The Philippines: Past and Present (Volume 1 of 2)Worcester, Dean C. (Dean Conant)
History
The Philippines: Past and Present (Volume 1 of 2)
Worcester, Dean C. (Dean Conant)
Philippines; Philippines -- History -- 1898-1946
"The Ilocano Tranquilino Pagarigan, local presidente at
that time of Camiling, served as an admirable instrument for
this purpose.... Pecheche was invited to a solemn festivity
organized by Tranquilino, who pretended to recognize him as
his chief, and rendering himself a vassal by taking an oath
to his flag. He accepted the invitation, and after the mass
which was celebrated went to a meal at the convent, where,
after the meal was over, the members of the K.K.K. surrounded
Pecheche and 10 of his officers and killed them with bolos
or tied them and threw them out of the windows and down the
staircase. Some priests were held captive in the building
where this took place and were informed of what had taken
place immediately afterwards."
This extract shows how easy it then was for any man of determination
to acquire a following, especially if he could dispose of a few
rifles. It also gives an excellent idea of the methods employed by
the Insurgents in dealing with those who opposed their rule.
General Fred D. Grant once told me, with much amusement, of an
interesting experience during a fight on Mt. Arayat in Pampanga. His
men took a trench and captured some of its occupants. Several of these
were impressed as guides and required to show the attacking forces
the locations of other trenches. At first they served unwillingly,
but presently became enthusiastic and rushed the works of their
quondam fellow-soldiers in the van of the American attack. Finally
they begged for guns. Grant added that he could start from Bacolor
for San Fernando any morning with a supply of rifles and pick up
volunteers enough to capture the place, and that on the return trip
he could get enough more to attack Bacolor!
_Pangasinán_
And now we come to Pangasinán, the most populous province of Luzon,
and the third in the Philippines in number of inhabitants.
"In July, 1898, the officer in Dagupan wrote to the commanding
general of Tarlac Province that he would like to know whom
he was required to obey, as there were so many officials of
all ranks who gave him orders that it was impossible for him
to know where he stood." [263]
In a letter dated August 17, 1898, to Aguinaldo, Benito Legarda
complained that a bad impression had been produced by the news from
Dagupan that when the Insurgents entered there, after many outrages
committed upon the inmates of a girls' school, every officer had
carried off those who suited him. [264]
What should we say if United States troops entered the town of
Wellesley and raped numerous students at the college, the officers
subsequently taking away with them the young ladies who happened
to suit them? Yet things of this sort hardly caused a ripple in the
country then under the Insurgent flag, and I learned of this particular
incident by accident, although I have known Legarda for years.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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