A Visit to the Philippine Islands

Valangpalay ang amalong mo. – There is no rice in thy granary (to an empty-headed person).

Ymolos ang camay ay guinagat nang alopihan. – He struck a blow with his hand, and got bitten by a centipede.

Dino dolobasa ang dimaalan – Making ignorance your interpreter.

Nagcapalu na mandin ang canilan pagtatacapan. – Answer with nonsense the nonsense of others.

Anong ypinagpaparañgalanmo? – Why so jactant? – (a phrase to check boasting).

Maalam cang magsima sa taga? – Can he make the barb to the hook? (Is he clever?)

Mabuit ay nagpapatang patañgan finguin. – Being clever, he feigns stupidity.

Dibabao ang lañgit sa macasalanan. – Heaven is far off from sinners.

Gagadolong lisa iyan. – Serious as the bite of a louse’s egg (nit).

Hindi macacagat ang valang ñgipin. – He who has no teeth cannot bite.

Malubha angpagpap aratimo samasaman gara. – Much obstinacy in an evil deed.

Iyang caratinanmo angy capapacasamamo. – Thy obstinacy will be thy perdition.

Pinag cayasalanan mo ang pañginoong Dios. – A sin against a neighbour is an offence against God.

Pinagbibiyayan an ninyo ang demonio. – To pay tribute to the devil.

Tingmitintinna ang darong magalao. – Turn lewdness to chastity.

Valan di dalita itong buhay natin. – Life is labour.

Mapaparari ang tova sa lañgit magparaling man san. – The joy of heaven will last and be perpetuated for ever and ever, and without end.

Cayañga t may tapal may sugat din. – Where the wound is, the plaister should be.

Houag cang omotang nang salapi. – Ask not for the money you lend.

Lubiranmo am navala ang pasilmo. – To play with the string when the top is lost. (A phrase used when a patron refuses a favour.)

Valan cabolohan ang logor dito sa lupa. – The pleasures of earth are not worth a hair.

Maytanim no sa mabato. – Sow not among stones.

Hungmo holangcapala aymarami panggava. – You are trifling while so much work is to be done.

Caya aco guinguinguiyacos dito. – I scratch myself because nobody will scratch me.

Napaguidaraan aco mya. – If I quarrel with myself, it shall be when I am alone.

Ano t guinagasaan mo aco? – If you scold me, why with so much noise?

Ang palagay na loob malivag magolorhanang. – Excesses are rare when the heart is at rest.

Caya co somosoyo siya y aco y tauong aba. – He must obey who is weak and poor.

Ang pagsisi anghuli ay valang guinapapacanan di baguin ang nañgag cacasaguit sa infierno. – Repentance is of little value when the penitent is in the hands of the devil (hell, or the executioner).[29 - There are many names for the public executioner, denoting the places in which he exercises his profession, and the instruments he employs for inflicting the punishment of death.]

Momoal moal mañgusap. – He who speaks with a full mouth will not be understood.

Hindi sosoco dito ang dimababa. – A short man will not knock his head against the roof.

Paspasin mo ang buñga at hunag mong pasapan ang cahuy. – In beating down the fruit, beat not down the tree.

Ang pagcatototo nang loob ang yguinagagaling nang lahat. – Unity of purpose brings certainty of success.

Nañgiñgisbigsiya nanggalit. – Petrified with rage (addressed to a person “borracho de colera,” as the Spaniards say).

Aglahi si cabiri baquit mayag ang diti. – Saying No! with the lips, and Yes! with the heart.

Houag mong angcahan ang di mo masasacopan. – Do not adventure much until you are certain of the issue.

Some Spanish proverbs have made their way into Tagal.

Baquit siya y namong cahi ay siyang nabalantogui. Fué por lana y bolvió trasquilado. – He went for wool, and returned shorn.

I have selected most of these proverbs, aphorisms and moral and religious maxims from Fr. de los Santos’ folio volume, and they would have some interest if they represented the thoughts and feelings of a civilized nation. That interest will hardly be less when the social code of semi-barbarians is studied in these short sentences. The influence and teachings of the priests will be found in many; others will be deemed characteristic of local usages, and some will find a recommendation in their grotesqueness and originality. I have thought these examples of the language might not be without their value to philologists.

CHAPTER XX

COMMERCE

To foreign nations – to our own especially – the particular interest felt in the state of the Philippines is naturally more of a commercial than of a political character. They must grow in trading importance; already enough has been done to make a retrograde or even a stationary policy untenable. Every step taken towards emancipation from the ancient fetters which ignorance and monopoly laid upon their progress has been so successful and so productive as to promise and almost to ensure continuance in a course now proved to be alike beneficial to the public treasury and to the common weal. The statistics which I have been able to collect are often unsatisfactory and inaccurate, but, upon the whole, may be deemed approximative to the truth, and certainly not without value as means of comparison between the results of that narrow-minded exclusive system which so long directed the councils of Spain and the administration of las Indias, and the wiser and more liberal views which make their way through the dense darkness of the past.

The caprices and mischiefs of a privileged and protected trade and the curses which monopolies bring with them to the general interests, may, indeed, be well studied in the ancient legislation of Spain as regards her colonies. One vessel only was formerly allowed to proceed from the Philippines to Mexico; she was to be commanded by officers of the royal navy, equipped as a ship of war, and was subject to a variety of absurd restrictions and regulations: the adventurers were to pay 20,000 dollars for their privilege; and no one was allowed to adventure unless he were a vocal de consulado, which required a residence of several years in the islands, and the possession of property to the extent of 8,000 dollars. The privilege often passed clandestinely, by purchase, into the hands of friars, officials, women and other speculators – and it may well be supposed at what prices the goods had to be invoiced. Such being the licensed pillage in Asia, on arriving at Acapulco, in America, to which place the cargo was necessarily consigned, 33⅓ per cent. was imposed upon the valuation of the Manila invoices. And on the return of the ship similar or even more absurd conditions were exacted: she was only allowed to bring back double the value of the cargo she conveyed; but, as the profits were often enormous, every species of fraud was practised to give fictitious values to the articles imported – in fact, from the beginning to the end of the undertaking there seems to have been a rivalry in roguery among all parties concerned.

The establishment of the Company of the Philippines, in 1785, gave to monopoly another shape, but led to some development of colonial industry.

It is scarcely needful to follow the history of the commerce of the Philippines through the many changes which have produced its present comparative prosperity – a prosperity to be measured by the amount of emancipation which has been introduced. Had the Spanish authorities the courage to utter the magic words “Laissez faire, laissez passer!” what a cornucopia of blessings would be poured upon the archipelago!

But it could hardly be expected from a government constituted like the government of Spain, that, either of its own spontaneous movement, or by licence delegated to the Captain-General, so grand a work would be accomplished as the establishment of free production, free commerce, free settlement, and free education in the Philippines; and yet a step so bold and noble would, as I fully believe, in a few years be followed by progress and prosperity far beyond any calculations that have been ventured on. The little that has been hazarded for the liberty of trade, though hurriedly and imperfectly done, cannot but encourage future efforts; and in the meantime many beneficial reforms have been pressed upon the attention of the government with such conclusive statistics and irresistible logic, that, if it depended on these alone, the Philippines might hope to enter upon the early enjoyment of their heritage of future advancement. The reform of the tariffs – the removal of petty vexatious fiscal interferences – improvements in the navigation of the rivers – the cleansing the harbours – lighthouse, buoys and other appliances for the security of shipping – are among the more obvious and immediate claims of commerce. In Manila the absence of docks for repairing and harbouring vessels is much felt; the custom-house is on the wrong side of the river – though it were better it should exist on neither side; there are no means of regular postal communication with the islands from the Peninsula; tug-steamers, life-boats, quays and piers, seamen’s houses, marine hospitals, are wanting, but their introduction has been so strongly advocated that its advent may be hoped for. In truth, it is pleasant to find in a country so remote and so long under the most discouraging and retarding influences, that inquiry, which is the pioneer and the handmaid of all improvement, is already busily at work and will not be at work in vain.

A communication was made to the Chamber of Commerce by the Governor-General in 1858, requesting that the merchants would point out to him the best possible means for developing the riches of the Philippine Islands by extending their foreign trade. The British merchants, after expressing a general wish that the islands should enjoy the benefits of that system of free trade and liberal commercial policy whose “great results” are manifest to all, point out the special grievances which demand immediate reform.

1. The present system of requiring permits for every cargo boat employed, leads to many needless charges, vexations and delays.

2. Reform of the tariffs which press very heavily on certain articles, for the protection of some small manufacturing interest in the island. This is specially the case with cotton goods intended for common use; those of the colours given by dyes produced in the island are selected for the heaviest impost, to give encouragement to native dyers. Many articles are estimated much beyond their real value, so that the percentage duty becomes excessive. Lawns, for instance, are tariffed at double their market price. Iron chains worth five dollars per cwt. are tariffed at twelve dollars. A small quantity of white, black, blue, purple and rose-coloured cotton twist being produced, there is a duty of from 40 to 50 per cent., while red, yellow, green, &c., which the natives cannot dye, are admitted duty free. These are striking exemplifications of the workings of a protective system.

Other blue goods are prohibited because the islands produce indigo; and for the protection of the native shoemakers (who, by the way, are almost invariably Chinese and mere birds of passage in the country), foreign boots and shoes pay from 40 to 50 per cent., to the great detriment of the public health, for the country-tanned leather will not keep out the rain and the mud, while the protective duty encourages the Chinese settler to become a manufacturer, who is less wanted than the agricultural labourer. In the same spirit the tailors are protected, i. e. allowed to overcharge the consumer to the extent of 40 to 50 per cent., the duty on imported clothes, which goes principally to the Chinese. Foreign fruits, preserves and liquors have to bear similar burdens, for cannot the Philippines give confectionary and sweets enough of their own? So runs the round of folly and miscalculation. One hundred dozen of Spanish beer entered the Philippines in 1857, and to protect and encourage so important an interest an excessive impost was levied on 350 pipes and nearly 100,000 bottles of beer not Spanish.