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
"Study the work of the insurrection; see if it is, as is said,
the faithful interpretation of your wishes and desires.
"Go through your towns, fields, and mountains. Wherever you
see an insurgent gun or bolo you will find girls and faithful
wives violated, parents and brothers crying for the murder of
a son or of a brother; honest families robbed and in misery;
villages burned and plundered for the benefit of a chief or
a General; you will see fresh and living signs yet of those
horrible crimes perpetrated with the greatest cynicism by
those who call themselves your liberators! Liberators because
they wear red pants, or a red shirt, or carry on their hats
a piece of red cloth or a triangular figure!
"Here, a president stabs a man, perhaps the most honest of
the village, simply for having implored mercy for a creature
arbitrarily inflicted with the _cepo_ [an oblong square
piece of heavy wood divided into two parts, with a lock at
each end and six or more holes in the middle to confine the
feet of prisoners]; there, a dying man, suspended by the feet
in a _cepo_, raised from the level of the ground, by another
president who has charged him with an unproved crime; there a
poor woman falsely charged and driven by petty officers with
their bayonets for having objected to their invasion into
her house, or shop, they being supposed to be, each, Justice
itself, '_Justicia_,' and to be obeyed as images of the Gods;
there, generals who murder without fear, for an insignificant
motive, creatures whose members are being mutilated, or
their flesh cut in slices and afterwards roasted and given
them to eat; there, officers braining a girl who has refused
to accede to their sensual wishes, the lifeless body of the
victim, pierced with shots, after having been made use of, is
thrown into the river. It is not unusual to witness officers
burying people alive in a tomb prepared by the victim, by order
of the murderer; it is not unusual to see a _Puisne_-Judge
pointing a revolver at a man who is about to give evidence,
and threatening to brain him for having dared to ask: 'Why and
to whom am I to declare?' And finally, on his tottering throne,
you will see the Magistrate of the Philippines, so called by
his worshippers, with his mephistophelian smile, disposing
and directing the execution of a murder, of a plunder, of
a robbery, or the execution of some other crimes against
those who are indifferent or do not care to worship him,
such indifference being considered a crime.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account