The Indolence of the Filipino

The sordid return the native gets from his work has the effect of
discouraging him. We know from history that the encomenderos, after
reducing many to slavery and forcing them to work for their benefit,
made others give up their merchandise for a trifle or nothing at all,
or cheated them with false measures.

Speaking of Ipion, in Panay, Padre Gaspar de San Agustin says:
“It was in ancient times very rich in gold, …………… but
provoked by the annoyances they suffered from some governors they have
ceased to get it out, preferring to live in poverty than to suffer
such hardships.” (Page 378). Further on, speaking of other towns,
he says: “Goaded by the ill treatment of the encomenderos who in
administering justice have treated the natives as their slaves and
not as their children, and have only looked after their own interests
at the expense of the wretched fortunes and lives of their charges
……………” (Page 422) Further on: “In Leyte, where they tried
to kill an encomendero of the town of Dagami on account of the great
hardships he made them suffer by exacting tribute of wax from them
with a steelyard which he had made twice as long as the others”

This state of affairs lasted a long time and still lasts, in spite of
the fact, that the breed of encomenderos has become extinct. A term
passes away but the evil and the passions engendered do not pass away
so long as reforms are devoted solely to changing the names.

The wars with the Dutch, the inroads and piratical attacks of the
people of Sulu and Mindanao disappeared; the people have been
transformed; new towns have grown up while others have become
impoverished; but the frauds subsist as much as or worse than they
did in those early years. We will not cite our own experiences, for
aside from the fact that, we do not know which to select, critical
persons may reproach us with partiality; neither will we cite those
of other Filipinos who write in the newspapers; but we shall confine
ourselves to translating the words of a modern French traveler who
was in the Philippines for a long time:

“The good curate,” he says with reference to the rosy picture a friar
had given him of the Philippines, “had not told me about the governor,
the foremost official of the district, who was too much taken up
with the ideal of getting rich to have time to tyrannize over his
docile subjects; the governor, charged with ruling the country and
collecting the various taxes in the government’s name, devoted himself
almost wholly to trade; in his hands the high and noble functions he
performs are nothing more than instruments of gain. He monopolizes
all the business and instead of developing on his part the love
of work, instead of stimulating the too natural indolence of the
natives, he with abuse of his powers thinks only of destroying all
competition that may trouble him or attempt to participate in his
profits. It matters little to him that the country is impoverished,
without cultivation, without commerce, without, industry, just so
the governor is quickly enriched!”

Yet the traveler has been unfair in picking out the governor
especially: Why only the governor?

We do not cite passages from other authors, because we have not their
works at hand and do not wish to quote from memory.

The great difficulty that every enterprise encountered with the
administration contributed not a little to kill off all commercial
and industrial movement. All the Filipinos, as well as all those who
have tried to engage in business in the Philippines, know how many
documents, what comings, how many stamped papers, how much patience is
needed to secure from the government a permit for an enterprise. One
must count upon the good will of this one, on the influence of that
one, on a good bribe to another in order that the application be not
pigeonholed, a present to the one further on so that he may pass it on
to his chief; one must pray to God to give him good humor and time to
see and examine it; to another, talent to recognize its expediency; to
one further on sufficient stupidity not to scent behind the enterprise
an insurrectionary purpose; and that they may not all spend the time
taking baths, hunting or playing cards with the reverend friars in
their convents or country houses. And above all, great patience,
great knowledge of how to get along, plenty of money, a great deal of
politics, many salutations, great influence, plenty of presents and
complete resignation! How is it strange that, the Philippines remain
poor in spite of their very fertile soil, when history tells us that
the countries now the most flourishing date their development from
the day of their liberty and civil rights? The most commercial and
most industrious countries have been the freest countries: France,
England and the United States prove this. Hongkong, which is not worth
the most insignificant of the Philippines, has more commercial movement
than all the islands together, because it is free and is well governed.

The trade with China, which was the whole occupation of the colonizers
of the Philippines, was not only prejudicial to Spain but also to
the life of her colonies; in fact, when the officials and private
persons at Manila found an easy method of getting rich they neglected
everything. They paid no attention either to cultivating the soil
or to fostering industry; and wherefore? China furnished the trade,
and they had only to take advantage of it and pick up the gold that
dropped out on its way from Mexico toward the interior of China,
the gulf whence it never returned.