The Philippines - Past and Present (Vol. 1&2). Dean C. Worcester
Insurgent rule, with which he was perfectly familiar, and in foisting on the public the account of Messrs. Wilcox and Sargent, as portraying the conditions which actually existed there, I propose to arraign him before the bar of public opinion. In so doing I shall consider these conditions at some length. We have much documentary evidence concerning them in addition to that furnished by the Insurgent records, although the latter quite sufficiently demonstrate many of the more essential facts.
In describing the adventures of Messrs. Wilcox and Sargent in this region, Judge Blount says:2—
“There3 they were met by Simeon Villa, military commander of Isabela province, the man who was chief of staff to Aguinaldo afterwards, and was captured by General Funston along with Aguinaldo in the spring of 1901.”
The facts as to Villa’s career in the Cagayan valley are especially worthy of note as they seem to have entitled him, in the opinion of his superiors, to the promotion which was afterward accorded him. He was an intimate friend of Aguinaldo and later accompanied him on his long flight through northern Luzon.
On August 10, 1898, Colonel Daniel Tirona, a native of Cavite Province and one of the intimates of Aguinaldo, was ordered to proceed to Aparri in the Insurgent steamer Filipinas and establish the revolutionary government in northern Luzon. In doing this he was to hold elections for office-holders under Aguinaldo’s government and was authorized to approve or disapprove the results, his action being subject to subsequent revision by Aguinaldo. His forces were composed of four companies armed with rifles.
Tirona reached Aparri on August 25 and promptly secured the surrender of the Spaniards there.
He was accompanied by Simeon Villa, the man under discussion, and by Colonel Leyba, who was also very close to Aguinaldo.
Abuse of the Spanish prisoners began at once. It is claimed that the governor of North Ilocos, who was among those captured, was grossly mistreated.
Taylor briefly summarizes subsequent events as follows:4—
“Whatever the treatment of the Spanish governor of Ilocos may really have been, there is testimony to show that some of the other prisoners, especially the priests, were abused and outraged under the direction of S. Villa and Colonel Leyba, both of whom were very close to Aguinaldo. Some of the Spanish civil officials were put in stocks and beaten, and one of the officers who had surrendered at Aparri was tortured to death. This was done with the purpose of extorting money from them, for it was believed that they had hidden funds in place of turning them over. All the Spaniards were immediately stripped of everything they had. The priests were subjected to a systematic series of insults and abuse under the direction of Villa in order to destroy their influence over the people by degrading them in their eyes. It was for this that they were beaten and exposed naked in the sun; and other torture, such as pouring tile wax of burning candles into their eyes, was used to make them disclose where they had hidden church vessels and church funds. The testimony of a friar who suffered these outrages is that the great mass of the people saw such treatment of their parish priests with horror, and were present at it only through fear of the organized force of the Katipúnan.”
Taylor’s statement is mildness itself in view of the well-established facts.
The question of killing the Spanish prisoners, including the friars, had previously been seriously considered,5 but it was deemed wiser to keep most of the friars alive, extort money from them by torture, and offer to liberate them in return for a large cash indemnity, or for political concessions. Day after day and week after week Villa presided at, or himself conducted, the torture of ill-fated priests and other Spaniards who fell into his hands. Even Filipinos whom he suspected of knowing the where-abouts of hidden friar money did not escape.
The following information relative to the conduct of the Insurgents in the Cagayan valley is chiefly taken from manuscript copy of “Historia de la Conquista de Cagayan por los Tagalos Revolucionarios,” in which the narratives of certain captured friars are transcribed and compiled by Father Julian Malumbres of the Dominican Order.
The formal surrender of Aparri occurred on August 26. Tirona, his officers and his soldiers, promptly pillaged the convento.6 The officers left the Bishop of Vigan ten pesos, but the soldiers subsequently took them away from him. Wardrobes and trunks were broken open; clocks, shoes, money, everything was carried off. Even personal papers and prayer-books were taken from some of the priests, many of whom were left with absolutely nothing save the few remaining clothes in which they stood.
On the same day Villa, accompanied by Victa and Rafael Perea,7 went to the convento and told the priests who were imprisoned there that their last hour had come. He shut all of them except the bishop and five priests in a room near the church, then separated the Augustinians, Juan Zallo, Gabino Olaso, Fidel Franco, Mariano Rodriguez, and Clemente Hidalgo, from the others and took them into the lower part of the convento where he told them that he intended to kill them if they did not give him more money. The priests told him that they had given all they had, whereupon he had their arms tied behind their backs, kicked them, struck them and whipped them with rattans.
Father Zallo was thrown on his face and savagely beaten. Meanwhile two shots were fired over the heads of the others and a soldier called out “One has fallen,” badly frightening the priests who had remained shut in the room. Villa then returned with soldiers to this room, ordered his men to load, and directed that one priest step forward to be shot. Father Mariano Ortiz complied with this request, asking that he be the first victim. Villa, however, contented himself with threatening him with a revolver and kicking and striking him until he fell to the floor. He was then beaten with the butts of guns.
Father José Vazquez, an old man of sixty years, who had thrown some money into a privy to keep it from falling into the hands of the Insurgents, was stripped and compelled to recover it with his bare hands, after which he was kicked, and beaten with rattans.
Father Aquilino García was unmercifully kicked and beaten to make him give up money, and this sort of thing continued until Villa, tired out with the physical exertion involved in assaulting these defenceless men, departed, leaving his uncompleted task to others, who continued it for some time.
The net result to the Insurgents of the sacking of the convento and of the tortures thus inflicted was approximately $20,000 gold in addition to the silver, bank notes, letters of credit, jewels, etc., which they obtained.
On September 5 Villa had Fathers Juan Recio and Buenaventura Macia given fifty blows each, although Father Juan was ill.
Villa then went to Lalloc, where other priests were imprisoned. On September 6 he demanded money of them, causing them to be kicked and beaten. Father Angel was beaten in an especially cruel manner for the apparent purpose of killing him, after which he was thrust into a privy. Father Isidro Fernandez was also fearfully abused. Stripped of his habit, and stretched face down on the floor, he was horribly beaten, and was then kicked, and struck with the butt of a revolver on the forehead.
A little later the priests were offered their liberty for a million dollars, which they were of course unable to furnish. Meanwhile the torture continued from time to time.
On August 30 Tuguegarao was taken by the Insurgents without resistance. Colonel Leyba promptly proceeded to the convento and demanded the money of the friars as spoil of war. He found only eight hundred pesos in the safe. Father Corujedo was threatened with death if he did not give more. Other priests were threatened but not tortured at this time. The prisoners in the jail were liberated, but many of them had promptly to be put back again because of the disorder which resulted, and that same evening Leyba was obliged to publish a notice threatening robbers with death.
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