The Philippines - Past and Present (Vol. 1&2). Dean C. Worcester
Guzman was chosen head of the province. He was the man subsequently sentenced to life-imprisonment by Blount, for complicity in the murder of Lieutenant Piera. In describing his method of conducting his government he says that the people doubted the legality of attempts to collect taxes; that the abuses of heads of towns caused rioting in the towns, in which only Ilocanos took part; and that he not only did not report these things but contrived to conceal them from foreigners in the province.24
His failure to report these troubles and disorders to his government is of interest, as Blount alleges25 that differences between the local authorities were in a number of cases referred to the Malolos government for settlement.
Blount says26 that General Otis’s reports were full of inexcusable blunders about the Tagálogs taking possession of provinces and making the people do things, and cites the relations between Villa and Dimas Guzman to illustrate the error of these allegations.
He has elsewhere27 referred to Villa as the “arch-fiend” in the matter of torturing the unhappy Spaniards as well as the Filipinos who incurred his ill-will. We have seen that Guzman proved an apt pupil and did credit to his instructor in connection with the torturing of Lieutenant Piera, but it nevertheless appears from Guzman’s own statements that his relations with the Insurgent officers and their subordinates involved some rather grave difficulties. Of Major Canoy, for instance, he says:—
“I must add that the said Major Canoy is such a remarkable character that he saw fit to give my cook a beating for not taking off his hat when he met him. He insulted the delegate of rents of Cabagan Viejo for the same reason. He struck the head man of the town of Bagabag in the face. He put some of the members of the town council of Echague in the stocks, and he had others whipped.”28
It was really incautious for Governor Guzman to complain of these conditions because Major Canoy and his party won, and the Governor had to resign.
But the day of reckoning came. It was in consequence of the atrocities committed by the Tagálog soldiers in the Cagayan valley that Captain Batchelder was able a little later to march practically unopposed through the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela and Cagayan with one battalion of American negro troops, for whom he had neither food nor extra ammunition, and that Tirona surrendered the Insurgent forces in the valley without attempting resistance!
1 Blount, p. 113.
2 Ibid., p. 111
3 At Carig, Isabela.
4 Taylor, 43 AJ.
5 See p. 731.
6 The parsonage, or residence of the priest.
7 Insurgent officers.
8 Their on commander so reported. See p. 202.
9 Shortly afterward “elected” governor.
10 This form of torture is commonly referred to in the Philippines as the “water cure.”
11 Major Delfin commanded the expedition which took Nueva Vizcaya.
12 P.I.R., 246. 3.
13 Dimas Guzman.
14 Blount, p. 112.
15 Blount, p. 114.
16 Blount, p. 113
17 Blount, p. 114.
18 A distance of 120 miles.
19 “The former Spanish Governor of the Province was of course a prisoner in Villa’s custody. Villa had the ex-Governor brought in, for the travellers to see him, and remarked, in his presence to them, ‘This is the man who robbed this province of twenty-five thousand dollars during the last year of his office.’ ”—Blount, p. 115.
20 La Compañia General de Tabacos de Filipinas, a very strong commercial organization.
21 “I call your attention to the fact that the only terms to the surrender were to respect life, and it was for this reason that I seized all the money they [i.e. the friars—D.C.W.] had hidden away, which was accomplished by applying the stick. In this capital I found thirty-four thousand dollars in silver and a draft on the Compañia General de Tabacos for twenty thousand dollars which can be collected here …
“The bearer can give you more details concerning the abuses committed in this province of Vizcayana by the forces of Mayor Duflin Esquizel. Also, I wish to inform you that we have done nothing to the Compañia General de Tabacos, for we have learned from their records that much of their stock is held by Frenchmen, and consequently we fear a conflict. For this reason we await your orders on this matter. We took all the arms we found in their possession, however.”—P.I.R., 271.2.
22 P.I.R. 192.4.
23 “I was in that town, for a similar purpose, with Governor Taft in 1901, after a bloody war which almost certainly would not have occurred had the Paris Peace Commission known the conditions then existing, just like this, all over Luzon and the Visayan Islands.”—Blount, p. 116.
24 “On account of this the vulgar people doubted the legality of our actions in the collection of taxes, and accordingly it became difficult; and this, coupled with the inveterate abuses of the heads of the towns, which the head of the province was not able to perceive in time to check, caused a tumult in Echague, which, owing to wise councils and efforts at pacification, was appeased without it being followed by serious consequences; but I have no doubt that this tumult was due only to the suggestions of ungovernable and passionate persons animated by the spirit of faction, since those who took part in it were all Ilocanos, no native of Echague having any hand in it. The same thing occurred in Naguilian, where the disorders were also quieted. Not only did I make no report of all this to the government of the republic on account of the abnormality of