Part 2

Where to Go in Manila 207 List of Hotels 207 Garages and Stables 208 Steamship Agencies 208 Foreign Consulates 209 Cable Offices 211 List of Banks in the Philippines Doing Business in 1923 211 Chambers of Commerce 211 Cinematographs and Theatres 212 Clubs 212 Booksellers and Stationers 213 Embroideries 213 Philippine Hats 214 List of Churches Holding Services in English 215 Rates of Fare for Public Vehicles 215 Postal, Telegraph, and Cable Rates 216 Interisland Sailings 219 Values of foreign coins expressed in terms of Philippine money 220 Banking: Combined condition of all the commercial banks in the Philippine Islands, in pesos 221 Currency in Circulation 222 Table showing the assessed valuation of real property in the Philippine Islands (except the cities of Manila and Baguio) by provinces 223 Growth of the public school system 225 Private Schools 226 Annual Expenditures for Public Education 226 Total receipts, expenditures and accumulated surplus of the Philippine Government, 1901-1923, in pesos 227 Fire, marine, and miscellaneous insurance companies doing active business in the Philippine Islands, during year ending December 31, 1922 228 Americans and Filipinos in the Philippine Service on July 1, 1921 230 Newspapers and other publications in the Philippines, as per revision made up to June 18, 1923 230 List of sugar centrals in the Philippine Islands 234

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing page--

Bird's eye view of the Walled City and immediate environs 18 Panoramic view of Camp Keithley, Lanao, Mindanao 18 Plaza Benavides, with the statue of Benavides in the center 20 San Sebastian Church, Manila 21 Aglipayan Church, Azcarraga Street, Manila 44 The new Trade School, Manila 45 The Cathedral, Walled City, Manila 46 Philippine University cadets in formation in front of the Ayuntamiento, the central government building 47 Bureau of Printing Building 48 A section of Manila's commercial district 48 The Luneta Hotel, Manila 49 Central Railroad Station, Manila Railroad Company 50 A Modern thoroughfare, Taft Avenue, Manila 50 The Paco Railroad Depot, Manila 51 The Jones Bridge 51 The principal buildings of the Philippine University 52 The Polo Grounds 52 The Normal Hall--A dormitory for girls, Manila 53 Philippine Carnival Auditorium, 1922 53 The Rizal Monument, at the Luneta, Manila 54 The Legaspi and Urdaneta Monument facing the Luneta, Manila 55 The Carnival grounds, Manila 56 A view of Pier 5, Manila 56 The Luneta, during a Carnival parade 57 A public market, Manila 57 The Aquarium, Manila, exterior view 58 Exterior view of Malacañang Palace, Manila 58 A typical country scene 59 The Executive Offices, Malacañang Palace, Manila 59 The Mariquina Valley 60 Salt beds, Pangasinan 60 Exterior view of the Lingayen Provincial Building, Pangasinan 61 The Baguio zig-zig coiling upon itself 62 The Amphitheater, Baguio, Benguet 63 The States? No It's Baguio, Philippine Islands 64 The road to Baguio 65 The beautiful town of Pagsanjan, Laguna 70 Pagsanjan Falls, Laguna 71 Montalban Gorge 72 The monument to the "First Cry of Balintawak," 73 The Bamboo Organ, Las Piñas 74 An abaca plantation 75 The church at Taal, Batangas Province 76 Sample of bridges and provincial scenery 77 A Philippine Sugar Central. Calamba, Laguna Province 78 Sprouting coconuts, Pagsanjan, Laguna 79 Coconut groves, San Ramon Penal Farm, Zamboanga, Mindanao 79 The Sorsogon provincial government building and the Sorsogon jail 80 Mayon Volcano, Albay Province 81 The wonderful rice terraces at Ifugao, Mountain Province, Luzon 90 Rice terraces at Bontoc, Mountain Province 91 Boobies at Tubataja reef, Sulu 98 The subterranean river, Saint Paul's Bay, Palawan taken by flashlight 99 Magellan Monument, Mactan Island 102 Panoramic view of Dapitan where Rizal was exiled by the Spaniards 103 A view of Jolo, Sulu 110 The Cebu wharf 110 Moro weapons 111 A cigar factory in Manila 124 Makers of Manila cigars 125 A lumber yard. Kolambugan, Mindanao 130 View of San Jose Estate sugar mill. San Jose, Mindoro 131 Girls Embroidery, Paco Intermediate School, Manila 136-137 The Council of State in session 160 The Members of the Supreme Court of the Philippine Islands 161 The Gilbert Steel Bridge, Laoag, Ilocos Norte 176

ILLUSTRATED MAPS

Map of the Philippine Islands 12 Trade routes of the Philippine Islands 146 Map of the City of Manila 234

"And the earth possesses no scenes more beautiful than those to be found in this verdant and blooming archipelago * * * this magnificent rosary of glowing islands, that Nature has hung above the heaving bosom of the warm Pacific * * * with the vast variety of attractive scenery, mountain and plain, lake and stream, everywhere rich with glossy leafage, clustered growths of bamboo and palm, fields of yellow cane and verdant coffee-groves."

"Views of lands and sea and sky, beautiful, gorgeous, awe-inspiring; of historic spots and buildings, monuments, ruins * * * of peoples familiar and strange; of industries modern to the minute, or old, as old as the Pharaohs, the patient work of potter and weaver, of craftsman, artisan, woodman, fisherman, husbandman; of peoples primitive and cultured--races and nations, distinct, assimilated and assimilating foreigners--foreigners whose descendants a few generations later will be Filipinos--the Filipino Nation that is to be, in that wonderland, the Philippines."

"Lived ever a man or a people on an island, however insignificant and bleak and bare, without feeling for it pride and love? Call to mind poem and song, picture and tale; the history of island races.

"Behold, then, the Philippines: thousands of islands, great and small beautiful, bountiful beneath a benignant sky. Seek to know how Truth paints them, and understand and sympathize with their people's fervid desire to call them their very own."

FOREWORD

It is vital for the Filipinos that foreigners visiting the Philippines acquire accurate information about the Islands and their people. The Philippines are not generally known abroad, much less are the Filipinos as a people, their degree of civilization and culture, their form of government, their institutions. Hence, the need for a publication such as this setting forth reliable items of information about the islands.

This booklet is a compendium of facts, not fancies--facts pertaining to the country known as the Philippines and to the people known as the Filipino people. They are facts that can be verified from authentic sources.

The booklet is primarily intended for tourists, but to all other foreigners seeking information on things Philippine, the booklet will also be of invaluable help. It not only indicates the places of interest throughout the archipelago but also gives a description of the islands in general, of their people, history and government. Tangible evidences of the readiness of the Filipinos for nationality are described. The history of the whole nationalistic movement is given.

The Filipinos to-day are in control of their own government. They have had practical autonomy since 1916. The only remaining link between Washington and the Philippines is the Governor-General who is an American appointed by the President of the United States representing his country in the islands, and is the chief executive thereof.

The islands produce great quantities of sugar, hemp, copra, rice, corn and tobacco. They are capable of producing besides, and are actually beginning to produce, rubber, coffee, various food and medicinal products, and a multitude of raw materials for every purpose. There are also many hardwoods appropriate for elegant furniture in a variety of natural colors not yet seen in any market. There are mines of gold, copper and coal in operation. There are said to be creditable iron and oil deposits.

There are plenty of wonderful harbors for ships of heavy tonnage. The country is peaceful, the most peaceful perhaps in the world. A courteous and hospitable people greet the foreigner wherever he goes.

I. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

[Discovery]

The Philippines were discovered by Magellan in 1521. That discovery occasioned the first circumnavigation of the globe. Long before the discovery, however, the Islands were already known in the Orient, for they had commercial relations with China as early as the 13th century and with Japan, Siam, the Malay Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Moluccas.

It is erroneous to suppose that the culture of the Filipinos dated only from the time of the arrival of the Spaniards. Long before that time they had already acquired a fair degree of culture. They had systems of writing similar to the Phoenician alphabetical arrangement. They had calendars and a system of weights and measures. They tilled their lands and maintained village governments. They had laws based on traditions and customs handed down from generation to generation, and as early as 1433, or 88 years previous to the arrival of Magellan, there existed a Penal Code known as the Code of Calantiao.

[The Spanish Rule--A Tale of Wars and Uprisings]

The history of the Islands from the beginning of Spanish rule to the middle of the 19th century was a long tale of wars and uprisings. The Portuguese disputed Spain's right to the Islands, and between 1566 and 1570 made three attempts to dislodge the Spaniards. The Dutch during the first half of the 17th century repeatedly appeared in Philippine waters and made attacks on the Spaniards. The British unexpectedly swooped down on Manila in 1762, and the Archbishop who was acting as governor speedily capitulated, the City of Manila falling into British hands until the treaty of Paris in 1763 when it was again restored to Spain. The Chinese residents added to all these difficulties by revolting from time to time.

But the most persistent trouble-makers were the Filipinos themselves who repeatedly revolted because of alleged injustices committed upon them. Between the years 1645 and 1665 alone there occurred five uprisings against the Spanish Government. Other revolts, no less serious, took place in the 18th and 19th centuries. The rebellion of Dagohoy, for example, took place at this time, spreading throughout practically the whole Island of Bohol and continuing for a period of eighty years.

There were in all about a hundred uprisings, big and small, during the Spanish régime. That of 1872 was especially noted for its magnitude and the determination shown by the revolutionists. It was put down with the execution of three secular priests--Burgos, Gomez, and Zamora--ever since reckoned among the popular heroes of the country. From that time plotting against the corrupt civil government and the autocratic religious corporations never really ceased; and in 1892 Andres Bonifacio organized a secret society known as the Katipunan, which preached hatred against Spain because of the abuses of the friars and of the authorities, and demanded freedom from foreign yoke.

[Reforms in the 19th century]

The dawn of the 19th century, however, was marked by significant changes for the better. During the periods of 1810 and 1813, 1820 to 1823, and 1830 to 1837, as a result of the nationalistic and liberal struggles Spain was experiencing, the Cortes was revived and representatives from different parts of the monarchy--the colonies included--were given seats therein. This ushered in a period of constitutional and representative government for the Filipinos. Moreover, by 1830, Spain's commercial policy of trade exclusiveness for the colonies was abandoned. A few years later, Manila was thrown open to foreign trade and a freer and more liberal economic system adopted. In this way, the foundation for subsequent political and economic progress was laid.

From the beginning of Spanish domination, there existed scores of schools and colleges which were mostly conducted by the religious orders. These schools and colleges offered various courses and graduated numerous priests, lawyers, physicians, pharmacists, and teachers. Increase in the number of professional graduates made possible the rise of an intellectual class in the seventies and eighties. To this group of men, Burgos and Paterno, leaders of the liberal movement of 1870; Dr. Rizal, the Filipino hero; M. H. del Pilar, a prominent propagandist; and Mabini, the brain of the Revolution, belonged--men who, in attainment and culture, can adorn the halls of any nation. Many of the prominent leaders of today also had their training in those schools--Manuel L. Quezon, Sergio Osmeña, T. Pardo de Tavera, Victorino Mapa, Florentino Torres, Teodoro M. Kalaw, Juan Sumulong, Rafael Palma, and many others who have held high positions in the government during the first years of American sovereignty.

[Last Decades of Spanish Rule--The Coming of the Americans]

The last decades of Spanish rule were marked by several reforms, but these reforms were altogether too conservative and came too late. Consequently there was much discontent and the Filipinos, in August, 1896, following the teachings of the Katipunan, rose in revolt and sought to declare themselves independent of Spain. The revolution extended throughout the archipelago. It was halted by the Pact of Biac-na-Bato in December, 1897, only to be resumed early in the year following, under the very eyes and later with the help of the Americans, who appeared on the scene on May 1, 1898. The Filipinos succeeded in wresting from Spain every foot of Philippine territory except Manila which was surrendered to the Americans on August 13, after simultaneous attacks by American and Filipino forces.

Soon afterwards the first republic in the Far East based on a constitutional and representative government was established by the Filipinos. It had received the commendation of several foreigners among whom were the late Senator Hoar and John Barrett, ex-Director of the Pan-American Union.

[Filipino-American War]

The downfall of the republic came as a result of the Filipino-American war which broke out through a misunderstanding between America and the Philippines and which lasted for three years. With the superior forces of the United States it was naturally a one-sided struggle, but it nevertheless showed once more the determination of the Filipino people to have an independent national existence. They wanted no less than an untrammeled republic free from any foreign control. They asked that of the United States. But no definite assurance was given that they would ultimately be freed. Had such assurances been given them the Filipino-American war would have been avoided.

[The Establishment of civil government]

American civil government was established in the Islands in 1901 and 1902. Under this government the Philippines made remarkably rapid strides along the road of progress. But the most significant stride is perhaps the development of Philippine home rule, For it should be known that today, with few exceptions, notably those of the American Chief Executive and the American Vice-Governor, who is also Secretary of Public Instruction, the Philippine government is run by the Filipinos themselves.

II. THE MATERIAL SPAIN FOUND

[Power of Propaganda to Misrepresent Conditions]

So powerful is propaganda in misrepresenting actual conditions that the Philippines used to mean, and often still means, a mere fringe of civilization, or something similar to it, where the Spaniards had planted and the Americans had watered, but within all was still savagery and primeval ways.

An exhibition of an Igorot village at the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904 probably spread in America more of the notion of the Philippines as an untamed wilderness than tons of statistics could correct. These, then, were the people America had undertaken to govern--wild, naked creatures, beside whom the North American Indian was a gentleman and a scholar! Indeed, a long time must elapse before you can reduce these to suspenders and beefsteaks. A long time? Why, centuries and centuries!

[Non-Christian population]

Again, to the assiduous readers of press dispatches, the typical Filipino has come to mean the fierce Mohammedan Moro; although, there are in the Islands less than 400,000 Mohammedans of all kinds, whether fierce or urbane. Still others have concluded that the wild-eyed nomad of the mountains, the man with the bow and arrow, with no religion at all, must be the determining factor of the situation because there are so many of his kind; and yet the census reveals the total number of persons in all the Islands that do not profess either Christianity, Mohammedanism, or Buddhism as only 102,000.

[Literacy]

So, too, the ignorance of the Filipinos has always been believed to be appalling and a bulwark of darkness not to be overcome in generations, if ever; and yet the census reveals the percentage of literacy in the entire Islands at 49.2 per cent. The percentage compares favorably with the literacy of many of the small independent nations of the world at present.

The facts are these, as regards the Filipinos even in Pre-Spanish days:

[Facts of Filipino Attainments in Pre-Spanish Days]

The Spaniards found that the inhabitants of the Islands built and lived in planned houses, had a machinery of government of their own, maintained a system of jurisprudence, in many cases dwelt in ordered cities and towns and practised the arts familiar to the most advanced peoples of their times.

Gunpowder they knew and used before 1300, when it had not yet been introduced in Europe; and they made firearms that astonished the Spaniards. At the siege of Manila, 1570, the natives defended their city with cannon, and the conquerors found within the walls the factory where these guns had been forged, as well equipped and ordered as any abroad.

The Islanders were expert in other metal-working, skilful ship-builders, able carpenters. Copper they had worked; but bronze, of which their great guns were made, they imported from China. Some of their art in silver-work excites admiration even now, for their beautiful design and fine workmanship.

They wove cloths of cotton, hemp, and other fibers. They were, in fact, inheritors of two great cultural infiltrations upon what original culture the Malays had two thousand years before: on one side, was the influence of the Hindus and on the other the civilization of the Chinese, and to these had been added, years before the Spaniards came, stray gleams of information transmitted roundabout from Europe.

[Religion, alphabet, and books]

All this is inconsistent with the fanciful theory of the head-hunter and the wild man of the woods, but is nevertheless the incontestable record. Heathen they were called, but they had a religion, and a code of morals, not at all contemptible. They were natural musicians, possessed a variety of musical instruments, and had native orchestras. They were fond of poetry and and honored their poets. They had also a written alphabet and they wrote books. Every settled town had a temple and most temples had collections of books. They were written in the native characters on palm leaves and bamboo, and stored with the native priests. The subjects were historical and legendary, folk-lore tales, statutes, deeds of heroism and poems. The Spanish enthusiasts burned these books as anti-Christian and thereby destroyed documents priceless to succeeding ages, the few that escaped the flames testifying poignantly to the great loss. A small collection of them was recently discovered in a cave in the Island of Negros and ethnologists have hopes of others that may have escaped the sharp eyes of the destructors. Professor Beyer, whose investigations of early Filipino life and history have been so extensive, has come upon other evidence of early Filipino letters, including an epic poem of considerable length; but this exists now only in the memories of the reciters. The four-thousand-odd lines of it that Professor Beyer has translated show a rare gift of versification and imagery.