The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1911-11-16
PAGE SEVEN

de Misanis. reads:
''This supremacy of the friar was above the
family and the individual, and by abusing it,
and IN the certainty of his impunlty, he COM
mitted SO many and such serious acts which
really constituted offenses, and even crimes,
that he caused the hatred which the Filipino
feels for the friar. I could cite here many
cases to prove my assertion, but my paper
would be interminabe. Therefore, | believe
it sufficient 10 mention two or three cases
which occurred after the instruction Of 1896
had broken out
'The curate friar of Loculan ordered the
'cabezas de barangay' Officials who had in
charge the collecting of the head tax from
group of fifty families, and some other duties
an Office which was considered, in the
phraseology of the Spanish administration. as
honorable and gratuitous,' and as such. and
owing to the pecuniary responsibility he con-
tracted, he was selected from among the best
known and well-to-do residents), to furnish
gratuitously a certain number of pieces Of
lumber for the construction of a parsonage
and church; and one of them could not, on
the day designated deliver the pieces falling
to his lot, as he had to employ part of his
time in caring for his own interests although
he had the lumber already cut and even ready
to be transported to the pueblo. This individ-
ual was punished by having lashes adminis-
tered to him in the middle of the public plaza,
laid face down on bench constructed ad hoe
he being attached thereto by the shoulders and
feet by means Of stocks, SO that he could not
rise Or even change position while undergoing
punishment, which was inflicted on Sunday
morning at the very moment that the people
were coming out of church after hearing mass
'The curate of Cator1nan ordered that all
the residents of the pueblo should take up
their residence within the central parts of the
town in order to have them all as though held
within his grasp; ordering that those whose
houses should be located outside the limits
by him des gnated should transfer them with
III the same and within the time named by
HIM. Because a resident either could not or
would not obey the order and had his house
ina cacoanut grove belonging to him. the
curate ordered it to be raised bodily. to trans
fer it to the pueblo, being left halfway aban-
dOned IN a gorge, where, I believe, it can be
seen to this day. The house was frame and
not cane building
''The curate Of Balingasay, who was Jes-
uit (the two mentioned previously being Re
coletos), because joint owner Of piece of
land which the friar's order had appropriate
ed because it was owed a sum of money bv the
Dpanlard, who requested the return of his
property OF the government, and he could not
pay the rent of the parcel of ground he was
working, burned his house, the curate himself
applying the torch, and ordering that all the
corn which had been sowed and the cacoanut
trees, planted three or four years before. to be
cut down. In short, everything the poor man
had on the ground was destroyed.
"This same curate compelled a poor widow
to sell, at price named by him. piece of
ground out Of which she made a living for
herself and her little ones, threatening her
n1cbp III Al