frail ship that handled the Chinese
trade. Then the seas in those regions were infested with pirates,
all enemies of the Spanish name, which was defended by an improvised
fleet, generally manned by rude adventurers, when not by foreigners
and enemies, as happened in the expedition of Gomez Perez Dasmarinas,
which was checked and frustrated by the mutiny of the Chinese rowers,
who killed him and thwarted all his plans and schemes. Yet in spite of
so many adverse circumstances the Spanish authority has been upheld
for more than three centuries and, though it has been curtailed,
still continues to rule the destinies of the Philippine group.
On the other hand, the present situation seems to be gilded and
rosy--as we might say, a beautiful morning compared to the vexed and
stormy night of the past. The material forces at the disposal of
the Spanish sovereign have now been trebled; the fleet relatively
improved; there is more organization in both civil and military
affairs; communication with the sovereign country is swifter and surer;
she has no enemies abroad; her possession is assured; and the country
dominated seems to have less spirit, less aspiration for independence,
a word that is to it almost incomprehensible. Everything then at
first glance presages another three centuries, at least, of peaceful
domination and tranquil suzerainty.
But above the material considerations are arising others, invisible,
of an ethical nature, far more powerful and transcendental.
Orientals, and the Malays in particular, are a sensitive people:
delicacy of sentiment is predominant with them. Even now, in spite
of contact with the occidental nations, who have ideals different
from his, we see the Malayan Filipino sacrifice everything--liberty,