The National tribune., 1902-07-24

the friars, he says: This people have a
horror of heresies and of all religious dis
turbances. Whoever should introduce them
would commit an offense. Therefore it is
demonstrated that religious liberty. in the
Philippines is not only not advisable but
adverse to the public peace"
NATIVE ANTIPATHY TO FRIARs.
Passing this question of religious liberty,
the demonstrations all over the Islands
since American occupation are sufficient to
show the antipathy of the natives to the
friar orders; and perhaps no better reasons
can he given for this feeling than are found
IN the statements Of residents of the
Islands and the Filipinos themselves in
their testimony before the Commission:
Mr.. Neal Macleod said: These people
since lSo6 have got up n commo-
tion against the priests, and 800
or so of them went to the Civil
Governor to have the priests turned
out OF the country. Money WIS
at the bottom OF the whole thing 1t was
tremendous source of revenue for the
priests. Each priest had 10 or 20 or 30
priests about him. squeezing the natives
ana bringing i'll revenue to each church.
ror me burlal of each child that died the
parents mad to pay from SIG to $50
The priests had a Government of their
own, the Ecclesiastical Government. which
Is practical despotism, and they made the
tlvll Government make laws which were
necessary for their maintenancc-thev
made the Civil Government believe that
me! were necessary for the maintenance
Si ~ the loyalty of the natives, and that the
Spanlhrds would be kicked ont of tbc
Islands but for them. and they have prac-
ticed TINS deception on the Spaniards for
three centuries. They had everybody sub
SidiZed, and the priests were so powerful
that they ruled the country
SAID Senor MeiliZa: "One of the reasons
ih;tt resistance to America was decided on
III III the fhiilpplne Islands was the fact that
the 1rlarS property was seen TO be re-
Spccted, and they remained here. You
know, III the treaty of peace it was prom
iSeh that the property of the Church should
nc respected. There are means if the
flllpnos are to be permitted to take part
III the Government, to take AWAY the prom
ertE or the frIars by pacific means. and to
set Them out of the country. Furthermore.
the property of the friarS is not really
theirs. The properties they have were prop
rrtles given them by the people. not for
the friarS themselves, but for the welfare
oi tne slvers souls, and for purposes of
DEMENT'S To the, people and purposes of edu
cation ana other benefits to the people
II Is Impossible to retain here the
.chelous corporations as they ex-
iSted before, for they caused n
great problem-one state within onotber
state: As happens in every nation of the
world IN which there is clerical domination
i'ohc mas power over the religious cor
poratI0ns and consequently interyenes in
the affairs of the nation: and it came to
pass IN former times here that Rome had
more more power IN the state than Spain. for
thcre were religious corporations here that
combined and We're very strong. and Rome
really mad more power than Spain in the
country. The proclamation speaks of the
separation of Church and State but this
Is not enough for the Philippine Islands.
| ms idea. which is very well in free coun-
tries like the United States. is not sufficient
mere IN the Philippine Islands. which are
"ery much governed by the religious cor
porations. If the friars remain here in tho
country their property must all he thor
puShly standardization right TO the prop-
eftF. III IN" property is returned to the
fr1ars an asrarian war will result: that is
such war as we have now, a war of the
agricultural Glasses against the property
owners If their property is taken away
from them and they still remain here they
will cause another war. for they have tho
protection of Rome. When | speak of
Rome i refer TO the Vatican. to the PaDol
power. The friar in the Philippines is
entirely different from the friar in Europe
and America. The friar here is not n re-
ilsious person. He is not a Catholic who
itiSioH- IN lne IhillppIne Is
lands the friars-although frars NAV not
marry-havc large families, wives and
children. IN public manner The friars
IN the Philippine Islands form a CONNER
clal company. 1t is matter of business.
ana instead of developing the land and the
resources Of the country, they do business
IN souls, which is Il very good property to
them: They exploit purgatory, Heaven
and the future life, which is very good
business for them. The friar here is not
the same as the friar in America. who
simply enters into private life. but here the
friar is factor in public life and is cana
bic of disturbing the public order"
Said Senor Angel Fable: 1.-The people of
Mlndoro are against the friars: they do
not want anything to do with the friars
they cannot bear to see them"
Senor LoyZaga, director of the Spanish
paper III ComeTcio, said: THE friar has
always been the enemy of the SDaniards
themselves. The friars lived with con-
cubines. | think that only five per cent. of
them may be calculated as being half
moral"
THUE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION.
Said DR.. Pardo de Taveih: Concerning
the true causes of the revolution of 1867
against the Spaniards, Spain had never
pald attention TO the claims of the Philip
pines. All the Spaniards were convinced
that III the Philippines it was necessary to
make changes III policy, in administration.
III the Department of Justice, and in the
niahiief OF governing the country; all of
the Spanlards We're convinced that the in
lluence of the friars was fatal. but, never
tneless, nothing was done to quiet the
Philippine people, nor to grant them the
things which justice demanded. 1t was
dangerous for Filipino to seek Justice or
10 state his opinion in any manner No
criticism could be made, not only of the
government or of the friars. but not even
OF individuals who were Spaniarfs. The
press, under n strict censorship. did nefh-
ing but praise whatever the Spaniards did
and the evil deeds of men or of the Gov
ernment were hidden, in order not to hurt
the prestige of Spain. \ General came
here who understood the justice of the
claims of the Filipinos, named Despuiol.
and who worked for their interest, and i'm
medlately the friars and the extremists
mere began to work against him, scndin.
letters and kilograms to Spain, and
calumnles and ISLANDERS against him. saving
he was dangerous to Spanish rule here
and SO the Spanish Government took him
aWay. 10 sum the matter up, it was
the policy of Spain to have here a good
written system of legislation, but in actual
practice each Spanish Governor did as he
saw lit without regard to the written law.
The Fllipinos had no way of protesting.
Tor whoever protested was put in jail and
prosecuted. Every day the cXactions of
the frlars were greater. and every day the
hatred of the Spaniard WAS greater, and
as natural result of this the country was
IKE boiler without Il safety valve. The
Flllpln0S have believed that the frarS gov