Schumacher, John - The Burgos Text

philippine studies
Ateneo de Manila University Loyola Heights, Quezon City 1108 Philippines

The Burgos Maniesto: The Authentic Text and Its Genuine
Author
John N. Schumacher, S.J.
Philippine Studies vol. 54, no. 2 (2006): 153304
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The Burgos Manifiesto: The Authentic
Text and Its Genuine Author
John N. Schumacher, S.J.
The struggle of the Filipino clergy against the attempts taken to deprive
them of any parish of significance in favor of thefriar orders reached its
culmination in the decree of 1861, leaving them almost none in the Ma-
nila archdiocese. Fr. Pedro Pelhez led the struggle in Manila and Madrid
until his death in the earthquake of 1863. Rumors circulated in Manila
that he had planned a conspiracy to overthrow Spanish rule that very
day. When the Madrid newspaper, La Verdad, repeated that calumny,
the Filipino clergy issued a manifesto defending their rights and vindi-
cating Pelaez's name. Republished in Hong Kong in 1889, the manifesto
has been attributed to Fr. Jose Burgos. Thefirst part of this article es-
tablishes the genuine text of the original, provides an English transla-
tion, and identifies the 1889 interpolations. The second part investigates
whether, and to what extent, the original was written by Burgos. Its con-
clusions trace the factual basis for the interrelationships traditionally
postulated among Pelaez, Burgos, and Rizal.
KEYWORDS: Burgos; Pelaez, Manifiesto, Recollects, Rizal
PART ONE
THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE 1864 DOCUMENT
Among the many articles, pamphlets, and even books published in the
latter half of the nineteenth century on both sides of the struggle of the
Filipino clergy to defend their parishes against their appropriation by the
friar orders, the one most cited in Philippine historiography is a mani-
festo first identified by h a 1 in hls letter to Mariano Ponce as having its
PHILIPPINE STUDIES 54, no. 2 (2006): 153-304
1 54 PHILIPPINE STUDIES 54, no. 2 (2006)
origin with Fr. Jost Burgos.' Th s manifesto, defending Fihpino clergy
rights, has been generally accepted by hstorians as a Burgos document,
bepni ng with Manuel Artigas y Cuerva in the early twentieth century.
Because the original text was unknown, or rather ignored, all have made
use of the text found in a rare antifriar pamphlet published in Hong
Kong by Jost Maria Basa in 1889. This text I first published in full with
an English translation. While expressing lingering doubts as to whether
it had been interpolated in places by another hand, I relied on Rizal's
passing mention that it was genuinely from Burgos.
Not only did I publish it in a collection of primary documents con-
cerning Fathers PelLez, Mariano Gbmez, Burgos, and the Cavite Mutiny
of 1872 (Schumacher 1972a, 58-115), but I republished it in my more
systematic and enlarged edition, which is more centered on Burgos (1999,
56-105), with minor revisions of translation and notes and a more
extensive introduction. With these publications the work was generally
accepted as a genuine Burgos document.
However, the doubts as to its total integrity that I expressed more
strongly in the second edition of the document led me to look further
for the original work. In the course of research for a larger study on the
Cavite Mutiny, I chanced upon a reference that alerted me to the fact
that the original had been an article published in a Madrid newspaper
(Uy 1984, 228-30). This led, with the aid of two Spanish historian
friends, to the recovery of the original text, presented here with a trans-
1. Since nineteenth-century Filipinos wrote their names of Spanish origin ac-
cording to the rules of accentuation for the Spanish language, I have retained
the accents as the individuals of that time would have written their names. Thus,
for example, I have written Pelaez and Gbrnez, and Jose Rizal, though these
names are no longer accented in modern Filipino English. Similarly, though the
rules for alphabetization for Spanish differ from those of Filipinos, I have fol-
lowed Filipino alphabetization. This is particularly true of surnames preceded by
the particle "de," which in Spanish is ignored for alphabetization. Twentieth-
century Filipinos generally incorporate those particles as an integral part of their
surname, though different ones do it in different ways. I have followed the way
that Filipinos today individually deal with those particles in the signatures of
their surnames, and alphabetized the references accordingly.
All translations from languages other than English, unless specifically indi-
cated, are my own. For the list of abbreviations, please see pages 297-98.
SCHUMACHER I THE BURGOS MANlFlESTO 155
lation, as well as the discovery of archlval documents that, while circum-
scribing the role of Burgos in its composition, revealed the further im-
portance of the manifesto. The examination of the genuine 1864
document in connection with other documentary evidence has enabled
me to make a more exact explanation of the role of Burgos in its com-
position, and a clarification of his stance as a nationalist. Moreover, the
identification of what precisely were the interpolations in the 1889
version, through comparison with the original, has led to concrete evi-
dence of the generally assumed but never clearly established, direct links
from Peliez to Burgos, and from Burgos to Jost Rizal, mediated by h s
brother Paciano. Although the original document is not the work of
Burgos alone, it was through him that it came to h a l . Hence, the 1889
version that I had published previously appears as ultimately the work of
Rizal, building on the foundation of Pelaez and Burgos. In the process
of showing thls, we may delineate more clearly the stages of the nine-
teenth-century nationalist movement, finally transmitted in quite altered,
but still recognizable, form to Bonifacio and Jachto.
The Nature of the Document
This document, the most substantial published text attributed to Father
Burgos-if we except the collective series of letters he wrote to the
Madrid newspaper La Discusidn in 1870 (Schumacher 1999, 125-82),
whch in fact evidence a dependence on it-was first published in Span-
ish with an English translation in my two major books on Burgos
(Schumacher 1972a, 58-1 13; 1999, 56-105), as o u h e d above. A partial
English translation had appeared in the 1920s in a collection of essays
by Fihpinos, Thinkingfor Ourselves, published by two professors of English
(Hilario and Quirino 1928/1985, 47-63). The latter compilers, however,
did not indicate the source from which they translated, and simply omit-
ted, with a brief note, many paragraphs dealing with technical ecclesias-
tical matters. Nonetheless, the paragraphs actually published in full are
sufficient to be certain that they translated from the same source used
by Schumacher (1972a; 1999), which, as we hope to show, although
almost certainly connected with Burgos, is not his genuine text as he
wrote it. The interpolated and abbreviated English text of Hilario and
156 PHILIPPINE STUDIES 54, no. 2 (2006)
Quirino seems clearly to be the source of the English version printed in
Manuel (1955-1986, 2:82-92), though it is not listed as a reference.
The ultimate source of all these publications used unal now was an
antifik propaganda pamphlet of 1889, published in Hong Kong by Jost
Ma. Basa. This publication was actually composed of two sections, con-
nected only by their common attacks on the friars in the Pfippines. The
pamphlet as a whole bears the title of the presumed Burgos pamphlet,
ManiJiesto que a la noble Nacidn Eqanbla derigen [sic] los leales Filipinos en
d$nsa de su honra, [sic] y jidelidad grauemente udneradas spoor elpe&co, "2a
Verdad" de Madrida2 In fact, however, the text of the supposed 1864
document occupies only the first twenty-four out of forty-one pages in
the pamphlet, finishing with the signature, "LOS FILIPINOS" and the
date of 27 June 1864. 1 had published this part from the Basa pamphlet
in my two Burgos books, in spite of my awareness of some interpola-
tions. The rest of the pamphlet is a series of ephemeral antifriar writ-
ings in continuous pagination with the ManiJiesto itself, based on alleged
anti friar incidents in Manila of 1 887-1 888. Pamphlets and leaflets
(proclamas) of a s d a r nature were widely distributed in Manila during
this period in connection with the demonstration against the friars and
Archbishop Pedro Payo, O.P., by Pedro Serrano Laktaw, Doroteo Cortes,
Jost Ramos, and their associates, who formed the clandestine Cornitt de
2. The Basa pamphlet is itself undated and without publisher, though the
added documents on pp. 25 to 41 are from 1888, which is the date Retana (1906,
3:1109, no. 2625) conjectures for the whole parnphlet Pardo de Tavera (1903, 246,
nos. 1597, 1598, 1599), who was in frequent contact with Rizal and other Filipi-
nos of the Propaganda Movement in Paris at this time, and thus in a much bet-
ter position to know, straightforwardly says that it was published in Hong Kong
in 1889. As will be seen below, thls is the correct date. Although in the past I
myself have dated it to 1888, all the evidence points to early 1889, as Pardo says.
Retana (1119, no. 2669) attributes this and another earlier pamphlet to "la
colonia filipina de Hong-Kong." However, as is evident from the published cor-
respondence of Basa with Rizal and del Pilar, the former was the principal fin-
ancier and director of the printing of such materials, as well as the channel by
which they were smuggled into the Philippines through his multiple business
contacts (Schumacher 1997, 12627). Rizal and del Pilar, and perhaps others,
provided him with materials, but he was the publisher. Hence we will refer to
this pamphlet for simplicity's sake as the %ass pamphlet" or the "1889 version."
Propaganda supporting del Pilar (Schurnacher 1997, 123-27). In this
article, we are interested only in the initial 24-page section signed by
"Los Filipinos," and dated 27 June 1864, as only that section deals with
the concerns of Burgos.
Reality of the Alleged 1864 Pamphlet
An original pamphlet of 1864 has not been located either in the PM-
ippines or elsewhere, although two apparent references to such a pam-
phlet deserve at t ent i ~n. ~ One of them is a footnote in the careful study
of Burgos's academic career (Villarroel 1971, 60, n. 84), referring to a
pamphlet in the archives of the University of Santo Tomis (AUST,
Fofletos, 52), listed in the catalogue there as being of Burgos. Fr. Fidel
Vdlaroel, O.P., h d l y provided me with a photocopy of this material.
However, on closer examination this "pamphlet" proved actually to be
the Basa version. This became clear by the appearance of an untitled
part of an antifriar tract of 1888, whose beginning is clearly missing, on
the facing page 25 of the photocopy. Moreover, the main title contained
the misspelling "derigen" on the cover, like the Basa version, although
in the footnote of his published book Villarroel, probably inadvertently,
had corrected the misspelling.
However, without denying that it could have been written by Burgos,
Villarroel had rightly noted that all those who have attributed such a
pamphlet to him, beginning with Manuel Artigas (1911a, 4, cited in
Villarroel 1971, n. 85), were writers who belonged to the twentieth cen-
tury. Moreover, "none of them has advanced substantial evidence to
prove this conclusion" (Villaroel 197 1, 60).
There is no doubt that Artigas has been the principal source for the
events surrounding the Cavite Mutiny for all other twentieth-century
writers of any seriousness. They followed hun in attributing the work to
Burgos, as he had done, first in his journal, Renacimiento Fih$ino (1911a),
and in the same year in his well-known book with the same title as the
journal article (1911b). Until fairly recently &us book, h Sucesos de 1872,
was the standard hlstory of the events leading to the Cavite Mutiny,
3. I myself carelessly referred to an 1864 "pamphlet" in Kasqsqan (Guerrero
and Schurnacher 1998, 12).
though its many weaknesses, acceptance of spurious documents, careless
transcriptions, and inaccuracies have been proven for some decades now
(Schumacher 1972b, 622-30). In spite of these published deficiencies,
whose existence has been reaffirmed in other scholarly articles and
books, 0. D. Corpuz nonetheless published a translation of Artigas, ig-
noring, or ignorant of, its major shortcomings almost d of which he
repeats without taking any account of their faults (Artigas 1996). Given
the lack of Spanish competence increasingly evident in hstorical works,
and the relative rarity of Artigas's original, the English translation will
undoubtedly further compound the ignorance of the real historical facts.
(Curiously, Corpuz reproduces a supposed title-page of the original Span-
ish with the publication date of 1913, while the only edition known to
bibliographers is 191 1 .)
In the original, Artigas implin'tb claims to have seen the pamphlet
yblleto) by giving its exact dimensions (18 % cm. x 13 % cm.). Given the
generally careless treatment of facts common in Artigas, even when
dealing with the numerous genuine documents to which he had access,
it is all but certain that what he knew, if he read it at all, was the Basa
pamphlet. For no bibliographer among those likely to know, namely,
Retana or Pardo de Tavera, claims the existence of any pamphlet actu-
ally published in 1864, though both refer to the Basa pamphlet we have
described (Retana 1906, 3:1109, no. 2625; Pardo de Tavera 1903, 246,
nos. 1597, 1598, 1599). The dimensions Artigas gives are sufficiently
close to the Basa pamphlet of 1889-a centimeter different-that in the
absence of any direct assertion that he had handled a pamphlet of 1864,
and knowing his general carelessness on details and his haste in publish-
ing, there is already a presumption that he was similarly deceived by the
date at the end of the Manzjesto proper, i.e., on page 24, into thinking
that it was indeed a complete original pamphlet.
Not satisfied with this strong probability, I made further inquiry from
Father ViUarroel, the archivist of the ~niversity.~ He graciously supplied
4. I am deeply grateful to Father Villarroel for the information from the
AUST that he has generously sought out for me, given my present inability to
work personally in the archves. Even in the midst of his own research for a
truly scholarly history of the University of Santo Tornas for its fourth centenary
in 2010, he has also been generous with his explanation of various particulars
SCHUMACHER I THE BURGOS MANIFIESTO 159
me with meticulously accurate information that r eady explains the
dtfference in dimensions between those in Artigas's assertion and my
photocopy of the alleged 1889 pamphlet (Vh-roe1 2005a).5 An unknown
archivist of the early twentieth century had bound together a series of
miscellaneous pamphlets of vastly different dates (1826 to 1904!) and
subjects. The Basa Man$esto of twenty-four pages was by chance bound
into the resulting volume, following another related antifriar pamphlet,
Viva Eqai a Viva e l Rg. Viva e l Ejirito. Fwa hs Haihs., precisely follow-
ing page 24 of the latter. This is followed by its purple cover, entitled
VIVA ESPANA, FUERA LOS FRAILES. After this comes the Basa
ManiJFesto of twenty-four pages, ending as reprinted (Schumacher 1972a;
1999) with the place and date on page 24, "Ma&, 27 de Junio de 1864."
This, in turn, is followed, not by the pages 25 to 41 of the Basa
Manzjiesto, but by other antifriar propaganda originally forming the latter
part of Viva, pages 25 to 38. It seems clear that the archivist of that
time simply saw various s d a r antifriar writings of that type and, since
the first 24-page numbers corresponded, carelessly attached the second
part of Viva to the first part of the Basa Man$esto. What happened to
the second part of the latter at the AUST is unknown. Being trivial
antifriar propaganda, the pages may simply have been discarded. But
both from the sample page reproduced at the end of the photocopied
Man$esto and from the fact that its conclusion is on page 38 (the final
page of Viva [1888]; cf. Retana 1906, 3:1119, no. 2669) instead of the
forty-one pages that the integral Basa Man$e.rto pamphlet contained, this
latter part of the AUST pamphlet clearly must belong to Viva 1888. To
anyone who has read much of this type of antifriar propaganda, it is not
surprising that a nonprofessional archivist of those times should have
without further research bound all these scurrilous materials together
without consulting any bibliography such as Pardo de Tavera (1903). The
of the academic system at use in the university at the time of Burgos, and of
some intricacies of the Patronato Real. My references to his several books on the
university make dear how much I have depended on his published works as well.
5. It is relevant here to note that, at the time that Artigas was writing his Los
S~/cesos, he was also working on his history of the university (Ferrer 1970), thus
most likely making use of the AUST, where he could have seen the presumed
Burgos pamphlet.
latter work c e r d y , and perhaps Retana's (1906) also, already existed at
the unknown time the b i n h g of the disparate materials was done, since
it must have been later than the 1904 English address of Taft, rather
capriciously bound into that same volume.
The fact that all these varied pamphlets were sewed together in bind-
ing, as well as the fact that after binding the resulting volume was "@-
lotined," that is, all cut to one uniform size, explains the shght difference
in size-approximately a centimeter, as noted above-between the pho-
tocopy of the Basa Manifiesto from the AUST and the measurements
gven by Amgas. This is true even if we are generous enough to suppose
that, in this particular case at least, that prolific but careless historian was
absolutely accurate to the last fraction of a centimeter. Finally, Artigas
gives the number of pages as twenty-four, which corresponds to the
Manifiesto part of the Basa pamphlet, but, as will be seen later in this
article, would c e r d y be much less for the genuine 1864 article in La
Amei-ica. This wdl become clear with the reproduction of the genuine
1864 document in the following sections of this study, with an indica-
tion of the extent of the interpolated paragraphs of the Basa pamphlet,
which lengthened the relatively brief 1864 or i pal article to fully twenty-
four pages. This fact, together with the det ds so meticulously supplied
by Vdarroel, clinches the case that what Artigas saw was the 1889 pam-
phlet, or, rather, the hrst part of i t In the absence of any other assertion
not dependent on Artgas, there is no evidence that an 1864 paqbhbt ever
existed, much less was published in Ma d . It was, however, in Manila that
coqbosition of the 1864 artih took place, whch was then sent to Spain for
appearance in a periodical there, whch we now know to be La Amirica.
There is no question, therefore, that the pages following page 24 of
the Basa pamphlet are not from Burgos but from 1888-1889. For they
deal entirely with events which occurred in 1887 to 1888. But even the
Man$esto itself in its twenty-four pages has sections quite out of char-
acter with Burgos, especially at this stage of h s life when he was about
to be ordained a priest. Ths is especially true of that section calling for
the government confiscation of all the lands of the religous orders and
their complete expulsion from the Philippines, as I had noted from the
beginning (Schumacher 1972a, 3637; 1044, n. 35; 1999, 34, n. 69; 98-
99, nn. 34-35). That demand was a demand of the more radlcal nation-
alists of the 1890s, not those of the 1860s. Indeed, it contradicts other
places, in the Basa version as well as in the original, where the author
praises not only the Jesuits, who had no haciendas, but likewise the
Dominicans who did, yet is far from calling for their expulsion.
Burgos and the 1889 Maniflesto
Nonetheless, though I was alert enough to observe that the 1864 text
undoubtedly had been interpolated in the Basa publication, I could not
prove it at the time. As my suspicions became stronger, I investigated the
possible existence of the o m a l 1864 pamphlet (as I had always thought
it was) both in Spain and in the Philippines. This duality of versions was
nonetheless clear, even apart from joining to the purported Burgos origi-
nal the antifriar handbills of 1888, probably brought with him from
Manila by del Pilar, as we have noted, in late 1888.6
Del Pilar, however, could hardly have done much, if any, of the actual
interpolation of the original text since he left home on 28 October 1888
and, after his stop in Hong Kong with Basa, was in Barcelona by very
early January 1889. In the days of at least a month's journey from Hong
Kong to Spain, this would have precluded hls spendmg more than a few
days in Hong Kong (del Pilar 1955-1958, 1:5, 7; Rizal 1930-1938, 296-
97, 116). He most likely would have been the one to have brought the
antifriar leaflets to Hong Kong, whether in manuscript or printed form,
for he had been still in the Philippines when the events alleged in these
leaflets were supposed to have occurred.
Rizal, however, as we wdl show, almost certatnly brought the 1864 text
to Basa. Likewise, he certainly aided Basa in interpolating the 1864 text,
or perhaps even dld it entirely hlrnself, leaving the publication to Basa.
For he spent a considerable amount of time in Hong Kong after leaving
6. As Pardo de Tavera correctly notes, though the Basa pamphlet puts them
in continuous pagination with the supposed 1864 pamphlet, there are really
three separate works, each with their own title page (1903, 1597, 1598, 1599).
It is possible that the latter two had already been published in Manila in the
clandestine press used for such purposes by JosC Rarnos for the ComitC de Pro-
paganda, but this can only be a plausible conjecture (Schurnacher 1997, 115, n.
15; 123-24).
the Philippines the second time in 1888. As will be seen in the notes to
the actual text of the or i pal 1864 article, in several places the hand of
Rizal is quite evident in the interpolations, as, for example, the passages
citing the scientific conclusions of the work of German anthropologsts
as well as those on the wealthy haciendas of the friars. For during his
stay in Calamba the hacienda dispute with the Dominicans had begun
and one of his principal concerns in Hong Kong was to look into the
finances of the friar orders in preparation for the struggle he planned
@zal 1961, 14243).
The Authorship of the 1864 Document
Fr. Fidel Vdlarroel was apparently the first to raise the question of the
authorship of Burgos, shortly before my own publication. But, apart
from noting the dependence of all other authors on Artigas (1971, 60-
61), he refrained from giving an apodictic answer. However, when I
published the 1889 Man$esto the following year, I did not rely on Artigas
but principally on the assertion of Rizal that among the antifriar writings
earlier published by Basa in Hong Kong-namely, the Viva pamphlet
mentioned above-were "articles [a~'MIbs] by Burgos" @al 1930-1938,
2:149; Schumacher 1972a, 22-23, nn. 38, 41). The principal knowledge-
able bibliographers, Retana and Pardo de Tavera, had connected these
two pamphlets of 1888 to 1889 to the agitation that accompanied the
demonstration of 1 March 1888 demanding the expulsion of friars and
the archbishop (Retana 1906, 3:2625, 2669; Pardo de Tavera 1903, 432,
no. 2807; Schurnacher 1997, 114-20).
Hence, in spite of my recognition that there had been an undeter-
mined amount of interpolation to the 1889 pamphlet, the fact that Arch-
bishop Gregorio Melit6n Martinez had asserted to Nuncio Lorenzo
B a d hls conclusion that the 1864 document came from "the secular
clergyM-together with the f dur e to suggest any other likely orignal
author (ASV, Arch. Nunz. Madrid, no. 2046; Schurnacher 1972a, 23; 1999,
20)-gave me confidence to affirm that the Basa pamphlet reproduced
at least the main substance of a manifesto whose author in 1864 had
been Burgos.' I also relied on the fact that "almost all the ideas of the
Man$esto reappear" in the certainly genuine Burgos articles that appeared
in the Madrid newspaper LA Discusidn in 1870 (Schumacher 1972a, 23;
1999, 21; 98-99, n. 34). (Tl-us last argument was, of course, invalid by
itself, as it only proved that Burgos had a copy of the 1864 publication
and made use of its arguments. But the fact that in the 1870 articles the
author did not use some of the more radical proposals, such as the ex-
pulsion of the friars and the confiscation of their lands, was at least a
probable indication of Burgos's authorship.) However, it is now clear that
the interpolations and modifications by Rizal and/or Basa were much
greater than I had supposed.
As I came to know more of Burgos himself through later research
more doubts arose, but did not prevent my republishing the Basa ver-
sion in my edition of 1999, but with further cautions as to undoubted
interpolations (Schumacher 1999, especially 98-99, n. 34). Since then,
however, rereading for another larger article still in process, references
that I had seen fifteen years before my second edition, but forgotten,
gave me second thoughts. Especially when I noted certain references
whose implications I had not taken account of previously, I became
aware of the tenuousness of the evidence for an 1864 pamphlet and was
led to the research detailed above, showing such a pamphlet to be non-
existent. However, the 1864 document had to exist in another form.
The references were in a detded study of the correspondence of the
papal nuncio, Lorenzo Barili, on the state of the Philippine church with
major figures of the secularization controversy beginning with Fr. Pedro
Pelaez (Uy 1984, 161).8 Rereading it finally alerted me to the fact that the
original document of 1864 was nowhere said to be a pamphlet. Rizal had
7. To avoid conhsion, I have used the word "manifesto," in lower case, in
the ordinary sense of the word, namely a document propounding a cause. I shall
reserve the capitalized Spanish word Man$eesto to designate the 1889 pamphlet
with its interpolations and alterations.
8. In my 1963 research in the ASV for my book Pmpaganda Movement, I had
copied, to the extent my time permitted, a number of documents of this corre-
spondence, but did not have the oppomuity for more thorough research. Hence,
in this article, for those facts that I have from my own research, as well as the cop-
ies of those letters of Peliez found in the Jesuit archives here, I have cited directly.
Other facts I know only from the later book of Fr. Antolin Uy, S.V.D., and for
these my references are to the ASV or the AHN as cited in his valuable work.
referred to "articles" (arh~hs) of Burgos. What the other articles were-
if there were any-is impossible to say now, though a possible conjec-
ture is that they were those written by Burgos to the Madrid newspaper,
La Discusidn, in 1870 (Schumacher 1999, 131-92). However, no other
such articles were republished, and it seems likely that in using the plu-
ral, "articles," h a l was simply speaking loosely and from memory. His
real concern at the time he wrote the letter to Mariano Ponce in
Barcelona, where the newspaper La Sohdaridad was still being published
in early 1889, was that whatever materials of Burgos there were should
be utilized. For Rizal's main purpose was to urge him to write articles
letting the readers know more about outstanding Filipinos like Fathers
Burgos, Peliiez, Mariano Garcia, and others whose names he would add
in subsequent letters. The reference to "Burgos articles" was incidental.
Moreover, he was certatnly referring principally, if not solely, to the 1889
Basa pamphlet, since he said that, if they did not have any there in
Barcelona, to let hun know, as he had a large number (una injnidaad) with
him in Paris, from where he was writing @al 1930-1938, 2:149).
That the original article was published in 1864 we know from several
sources. Gox-Gen. Rafael de Echagiie wrote to the Overseas Minister
(Ministro de Ultrama$ in August 1864, warning him "to exercise caution
in readmg the articles onginating from the regular clergy." He was refer-
ring to those in the newspapers La Verdad and La Regenera&, both
subsidned by Fr. Guillermo Agudo, 0.A.R; and La Esperan~a, subsidned
by Fr. Celestino Mayordomo, O.S.A. Both of them occupied themselves
in denigrating the archbishop and the Fihpino clergy. Echague, referring
to "the impropriety of their virulent articles," said that he also knew that
"in this or the preceding mail," "on the way to Madnd for publication
is an extensive arhi-fe in defense of the secular clergy, appeahg to the
judgment of the nation, the author of which is not unknown to me"
(Echagiie-Mhstro de Ultramar, 18 Aug. 1864, AHN, Ultramar, leg. 2206,
exp. 41; cited in Uy 1984, 161; italics mine). In fact, though he said he gave
little L-portance to it, he had gotten hold of a copy of this supposedly
secret article and had informed the ordtnary (the archbishop), who was
totally ignorant of it (ibid.). This undoubtedly was the basis for the arch-
bishop telling the nuncio that the "secular clergy" had published the article.
This statement of Echagiie clearly signifies that he was convinced that
the author was a member of the Manila secular clergy known to him,
and confirms that it was an article to be published in Spain, not a
pamphlet. In the archbishop's letter to the nuncio telling of Governor
Echagiie's having called this article to his attention, he termed it "some
kind of manifesto (man$esto) to the nation" (ASV, Arch. Nunz. Madrid,
447; no. 2046, 4 Sept. 1864, in Uy 1984, 161). Father Uy goes on to say:
"After a check, B a d confirms Martinez's supposition that it had ap-
peared in La Amitica." Barili assured the archbishop, however, "Be sure
that nobody paid any attention to it. Even none of the procurators of
the religious orders. I am not a subscriber of the newspaper; nobody
talked to me about such a manifesto" (ASV, Arch. Nunz. Madrid, 447,
no. 873, 21 Mar. 1865, in Uy 1984, 161, n. 91). In fact, the nuncio was
naive in this matter. The Recollect procurator, Fr. Guillermo Agudo, had
found out about it from his multiple contacts with publishers and knew
that it had been presented to La Amirica for publication. Moreover, as
d l be seen below, once it was published he presented copies to the
Overseas Ministry and was planning a counteraction.
Preliminary Conclusions
To sum up, we may make several conclusions from this combination of
sources. First, the original work was not a pamphlet, but an arhi.le writ-
ten in Manila, then published in the Madrid periodical, LA Amkica.
Second, the nature of the article was such that both archbishop and nun-
cio spontaneously referred to it as a "manifesto," as in fact it was in the
common meaning of the word, though, as wdl be seen in the transcrip-
tion below, that word does not appear in the original article or its title.
Third, Echagiie, Mehthn Martinez, and Barili all spoke of it as an article/
manifesto directed "to the nation," which, as we will see, was the actual
title in La Amirica. Fourth, though the author seems not to have been
known, or at least was not named at that time, except perhaps by
Echague to the archbishop, it was signed by "Los Filipinos." Fifth, when
Basa, or whoever was the author, went to publish the 1889 pamphlet, he
seized upon these four indications to gve a title to hts pamphlet, which,
albeit not in the original, was striking and accurately descriptive of its
original nature: ManGesto que a ka noble nacidn esparioka den@ [sic] los leales
Filipinos en dgensa de su honra y jdelidad gravemente vulneradas por el periodic0
'2a Verdad' de Madrid.
PHILIPPINE STUDIES 54, no. 2 (2006)
Erroneous Attributions
Thus, Basa or the author put it in continuity with the earlier struggle of
the Fhpino clergy to defend themselves against some friar orders. Be-
gun by Fathers Peliez and Gbmez, and carried on by Burgos, it had cul-
minated in the executions and exiles after the Cavite Mutiny of 1872.
Moreover, though that title did not appear on the 1864 original, it ex-
pressed its contents. Hence, Uy, who had no reason to consult the rare
periodcal in Madnd since the topic of his dissertation was the state of
the church in the Phihppines, concluded from the archbishop's use of
the word "manifiesto" that it was the same as the 1889 pamphlet, en-
titled Manifiesto, which I had unwisely published in 1972. This was an
error that I myself would have shared had I been writing at the time of
Father Uy's book (1984, 161, n. 91).
In fact, though my 1999 book had a new and much more extensive
introduction, reflecting a number of new documents as well as the
research done since 1972 by historians, particularly Prof. Leandro Tormo
Sanz and myself, there was no change in the text of the Map~ifiesto. The
only changes were certain clarifications in the introduction and the foot-
notes, mostly verbal, except for the one of some importance to which
I have already referred, that is, calling special attention to what I believed
certainly to be an interpolation by Basa or Rizal into Burgos's genuine
text. My reasons were m d y two. First, as I have mentioned above, was
its incongruity with what we knew of Burgos in 1864. The second was
its being the most glaring exception to the general fact that all the sub-
stantial arguments in the Manzjesto were later found in some form in
Burgos's certainly genuine articles of 1870-1871. For there was nothing
in the origmal manifesto about expelting all friars and confiscating their
lands (Schumacher 1999, 98-99, n. 34), nor did Burgos call for that in
his articles of 1870. Although I did not fully perceive its significance at
the time, it was to be the turning point in the search for the 1864 origi-
nal text of the Mangestto.
While I was writing another piece, the allusion concerning the article
of the secular clergy in La Amirica, made by Father Uy in 1984, came
to my attention. After I obtained a photocopy of the original article, it
became clear that we were no longer dealing with a few passing interpo-
lations into a fundamentally genuine document, but that there had been
many and major antifriar additions that the author of the 1864 manifesto
had neither thought of nor intended. Hence, we can now publish here
the certainly genuine 1864 article, with an Enghsh tran~lation.~
However, that being done, we must examine the strength of the evi-
dence we now have of its being an authentic work from the pen of
Burgos. Dr. Roberto Blanco Andris in his recent doctoral dissertation,
"Iglesia y Estado en Fdtpinas: las ordenes religosas y la cuestion de
curatos (17761872)'' (2004b), has brought forth new evidence that calls
the Burgos authorship into question.1 In discussing this evidence and its
sqpficance for establishing whether the 1864 document is truly a Burgos
document, we will rely not only on the evidence from the various exter-
nal sources but likewise on the internal coherence of that authorship
with the 1864 article reproduced in the next section. The footnotes will
make clear the major changes and the lengthy and more radical interpo-
lations to the genuine 1864 document found in the Basa pamphlet.
9. Here I must express my gratitude to Dr. Fernando Palanco Aguado, who
went to the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid, located the article in La he' ri ca, and
had it photocopied for me. Moreover, given the smallness of the print in the
photocopy, he took the trouble to type out a more manageable first draft of it
for me, which enormously facilitated my final reproduction and translation of
it in this article. For such generosity, I am deeply grateful.
10. I owe another debt of gratitude to Dr. Blanco Andrks, who supplied me
with many documents needed for this article, both from his dissertation and
from his personal photocopies of materials in the Augustinian and Recollect ar-
chives. Moreover, as may clearly be seen from the list of references at the end
of this article, we engaged by e-mail in a scholarly debate and exchange of in-
formation concerning the topic of this article. Though I have given credit to
specific facts that I have received from him, the exchange of ideas in this long
discussion by e-mail has enabled me to form and sharpen my conclusions on the
subject of the article. Without that and the information he has supplied, I could
not have written this article. Though we are not in full agreement on every
point, and my conclusions are my own responsibility, his contribution to my
thinking has been even greater than actually appears credited in the references,
and I want to express my deep gratitude to him.
Original Text of the 1864 Articlegg
Los varios articulos referentes a 10s curatos de aquellas islas, que de
algunos meses a esta parte constituyen el terna obhgado del peri6dico La
Verdad que se publica en esta corte,12 escritos en sentido muy favorable
a 10s regulares, atribuyendo a kstos preferentes derechos a 10s espresados
curatos de 10s que se pretende excluir gratuitamente a1 clero secular,
exhibikndolo para este fin de una manera poco decorosa e indgna por
sus merecimientos, virtud y saber, nos mueve a salir del acostumbrado
silencio con que hasta ahora se nos ha conocido, permitikndonos por
esta vez dirigir nuestra hurnilde voz a la nacidn, no s610 para desvanecer
la atm6sfera ya creada tal vez, aunque con la enunciaci6n vaga e
indeterminada de rebelidn abortada en este pais, sino mas bien para
evidenciar aquellos derechos, y las tendencias de cuanto entraiian 10s
mencionados articulos en contra de 10s filipinos.
Al efecto, y sin embargo de que nuestra instruction y conocimientos no
Sean de la talla del periodico, o del articuhsta que asegura haber emitido
razones indestructibles en todo lo que leva escrito a favor del clero regu-
lar, proclamandose su defensor sin causa, trataremos de demostrar la
inexactitud de sus apreciaciones en lo concerniente a la preferencia de
derechos a la cura de alrnas, y la falsedad de sus juicios con respecto a
la capacidad intelectual de 10s filipinos, a quienes se ha tratado de
deprirnir y anular, y contra quienes se han lanzado tremendas e injustas
filipicas. Y para que no se nos achaque de que interpretamos ma1 las
palabras, iremos entresacando algunos pirrafos de diferentes nljmeros del
citado periolco, que por una extraiia casualidad leimos. Y si a1 emitir
las razones que nuestra limitada inteligencia alcanza no pudikramos
11. This article appeared in La America, VIII, 17 (12 Sept. 1864): 11-13. In
presenting the original text, I have retained the variations of spelling character-
istic of the time and place it was written, since they have some bearing on its
genuineness. However, there seemed to be no good reason to preserve the highly
erratic and inconsistent accentuation or lack of it, so I have used the accentua-
tion norms of modern Spanish. In all other respects, unless specifically noted,
I have preserved the text exactly as it was originally published, including the
lengthy paragraphs, the use of quotation marks, and the many misspellings or
SCHUMACHER I THE BURGOS MANlFlESTO
Translation
TO THE NATION
The various articles concerning the parishes of the Philippines have
been for some months here the unfailing theme of the newspaper, La
Verdad, published in this [sic] capital.12 Written in a sense very favorable
to the regular orders, they attribute to them preferential rights to these
parishes, from which they gratuitously aim to exclude the secular clergy.
To achieve this end they picture that clergy in a manner quite unseemly
and unworthy in the light of that clergy's merits, virtue, and knowledge.
All this moves us to abandon the usual silence for which till now we
have been known and to permit ourselves for once to direct our humble
voice to the nation. We wish frrst to clear the atmosphere already created,
perhaps, with just that vague and indeterminate enunciation of an
aborted rebellion in this country. In addition, we d instead gve proof
of those rights, as well as show the tendencies of all that those articles
contain against the Fdipinos.
To begin, we acknowledge that our knowledge and skills may not be
at the high cultural level of the newspaper, or those of the author of
the article, who assures us that he has brought forth irrefutable reasons
in all that he has written in favor of the regular clergy, proclaiming h m -
self its defender without any reason. Nonetheless, we d try to demon-
strate the inaccuracy of hls assessments with regard to the preferential
rights to the care of souls and the falsity of his judgments regarding the
intellectual capacity of the Fdipinos, whom he has occupied hunself with
humiliating and belittling and against whom he has launched dreadful and
unjust invectives. And, so that no one may charge us with interpreting
his words badly, we will proceed by choosing for quotation some para-
graphs of dfferent sections of the abovementioned newspaper, which
by chance we happened to read. If, in expressing the reasons that our
inaccurate names and titles. I have, however, corrected them and realigned them
according to modern practice in the English translation
12. Though the original has "esta," which would imply that the articles were
appearing in Manila, it is clearly a misprint, which is corrected to "esa" in the
1889 version.
imitarlo en su culto y clisico lenguaje, esperamos se nos perdone el que
usamos, el de la verdad en su sencillez natural, pudiendo asegurar que en
la amargura de nuestro coraz6n por golpes tan duros como inesperados,
en medio de nuestra ineptitud y rudeza, atendemos mas que a las reglas
de la oratoria, a la ingenua manifestation de nuestros sentimientos,
desgraciadamente interpretados hasta ahora por pasiones bastardas de
una colectividad miserable en sus mitas egoistas de engrandecimiento, y
ternible por el ascendiente y elementos de que dispone. Bajo este
concepto, pues, empezamos nuestra tarea.13
((Que ademas del derecho -dice el articulista- que conceden 10s siglos, las
costurnbres y la conveniencia, ademas del reconocido titulo que alli en Filipinas
tienen adquiridos 10s regulares para desempeiiar el cargo parroquial, hay otra
raz6n poderosisima que les concede este absoluto privilegio, y no es otra sino
la conservaci6n, adelanto y progresos de tan hermosas co1onias.-El arzobispo
de Manila, rodeado por una clerecia indigena que tiende al dominio de unos
derechos que no le competen . . . ))I4
Mucha ignorancia del derecho supondriamos en el autor de estas
frases si no tuvikramos la convicci6n de que esa ignorancia es afectada.
Y no nos tomkamos siquiera la molestia de refutarlas si no creyksemos
que tal vez algunos chdidos lectores, a quienes no incurnbe el deber de
estar instruidos en esta materia, habrian acojido de buena fe tan falsas
ideas. Para desengaiio, pues, de 10s ilusos, vamos a dar una ligera reseiia
de la jurisprudencia canonica y civil que rije sobre el particular,
advirtiendo de paso que las leyes de Indias y cuantas disposiciones se
dictaron despuks de su compilaci6n hasta 1826, reconocen de
conformidad con 10s chones y disciplina de la Iglesia el derecho preferente
que tiene a 10s curatos e l c h semhr de Fih$inas, sin pararse a considerar
si es o no indigena.
13. The whole previous section is expanded, paraphrased, and added to sig-
nificantly in the 1889 pamphlet, referring to the attacks on the archbishop as
well as the secular clergy, and mentioning the role of the Recollects and their
attack on Peliez. The general orientation, however, remains the same.
SCHUMACHER I THE BURGOS MNIFIESTO 171
lunited intelltgence attains, we should not be able to imitate him in his
refined and classical language, we hope that he may pardon us for the
language we use, that of truth in its native simplicity. We can assure him
that in the bitterness of our heart at blows as harsh as unexpected, in
the midst of our ineptitude and rusticity, we pay attention to the candid
manifestation of our feehgs rather than to the rules of oratory. Unfor-
tunately, these have been interpreted untd now by the warped passions
of a wretched collectivity in its selfish designs of aggrandizement, one
that is formidable for its power and the resources of whch it disposes.
With this idea, then, we begin our task.13
The writer of the article says:
Apart from the right bestowed by the centuries, by custom, and by
their usefidness, apart from the acknowledged title that the regular or-
ders have acquired there in the Puppines to carry out the office of
parish priest, there is another very strong reason that gives them this
absolute privilege. It is no other than that of the preservation, ad-
vance, and progress of such beautiful colonies. The archbishop of
Manila, surrounded by a native secular clergy that aims at the posses-
sion of certain rights that do not belong to it . . . .I4
We would suppose great ignorance of the law in the author of these
phrases if we did not have the conviction that that ignorance of his is
feigned. We would not even take the trouble to refute them if we did not
believe that perhaps certain unknowing readers, who do not have the
duty of being well instructed in these matters, might have accepted in
good faith such false ideas. In order, then, to disabuse those who have
been deceived, we shall give a brief review of canonical and civil juris-
prudence on the particular matter. We observe in passing that the Laws
of the Indies, and all the dispositions of law that have been made after
their compilation until 1826, acknowledge, in conformity with canon law
and the discipline of the Church, the preferential right that the semkrr clergy
of the Phih)pines has to the parishes, without stopping to consider whether
or not it is a native secular clergy.
14. This paragraph and the eight succeedmg ones are reproduced identically
in the 1889 pamphlet.
172 PHILIPPINE STUDIES 54. no. 2 (2006)
El derecho candnico novisirno no concede a 10s regulares aptitud para ser
curas pirrocos sino a falta de sacerdotes seculares. ~ s i ' l o ensefia
expresamente el sabio cuanto celoso pontifice Benedicto XIV en varias
de sus constituciones, y en especial en la de 8 de noviembre de 1751, que
empieza Cum Nuper,15 donde dice terminantemente las siguientes
palabras:
ccEs verdad, asi como no puede negarse, que s egb 10s antiguos Canones 10s
monges y regulares eran capaces de regir iglesias parroquiales, lo cual
expresamente declara Inocencio I11 en su decretal que comienza quod deitmored6
Del mismo modo, ahora es cierto que, s e e la moderna disciplina canbnica, les
esti prohibido a 10s regulares tomar la cura de h a s sin dispensa apost6lica, que
no suele concederse por el pontifice romano sino a instancia del obispo, ni por
Cste pedirse sino cuando lo aconseja la necesidad de la Iglesia.))
Trae 10s bdament os de esa doctrina y continua asi en el par. 2":
ctNi debe creerse que se aparta de esta regla nuestro predecesor S. Pio V
cuando por sus letras que comienzan eJponi nobrj, de 21 de marzo de 1567 (y que
es el principal argument0 a favor de 10s regulares), habilit6 a 10s religiosos para
aceptar parroquias y ejercer otras funciones de curas en las regiones de las Indias
del mar OcCano; porque fund6 esta concesibn en que 10s mencionados religiosos
habian hasta entonces ejercido el oficio de pirrocos, por falta de presbiteros
seculares. Con lo cual se demuestra suficientemente que lo dispuesto en aquellas
letras s610 tiene lugar donde no hay ni pueden ser habidos sacerdotes seculares
para ejercer la cura de h a s , s egh la dedaraci6n dada por nuestro predecesor
de feliz memoria Inocencio X, en sus letras apost6licas, de 15 de mayo de 1607,
que comienzan cum sicut accepimus, en las cuales hablando de esta constituci6n
15. This bull of Benedict XIV, together with one of 1744 entitled Firmandis
and one of 1745 entitled Quamvis, gave the definitive solution from the part of
the popes to the much-disputed question concerning the right of priests of
religious orders to hold parishes. If they did so out of necessity, it affirmed the
power of the bishop to conduct a visitation over parish priests belonging to
religious orders. Since the sixteenth century these rights had been bitterly
contested in the Philippines as well as in the rest of the Spanish empire in the
Indies. Though these papal briefs settled the questions from a canonical
point of view, only during the time of Archbishop Basilio Sancho de Santa Justa
The most recent canon kzw does not grant the relqyous the capacity to
be parish priests except where there is a lack of semkzrpriests. This is the
express teachmg of Benedlct XTV, as wise a pontiff as he was zealous,
in several of his constitutions and, in particular, in that of 8 November
1751, begmning Cum Nuper,15 where he says def ~t i vel y the following
words:
It is undeniably true that, accordmg to the ancient Canons, monks
and religious were capable of ruling parish churches, as Innocent I11
expressly declared in his decretal beginning Quod Dei tim~rern.'~ All the
same, it is now certain that accordmg to modern canonical disciphe
it is forbidden to religous to undertake the care of souls without
apostolic dispensation. The Roman Pontiff does not or di ndy grant
the latter except at the petition of the bishop. Nor does the latter
ordmarily request it except when the need of the Church makes it
advisable.
He goes on to bring forth the foundation of this doctrine, and con-
tinues thus in paragraph 2:
Nor should it be thought that Our predecessor St. Pius V departed
from this rule when, by his letter that begins Exponi nobis of 24
March 1567 (and this is the principal argument in behalf of the
religious), he enabled the religious to accept parishes and exercise
other functions of parish priests in the regions of the Indies of the
Ocean Sea. For he based this concession on the fact that unul that
time those religious had exercised the office of parish priests because
of the lack of secular priests. This fact shows with sufficient clarity
that the dtspositions of that letter are valid only where there are not,
nor can there be had, secular priests to exercise the care of souls,
according to the declaration given by Our predecessor of happy
memory, Innocent X, in his Apostolic Letter of 15 May 1607, begin-
ning Cum sicut accepimus. In the latter document, speaking of the
y Rufina in 1768 was an attempt made to enforce their provisions in the
Phhppines.
16. Innocent 111 was pope from 1198 to 1216. "Decretal" is the term used
for papal decrees having permanent force of law
piana deterrnina que ella no tiene vigor sin0 en 10s lugares donde faltan
pkrocos.,)
Habria que transcribir integra esta Bula, que parece escrita para poner
de relieve las atrevidas aserciones de La Verhd, que arriba citamos. Pero
para no ser difusos, seguiremos extractindola hicamente. En el pkrafo
3", asegura el mismo Benedicto MV que esa fue la opini6n generalmente
adrnitida en la congregation del Con~i l i o. ~~ En el pk. 4O, que no es justo
que un privilegio concedido a 10s religiosos en tiempos en que no
abundaban 10s presbiteros seculares en las Indias, tenga la misma fuerza
cuando ya hay en ellas muchos de estos, 10s mencionados presbiteros. En
el pir. 5O, declara contra aquellos regulares que decian que so10 estan
sujetos al obispo in o$cio o$ciando,18 es decir, en lo que es privaci6n del
pkroco (error que todavia cunde en no pocos frailes de Filipinas); que
lo e s t b tambikn en su morahdad, porque no es irnposible, aiiade, que la
vida de algunos de ellos sea tal que se oponga al cargo parroquial y sirva
de escandalo al pueblo.
Esto es por lo que respecta al derecho can6nico. Por lo que hace a la
jurisprudencia civil, recomendamos a1 oficioso articulista del peri6dico
aludido lea a nuestro celebre Solorzano, en el libro 4" de la politica
indiana y en el libro 3", niuneros 32 y siguientes de indiamm gubernatione,
y a1 no menos cClebre Frasso de Regio Patronatu, tom0 2" capitulo 66,
niun. 67 y siguientes.19 De todo lo cud es una muestra la real cCdula del
aiio 1618, que trae el referido Solorzano y dice asi:
(Mi virey, presidente y oidores de la ciudad de 10s reyesZ0 de las provincias
del Peni como tenkis entendido, a1 tiempo que se descubrieron esas provincias,
por no haber en ellas n h e r o suficiente de clkrigos que adminiseasen 10s Santos
17. The Congregation of the Council was the body of cardinals set up af-
ter the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century, to interpret the decrees of that
council such as the one in question here concerning the jurisdiction over par-
ish priests who were regulars, i.e., belongmg to religious orders.
18. In o#io of i i ando is a technical canonical term meaning that the regular
parish priests were subject to the bishops only in matters pertaining to the ex-
ercise of their office as parish priest and not in those pertaining to their private
lives, which fell under the jurisdiction of their religious superiors.
Constitution of Pius, he determines "that it has validty only in those
places where parish priests are lacking."
I t would be fitting to transcribe this bull in full, since it seems as if
written to give prominence to the rashness of the assertions of La
Verdad cited above. But in order not to be diffuse, we will continue
only to make extracts from it. In paragraph 3, the same Benedict XIV
asserts that this was the opinion generally admitted in the Congregation
of the Council.17 In paragraph 4 he says it is not right that a privilege
given t o religious in times when secular priests were not numerous
in the Indies should have the same force when there are already many
of these priests there. In paragraph 5 he declares agamst those religious
who said that they are only subject to the bishop in oflczo oj%-iando,l8 that
is, only in what belongs to the office of parish priest (an error still
common among not a few friars in the Philippines). Rather, they are
also subject to the bishop with regard to their moral life, because it is
not impossible, he adds, that the life of some of them be such that it
is opposed to the office of parish priest and is a source of scandal to
the people.
This is with regard to canon law. As far as civil jurisprudence is con-
cerned, we recommend to the meddling writer of the article in the
newspaper cited above that he read our renowned Sol6rzano in book 4
of the Poktica Indiana and in book 3, nos. 32 and following, of the De
Indiamm gubernatione; likewise the no less renowned Frasso, De Regio
Patronatu, vol. 2, chap. 66, nos. 67 and following.19 A sample of all this
is the Royal Ctdula of 1618, cited by Sol6rzan0, that reads as follows:
My viceroy-president and oidores of the City of the Kings [LunaIz0 of
the provinces of Peru: As you are aware, at the time those provinces
were discovered there was not a sufficient number of secular clergy
19. Juan de Sol6rzano and Pedro Frasso were Spanish jurists of the seven-
teenth century, who, in the works cited here, commented on the Leyes de Indias,
particularly on matters concerning the exercise of the Patronato Real.
20. Lima was called the Ciudad de lox re ye^.
Sacrarnentos, y ser 10s lugares y partes donde lo habian de hacer tantos y tan
distantes, 10s seiiores reyes, mis progenitores, suplicaron a la Sede Apostolica
permitiese y dispensase que 10s religiosos de las 6rdenes mendicantes, o algunos
de ellos, pudiesen ser curas doctrineros de algunos pueblos de Indias, de manera
que por ese medio se supliese la falta de rninistros y se acudiese a curnplir con
una obligation tan precisa. Y habikndose concedido asi, se espidieron diversos
breves sobre ello, por 10s surnos pontifices Alejandro, Leon, Adriano y Pio V...))
En vista, pues, de tan claras y terminantes disposiciones de varios
Surnos Pontifices, y de la potestad civil, tse insistiri todavia en negar a1
clero secular de Filipinas el derecho preferente que tiene a 10s curatos?
tTendr6 aim el valor de asegurar en tono magistral que ka clereczb indkena
tiende a unos derechos que no le cornpeten?-Pero se di ri acaso que esas
doctrinas son aiiejas. Tan lejos de ser asi, tan lejos de olvidar la Sede
Apost6lica la exigencia de la falta de sacerdotes seculares para poder
darse las parroquias a 10s frailes, la inculca en las s6litas, o sea facultades
especiales que cada diez aiios suele conceder a 10s obispos de I ndi a~. ~'
VCanse las concedidas a 10s actuales prelados y se leeri en el niim. 22:
Preficiendi Parochis r&ares, eisque suos deputandi vicarios in duecectu Secdarium.
((El f~pi no, prosigue el rnismo periodico, por su indole, por su caricter, por
influencia del clirna o de raza, no es bueno para desempeiiar cargos elevados.
Se dice vulgarmente que el tagalo es un escelente soldado, un regular cabo, mal
sargento, no pudiendo de ningb mod0 desempeiiar el cargo de oficial, por ser
inepto para ello. Pues de la misma manera, el filipino que se consagra a1
servicio de 10s altares puede ser un buen ejecutor en el desempeiio de 10s car-
gos mecanicos de una iglesia, per0 nunca llega a sobresalir cuando se halla
adornado con la investidura sacerdotal. Esto es positivo y cierto, en tales
tkrminos, que la experiencia ha demostrado muchas veces lo que por una
prictica constante se halla robustecido con nurnerosas pruebas y curiosisimos
21. Certain special faculties or powers were regularly granted by the Holy See
to bishops in the Indies. These were to be renewed every ten years. They were
sdlitas, or customary, in the sense that they were granted as a matter of course
to all bishops in the Indies, but especiales, in the sense that they were privileges
peculiar to the churches of the Indies.
to administer the holy sacraments. Moreover, the places and regons
where they had to do so were so many and so far dstant from one
another. Hence, the lords kings, my ancestors, requested the Apostolic
See to give permission, and to grant a dispensation, so that the reli-
gious of the mendicant orders, or some of them, could be parish
priests of certain towns and villages of the Indies. In this way, they
would supply for the lack of ministers and would help fulfill an
obligation so necessary. This concession having been granted, the Su-
preme Pontiffs, Alexander, Leo, Adrian, and Pius V, dispatched vari-
ous briefs on the subject . . . .
In view, then, of such clear and peremptory dispositions of various
holy pontiffs and of the civil power, d there be further insistence in
denying the secular clergy of the Philippines the preferential right it has
to the parishes? Will the author s d have the audacity and boldness to
assert, in magisterial tones, "the native clergy aims at certain rights that
do not belong to it"?
But perhaps it will be said that these doctrines are out of date. So far
is this from being true, so far is the Apostolic See from having forgot-
ten about the necessity that there be a lack of secular priests in order to
be able to give parishes to the friars, that it emphasizes this in the cus-
tomary faculties, that is to say, the special faculties that it is accustomed
to grant every ten years to the bishops of the in die^.^' See those granted
to the current prelates and we will read in no. 22: " vhe faculty] of
putting regular clergy in charge of parishes and of empowering their
vicars for them, if secular clergy be lacking."
The same newspaper continues:
The Filipino, by hts nature, by hts character, by influence of the cli-
mate or of race, is not good for carrying out high offices. It is a
common saylng that the Tagalog is an excellent soldier, an ordinary
corporal, a bad sergeant, cannot at all discharge the position of an
officer, because he is unfit for it. Now, in the same way, the
Fhpino who consecrates hlmself to the service of the altar can carry
out well the routine functions of a church, but he never succeeds in
excehg when he is adorned with the dqpty of the priesthood. This
is indubitably certain, to such an extent that experience has shown
accidentes.-ApoyPndose el arzobispo, equivocadarnente en un breve del papa
Clemente XIII, quiere arrojar a 10s regulares del desempeiio de las Parroquias,
sustituyendo a1 cura regular espaiiol por el cura indigena, como si la alta e
importante misidn que aqukl desempeiia pudiera ser imitada por 10s clkrigos, tal
como alli se llaman 10s que no tienen caricter europeo.-Ni pueden desempeiiar
por las circunstancias de que su intehgencia no esta al alcance del elevado cargo
de cura de almas.))
Ma1 informado debe de estar el articulista, o mucho nos engaiiarnos,
si en la ernision de estas absurdas y chocantes ideas no ha hecho traicion
a su propia conviccion por seguir ajenas inspiraciones;" porque de no ser
asi, no concebimos como puede en su ilustracion ignorar lo que Can61
en su renombrada Hi~toria Universal trae sobre la unidad de la especie
h ~ r n a n a . ~ ~
(4 mayor abundamiento, dice aquel sabio, es de todo punto positivo que las
diversidades reales entre las razas se reducen al color del cutis y a la cahdad de
10s cabellos, sin extenderse a 10s drganos mas nobles de la vida. La ciencia de
Gall, que intentaron algunos practicar en apoyo del materialismo, prueba la
unidad de nuestra especie. Hace muy poco que Tideman peichmann], de
resultas de sus excelentes indagaciones sobre el cerebro, ha encontrado que el
del negro se diferencia ligeramente del nuestro en su estructura esterior y de
ni ngh mod0 en su estructura interna, y que aparte alguna disposicidn mas
sirnktrica en las circunbalaciones [circunvoluciones(?)], no se asemeja mas a la
cabeza del orangutang que el de 10s eur opeos. ~~~
22. The Basa version inserts six lines here, explicitly derogatory to the friars.
23. The world history by Cesare Can61 (1804-1895), which appeared in Ital-
ian in thirty-two volumes from 1836 to 1847 under the title Jtotia Univer~ab, was
quickly translated into other European languages, and in many editions. The first
Spanish translation began in 1854. The young Rizal would later be an avid reader
of h s work.
24. Franz Jostf Gall (1768-1828), German anatomist and physiologist, was
known for his pioneering studies on the brain and nervous system. Ludwig
Teichmann (1823-1895) was a noted German anatomist and pathologist. The
SCHUMACHER I THE BURGOS h4ANIFIESTO 179
many times what constant practice has confirmed with numerous
proofs and curious events.
The archbishop, mistakenly relylng on a brief of Pope Clement
XIII, wants to expel the regulars from the administration of the par-
ishes, substituting for the Spanish religious parish priest the native
parish priest, as if the lofty and important mission that the former
carries out could be imitated by the secular clergy, such as they call
there those [priests] who do not have the quality of being Euro-
pean.-Nor can they carry out that office because of the circum-
stance that their intelligence is not at the level of the lofty charge of
pastor of souls.
Either the writer of the article must be ill informed, or we greatly
deceive ourselves if, in the utterance of these absurd and provoca-
tive ideas, he has not been a traitor to his own convictions to fol-
low alien i ns pi r at i ~ns . ~~ For otherwise we do not understand how, in
his enlightenment, he can be ignorant of what Cantti brings out in
his well-known Historia Universal concerning the unity of the human
species.23 That learned man says:
Furthermore, it is completely certain that the real diversities among
races can be reduced to the color of the skin and the quality of the
hair, without extending itself to the more noble organs of life. The
science of Gall, whlch certain people attempted to make use of in
support of materialism, proves the unity of our species. A very short
time ago, Tideman peichmann], as a result of his excellent research
on the brain, found that that of the Negroes dlffers very little from
ours in its exterior structure and in no way in its internal structure.
Moreover, apart from a certain more symmetrical arrangement of the
circumvolutions, it is no more like the head of the orangutan than is
that of the E~r ope a ns . ~~
otherwise unknown "Tideman" was corrected in the 1889 Basa version to
Teichrnann, undoubtedly by Rizal, who had made extensive private studies in
anthropology and the capacity of different races. Likewise, "circumbalaciones"
is corrected in the 1889 version to "circunvoluciones," a more likely term con-
cerning the brain. Again the hand of Rizal, the doctor of medicine, is obvious.
Este sabio deduce de todo que nuestra preerninencia sobre el negro,
no estriba en ninguna superioridad congenial de la inteligencia, sino en
su educacion s ~l a me n t e . ~~
En corroboracion de esta opinion, admitida ya en el &a, rogamos a1
articulista mismo que lea la preciosa carta del seiior D. Francisco Up e z
de AdLn, oidor decano que fue de esta real Auhencia, escrita a1 R.P.
Pedro Murillo Velarde, que Cste estampo en el principio de su obra
Cursus Juris Can~ni ci , ~ y en el a Vera admitida y ensalzada por aquel sabio
magistrado la capacidad, inteligencia y talent0 del fhpino, que le hizo
decir: ccque k pare& halhrse, no en Indiary Filipinas donde se venera Mercurio
dominante, sin0 en ka universidades de Europa, donde tiene su trono Mi nerva. ~~~
Esto mismo aseguraba el conde Filipino a1 Sr. D. Fernando VII, pa-
dre de nuestta augusta Reina (q. D. g.) en la dedicatoria a S. M. de su
libro titulado Parnmo j h ) i n ~ . ~ ~
((Son tantos, decia, 10s progresos de las ciencias en esta Asia espaiiola, que
con solo leer 10s fastos de sus universidades se hallarin a millares 10s estudiantes
matriculados, mas de setecientos doctores y maestros en las escuelas jesuitica y
tomistica, muchos abogados de matricula, can6nigos, un arzobispo de esta
metr6poli, y, por dtirno, hasta 10s indios netos, sin mistura de espaiiol, han dado
grandes hombres como son un Msiximo, cura que fue de Md a ; un Sangusing
[sic], del pueblo de Quiapo; un Rodriguez; del de Mariquina; y un Espeleta,
obispo que fue de Cebfi, interino gobernador, capit6n general y presidente de
esta real A~diencia.D*~
25. Though in the original this sentence is included in the quoted paragraph
from Cantu, with a second close quotation mark, it is clearly a comment of the
author, which the printer (or author) inadvertently included in the quoted para-
graph. Hence, to avoid confusion, I have separated it, even in the Spanish, from
the quoted paragraph.
26. Cursusjuris canonici, bi.panici at indin' (2 vols., Madrid 1743). This work by
Father Mudo Velarde, for many years professor of canon law at the Univer-
sity of San Ignacio in Manila, went through many editions and was s d being
used at the University of Santo TomPs during the time of Burgos's studies
there (ViUarroel 1971, 63).
27. Mercury was the Roman god of the sun; Minerva, the goddess of
wisdom.
This learned man deduces from all this that our preeminence over the
Negro does not depend on any innate superiority of intelhgence but only
on education.25
In proof of this weU;founded and well-demonstrated opinion, we ask
the writer of the article t o read the precious letter of Seiior Don Fran-
cisco Up e z de Adin, formerly oihr decano of this Royal Audiencia, writ-
ten to Rev. Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde, who printed it at the beginning of
his work, Cunus Juris C~noni ci . ~~ In it he will see that the capacity, intel-
hgence, and talent of the Fihpino were admired and exalted by that wise
magistrate, so that he was led to say: "he seemed to find himself not in
the Indies and the Philippines, where Mercury is the ruling deity, but in
the universities of Europe where Mmerva is enthroned."27
The Fhpi no Count gave the same assurance to Don Fernando VII,
the father of our august Queen (May God keep her), in the dedication
t o His Majesty of his book entitled Pamaso Fi IrPi n~. ~~ He said:
Such is the progress of the sciences in this Spanish part of Asia that,
simply reading the solemn annals of its universities, one will find
thousands of students regstered: more than 700 doctors and masters
in the Jesuit and Thomistic schools, many regstered lawyers, canons,
one archbishop of this capital. Finally, even the pure Indios, without
any mixture of Spanish blood, have produced great men, such as a
certain M h o , who was parish priest of Mada; a Sagunsin, of the
town of Quiapo; a Rodriguez of that of Marikina; and an Espeleta,
who was bishop of Cebu, interim governor, captain-general, and
president of this Royal Aud~enci a. ~~
28. Rodriguez Varela 1814. The author, a criollo, styled himself "El Conde
Filipino." His extravagant pretensions in this period of unrest in Manila,
concomitant with the revolutions of Spanish America, led to his being sent off
to Spain in 1824. His book was principally a defense of the criollos, or epanbles
j/I$tnos, and quite absurd in its claims. See Retana 1894, 3:1317, no. 3577.
29. In the 1889 pamphlet, a number of other outstanding Filipinos-includ-
ing one apparent layman, Fomis] Pinpin-are added, presumably by Rizal,
whose constant concern was to exalt the great Filipinos of the past, and who
possessed the historical knowledge to identify such. Espeleta, however, was not
an indio but a criollo.
ccOcupahmos mucho papel si hubitrarnos de forrnar nomenclatura de
10s hombres sabios que dio esta pequeiia ciudad de Manila, de entre 10s
cuales descuella el Ilmo. Sr. Dr. y maestro D. Manuel Jost Endaya y
Haro,que fue canonigo de la catedral de Cuenca, e inrnedlatamente de
la de Santiago, cuyas bulas le fueron otorgadas por Inocencio IX, sin
costo alguno en atencion a sus grandes miritos. Con el n'tulo de conde
de Noreiia, fue obispo de Oviedo y de la Puebla de 10s Angeles y
arzobispo de Mtjico. Convocado por la santidad de Benedicto XI11 para
el concilio Lateranense, concurri6 en t l como obispo asistente a1
Supremo Pontificio Solio y Prelado domtstico del Sacro Colegio, dtulos
que le dio Su Santidad como 10s de embajador de 10s dominios de
Espaiia en R ~ m a . ) ~ ~
En la serie cronologica de obispos en estas islas, hallarian tarnbitn si
quieren ver, 10s nombres de varios filipinos, de entre 10s cuales
recordamos solarnente 10s Ilustrisirnos Sres. Dr. D. Francisco Pizarro de
Orellana, Dr. D. Domingo Valencia, Dr. D. Geronimo de Herrera, Dr.
D. Felipe de Molina, maestro D. Protasio Cabezas, D. Isidoro Artvalo y
D. Ignacio Salamanca; no habiendo ejercido esta alta dignidad por
renuncia 10s Sres. Dr. D. Jost Cabral, cura que fue de Balayan, en
Batangas, D. Rodrigo de la Cueva Gir6n y D. Tomis Cazaiias, dean de
esta santa iglesia ~atedral.~' Y en la primitiva Compaiiia de J es h en estas
Islas, la dleron tarnbitn esplendor varios sacerdotes fhpinos, notables por
su saber y virtud, cuyos nombres sentimos no recordar en estos
momentos, pudlendo bnicamente citar a un tal Pedro Vello, provincial que
fue de aquel nunca bien celebrado in~tituto.~'
Y si en nuestros &as no vemos descollar mas fhpinos en las ciencias,
atribuyase no a influencias de cluna, ni mucho menos de raza, sino a1
desaliento que de algunos aiios a esta parte se ha apoderado de 10s
30. In fact, Bishop Hendaya seems to have been neither bishop of Puebla
nor archbishop of Mexico. See Abella 1957, 223-34. The Lateran Council
referred to was not one of the ecumenical councils, but a Roman council.
Here again the printer has inadvertently placed quotation marks on what are
obviously the words of the author.
31. All of these bishops were, of course, criollos. See the series of articles
of Dorningo Abella (1959,1960, 1962, 1963) on the bishops of the Philippines
in Phihppine Studiej.
We would take up a great deal of paper if we were to draw up a list
of the learned men that this little city of Manila has produced. Among
them there stands out the illustrious Dr. Don Manuel Jose Endaya y
Haro, who was canon of the cathedral of Cuenca, and immediately af-
ter that, one of Santiago, whose bulls were granted to him by Innocent
IX without cost in view of his great merits. With the title of Count of
Noreiia he was bishop of Oviedo, and of Puebla de 10s hgel es and
archbishop of Mexico. Summoned by His Holiness Benedict XI11 to the
Lateran Council, he took part in it as bishop assisting at the Supreme
Pontifical Throne and domestic prelate of the Sacred College, titles that
His Holiness gave him, as well as those of ambassador in Rome of the
dominions of Spain.30
In the chronological series of bishops in these Islands, one who
wishes to see will find the names of various Filipinos, among whom we
recall only those of their Illustrious Lordships, Dr. D. Francisco Pizarro
de Orellana, Dr. D. Dorningo Valencia, Dr. D. Ger6nirno de Herrera,
Dr. D. Felipe de Molina, Master D. Protasio Cabezas, D. Isidoro ArCvalo,
and D. Ignacio Salarnanca. In addition, there are those who have not ex-
ercised this lofty dignity because of their having renounced it: their
Lordships Dr. D. Jose Cabral, parish priest of Balayan, Batangas; D.
Rodrigo de la Cueva Gir6n, and D. Tomhs Cazaiias, dean of this holy
cathedral.31 And in the primitive Society of Jesus in these Islands vari-
ous renowned Filipino priests hkewise gave it splendor by their knowl-
edge and virtue. Unfortunately, we do not recall their names at this
moment and are only able to cite a certain Fr. Pedro Vello, who was
provincial of that never sufficiently praised institute.32
If in our days we do not see more Filipinos outstanding in learning,
let this not be attributed to the influence of the climate nor much less
to that of race, but rather to the discouragement that for some years
32. No such person named Pedro Vello is known to have been provincial of
the Jesuits. There was a Francisco Vello, procurator of the Philippine Jesuits in
the seventeenth century, who published a petition to the king (Pardo de Tavera
1903, 426, no. 2771). Two paragraphs are inserted here in the 1889 version,
naming outstanding Filipino lawyers in addition to the clergy named in the pre-
vious paragraphs.
jovenes por la falta casi absoluta de estimulo. Porque, en efecto, ~quk
joven se esmerari todavia en sobresalir en la ciencia del derecho o de la
teologia w r vislumbrando en el porvenir mas que oscuridad e
indiferencia? ~ q u t frlpitlo aspirari a h a ser sabio y consagrara a este
objetivo sus desvelos, viendo que sus sentimientos mis nobles se
marchitan bajo la delettrea influencia del desdtn y del olvido, y sabiendo
que son para 61 fruto vedado 10s empleos honorificos y lucrativos?
Pero asi y todo, en medio de ese desaliento, el clero secular [actual]
de Filipinas no ha desmerecido del antiguo, y cuenta en el dia con
individuos que lo honran, tanto con su saber e instruccion como por su
virtud, celo en el cumplimiento de sus deberes y abnegacion, y contra
10s cuales nada hallara que decir la calurnnia d s procaz. Nos referimos
a 10s seiiores chantre y doctoral de esta iglesia catedral, a 10s dignos
provisores de 10s obispados de Camarines y Cebu, a 10s phrrocos de
Santa Cruz y la Ermita en la provincia de Manila, a 10s de Boac y
Mocpog en la de Mindoro, a 10s de Mariquina y San Mateo en Moron,
a 10s de Calarnba y Tunaziin en la Laguna, a 10s de Rosario y Taisan en
Batangas, a 10s de Bacoor y de Naic, de Maragondon y de San Roque
[,I de Rosario (a) Salinas y Bailen en la de Cavite, debiendo llamar la
atenci6n este liltimo por su actividad, que con ser no mis que interino
y su parroquia de creaci6n muy reciente, ha conseguido en medio de la
pobreza de aquel nuevo curato levantar y tener concluidas la iglesia y su
casa parroquial, fomentando a la vez que la cria del ganado vacuno, la
agricultura, particularmente del cafk, desconocida anteriormente en
aquellos bosques. <Y quk diremos del pi rroco de Lubao en la
Pampanga? Es muy reciente a h la abnegacihn de ese respetable anciano,
que para la fundaci6n de un colegio de instruccion primaria y latinidad
aplic6 la suma de diez y ocho mil pesos, fruto de cuarenta aiios de
fatigas en el rninisterio parroquial. No nos detendremos ya en elogar el
generoso desprendirniento del penliltimo cura de Antipolo, el fmado D.
Hermenegildo Narciso, que ha invertido todas sus economias, que
forman una surna respetable, en embellecer su iglesia de una manera que
han adrnirado desde la primera autoridad de la isla hasta el ultimo de
cuantos han visitado aquel celebre santuario antes del memorable
terremoto que con horror recordamos aun. Empero no podemos
prescindu de hacer especial mencion de 10s ya dlchos curas de Naic y
now has taken possession of the youth, because of the almost total lack
of incentive. For, as a matter of fact, what young man d still make ef-
forts to excel in the knowledge of law or of theology if he does not
see in the future anydung but: obscurity and indifference? What Filipino
will still aspire to be learned and consecrate his efforts to this goal, see-
ing that his most noble aspirations wither away under the lethal influence
of scorn and obscurity, and knowing that honorable and lucrative offices
are for him forbidden fruit?
Nevertheless, in spite of everythmg, in the midst of that discourage-
ment, the contemporary secular clergy of the Puppi nes has not been
unworthy of its predecessors. It counts today with individuals that
honor it as much by their knowledge and learning as by their virtue, zeal
in the fulfillment of their duties, and selflessness. Omitting those who
hold various positions in the capital and suburbs, since they are well
known to all, we refer to, among others, the worthy provisors of the
dioceses of Camarines and Cebu, the deserving parish priests of Boac
and Mogpog in the province of Mindoro [Marinduque], the parish
priests of Marikina and San Mateo in Morong, those of Calamba and
Tunasan in Laguna, those of Rosario and Taysan in Batangas, those of
Bacoor, of Naic, of Maragondon, of San Roque, of Rosario (a) Saltnas,
and of Bailen in the province of Cavite. The latter deserves special at-
tention for his activity, since even though only an interim parish priest-
and his parish is of very recent foundation-nevertheless he has
succeeded, in spite of the poverty of that new parish, in erecting and
having completed the church and the convento. At the same time, he
has encouraged cattle raising and agriculture, in particular the cultivation
of coffee, previously unknown in those forested areas. Moreover, what
shall we say of the parish priest of Lubao, Pampanga? The selflessness
of that respectable old man is still fresh in our minds, since, for the
foundation of a school of primary education and of Latinity, he applied
the sum of 18,000 pesos, the fruit of forty years in the labor of the
parish ministry. We will not delay now in praising the generous altruism
of the second-last parish priest of Antipolo, the deceased D.
Hermenegddo Narciso, who invested all of his savings-a respectable
amount-in beautifying his church in a fashion that everyone has
admired, from the first authority of the Islands to the least who visited
Salinas; el primero por sostener a espensas suyas dos escuelas de
pirvulos en su pobre parroquia, cuyos rendirnientos apenas bastan a
cubrir sus necesidades, y haber levantado y concluido una hermosa casa
parroquial a pesar de la escasez de 10s fondos de su iglesia; y el segundo
por haber asimismo construido a costa suya la casa parroquial, y
contribuido no so10 con su laboriosidad, sino tambitn con su propio
peculio a la fibrica de la iglesia, que es de mampo~t er i a. ~~ En fin, seria
molesto el enumerar 10s individuos del clero secular que a ejemplo de
estos merecen bien de la Iglesia y del Estado por sus importantes
servicios y por la inteligencia, celo y honradez con que desempeiian sus
respectivos cargos a satisfaccion de sus superiores. Hay y habri siempre
escepciones; empero estas no destruyen una verdad, en cuya
comprobacion ahi estin 10s testimonios que se acaban de citar y
pudieran citarse
ccEl arzobispo de Mar&, continh, hace una guerra injusta a l clero regular que
tantos servicios tiene prestados a la civilizacidn y a nuestra patria.))
jAcusaci6n falsa! ~C6mo y cuindo este seiior arzobispo ha hecho una
guerra injusta a1 clero regular? ?En quC? Todos 10s que aqui conocemos
a este seiior y estarnos al corriente de sus actos, no sabemos de alguno
que tienda a inferir a aquCl ning;" agravio.
(6610 a una imaginacidn poco privilegiada puede ocurrirsele la idea de dividir
10s curatos, creando otros servidos por jesuitas o clCrigos indigenas.))
33. All of these priests here named, together with their accomplishments, are
repeated in the 1889 version without change, since Rizal was no doubt igno-
rant of who the outstanding Filipino clergy at that time might be. Certainly the
great majority of those praised were dead, and their parishes had presumably
been turned over to the Recollects. Hence, the examples were quite irrelevant
in 1889. However, at least Dr. D. Vicente Garcia, the provisor (diocesan eccle-
siastical judge) in 1864 of Camarines (Nueva Caceres), though retired, was still
alive, and in 1889 wrote a nuanced defense of Rizal's Noh me tangen, combat-
ing the 1888 condemnatory pamphlets of Fr. JosC Rodriguez, O.S.A. Though
the old priest was willing to send his defense to Rodriguez, or even have it pub-
lished over his own name, he was persuaded to let it be published for his own
safety under the pseudonym V. Caraig (a not very subtle anagram of his real
that celebrated sanctuary before the unforgettable earthquake we still
recall with horror. But we cannot omit making special mention of the
previously cited parish priests of Naic and Sahnas. The first deserves
mention for supporting at his own expense two primary schools in his
poor parish, whose resources were scarcely sufficient to cover h s needs,
and for having built and finished a beautiful church in spite of the lack
of funds. The second deserves mention for having likewise built the
convent0 at his own expense and contributed with his dhgence and with
his own private funds to the construction of his church made of
To sum up, it would be wearisome to enumerate the indviduals of the
secular clergy who, following the example of these priests, deserve well
of the Church and the State for their important services, and for the
intelligence, zeal, and integrity with whlch they discharge their respective
responsibilities, to the satisfaction of their superiors. There are, and there
will always be, exceptions. Nevertheless, these do not destroy a truth that
the testimonies just cited above, and still others that we could cite, prove
to be accurate.34
The article continues: "The archbishop of Mada is making an unjust
war on the regular clergy, who have rendered so many services to civi-
lization and to our country."
False accusation! How and when has h s archbishop made an unjust
war on the regular clergy? In what regard? All those here who know h s
man and are acquainted with his acts know of nothing that tends to
cause any grievance to that clergy.
"Only to a deficient imagination could the idea occur of dividing the
parishes, creating others served by the Jesuits or native priests."
name) in La Solidaridad, 31 March 1890. Rizal was overjoyed at the news, de-
claring: "To have an old man at my side like that is to believe that I am not
in opposition to the spirit of my country," and wrote him an eloquent and
grateful letter on how important it was for his generation to learn from their
elders (Schurnacher 1997, 100, 241; Rizal 1930-1938, 251; 3:13637; 5:331-32).
34. A lengthy paragraph is inserted here in the 1889 pamphlet, challenging the
Recollects to compete fairly with the secular clergy in the competitive exarnina-
tions (oposiciones) for appointment to the parishes. The secular clergy would be
satisfied with this.
Ya caemos en lo que llaman guerra injusta. Sabemos ya ahora por
donde les duela a 10s regulares. Verdaderamente que este seiior arzobispo
les hace una guerra injusta con su pretendida divisi6n de curatos,
atacando sus intereses pecuniarios; pues a1 adoptar esa medida, por mis
justa y de apremiante necesidad que fuese, debia tener en cuenta que 10s
curas regulares, que son 10s que tienen 10s mis pin@es curatos, sufririn
una baja considerable en sus rentas. Porque claro es que, dlvidido uno de
aquellos curatos de veinte, treinta o cuarenta mil alrnas, en dos, tres o
cuatro, como pens6 hacerlo inspirado por su celo pastoral, dejarhn ya de
percibir 10s referidos curas, 10s seis, ocho o dlez rml duros que perciben
a1 aiio. Y de ahi el juego de cubiletes, haciindose presentar victimas
pobres y resignadas de este seiior arzobispo.
cLlamarnos de nuevo la atencion del seiior rninistro de Ultramar sobre la
importante cuestion que se agita hoy en Filipinas promovida por el seiior
arzobispo sobre la provision de curatos a favor de 10s clkrigos indigenas,
postergando a1 clero regular.))
icon que este seiior arzobispo posterga al clero regular en la provision
de c u r a t o ~ ! ~ ~ tCuindo y qui curato les ha quitado a 10s frades para darlo
a 10s clkrigos? <No es, por el contrario, reciente el despojo que Cstos han
sufrido del de Antipolo, que 10s padres Recoletos se han empeiiado en
tomarlo para si, y lo consiguieron, ma1 que peso a este mismo seiior
arzobispo? En la division de algunos de sus curatos, llevada a cab0 hasta
aqui a solicitud de 10s rnismos pueblos, than entrado acaso 10s cltrigos
a ocupar 10s nuevos curatos, a no ser interinamente y a petici6n de 10s
propios prelados regulares por no tener frailes siibdltos de qut echar
mano? Y en la razonada exposicibn que elevara este seiior arzobispo a1
trono, en la que hacia presente a S. M. la necesidad y conveniencia de
dividrr 10s grandes curatos (cosa muy justa y urgente, por cierto), para
poder 10s curas atender con mayor solicitud a sus feligreses, y tstos no
verse privados, como se ven en el dia, de 10s socorros espirituales,
particularmente estando enfermos, que no pocas veces mueren sin 10s
Sacrarnentos, ya por vivir en barrios distantes donde no 10s alcanza con
35. In the 1889 pamphlet one sentence is inserted here, accusing the Recol-
lects of lying.
Now we come to understand what they call an unjust war. Now we
know just where the regulars feel pain. Truly, the archbishop is making
an unjust war against them with his intended division of parishes, thus
attacking their financial interests. For, in adopting that measure, no
matter how just and how urgently necessary it would be, he should have
taken into account the fact that the regular parish priests are those with
the wealthiest parishes and will suffer a considerable drop in their rev-
enues. For it is clear that dividing one of the parishes of 20, 30, or 40
thousand souls into two, three, or four, as he thought of doing under
the inspiration of his pastoral zeal, the abovementioned parish priests
would cease receiving the six, eight, or ten thousand pesos they receive
each year. From h s comes the conjuring trick of presenting themselves
as poor and resigned victims of this archbishop.
"Once again we call the attention of the overseas minister to the
important question today being debated in the Philippines at the insti-
gation of the archbishop, concerning the bestowal of parishes on the
native secular priests in preference to the regular clergy."
So then, this archbishop passes over the regular clergy in filling the
parishes!35 When, and what parish, has he taken away from the friars to
gve it to the secular clergy? On the contrary, is it not just recently that
the latter have suffered being dispossessed of the parish of Antipolo?
Have not the Recollect Fathers made every effort to take h s for them-
selves, much as it caused pain to thls same archbishop? In the division
of some of their parishes, carried out up to now because of the peti-
tion of the towns themselves, have any secular clergy entered to take
over the new parishes except as interim parish priest, and at the petition
of the religous superiors themselves, who did not have any friar subject
to dspose of?
Moreover, in the well-reasoned exposition that the archbishop elevated
to the Throne, he informs Her Majesty of the necessity and advisabil-
ity of dividmg the large parishes (a just and urgent matter certainly), so
that the parish priest can attend to the faithful with greater solicitude,
and the latter might not see themselves, as they do at present, deprived
of spiritual assistance. This is especially true of the sick who frequently
die without the sacraments, either because they live in distant barrios, so
that the priest who goes to hear their confessions, having to make a
vida el sacerdote que va a confesarlos, por tener que andar una jornada
de cinco o seis horas; ya tarnbikn porque obligados por 10s curas, como
con tanta inhumanidad se ve practicar en algunos pueblos, a ser
trasladados en hamacas desde sus casas a la iglesia, o bien espiran en el
camino, o bien mueren como paganos en sus rnismas casas, por no haber
quienes les lleven o no tener con que costear su conduccion. En esa
exposicibn, repetimos, ise pedia acaso para el clero secular 10s nuevos
curatos? ?No se proponia alli mismo el ensanche de 10s actuales colegios
de misiones en la peninsula, o el establecimiento de otros cuatro
noviciados en diferentes puntos para poder admtdrse mayor numero de
frailes destinados a ocupar 10s nuevos curatos de estas islas? Si no
estamos ma1 informados, en esa exposicion que se acaba de citar no se
pedia para el clero secular mas que la conservation de 10s pocos o muy
reducidos que le quedaron y posee en el &a. Y esto ies por ventura
ccquerer amj ar a h s regukares del desempetio de kas parroquias, ssutityendo al cura
regular espariol, por el cura indkenm,? Se diri acaso que alli tambikn se
proponia el ensanche del Seminario conciliar para la education de mayor
n h e r o de jovenes indigenas que aspiran al sacerdocio, per0 ise ignora
acaso que el destino de esos jovenes no es mas que ser esclavos de 10s
frailes? iPueden tener otra aspiration 10s mis de esos jovenes que se
eduquen en el Seminario, que la de ser coadjutores? iQuk motivos hay,
pues, para achacar a1 seiior arzobispo como le achacan, de que est6
ofuscado por unas tendenbas que no estcin en consonancia con ka rectitud que debe
regir a sus acciones, y de haber tenido ka desgracia de deckararse enemigo del clero
r eguk~t 3~~ LO que trabaja la maledicencia para desprestigiar a este prelado!
Y todo no es mis que por ser clkrigo contra quien, tan luego como se
supo aqui su nombrarniento, se conjuraron 10s frailes en tales tkrrninos
que a algunos de ellos se ha oido decir que el nuevo arzobispo no
ocupara por mucho tiempo la Sede arzobispal: intelgentipauca.
36. In the 1889 version, the following two sentences are omitted and three
harsher ones are inserted, calling for the expulsion of the friars, as that "never
sufficiently praised" Archbishop Sancho de Santa Justa y Rufina had said. The
journey of five to six hours, does not reach them before they die. Worse,
in some towns the inhuman practice exists, imposed by the parish priests,
of having to carry the sick in hammocks from their houses to the
church. As a result, they either die on the way, or die like pagans in their
own house if they do not have anyone to carry them, or do not have
the means to pay for their being brought to the church. In that exposi-
tion of the archbishop, we repeat, did he ask that the new parishes be
given to the secular clergy? Did he not propose in that very document
the enlargement of the existing mission colleges in the Peninsula, or the
establishment of four other novitiates in different places, so as to admit
a larger number of friars destined to occupy the new parishes of these
Islands? If we are correctly informed, in that exposition just cited noth-
ing more was asked for the secular clergy than the preservation of the
few or very small parishes that remain to them and which they possess
at the present time. Is this, perchance, "to wish to expel the religious
from the charge of the parishes, substituting for the Spanish religious
clergy the native parish priests"?
Perhaps someone might reply that the same exposition likewise made
a proposal to enlarge the conciliar seminary for the education of a larger
number of young natives who aspire to the priesthood. But is it not
known that the future of these young men is none other than to be the
slaves of the friars? Can the majority of these young men who are edu-
cated in the seminary have any other aspiration than that of being co-
adjutors? What motives are there, then, to accuse the archbishop, as they
do, of "being deceived by certain tendencies that are not in consonance
with the rectitude that should rule his actions, and of having had the
misfortune of declaring himself an enemy of the regular clergy?"36
What efforts slander makes to discredit this prelate! And all of it with
no more reason than that he is a member of the secular clergy. As soon
as h s appointment was known here, the friars conspired together against
him to such an extent that some of them have been heard to say that
the new archbishop will not occupy for long the archiepiscopal See:
intelligentipauca [Few words are needed for one who understands].
archbishop, of course, had been a mortal enemy of the rehgious orders in his
time (1 767-1 787).
cZs sabido y esti reconoado por todos 10s que conocen el Archipiilago Fili-
pino que iste debe su desarrollo, su civilizaci6n, su progreso y sus adelantos a
10s constantes desvelos del dero regular espaiiol.))
iHola! ?Con que para nada ha tenido que ver el gobierno con la
civihacion, progreso y adelantos de este pais? Ahora s a h o s de duda.
Muchas gracias, seiior articuli~ta.~' Pero, en justa correspondencia, skanos
tambikn permitido consignar aqui nuestra opinion sobre el particular; y
la vamos a decir para que la sepa la nation. Los frailes son en este pais
la rkmora constante de todo el progreso moral y material del mismo y
de sus habitantes. En prueba de ello, recorranse dichos pueblos, y se
observara con adrniracion la mas completa ignorancia en que e s t h del
idioma castellano, a pesar de las repetidas reales 6rdenes y ckdulas que
desde muy antiguo se han venido expidiendo por 10s monarcas,
rnandando o recomendando la enseiianza de aquel idioma para que se
generalice entre 10s indios; las que nunca han tenido efecto, por haberlas
frustrado con maiia 10s frailes, como e s t h frustrando el nuevo plan de
instruccion primaria, rnandado plantear dtimamente a q ~ i . ~ ~ Hay, sin em-
bargo, entre 10s mismos honrosas escepciones, curas ejemplarisimos, tales
son el agustino de Tondo, el dominico de Binondo, el franciscano de
Pandacan, el recoletano de Pollok, y algunos otros no so10 intachables,
sino edficantes de que se puede hacer mention, incluyendo entre estos
a la mayor parte de 10s dominicos, gracias a la clausura de sus casas
parroquiales y a otras circunstancias de esa orden. Y nos complacemos
en rendir a la verdad este homenaje en prueba de nuestra impar~ialidad.~~
Pero tan excesiva importancia se les ha dado y se les da aun que,
arrogantes, no tienen reparo en asegurar por medo de su organo La
VerM que a ellos solos debe el pais todo lo bueno que tiene, sin atribuir
nada al gobierno."('
37. At this point in the Basa pamphlet, several sentences derogatory to the
friars are interpolated, coming from their other mortal enemy of the eighteenth
century, Gov.-Gen. Sim6n de Anda.
38. In place of this denunciation of the friars for their opposition to teaching
Filipinos Spanish, the 1889 pamphlet has a lengthy accusation of several paragraphs
to the effect that they have done so in order to foment fanaticism and to hide their
own crimes and scandals, again rnakmg use of calumnious accusations from Anda.
"It is well known and recognized by all who know the Philippine
Archipelago that it owes its development, its civilization, its progress, and
its advancement to the unceasing labors of the Spanish regular clergy."
Come now! Are we to say that the government had nothing to do
with the civilization, the progress, and the advancement of this country?
Now we are no longer in doubt. Thank you very much, Senbr writer.37
But as a deserved answer, let us also be permitted to set down our opin-
ion on the matter; and we want to tell it so that the nation may know
In this country, the friars are the constant obstacle to all the moral and
material progress of the country and of its inhabitants. In proof of this,
travel through these towns, and one will see with amazement the most
complete ignorance which they are in of the Castihan language, in spite
of the repeated royal orders and ce'duh that the king has been dispatch-
ing, commanding or recommending the teaching of that language so that
it may become widespread among the indios. Never have these had any
effect because they have been astutely frustrated by the friars, just as they
are at present frustrating the new plan of instruction that was recently
ordered to be implanted here.38 There are, however, honorable excep-
tions that can be mentioned, such as the Augustinian priest of Tondo,
the Dominican of Binondo, the Franciscan of Pandacan, the Recollect
of Pollok, and some others who are not only irreproachable but edify-
ing. Among the latter we include the majority of Dominicans, thanks to
the cloister of their parish houses and to other circumstances of that or-
der. We are happy to render this homage to the truth, in proof of our
impartial~ty.~~
But such excessive importance has been gven them, and still is, that
in their arrogance they do not hesitate to assure us through their organ,
La Verdad, that they are the only ones to whom the country owes all the
good it has, without attributing anydung to the government.40
39. In the 1889 version, this passage, conceding praiseworthy exceptions to
the preceding denunciation, omits all reference to individual friars, but retains the
exemption of the Dominicans from the general denunciation.
40. In the 1889 version, there follows a lengthy denunciation of friar wealth,
which makes them unworthy of government encouragement and protection.
La pkrdida de estas islas,4l las ideas de emancipacion que con porhda
insistencia se han estado vertiendo en las columnas del peri6dlco tantas
veces citado, y de algim otro de su partid0,4~ no son mas que un artificio
con el que pretenden 10s rnismos asustar al gobierno e inducirlo a que
10s juzgue necesarios en el pais para su conservaci6n. Nada hay mas
distante de nuestra imagination que esas ideas, porque conocemos y
sabemos muy bien que &era del nombre espaiiol y de la bandera que
nos cobija, nada seremos, y quizis peor que la nada rnisma; porque no
ignoramos que emancipados de la magnanima y generosa nacion
espaiiola, este pais sera entregado a la mas completa anarquia, 6 sera
esclavo de la dura dominacion del extranjero, que espia con avida rnirada
el momento de poder echar sus garras sobre este codiciado suelo. En
nuestro interks, pues, esti el sostenerla, amparhndonos bajo su sombra,
grande protectora y eminentemente civilizadora. Asi lo hemos probado
en el entusiasmo con que rechazamos la invasion inglesa, en cuyo triste
y lamentable period0 hemos demostrado en fidelidad lo que podemos y
somos.
La pkrdida, repetirnos, de estas islas 6 su emancipacion de la madre
patria, si al gk &a Ilegase, que no lo deseamos, no sera ciertamente por
falta de adhesion de sus naturales a la nacibn, a la que se reconocen
deudores de todos 10s beneficios que disfrutan en el &a. Podrin si, dar
lugar a aquella desgracia que lamentaremos en el fondo de nuestro
coraz6n las injusticias, la excesiva centrahacion de todo y en todos 10s
ramos de la adrninistracion, la exclusiva tan odiosa como irritante hasta
para 10s destinos mas subalternos, y la protecci6n tan decidida que de
algunos aiios a esta parte viene el gobierno otorgando a 10s frdes en
perjuicio de ciertos derechosq3
41. From this point on, the 1889 version has two lengthy paragraphs, using
a different argumentation, to the effect that the separation of the Philippines is
not possible for various reasons. Moreover, it adds that all the minor revolts that
have taken place in the nineteenth century, which the friars use as proofs of
their own necessity as parish priests, have taken place in friar-administered towns.
Besides, these have all been put down without difficulty.
42. This was La Regeneran'dn, likewise subsidized by the Recollect comrnissary-
procurator, Fr. Guillermo Agudo (Uy 1984, 103, n. 70).
The loss of these Islands,4' the ideas of emancipation, which with ob-
stinate persistence they have been hammering at in the columns of that
repeatedly cited newspaper as well as in a certain other one of their
party,"2 are nothing more than a trick with which they aim to frighten the
government and lead it to judge them necessary for the preservation of
the country. There is nothing further from our imagination than those
ideas of theirs. For we know and understand very well that, away from
the Spanish name and from the flag that waves over us, we will be noth-
ing, and perhaps worse than nothing. For we are not unaware that, once
emancipated from the magnanimous and generous Spanish nation, the
country would be handed over to the most complete anarchy, or would
be a slave under the harsh rule of the foreigner who looks with greedy
eyes for the moment in which he can lay his claws on our coveted soil.
It is to our own interest, then, to uphold that flag, sheltering ourselves
under its great shadow, a source of protection and of the highest cul-
ture. We have proved this in the enthusiasm with which we resisted the
English invasion. During this sad and lamentable period, we have shown
by our loyalty what we can be and are.
We repeat, the loss of these Islands or their emancipation from the
Mother Country, if it should some day come about, something we do
not desire, will c e r t d y not be due to lack of adherence of its natives
to the nation, for they acknowledge themselves debtors to it for all the
benefits they enjoy today. The causes that indeed can be an occasion for
the disaster that we would lament in the depth of our heart are the in-
justices, the excessive centralization of everydung and in every branch of
the administration, the monopoly, as odious as it is irritating, of even the
most subordinate government positions, and the resolute protection that,
for some years now, the government goes on giving to the friars to the
detriment of certain rights.43
43. The insertion among the grievances of the clergy of the complaint that
positions in the government bureaucracy were being monopolized by peninsulars
in an ever more centralized administration is an indication of the participation
of lawyers in drawing up the manifesto. The following paragraph is a further in-
dication, for it was in 1837 that the Philippines was excluded from the Spanish
Cortes, and governed thenceforth by special laws, denying them the liberal re-
forms of the Peninsula.
Espaiioles por conviccion y sentimientos, aunque filipinos por
n a ~ i mi e n t o , ~ ~ deploramos 10s errores y la politica torcida, que con
respecto a estas provincias han observado desde el aiio 36 10s dtferentes
gobiernos que se han ido sucedtendo desde e n t o n c e ~ . ~ ~
Si prevaleciendo desgraciadamente 10s sofismas de La Verdad, el
gobierno no tiende una mano protectors a1 clero secular de este pais y
lo levanta del abatirniento en que hoy &a yace, cercenando al& tanto
la proteccion que dispensa a 10s frailes en beneficio del rnismo; si en
lugar de crear estimulos para 10s jovenes que aspiran al sacerdocio se ha
de continuar mostrindoles un porvenir oscuro y sombno <quC sucederi?
La pronta extincion del clero secular que ya principia a dejarse sentir,
porque apenas hay ya quienes se presenten a vestir 10s hibitos, que es
precisamente el fm a que tienden las declamaciones de aquel periodico,
para asi dejar seguros a sus patrocinados en la pacifica posesion de sus
curatos, contra la cual nada se podri entonces objetar, porque tendran
aquellos de su parte el privilegio convertido en derecho por falta de
presbiteros seculares que 10s sirvan.
Con esto nada gana la nation. El tiempo diri lo que pierde. Sin 10s
cltrigos no tendra el gobierno para sus miras ulteriores el preciso
equilibria o un punto de apoyo. Porque si teniendo a tstos, se atreven
10s frailes a darse una desmedida importancia, haci t ndose creer
44. Ths sentence has to be understood in the sense of the Spanish distinc-
tion between patria grande and patria chica. It may be seen clearly today, even
within the Peninsula, where particularly Catalans, moderate Basques, Gallegos-
with varying degrees of intensity-identify themselves first with their patria chica,
with their language, culture, and autonomous governments, but, except for the
Basque extremists of ETA, consider themselves part of the palria grande, Espaiia.
Despite the judicial murders and exiles perpetrated by Izquierdo in 1872, those
criollos, Spanish or Chinese mestizos, and indios-who were beginning to iden-
tify themselves as "Filipinos" in the decades before 1872-were, with the rar-
est exceptions, seeking equal rights with peninsular Spaniards, not separation
from the Madre Patia, which was Spain. Since the unification of Spain under
Fernando and Isabel in the fifteenth century, Spain had always r ecowed vari-
ous reinos (kmgdoms) within the Spanish Empire. Hence, this sentence must be
understood in that sense. When that equality continued to be denied, the nation-
alists of the last decade or two of the century would think in terms of inde-
pendence, immediate or gradual. If one wants to call "nationalists" only those
Spaniards by conviction and by sentiments, although Filipinos by
birth,"" we deplore the errors and the Qstorted policy that since the year
1836 has been observed with respect to these provinces by the Qfferent
governments that have gone on succeedmg each other since then.45
If, unfortunately, the sophlsms of La Verdad should prevad, and the
government does not put forth a protecting hand to the secular clergy
of thls country and raise it up from the despondency in whlch it lies
today, if the government does not limit to some extent the protection
that it gives to the friars so as to favor the secular clergy, if instead of
creating incentives for the young men who aspire to the priesthood the
government is to continue showing them a dark and Qsrnal future, what
will happen? The prompt extinction of the secular clergy, which is al-
ready beginning to make itself felt. For there are already scarcely any
who present themselves to don the priestly habit. This is precisely the
goal toward which the invectives of that newspaper are directed. Thus,
it wdl leave its patrons secure in the undisturbed possession of their
parishes. No objection can then be made against this, because the latter
from their part will have their privilege, now converted into a right, due
to the lack of secular priests to serve the parishes.
The nation gains nodung with thls. Time will tell what it loses. With-
out the secular clergy, the government will not have the necessary coun-
terweight or point of support for its further objectives. For if, whde the
secular clergy exists, the friars dare to gve themselves such immense
importance, making people believe them necessary even to the point of
who advocated immediate independence, we cannot speak of nationalism in the
1860s-perhaps only of "protonationalism." But that is to ignore the history of
the Spanish-and the Filipin-nation. Hence, when we speak of "Filipinos" in
this article, we mean all those born in the country, of whatever ethnicity, who
called and considered themselves Filipinos.
45. The 1889 pamphlet omits this entire paragraph. By this time Rizal, at
least, and others of his colleagues, no longer looked on themselves as being
Spaniards, certainly not indefinitely, and eventual independence was already in
their minds. See, e.g., Schumacher 1997, 259; 1991, 91-101. Since Basa would
later issue a manifesto calling for an American protectorate or outright annex-
ation by the United States rather than independence for the Philippines, we may
quite certainly attribute this deliberate omission to Rizal.
necesarios hasta la exageracion, luego que aquellos falten ... la consecuencia
es obvia.
Si como medio de sostener en este Archipiilago el prestigio espaiiol
y de conservar estas provincias en la obediencia a la Corona de Espaiia,
se Cree necesario tener a1 frente de 10s curatos sacerdotes espaiioles,
fundense enhorabuena serninarios en la peninsula y higanse venir
cltrigos de alli,46 y en el interin pueden continuar 10s rnismos frailes,
per0 secularizados antes, y privindoles de sus pingiies haciendas, que
deben pasar a poder del Estado, y teniindolos a sueldo como a 10s
demas servidores del Estado, y como a 10s virtuosos y desinteresados
padres jesuitas, a quienes no sabemos porqui, miran con cierto recelo o
pre~enci on. ~'
Porque la conservacion de 10s institutes monisticos con sus seiiorios
y haciendas en pleno siglo X X es contraria a las exigencias de la tpoca,
es una anomalia que solamente una irnaginacion facil y extraviada no [sic]
p u d e concebir. Hubo, es verdad, hub0 tiempo en que 10s frailes de aqui
her on puestos en el Olirnpo, donde se burlaban seguros de 10s vientos
de la contradiccion, porque se 10s creia idolatrados de 10s naturales, y 10s
hi c os capaces de sostener 10s derechos nacionales. Pero este tiempo ya
pas6 como el de las ilusiones, y vikndose ya las cosas tales como son en
si, sabiindose que, lejos de sostenerse la Metropoli por 10s frailes, son
estos sostenidos por la herza material de aquella,4* no debe quedarles
otra consideracion que la de clirigos espaiioles, regidos como 10s demas
del estado eclesiistico por las leyes generales de la Iglesia y del reino, sin
46. The author was well aware that it was unlikely that Spanish secular priests
would come to take parishes in the Philippines, for even those who came to oc-
cupy prestigious and lucrative positions in the cathedral chapter most often saw
this as a step to a similar, and more lucrative, position in the Peninsula. The sug-
gestion, however, was made by the archbishop to be able to divide the enormous
parishes, but received no attention from the Spanish government. But here the
pretended welcome served to distract attention from the fact that the secular
clergy were'alrnost identical to the native clergy.
47. The 1889 version develops the ideas here at great length, amplifying the
alleged enormous wealth of the friars and asserting the need that the govern-
ment should confiscate it. On one hand, it portrays the confiscation as a means
of restoring the orders to their original fervor, a result for which supposedly
exaggeration, then when the secular clergy should be lacking . . . the
consequence is obvious.
If it is believed necessary to have at the head of the parishes Span-
ish priests as a means of upholding Spanish prestige in this archipelago
and of preserving these provinces in obedience to the Crown of Spain,
by all means let seminaries be founded in the Peninsula, and let secular
priests come from there and be welcome.46 In the meantime, the friars
themselves can continue, but secularized first, and deprived of their rich
haciendas, which should pass to the authority of the State. They should
be kept on a salary like the other servants of the State, and like the vir-
tuous and detached Jesuit Fathers. We do not know why they look on
the latter with a certain suspicion or prej~dice.~'
For the preservation of the monastic institutes, with their estates and
haciendas in the midst of the nineteenth century, is contrary to the exi-
gencies of the age. Only a superficial and distorted mind can conceive
such an anomaly. There was, it is true, there was a time when the friars
here were placed on the heights of Olympus from which they scoffed,
secure from the winds of contra&ction, because it was believed that they
were idolized by the natives and were the only ones capable of uphold-
ing the rights of the nation. However, that time has already passed, as
the time of delusions. Now, seeing t h g s as they are in reality, we know
that, far from the nation being sustained by the friars, it is they who are
sustained by the material force of the nation.48 Hence, no other consid-
eration should be given them than that of Spanish secular priests, ruled
as others of the ecclesiastical state are, by the general laws of the Church
they will be grateful. The encomium of the Jesuits, on the other hand, is con-
siderably expanded, as a contrast to the friars. Both these amplifications are very
likely the work of Rizal, who was at this time investigating the financial hold-
ings of the Dominicans and Augustinians in Hong Kong @zal 1961, 142-43),
and who still remained devoted to the Jesuits. The latter, of course, were not
secularized, but were subsidized by the government since they had no other
income, their haciendas having been confiscated in 1768 when they were expelled.
48. The Basa pamphlet inserts here a parenthetical remark that, were the fri-
ars not protected by the government, the Filipinos would drive them out, be-
cause of the harsh and insulting treatment they received from them. This was
a constant theme of the Propaganda Movement.
esas exenciones y sin esos pridegios a cuya sombra se permiten cometer
10s mayores abusos y escindalos que la autoridad episcopal es impotente
para corregr, y la civil o delegados del gobierno se ven precisados a
transigir muchas veces, ora por no perder la amistad de tan ricos y
poderosos vecinos, ora por no conciliarse la malquerencia de tan terribles
enemigos y experimentar 10s efectos de su colera, teniendo quiza
presente, entre otros, un hecho gravisirno y muy funesto que nos ha
transmitido la historia de este pa i ~, 4~ cual es el asesinato en su mismo
palacio del gobernador capitin general D. Fernando Bustamante BustiUo
y Rueda con su hijo, en un motin que se fragu6 en la iglesia de 10s pa-
dres Agustinos calzados, y en el que se viera a 10s frailes de todas las
6rdenes con Santos Cristos en las manos anirnar a 10s amotinados a
gritos de jViva la fe de Dios! jViva la religion!
Sobre la inconveniencia de la existencia de las comunidades religiosas,
tenemos de nuestra parte no solo la opinion dominante hoy &a, sino
tambikn al celebre Cantri ya nombrado, que dice en su citada historia lo
s i gu~ent e: ~~
ctEs hereditan9 el sacerdocio de la tribu de Levi, debiendo ligarse el poder
conservador a lo pasado por herencia. Asistido el Sumo Pontifice por 10s
principes de 10s sacerdotes, resuelve todas las dudas que acerca de la
interpretation de la ley pueden suscitarse. No obstante, el gobierno dista mucho
de ser sacerdotal, y 10s sacerdotes no constituyen como entre 10s orientales una
casta custodia privilegiada del saber y del culto. La tribu de Levi no tiene que
transrnitir rnisterios y fraudes; al rev&, esta obligada a hacer conocer todos 10s
libros de que es depositaria. Tampoco logra una accion directa en el gobierno;
si debe a 10s diezmos una existencia holgada, no posee en propiedad provincia
49. Prior to repeating the hostile narration of the Bustamante episode, the
1889 pamphlet also attributes to the friars in general the arrest of Gov.-Gen. Di-
ego Salcedo by the Augustinian Commissary of the Inquisition in 1663. Both
incidents are referred to frequently, and in distorted form, in the antifriar writ-
ings of the Propaganda Movement.
50. Just prior to the citation from Cantli, the 1889 pamphlet has two lengthy
paragraphs calling for (and ascribing to Cantli, whose ideas were quite different)
the dissolution of the religious orders and the confiscation of their lands, as
Spain had done in earlier dates in the nineteenth century. Likewise it attributes
and the realm, without those exceptions and those privileges under
whose protection they allow themselves to commit the greatest abuses
and scandals. These the episcopal authority is powerless to correct; and
the civil authority, or delegates of the government, find themselves com-
pelled to tolerate them many times, either so as not to lose the friend-
ship of such rich and powerful neighbors, or so as not to bring on
themselves the ill wrll of such terrible enemies and experience the effect
of their anger.
In doing this, perhaps they have in mind, among other deeds, a very
serious and terrible one the history of this country has transmitted to
That was the assassination in his own palace of the governor and
captain general, D. Fernando Bustarnante Bustdo y Rueda with his son,
in a revolt plotted in the church of the calced Augustinian Fathers. In
it, the friars of all the orders were seen with crucifures in their hands,
encouraging the rebels with shouts of "Long live the faith of God! Long
live religon!"
On the inappropriateness of the existence of the religious cornrnu-
nities, we have on our side not only the dominant opinion today but also
the renowned Canhi, named earlier, who says in his history we have
cited:50
The priesthood is hereditary in the tribe of Levi, since the conserva-
tive power should be hked to the past by heredity. The Supreme Pon-
tiff, assisted by the princes of the priests, resolves all doubts that can
be raised concerning the interpretation of the law. Nonetheless, the
government is far from being sacerdotal, and the priests do not con-
stitute, as they do among the Orientals, a privileged caste, the guard-
ian of knowledge and of worship. The tribe of Levi does not have to
transmit mysteries and frauds. On the contrary, it is obliged to make
known all the books of which it is the depositary. Neither does it
exercise a direct action on the government. It possesses a leisured ex-
istence due to the tithes. It does not possess as owner any province.
these same measures to all of Europe. It is obvious that the passage quoted
from Cant&, despite the Spanish translation of "High Priest7' by "Supreme Pon-
tiff," refers to the people of Israel according to the Old Testament in the mind
of its original author.
alguna. Esti dispersada en todo el pais dividido entre las d e d s tribus, y asi evitan
10s abusos que produce en otraspartes L estrecha unidn de 10s sacerdotes.w5'
Nunca terrninariamos nuestra tarea si hubi t semos de continuar
poniendo en evidencia las muchisimas y muy graves faltas de exactitud
en que ha incurrido ese periodic0 ma1 titulado La Verdad a1 tratar las
cosas de este pais. Y en la imposibilidad de seguir por ahora refuthdolas,
s610 nos haremos cargo de otra calumnia atroz que nos ha afectado
muchisimo. Nos referimos a la peregrina especie de rebelion, que
dejamos indicada al principio, echada a volar por 10s mismos frailes, y
que con dolorosa sorpresa encontramos estampada en las colurnnas de
aquel con las siguientes palabras:
({Veamos lo que dice nuestro corresponsal de Manila sobre aquel dignisimo
capitin general en el siguente pirrafo de su carta fecha 5 de noviembre.-Pero
diga V., la caida de la catedral revelaba y ponia en pie el feo fantasma de la
rebelion; y este seiior Echagiie, sin ruido, sin escindalo y sin medidas
estrepitosas ha salvado la colonia de dos gravisimos males, de 10s cuales era el
terremoto el menor.-Esto, como pueden conocer nuestros lectores, es grave.
Esto significa cuando menos que en aquel pais habia sugetos dispuestos a una
tentativa. De aqui se infiere cuin cierto sea que todos 10s que directa o
indirectarnente tratan de rebajar, de matar o quitar el prestigio y fuerza moral
que alli tienen nuestros rnisioneros espaiioles, y que tanto conviene conservar en
aquellas islas, ayudan por consecuencia, aunque sea sin advertirlo, a 10s
malintencionados a la emancipaci6n.-Alerta, alerta, que 10s enemigos son
astutos y sagaces, y si hallan quien les cubra con su sombra serin atrevidos y
emprendedores.))
A1 leer las precedentes lineas, una justa indignaci6n se apodera de todo
hombre que estirna en algo la verdad. Si el parrafo de esa carta que se
cita se refrriese a alguno de 10s que vivimos, volveriamos la cabeza con
desdtn y no hariamos caso de una tan gruesa calumnia. Pero por lo
mismo que se dude en 61 a un hombre que no puede ya salir a la defensa
51. From this point onward, the 1889 pamphlet reproduces the text of the
original 1864 article faithfully, without interpolation or omission.
It is dispersed throughout the country, dvided among the other tribes,
and thus thty avoid the abuses that in other regions are produced b_y the close
union of the prie~ts.~'
We would never end our task if we had to continue exposing the very
many and very grave failures of accuracy which that newspaper, badly
named La Verdad p h e Truth], has committed in treating the affairs of
this country. In the impossibility for now of continuing to refute them,
we will only make mention of one atrocious calumny, although it has
affected us deeply. We refer to the strange specter of rebelhon that we
left aside after mentioning it at the beginning. Given currency by the
friars themselves, with sorrowful surprise we find it treated in the
columns of that newspaper in the following words:
Let us see what our correspondent from Manila has to say about that
most worthy captain-general in the following paragraph of his letter
dated 5 November 1863.-"But note thls, the collapse of the cathe-
dral revealed and brought to the surface the ugly specter of rebellion.
Sefior Echa@e here, quietly, without commotion or disturbing mea-
sures, has saved the colony from two most serious evils. Of the two
evils, the earthquake was the lesser." As our readers can recognize, this
is grave. At the least, this means that in that country there were people
dsposed to attempt rebellion. Hence it may be inferred how certain
it is that all those who duectly or indirectly try to reduce, to destroy,
or take away the prestige and moral force that our Spanish Mission-
aries have there, and whch it is so necessary to preserve in those is-
lands, necessdy help (even without adverting to it) the malicious in
their efforts toward emancipation. Take care, take care, our enemies are
clever and astute. If they find someone to hde them with hls protec-
tion, they will be daring and venturesome.
On reading the preceding lines, just indignation overcomes any per-
son who has any esteem for the truth. If the paragraph of that letter just
quoted referred to one of those of us who are altve, we would turn our
heads aside in disdain and pay no attention to so gross a calumny. But
because of the very fact that it alludes to a man who cannot come out
in defense of his person because he already rests in peace, we are going
de su persona porque ya descansa en paz, vamos a vindicar su memo-
ria, siempre grata para nosotros, por mis que el rencor, el espiritu de
venganza y la envida trabajen de consuno en manciuarla y hacerla odiosa.
Ese hombre es el malogrado, cuanto sabio y virtuoso sacerdote Sr. D.
Pedro Pekez, prez y honor del pueblo hlipino, que en la aciaga noche del
3 de junio pereci6 con otros individuos, sus compaiieros del cabildo
eclesiistico, bajo las ruinas de la que fue catedral. Si, a este sacerdote
lleno de saber, de timorata conciencia, arnigo de la paz y enemigo de
todo desorden, es a quien se ha designado misteriosamente con el
nombre de insurgente, auibuytindosele el plan de una rebeli6n que debia
estallar, a1 decir de sus detractores, en la maiiana del Corpus, en el act0
de la celebraci6n de las sagradas funciones de ese
iVaya un disparate! iElegir para llevarlo a cab0 un &a como ese, en
que toda la guarnicion esti sobre las armas! Esta sola circunstancia ya
revela la irnpostura a la vez que 10s cortos alcances de sus inventores; y
el creer eso de un hombre de talento, como era el finado P. Peliez, seria
la mayor injuria que se podria hacer a su memoria. Veamos, no obstante,
si ha tenido aqutl motivos para pensar en eso o para urdir ese plan tan
descabellado que se le supone.
Para que un hombre de la talla del P. Pelaez pudiera concebir ese
proyecto era necesario que ese hombre, o bien tuviese quejas al gobierno,
por haber sufrido postergas en su carrera y no haber visto
recompensados sus servicios y atendidos sus mtritos, o bien porque
ambicionase el poder y abrigase miras de engrandecimiento personal.
Afortunadamente, ni lo uno ni lo otro podia existir. No lo primero,
porque el P. Peliez ocupaba un puesto elevado en el coro. Era digmdad
de tesorero de esta santa iglesia catedral. Por otra parte, el gobierno lo
habia distinguido muchas veces con varias cornisiones honorificas, dando
con esto muestras del valor y aprecio que hacia de su saber y virtud, con
lo que 61 estaba muy satisfecho. No lo segundo, porque el P. Peliez era
modesto en sus aspiraciones por lo mismo que era virtuoso. Estaba tan
52. In fact, the rumor spread about the alleged revolt named not only PelLez
but also his colleague and friend, Fr. Ignacio Ponce de Le6n, a racionero of the
cathedral chapter, and fiscal of the archbishop. The archbishop in the beginning
mentions him together with Peliez as the objects of the rumor making them the
to vindicate his memory. It is a memory ever dear to us, no matter how
much resentment, the spirit of vengeance, and envy, by common
consent, exert themselves to besmirch it and make it od~ous. That man
is the unfortunate but equally wise and virtuous priest, Fr. Pedro Peliez,
the glory and honor of the Fihpino people, who on that tragic evening
of 3 June 1863 perished with other individuals, his companions of the
ecclesiastical cabih, under the ruins of the cathedral. Yes, it is thls priest,
full of wisdom, a man of scrupulous conscience, a friend of peace and
enemy of all disorder, who has been mysteriously given the name of
insurgent. To him is attributed the plan of a rebellion that was to break
out, according to his detractors, on the morning of Corpus Christi
during the moment of the celebration of the sacred ceremonies of
that day.52
What an absurdity! To choose a day such as that to carry it out, one
on which the whole garrison is in arms! Just this single circumstance
already reveals the deceitfulness as well as the shght mental aptitude of
its inventors. To believe that a man of talent, such as the late Father
Peliez was, could conceive this project would be the greatest insult that
could be made to lus memory. Let us see, nonetheless, if he had motives
for thinking of such a thing or for contriving a plot as preposterous as
is supposed of him.
For a man of the stature of Father Peliez to conceive that project,
it would be necessary that that man either had complaints against the
government for having been bypassed in his career and not having seen
his services recompensed and lus merits esteemed, or, on the other hand,
that he be ambitious for power and cherish intentions of personal glo-
rification. Fortunately, neither the one nor the other could have been
possible. Not the first, because Father Pelhez occupied a lofty place in
the ecclesiastical chapter. He held the Wty of treasurer of thls holy ca-
leaders of the plot, though it is clear from his subsequent letters that he does
not believe it. The Dominican provincial, Fr. Domingo Treserra, however, did
not hesitate to believe both were involved, but his fellow Dominican, Bishop
Gainza, denounced the deliberate calumny of the authors, whom he believes he
knows (Uy 1984, 248; Gainza 1864, 18S90). See n. 76 below
contento con su suerte, que todo su a f k en 10s dtimos aiios de su vida
era santificarse mas y mas. Tan pura era su vida que su confesor, el
austero y virtuoso jesuita I? Bertrk, con quien se confesara por ultima
vez en el mismo dia que plugo al Cielo privarnos de aquel modelo de
cristianas virtudes, no ha vacilado en asegurar a sus amigos que el P.
Peliez murio con la muerte del justo. Con tales antecedentes, pues, no
es posible creer que haya existido ese plan supuesto de rebekbn mas que
en la cabeza de 10s que lo han inventado, que no han sido otros sino 10s
frailes de ciertas y determinadas religiones, por resentimientos que
engendrara en ellos la conducta de aqukl, y que nosotros la vamos a
esponer para que sea del dominio public0 y la naci6n se convenza de la
perversidad de ciertas gentes.
El P. Peliez era un buen patricio, y amaba mucho a1 clero a que
pertenecia. En las ocasiones que el clero se veia despojado de sus curatos
por la ambicion de 10s frades, era kl el que lo defendia. Y aunque nunca
tuvo el consuelo de ver atendldos 10s imprescindibles derechos de aqukl
por la preponderancia de sus adversarios, les chocaba a estos, sin em-
bargo, su leal y patriotico proceder, y de ahi la ojeriza que le cobraron.
Agrkguese a eso que, siendo vicario capitular de este arzobispado en sede
vacante, tuvo que adoptar en cumphiento de su deber ciertas medidas,
muy suaves por cierto, contra tres curas frailes por escesos contraries a
la moral y tranquilidad publica, cometidos uno en la provincia de Cavite,
y otros en la de P a m ~ a n ~ a , ~ ~ cuyos pormenores no queremos detdar
por respeto a1 decoro (pero que estamos dispuestos a hacerlo y
publicarlos si la necesidad nos obhgare a ello, asi como otros idknticos
o acaso peores escesos de que son teatro todos 10s &as estos infelices
pueblos, y cuyos irrecusables datos tenemos a la vista para que lo
desmientan, si quieren, 10s interesados) y se comprenderi la mala
voluntad que le profesan, que lejos de cesar con su muerte parece
53. Though the details are not given, these seem to correspond quite clearly
to three cases that Peliez mentions to the new archbishop in his report on hand-
ing over the government of the archdiocese to the archbishop (PeIiez 1862a, un-
numbered pp. 7-8).
thedral. In addition, the government had distinguished him many times
with various honorable commissions, thus showing tokens of the value
and esteem that it had for his wisdom and virtue. With this, he was very
satisfied. Not the second either, because Father Pelhez was modest in his
aspirations by the very fact that he was virtuous. He was so content with
his lot that all his efforts in the last year of his life were drrected toward
sanctifying himself more and more. So pure was hls life that his confes-
sor, the austere and virtuous Jesuit, Father Bertrin, to whom he made
hls confession for the last time on the very day on which it pleased
Heaven to deprive us of that model of Christian virtues, has not hesi-
tated to assure his friends that Father Pelaez died the death of the just.
With such antecedents then, it is not possible to believe that supposed
plan of rebellion has existed anywhere but in the head of those who in-
vented it, who could be no other than the friars of certain determinate
religious orders, because of the resentment that his conduct produced in
them. We are going to set forth thls conduct here in order that it may
be in the public domain and that the nation may be convinced of the
perversity of certain people.
Father Pelhez was a good citizen and loved much the clergy to which
he belonged. Whenever the secular clergy saw itself deprived of its par-
ishes because of the ambition of the friars, it was he who defended it.
Although he never had the consolation of seeing the inbsputable rights
of the secular clergy attended to because of the dominant power of his
adversaries, nonetheless his loyal and patriotic action offended them.
Hence the grudge they conceived against him. In addition to this, while
he was vicar-capitular of this archbishopric, sede vacante, he had to adopt,
in fulfillment of his duty, certain measures-very gentle measures
certainly-against three friar parish priests because of their excesses
contrary to public morality and tranquility; one committed in the prov-
ince of Cavite, and others in that of P a m ~ a n ~ a . ~ ~ We do not wish to
give their details out of respect for decorum (but we are ready to do so
and make them public if necessity should oblige us to do it; moreover,
there are other identical cases or perhaps worse ones of which these
unhappy towns are the scene every day; we have before our eyes incon-
trovertible data, so that the interested parties may deny them, if they
wish). Thus, the dl will they profess toward him will be understood. Far
208
fomentarse; y esto se esplica claro: porque como en vida no se atrevian
a lanzarle n i n e cargo, reservaron para desputs de ella el forjar contra
t1 esa calumnia. Pero para un hecho semejante se sabe que hay en el
Diccionario de la lengua una palabra que no les aplicamos por delicadeza.
Demostrado, pues, queda que el espiritu de venganza y otras pasiones
siniestras son 10s que han podido hicamente inspirar a esos hombres
extraviados la existencia de ese plan de rebelidn, que ciertamente no es
mas que un verdadero fantasma
Ahora no nos resta mas que p e h , primeramente a Dios, nos dt un
coraz6n capaz de arrostrar 10s insultos y de soportar las calumnias. Y
desputs a la nacion m a g n u y generosa, a quien nos dirighos, para
que haga justicia a nuestros leales sentimientos.
[27 de junio de 1 864]54 LOS FILIPINOS
54. This place and date do not appear in the original in La Amirica but are
found in the 1889 pamphlet. The date, however, is consistent with the time that
it would take for the La Verdad article attacking Peliez to reach Manila and to
have the article of refutation composed, before sending it from Manila to reach
Madrid in time for the agent of the clergy to get it published in La Amirica of
12 September 1864. At this time, mail in either direction normally took up to
three months, or a little less. The place and date are also consistent with those
on the letters of Governor-General Echagiie and Fr. Juan Felix that will be seen
from ceasing with his death, it seems to burn more fiercely. This is
clearly understandable. Because during his lifetime they &d not dare to
hurl any charges against him, they waited until after h s death to build
up against him that calumny. But for a deed of this ktnd there is in the
dictionary a word, whch we do not apply to them out of delicadexa. It
is clear, then, that the spirit of vengeance and other evil passions are the
sole inspiration for those misled men in conceiving the existence of that
plan of nbefbon of theirs, which is c e r t d y no more than a true phantom.
Now nothing remains for us to do but, first, to ask God that he give
us a heart capable of bearing insults and enduring calumnies. Secondly,
we ask the magnanimous and generous nation, to whom we address our
words, to do justice to our loyal sentiments.
[Manila, 27 June 1864]54 THE FILIPINOS
in this article's second part, in which each claim to have copies of the manu-
script article. The most probable explanation for its absence in La he' n' ca is that
the date did in fact appear on the original sent to Madrid, but was, purposely
or inadvertently, dropped out by the editor. If, then, our conclusion in Part Two
will be shown to be correct, the copy we have postulated to have been possessed
by Paciano and passed on to Jose Rizal did have the date of the original manu-
script. Consequently, it was reproduced in the 1889 pamphlet from that copy.
PART TWO
IS THE 1864 ARTICLE A GENUINE WORK
OF FR JOSE BURGOS?
Jose Maria Basa's Role
We may begin by examining how the 1864 document may have come
into the hands of Basa and h s associates. Although the document could
have been preserved by Basa from a copy of La Amirica that he might
have obtained in 1864 when he was still a merchant in Manila, there is
every reason to doubt that this was so. For, though he was certainly a
liberal and antifriar in sentiment even before his exile in 1872, which he
later attributed to their intrigues, there is no evidence that he was at all
concerned with the struggles of the Ftlipino clergy to prevent their be-
ing despoiled of their parishes. This is clear from h s intercepted letters,
found among those assembled by Gov.-Gen. Rafael Izquierdo to justify
the draconian penalties he imposed after the Cavite Mutiny, today pre-
served in the BAH. These letters to and from Basa show the latter to be
a typical anticlerical liberal progressive, seeking reforms in the Philippines
and strongly opposed to the friars, whom he considered to be the main
obstacle to the liberal reforms that he and others of his class advocated
(Tormo 1973, 98-122). (After 1872 he would be much more fiercely
antifriar, attributing to them his exlle after the Cavite Mutiny.) However,
he cannot be considered a nationalist in any real sense. He had exten-
sive business interests in the Phihppines, but it was only these that con-
cerned him, and he would show hunself ready to accept any regime that
provided liberal and progressive reforms.55
He was indeed a Manila correspondent for the newspaper, El Eco
Filipino, edited in Madrid by his brother-in-law, Federico Lerena, but h s
55. At the time of the revolution of 1898, though supposedly aiding the
revolutionary cause from Hong Kong, Basa quickly came to the conclusion that
the Philippines would prosper more under the United States than as an indepen-
dent nation. Hence, as noted above, he actively worked for an American pro-
tectorate, and even annexation by the United States (Agoncillo 1971, 14647;
797; Taylor 1971, 2:491-92.
provides no substantial connection with the clergy's struggle. For the
newspaper did not make the secularization struggle a major concern, as
may be seen from perusing the photocopies of the collection of this
short-lived publication (5 Sept. 1871 to 8 Apr. 1872) found in the PNL.
It was rather an advocate of the extension to the Philippines of the
radical reforms enacted by the makers of the 1868 revolution in the
peninsula and, consequently, resolutely antifriar, seeing in them the main
obstacle to liberal reforms (Tormo 1973, 110-11). The few anonymous
articles in the newspaper that deal at all with the secular clergy seem
clearly not to have been written by any Fihpino priest. Rather, they were
answers to attacks on the competence of native-born priests made by
conservative newspapers in the peninsula, and so promptly published as
t o preclude the possibility that the answer could have come from the
phi lip pine^.^^ In fact, when the mutiny broke out and news came to
Madrid that the priests were arrested and later executed, the reactions of
El Eco Fi/$ino assumed their &t and condemned the mutiny unreserv-
edly. With regard to the executed priests it gave its verdict: "That the
three condemned secular priests be called traitors because the carrylng
out of their sentence bads one to believe it was reasonable" (14 May 1872, in
Skchez Fuertes 1988, 81-82; emphasis in the orignal). Likewise, the
correspondence of Lerena in February 1872 with his brothers-in-law in
56. In a twentieth-century article, "'El Eco Filipino' boicoteado" (de Veyra
and Ponce 1914, 180), Mariano Ponce, only a child (b. 1863) at the time of the
newspaper's existence, nonetheless lists all those-priests, lawyers, merchants-
who were executed or exiled in 1872, together with some others, as having been
supporters of the periodical. This is certainly erroneous. The main point of
Ponce's article was the fact that, after the mutiny, the archbishop issued a pas-
toral letter dated 19 February 1872, forbidding the clergy to read this periodi-
cal, which, as a matter of fact, was already in its dying days. In this, he is
accurate. However, his other facts are now clearly seen to be confused and er-
roneous, such as making Manuel Regidor the editor (an error repeated in
Schurnacher 1972a, 27, written before the appearance of Tormo 1973) and giv-
ing an incorrect name to Lerena. The source of the information in the present
note is found in the cited pages of the Lerena-Basa correspondence in Tormo
1973, found among the Colecci6n Bauer in the BAH. Based on these letters in
Tormo's book, a correct discussion of the newspaper and its minimal relation
to the clergy may be found in Schurnacher 1999, 25-26.
the Phihppines, then prisoners, and his mother-in-law considered the
mutiny a disaster, totally contrary to what he had hoped to achieve
through E l Eco Filipino (see Tormo 1973, 106-1 1).
Two Groups of Activists
Nor does it appear that Izquierdo knew any priest to have been a sub-
scriber to E l Eco Fil$ino with the possible exception of Fr. Vicente
Garcia of Naga, who accidentally received a copy from a friend and
wrote in praise of it in a personal letter to Lerena (Tormo 1973, 1 1 4
15, 104-5). No extant document, however, shows Garcia, though promi-
nent among the Filipino clergy as former provisor of the diocese of
Nueva Ciceres, to have had any contact with the Manila priests headed
by Burgos (ibid., 114-15). Nor was he in any way molested, or apparently
even investigated, after the Cavite Mutiny. Thls may have been because,
in a letter of 14 November 1871, the alcalde-mqor of Camarines had
written to Izquierdo:
The indlo priest, Don Vicente Garcia . . . exercises an immense and
decisive influence on all the natives of this province, and very particu-
larly with those who cherish the condemnable intention of disturbing
its tranquility. . . . I judge, and with me all the Spaniards residing here,
that while this man stays here, there wdl always exist a motive for ds-
turbance. But though that is certain, it is no less certain that it would
be d~fficult, if not dangerous, that I on my part alone should take an
extreme decision, gven the conditions of prestige and affection that
verges on adoration that the natives have for him. (ibid., 237)
Doctor in theology and bachiller in philosophy, Garcia had been
appointed provisor and vicaxio general of Nueva Ckeres, in spite of (hke
Peliez) laclung the theoretically required degree in canon or civll law,
owing to his outstanding merits and the lack of any candidate with the
proper degree. He was only replaced, after he had resigned, by the new
bishop, Francisco Gainza, O.P., in 1865, given the availability of a
European Spaniard with the proper degree. But it is clear that he main-
tained his stature among Bikolanos to a degree that made Izquierdo
hesitant to touch htm (PNA 1863; 1865).
The priests of the archdiocese of Manila were indeed attempting to
found a Madrid newspaper in 1871 to protect their interests, but were
working through their agent in Madrid, the criollo Manuel Regidor,
brother of Antonio, who was involved with Burgos and hts associates in
Manila. A letter of 18 October 1871 from Manuel Regidor's patron,
Rafael M. Labra, to F t Agustin Mendoza, parish priest of Santa Cruz,
Manila, acknowledged the receipt of 7,000 pesos for such a newspaper.
However, Labra replied that the amount Mendoza had collected was
insufficient to found a newspaper devoted to Philippine interests. He and
Regidor, therefore, had decided to apply the money to Labra's own news-
paper, El Correo de Epatia, whlch would then be able to increase its
frequency and coverage of the Philippines (Tormo 1973, 113-14). To
what extent, if any, the clergy made further contributions to Labra is
unknown. But as late as 19 February 1872, evidently not yet informed
of the fate of Burgos and his colleagues two days earlier, Manuel
Regdor wrote again to Burgos of the necessity of more subscriptions
for Labra's El Como de Epaia (ibid., 132-33).57
In fact, though Izquierdo would sunilarly punish all of them with
execution or exile, the priests, lawyers, merchants, and landowners who
were agitating for liberal reforms were not a single group with homoge-
neous purposes. The clergy, led by Burgos, with financial support from
Fr. Agustin Mendoza and the parish priests of other wealthy Manila
parishes remaining with the secular clergy, had Manuel Regidor, close
confidant of Labra, as their agent in Madrid, both for the newspaper and
for the exposition asking for the return of the secular parishes given to
the friars, which they had drawn up some time earlier. Given the impos-
sibility of founding their own organ in the Madrid press, Regidor
persuaded them that Labra would be a likely one to assist them.
Representing under various governments Cuba and Puerto kco, for
57. Though the date was overlooked in the printing of the Spanish text cited
here, it is supplied in Antonio Molina's translation vormo 1973, 51). No doubt
to prevent any interference with his own plans, Izquierdo, though in continual
telegraphic communication with the overseas minister, only informed him of the
sentence of execution of the three priests in a telegram of 19 February, two
days after the executions had taken place (PNA 1870-1873). Hence, the news
would only become public some days after that.
which he sought autonomy, Labra was a prolific writer on colonial
questions. Hence, hls periodical, chiefly devoted to Spain's other overseas
colonies, could seem a likely mouthpiece for Philippine issues, specifically
those of the clergy (Tormo 1973, 113, 131-33, 134; Espasa 1907b;
Schumacher 1999, 49, 57, 60, 152, 158, 208).
In contrast, El Eco FiIipino, the brainchdd of the peninsular Federico
Lerena, supported in the Phdippines by his brother-in-law, Jost Ma. Basa,
and actively promoted by the criollo Mason, Enrique Paraiso, an active
agitator in many causes (Tormo 1973, 99,102; Schurnacher 2004, 6-7),
was representative of a different and seemingly unconnected group.
These men, h e Basa, showed no particular interest in the native clergy's
cause, but were advocates of liberal and anticlerical reforms. Hence,
despite the archbishop's banning its reading by the clergy after the ex-
ecutions, thus appearing to associate it with the priests that were victims
of Izquierdo's resolve to annihdate all opposition to the politically nec-
essary friars, there is no convincing evidence for the supposed
connection. More likely, it was an effort of the archbishop to placate
Izquierdo, who had arrested those actually connected with the newspaper.
The Manitiesto of Hong Kong, 1889
However, all this lay several years in the future when the 1864 manifesto
appeared in the Madrid review La Amirica. In the light of the above
information on El Eco Filipino, Basa probably never saw the 1864 mani-
festo before 1888, when it was put into his hands, almost certainly by
Rizal, as we shall see. h a l was in Hong Kong most of the month of
February 1888 (Retana 1907, 14649; Rizal 1930-1938, 2:109-10, 149)
during which time many of the antifriar leaflets and pamphlets began to
circulate in increasing numbers in Manila, culminating in the dem-
onstration demandmg the exile of Archbishop Payo and the expulsion
of the friars. kzal, however, though aware of what was being planned,
had no part in the group organizing that demonstration, and had advised
against attacking the archbishop Wzal 1930-1938, 4:30; Schumacher
1997, 120-26).
Del Pilar, presumably brought with him the 1888 leaflets that made
up the last sixteen pages of the Basa pamphlet, as k a l had left Hong
SCHUMACHER 1 THE BURGOS MANIFIESTO 215
Kong some months before del Pilar's brief stay there. Rizal presumably
would have had access to the original 1864 article through h s brother
Paciano, who, as a student of the University of Santo Tomis at that
time, lived with Burgos until 1872, and later took an active role in his
younger brother's activities abroad W a l 1959, passim; 1961a, passim).
We will treat below just what their relationship was, but suffice it to say
at this point that there is no evidence of any other means by which Basa
would have made this 1864 article the heart of his 1889 antifriar pam-
phlet. Rizal, on the other hand, wrote hls letter to Ponce, cited above,
as one who had full knowledge of the whole series of antifriar works
being smuggled into the Philippines by Basa, and who even in Paris had
a large number of these publications.
Role of Burgos
To return to Burgos, it is a fact that he only became publicly active in
the secularization controversy in 1869, because of his presence at the
demonstrations with various liberal lawyers and businessmen in honor of
Gov.-Gen. Carlos Ma. de la Torre. He attracted even more hostile atten-
tion once he began to sign his name to the letters published in the
Madrid newspaper, La Di~cusio'n in 1870. The archbishop himself af-
firmed t o Izquierdo that Burgos had been denounced t o him as
antieqanbl only from 1869 onward and especially since 1870 (letter of 30
Jan. 1872, PNA, in Schumacher 1999, 264-65).58 At the time the 1864
manifesto appeared in Madrid, however, Burgos, though not yet a
priest,5Qespite having completed the basic courses in theology as well
58. Since the catalogumg of the PNA was only in a rudimentary stage at the
time photocopies of these documents concerning the Cavite Mutiny were first
given to me, I cannot give more definite catalogue numbers, nor is it clear if the
catalogung has reached these documents at the point that I am writing. They
were accessible in 1969, but I cannot give a more precise location at present,
except to testify to their exactness as I have published them in my books (1972a;
1981; 1999) on the role of the clergy in the nationalist movement.
59. Though he was already qualified theologically for the priesthood, and even
pursuing further graduate studies in theology, Burgos deliberately postponed hls
ordination because of his intention to work for a doctorate not only in theology
as a graduate degree in philosophy, was already a member of the
University Claustro by virtue of that licentiate degree in philosophy.
Moreover, he held secondary-level administrative positions, which would
increase during his academic career, and often even acted as one of
the examiners of candidates for various degrees, including young
Dominicans. Even as a deacon, therefore, he was already a prominent
figure, both in the ecclesiastical and academic world of Manila.60 His
career as a student would finally be concluded less than a year before his
death, when, having already obtained a doctorate in theology, he was
awarded the doctorate in canon law on 16 April 1871 (ViUarroel 1971,
113). But these were not exclusively academic years by any means. By
then he had clearly emerged as the leader in the struggle of the secular
clergy to stop and reverse the process by which they had been, and
would continue to be, despoiled of almost all the parishes of the
archdiocese of Manila. But untll the ostensibly freer atmosphere of
Governor de la Torre's term came, when he was already secure in his
but also in canon law According to civil law and the statutes of the university
at the time, the candidate for a bachelor's degree in canon law was required to
take the course in civil law at the same time. Since ancient Church law forbade
priests to take a degree in civil law, those intending to work for degrees in canon
law had to postpone their ordination until after they held the bachelor's degree
and were finished with civil law (Villarroel 1971, 55-56). Thus, Burgos chose to
postpone his ordination to the priesthood until January 1865, when he had fm-
ished the course in civil law Nonetheless, even though not yet a priest, when the
examinations for the two benefices of the "Parroquia del Sagrario" of the
Manila cathedral were held in September, Burgos competed, and placed third,
just behind Fr. Jacinto Zamora, already several years a priest himself. When Fr.
Jose Zarnora, who had won first place, chose the more lucrative, if less presti-
gious, parish of Marikina, Frs. Jacinto Zarnora and JosC Burgos were named to
the two vacant positions, though Burgos could actually be installed only after his
ordination in January 1865 (ibid., 56).
60. The Claustro of those times has been described as "roughly corres-
pond[ing] to our modern Academic Senate, Council of Regents, Economic
Council, and Faculty staff put together" (Villarroel 1971, 49). Though accord-
ing to the university statutes it included "all the Doctors, Masters, Licentiates
graduated by, or incorporated to, the University," in fact the numbers compos-
ing it were for various reasons relatively small, and those who actually attended
position as the outstanding Filipino priest, he seems clearly to have kept
a low political profile.
Contemporary Evidence for the Authorship of the Article
This lengthy account of his academic career has been necessary before
undertaking the question at hand: Was Burgos in fact the author of the
original 1864 document, which, though not bearing that title in its
primitive form, was in 1889 given the title of Mantfesto as the principal
part of an antifriar pamphlet? The multiplicity of his academic and
professional occupations during that period has been cited as a possible
reason for doubting that he would have had the time to compose such
a document, but this is difficult to estimate in the case of a man of such
undoubted intellectual capacity as Burgos. In fact, as can be seen in the
section on "Original Text of the 1864 Article" in Part One, pp. 168-209,
the genuine 1864 document was much briefer than the 1889 Man$esto,
which is what the objector had in mind in raising that doubt. Nor was
he at that time publicly engaged in polemic activities. Moreover, Burgos,
or whoever the author could have been, d be shown below to have had
the earlier comprehensive notes of Fr. Pedro Peliez on the subject,
which supplied a number of the arguments used in the 1864 article.
Serious objections, as well as partial answers, have since come to my
attention, duefly through the work of Dr. Roberto Blanco AndrCs, whlch
he has generously communicated to me. Through the rest of this article,
aside from my particular citations of his work, the fruits of our lengthy
discussion by e-mail will be felt, with much gratitude on my part, even
where I disagree with him. It would seem best to &scuss first the ex-
its meetings, where important measures specified by the Statutes were discussed,
were even smaller. ViUarroel notes that probably the biggest number present was
those who signed the invitation for the honorary investiture of the new arch-
bishop, Gregorio Melit6n Martinez, in 1862-a mere thirty. Hence, one can
judge the assiduous involvement of Burgos, who attended all but one of the
eighteen meetings held during his membership, from 1860 to 1872, more than
any others, except the Dominican professors (ibid., 48-51, and passim).
ternal factors connected with Burgos's authorship, followed by the dif-
ferent indications that led to the positive conclusion drawn by myself
earlier (Schurnacher 1999, 19-21), and repeated in the first part of this
article. Finally, we may offer a more secure conclusion as to the degree
of certainty of Burgos's role, gven the present state of knowledge.
The Pelaez Background of the 1864 Document
The remote occasion for the original manifesto has been described else-
here.^' Fundamentally, in conformity with a series of royal decrees in
the 1860s, the Recollects were to be given compensation for the parishes
they had turned over to the Jesuits in Mmdanao. All of these parishes
forming the compensation were eventually decreed to be taken from
those of the Manila secular clergy, leaving the latter with almost no pros-
pect except that of being a coadjutor to a friar parish priest. This despo-
liation was the culmination of a series of transferals of parishes from
the secular clergy of Manila to the Recollects, and to some extent to
other friar orders, particularly the Augustinians, especially since 1849
(Schumacher 1972a, 15-22, 194-247; 1999, 13-1 9, 193-238; Uy 1984,
139-61, 237-50; Blanco Andrks 2004b, 603-65; and more succinctly in
2004a). Compounding the earlier despoliation of the secular clergy in
1826, all these cases, due to political motives and/or greed on the part
of certain Recollects and Augustinians, provoked a strong reaction from
the secular clergy. Fathers Gomez and Pelaez had managed the lobbylng
in 1851 in Madrid against the 1849 measure (Schumacher 1999, 46-55;
Peliez 1851), though unsuccessfully.
Reform Proposals of the New Archbishop
The new despoliation of the early 1860s led to a more intense series of
harsh attacks and abrasive replies from both sides. On the one hand, the
relatively long period of Father Peliez ruling the archdiocese as vicar-
61. To avoid confusion, as noted in Part One of this article, I have referred
to the 1864 manifesto in lower case, without italics or quotation marks, but to
the 1889 interpolated edition by its actual Spanish title, ManiJieto.
capitular (24 April 1861 to 27 May 1862) had opened a new period of
official, though indrtect, communication with the Holy See through the
nuncio in Madrid, Archbishop Lorenzo Barili. A similar private
correspondence had already been initiated by Fr. Francisco Gainza, O.P.,
professor of canon law at the University of Santo Tomis, and soon to
be named bishop of Nueva Ciceres. Thus, when the new archbishop,
Gregorio Melit6n Martinez, the first secular priest in a century to oc-
cupy that see, arrived, he was well fortified with information from the
nuncio on the serious problems of the Philippine church. He was fur-
ther informed by Pelaez through a lengthy and factual account of h s
actions during his incumbency as vicar-capitular (Peliez 1862a). He took
the occasion in early 1863 of Cebu's Bishop Romualdo Jimeno, O.P.,
being in Manila to join him in the consecration there of Francisco
Gainza, O.P., as bishop of Nueva Caceres, for the gathered bishops to
propose a series of reforms for the church in the country. It was an
extraordinary opportunity since these three were the only bishops at the
time, and both the Dominican bishops were equally reform-minded.
The most important and controversial of the proposals brought forth
by the bishops in a meeting with the provincials of the religious orders
concerned the subjection of religious order parish priests to amovifidad
ad nutum-that is, a religious order parish priest could be removed from
that position at the initiative of either the bishop or his religious
superior, without having to go through a canonical judicial process. This
was the general law of the Church for parish priests of religious orders,
and the friars themselves had bitterly opposed its being superseded by
the Royal Ci'dufa of 1795. That intervention of the Patronato Real,
besides largely nulhfymg the religious priest's vow of obedience to hls
superiors, had made it in practice almost impossible for the archbishop
to remove a scandalous parish priest, as the publicity of a ca-
nonical trial became a worse scandal, and often the witnesses withdrew
their testimony out of fear.62
In addition, the archbishop proposed other reforms for the orders:
that the law of cloister be restored to the parish houses (the Dornini-
cans and Jesuits already observed it), that overlarge parishes be dvided,
62. The whole problem is discussed briefly but clearly in Uy 1984, 139-42.
new novitiates should be opened in the Peninsula for the Philippine
orders, that diocesan seminaries be reformed, and other measures t o
improve discipline among the clergy and promote better pastoral care.
Pelaez, as well as Gainza (Pelaez 1862a; Uy 1984, 115-16, and passim)
had urged all of these on the archbishop, who already had his own sirni-
lar ideas from his conversations with the nuncio before leaving Spain.
Resistance of the Friar Orders
In spite of the obvious benefit t o the reform of the orders, the Recol-
lect and Augustinian commissaries in Madrid, Frs. Guillermo Agudo and
Celesdno Mayordomo, saw, or affected to see, in these reforms an attack
on the friars for the purpose of promoting the secular clergy.'j3 Both
63. By means of the papal bull, Intergraviores, conceded to the Spanish king
under royal pressure in 1804, the four friar orders were governed by their vicars-
general in Spain, unless the general of the order was himself a Spaniard, who
must then take up residence in Spain. Since the exclaustration of 1836, the or-
ders had no legal existence in Spain for many years except for one college for each
order with provinces in the Philippines, designed to provide missionaries for
there. Though at least some of the orders, such as the Dominicans, were, af-
ter 1843, ultimately governed by comisarios apostdlicos appointed by the Holy See,
these were not recognized by the Spanish government. Hence, in practice they
were governed by their provincials in Manila, and, except for the Dominicans
after these managed to be reunited with their master-general in Rome and the
rest of the order in 1872 and bring about needed reforms, these provincials ex-
ercised direct authority over the Philippine provinces of their orders. But given
the difficulties and time required for communication with their subjects teach-
ing or studying in Spain, each order had an elected comisario in the Peninsula,
who in some orders acted with considerable independence from the Manila
provincials, especially before the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and the
later establishment of telegraphic communications. All the orders, including the
Jesuits after their reestablishment in the Philippines in 1859, had aprocurador in
Madnd, to deal with the government, which even under the declining Patronato
Real of the nineteenth century still intervened considerably in all Philippine
ecclesiastical affairs, including the presentation of bishops for appointment by
the Holy See and at times in the internal affairs of the orders. In the friar
orders, this procurador was elected in the provincial chapters. In the Augustin-
ian and Recollect orders at least, the comisario and the procurador were nor-
SCHUMACHERI THE BURGOS MANlFlESTO 221
these consequences, they maintained, were a danger to Spanish sover-
eignty in the Philippines. Writing to the vicar-provincial in Spain in 1871,
when Burgos had become publicly active, the Recollect provincial, Fr.
Mariano Cuartero, later bishop of Nueva Segovia, expressed the ideas
that had motivated Agudo since 1849. Criticizing the policy of the arch-
bishop in trying to preserve at least some parishes for the secular clergy,
he wrote:
From the time that the secular clergy have shown signs of rebellion
[1861, the date of Peliez's becoming vicar-capitular], all agree that all
the parishes near to Manila, should not be in their hands, but rather
should be occupied by Spanish parish priests. Thus this gentleman,
with hls mania for always supporting the native clergy, is losing much
p~pularity.~" (Mariano Cuartero to A. Iturriaga, Manila, 18 Jan. 1871,
in AM, leg. 7, 1; quoted in Bengoa 1998-1999, 140)
mally the same person. (The Jesuits did not have a province in the Philippines
after their reestablishment, but formed a mission of the peninsular province of
Aragbn, with a subordmate superior in the Philippines. Hence, their procurador
was appointed, not elected, and directly subject to the provincial in Barcelona.)
Reading the documents of the nineteenth century under this regimen one gets
the impression that often the friar comisarios-procuradores carried out policies
not approved by the more observant friars in the Philippines, but that they con-
tinued to hold that relatively powerful position because of their political con-
tacts, most often with the intermediate officials of the bureaucracy of the
Overseas Ministry. This seems certainly to have been the case with the long-
tenured Recollect comisario-procurador, Fr. Guillermo Agudo. (I owe much of
the information here, at least as regards the Dominicans, to a personal com-
munication of Fr. Fidel Villarroel, O.P. Though there were some differences in
the government of the other orders, they may be gathered from what I have
further said above.)
64. One can see clearly in this brief statement of Cuartero that it was
recognized even by Spaniards that the secular clergy were the "Filipinos"-
criollos, mestizos, indios The "Spanish" clergy were the religious orders. Though
we have not investigated the lawyers to the same extent as the clergy, the
participation of one or more lawyers in the manifesto and the simultaneous
appearance and argumentation of the lawyers' protest to Agwre Miram6n with
the manifesto of the clergy, discussed below, indicates that a similar self-
identification was to be found among them also.
A few days later he returned to the topic, declaring: "'Everyone is cen-
suring the conduct of the archbishop" (ibid.).
Yet not all the Recollects, or other friars, felt the same way. The lead-
ing contemporary Recollect historian correctly attributes the persecution
the friars suffered from many revolutionary leaders not t o religious
hatred, except in rate cases, but to the friars' increasing identification of
themselves more as Spaniards than as friars. He cites the eloquent
laments of Fr. Fernando Mayan&, provincial in 1892, of the excessive
espatTolismo of the orders, identifying themselves with the interests of
Spain. The provincial wrote:
Brothers, if the religous orders here do not wish to perish, they
should leave aside as much as they can that motto "Everything for
Spain" ["Todo para Espafia"], and take up this other one: "Friars
before anything else" ["'Antes frailes que nada"]. (Martinez Cuesta
1998-1999, 30)
But Agudo and Mayordomo had no such reservations. Their subsi-
dized newspapers mercilessly and mendaciously attacked the archbishop
as an enemy of the religious orders and as the promoter of a native
clergy unfit and dlsloyal to Spain.65 In all thls, they deliberately ignored
the fact that the archbishop had also proposed that the government al-
low the friars more houses in Spain for novitiates to prepare missionaries
for the Philippines. The bishops met with the provincials of the friar
orders and presented their plans, for a time seeming to gain the good-
will of at least some. In the end, the Dominican bishops, seeing the pro-
posals being given a distorted interpretation-one of hostility to Spanish
soveregnty-they had never intended, withdrew their signatures from the
proposals, and the archbishop was left isolated (Uy 1984, 13949). As we
will see, he dld not cease to make his case to Madrid on his own in
succeedmg years in spite of this abandonment.
65. All this is amply documented in the correspondence of the nuncio with
Pelaez, the archbishop, and Bishop Gainza (even before his being named
bishop). There are many examples in Uy 1984, passim, but my own research has
confirmed these and many more.
SCHUMACHER I THE BURGOS MANlFlESTO
Response of Pelaez and the Filipino Clergy
Inasmuch as one of the major strategies of the two commissary-
procurators was to debase the Filipino clergy, as well as cast doubt on
theit. loyalty to Spain, Father Peliez had published various letters defend-
ing the secular clergy in Madrid periodicals, especially El Ckamor Ptiblico,
through his intermediaries there. His efforts were especially promoted by
the lawyer Juan Francisco Lecaros, likewise a criollo, and one of the
Philippine representatives to the Cortes of 1837, the last in which the
Philippines was represented. His earlier position in the Cortes, however,
no doubt gave him acquaintance and influence with other political figures
of importance in the 1860s, after he had definitively returned to Spain,
apparently for health reasons. Evidently they were not such as to prevent
him from considerable activity on behalf of the Filipino clergy, whose
agent he was known to be. Pardo de Tavera says that the Spaniards
considered him ajlibustero (Blanco Andrts 2005a; Manuel 1955-1986,
243-46; Pardo de Tavera 1903, 231, no. 1508).
In addition to the subsidized newspaper attacks, the two commissary-
procurators launched a major assault on the archbishop and the
proposed reforms in a pamphlet entitled Iqbortantz>ima cuestibn que puede
afectargravemente a ka existencia de h I s h FiItPinas (1 863). Since their strat-
egy also involved continuous attacks on the Filipino clergy, PelPez coun-
tered with an anonymous pamphlet, gathering his earlier articles
contesting the rights of the friars to the parishes, and heading them
with the violent denunciations of that eighteenth-century bitter enemy
of the religious orders, Archbishop Basilio Sancho de Sta. Justa y Rufrna
(1 767-1 787). The pamphlet, entitled Do~lmentos iqbortantes para la cuestio'n
pendiente sobre la provisibn de curatos en Fil$inas, was likewise published
through the agency of Le c a r o~. ~~ Although published only after Peliez's
66. Marcelino Gomez, the nephew of Fr. Mariano Gbmez, Peliez's chief
cooperator, attests the role of Lecaros in aiding G6mez and Peliez even in 1851
(Gomez 1922/1972, 115). Since Lecaros seems to have been in the Philippines
at this time, such assistance must have been financial, or putting the clergy in
contact with some friend of his in Madrid who could act as their agent. It may
well have been D. JosC Tuazon, head of a prominent merchant fxm in Manila,
whom Marcelino mentions together with Lecaros as having aided Father G6mez.
death in the earthquake of 1863, i t was a harsh but well-informed
rejoinder t o the earlier friar Alarmed no doubt by Peliez's
posthumous pamphlet, which Agudo came to know of by chance dur-
ing a visit t o the press where Lecaros was having E l Clamor Ptiblico
printed, the two commissaries published in the same year a supplemen-
tary series of documents with the same publisher under t he title,
Cotqbkmento de los documentos delfolkto de 14 de noviembre de este an"o de 1863.
The two friar pamphlets together formed in fact one book.
I n the meantime, though PelPez had been among the members of
the cathedral chapter who died with the cathedral's collapse in the June
1863 earthquake, the polemic continued. Among the survivors of the
cathedral chapter was a former Mercedarian, Fr. Manuel Peralta, a pen-
insular Spaniard, who after the suppression of the religious orders in
The business affairs of Tuazon's flourishing merchant house may well have ne-
cessitated trips to the Peninsula, in which he could act on the priests' behalf.
Lecaros's role is discussed at length by Blanco, basing himself on the correspon-
dence of Agudo in the AM. The latter was well informed about Lecaros's
activity through his contacts with the publishers as well as with bureaucrats in
the Overseas Ministry (Blanco Andrks 2005a). Others, who sometimes aided
Peliez in Madrid, were peninsular members of the cabiuo, who for some reason
were in the Peninsula, as appears to have been frequently the case.
67. To Dr. Blanco AndrCs I owe the information, coming from Agudo's cor-
respondence, that Pelaez's compilation, probably sent from Manila in March or
April 1863, arrived in Madrid in June, shortly after the earthquake. Lecaros had
1,900 copies printed, which were completed some time during the summer of
1863, so that the Recollect Juan Felix de la Encarnacion already knew the pam-
phlet in Manila in late October. It is not clear whether the documents were sent
by Peliez himself or by an unidentified nephew, whom Agudo knew to be han-
&ng dealings with Pelhez's agents in Madrid after his uncle's death, at least by
December 1863 (Blanco Andres 2005e). Though undoubtedly a large portion of
the print run went to the hands of influential individuals in Madrid, and the rest
to Manila, it is striking how rare the pamphlet is today, at least in the Philippines.
Not a single copy is recorded in the compilation of Ferrer 1970, the most
extensive effort at that time to form a union catalogue of Filipiniana. However,
being only a pamphlet, it is possible that it may be found in ,some archives or
private collections. The copy listed by Retana 1906, which ought to be in the
PNL, but does not appear in Medina 1972, was probably in that part of the
collection destroyed in 1945.
Spain (the excbu~tracio'n of 1836) had come to the Philippines, where he
had been appointed to various prebends in the cathedral chapter,
eventually becoming its dean.68 In refutation of the Mayordomo/Agudo
pamphlets, Peralta published his Juico sobre effofhto titubdo "Itqbortanhka
cuestio'n que puede afectar gravemente a ka existencia de h I s h Fik$inas." The
principal bibliographies give more details of all these compilations, some
judgments being less objective than others, but agreeing on the substance
and giving a summary of their contents (Pardo de Tavera 1903, nos.
873-75, 1348, 681, 1962; Retana 1906, 2: nos. 1030, 1037, 1027, 1070;
Rodriguez 1968, 4:68-75, no. 434). Retana adds the interesting observa-
tion that Pelhez's pamphlet was h c e d by Fr. Agustin Mendoza, who, as
noted above, would later be the principal financier of the newspaper that
Burgos and hls companions, through Manuel Regidor, were trying to
found in Madrid to advance their cause in 1871 pormo 1973,113-14,133).
The two friar comisarios-procuradores in turn replied with a series of
attacks on the Filipino clergy in the newspapers they subsidized. These
68. The exclauJtratidn was a unilateral act of the government under Juan
Mendizibal in 1836. Although thus denied civil existence within Spain, the priest
members of the orders remained canonically relgous in the eyes of the Church.
Nonetheless, the Holy See had ruled that the exdaustrated r%ous could accept
benefices ordinarily reserved for the secular clergy in order to support them-
selves (since the government of Mendizibal had confiscated all property of the
religious orders). Peralta had received his first prebend in the 1840s through
appointment by the government, perhaps because of his previous service as an
army chaplain. Shody after entering the cathedral chapter, he obtained a dispen-
sation from the Holy See by which he effectively became a secular priest (PNA
1846-1855, ff. 152-59). From here, he rose to the highest positions in the ca-
thedral chapter by dubious means, since he was certainly not particularly aca-
demically qualified, nor was he, according to those who knew him, a good priest.
Undoubtedly, the fact that he was a peninsular helped. When the nuncio asked
Gainza for possible candidates to succeed Archbishop Aranguren in 1861, he
"warn[ed] the Nuncio of episcopal candidate Peralta's suspected indiscretions
with the young Spanish ladies of Santa Isabel College" (letter of 5 May 1861,
in ASV, Arch. Nunz. Madrid, 447; cited in Uy 1984, 119-20). Moreover, when
in 1863 Peralta sought testimonials from the archbishop for his retirement, he
was quite displeased to find that the archbishop did not give him the favorable
recommendation he felt he deserved (Blanco AndrCs 2005d).
reached their most vicious in an article in La Verdzd, the newspaper of
Agudo, in whch appeared a scarcely veiled attack on the alleged treason-
ous plans of long-deceased Peliez. In turn, it would give occasion for the
article we have published and translated in Part One of the present essay,
the assumed manifesto of Burgos.
Contemporary External Evidence for the
Authorship of the Article
The first mention of the manifesto is found in a letter of Gov.-Gen.
Rafael Echagiie to the Overseas Minister, dated 18 August 1864, some
six weeks after the date of the document (AHN, Ultramar, leg. 2206, exp.
41; as cited in Uy 1984, 161). As noted earlier, he asserts that he knows
the author, who is one of the clergy, and has informed the archbishop
concerning Evidently, he had known of thls for some time before
writing to the Overseas Minister, whom he wished to reassure that there
was no truth to the supposed Pelaez conspiracy, since the article would
appear in La Amibca on 12 September 1864. Prior to the completion of
the Suez Canal in 1869, mail took at least two months or more, and
hence the article had been written in Manda much earlier, at the very
latest near the end of June. In fact, the date, 27 June, is on the 1889
version. Inasmuch as it would take some negotiations to obtain its pub-
lication, and time to set the type, it appeared at the earliest possible date,
12 September, since the journal was published on the twelfth and twenty-
seventh of each month.
The Recollects in Manila, however, also had knowledge of the mani-
festo before it was sent to Madnd, at least by the beginning of August,
for somehow they were able to have the documents copied in Ma da
69. It should be noted that Echagiie did not specify a priest as author, but
merely spoke of having mentioned the man to his ordinary (i.e., bishop). This
would indicate that he was a member of the clergy. Burgos, however, who was
at this time not yet a priest, is not excluded by Echagiie's statement. For, as a
deacon, he was indeed a member of the clergy, a term which encompassed all
those who had received any of the degrees of Holy Orders, even the tonsure,
and were therefore subject to their ordinary, the archbishop in this case.
and reach the hands of Agudo by the end of September. They do not
say how they obtained them, but a likely conjecture is that, since the
governor-general had a copy, they had obtained the manifesto and the
accompanying letters referred to in the same dispatch, perhaps through
some connection of theirs in a government office in Manila (Blanco
Andrks 2005a). Although Governor-General Echagiie was no patron of
theirs, the offices of the government bureaucracy were notorious for
their corruption, and it would not have been difficult to find an agent
over whose desk the governor's letter had passed. In Madrid, t h~s use of
paid agents in government and in journalistic circles was certainly com-
mon with Agudo, who was well known for his informants in the
Overseas Ministry as well as in the newspapers. Given these connections
and the dubious ethical principles the commissary repeatedly manifested,
he was the man most able to thwart each attempt of the Filipino clergy to
defend their rights-in 184%1851,1863-1864, and 18761872. Thus, it was
no coincidence that he was retained or reelected to hold the post at the time
of each crisis-1847-1867; 1871-75 (Santiago Vela 1913-1931, 1:36).
In a letter of 3 October 1864 from Agudo in Madrid to the provin-
cial in Manila, Fr. Agustin Olmeddlas, the former acknowledges having
received on 30 September two notebooks (cartapacios), sent from Ma d a
on 4 August.
The one [cartapacio] with letters of those (esos) Doctors and Licen-
tiates there to Senbr Mi rarn~n, ' ~ which are like the ones of those
(esos) Filipinos there; the other with the manifesto to the Nation by
70. Josk Manuel de Aguirre Miram6n (1813-1887), a lawyer, held important
offices in the Philippines as well as in the Peninsula, and was the author of
numerous reports and projects for the overseas provinces of Spain. He was,
therefore, well known to leading lawyers and clergy of Manila, where he had
held an official post earlier (Espasa 1907a; Blanco AndrCs 2005a). Some time
after his return to the Peninsula, a series of his articles in La Amirica on the
state of education in the Philippines would be the occasion for a defense of the
University of Santo Tomis by the catedrabco of Roman Law, Dr. JosC de Arrieta,
mentioned below. Bishop Gainza sent to Nuncio Barili in 1864 copies of
Miram6n7s letters to himself, supporting the reforms Gainza was promoting (Uy
1984, 120). Though there were also doctors and licentiates in ecclesiastical
the Filipinos; which, as Your Reverence will already know by what
[my] previous mail said, I already possess in print. For the periodcal
or review, La Amirica, published it on the 12th of the month just
past [September]. I brought a copy to the Overseas Ministry so
that they might amuse themselves with such a pretty and exceed-
ingly sweet piece of readmg. What I have done sall leaves open the
way for the other things we plan to do. (AM, leg. 88, num. 4,
quoted in Blanco AndrCs 2004, 646)
I t seems likely that both the lawyers' letters t o Miram6n and the
manifesto dealt in some way with the struggle of the secular clergy
against the Recollects for their rights, and it was for that reason that
t he Recollects had sought copies of both in Manila. This becomes
clearer on seeing the Recollect letter from Manrla, this time from Fr. Juan
Felix de la Encarnacihn, former provincial, and at this time prior of the
Recollect headquarters in Manila, the monastery of San Sebastian."
I n a revealing letter t o Agudo of 18 September 1864 (that is, before
receiving Agudo's letter of 3 October, just cited), apparently written in
the name of the provincial who was absent on visitation of his subjects
in their parishes, he stated:
I agree that we should be quiet for a whlle, in spite of the fact that
our enemies 00s inimin' homine~) are not silent, as you d have seen
from the article directed to "La Naci6n" that our Father Provin-
cial has sent to you already, and from what the periodcal La Ame'n'cu
disciplines, it would seem likely that the ones addressing letters to Miram6n
rather held degrees in law, while the manifesto would presumably come, at least
primarily, from the dergy. Miram6n was at this time uipt/tuh to the Cortes (ibid.),
which would account for so much attention being given to him by the dergy and
persons connected with the university.
71. The Recollects had traditionally added a religious name to their family
surname, a practice that was apparently falling into disuse in the nineteenth
century. Fr. Guillermo Agudo de San Antonio de Padua, for example, signs him-
self, both in the public and the private documents we have, simply as Fr.
Guillermo Agudo. Fr. Juan Felix, however, perhaps because his f d y surname
could be taken for an additional baptismal name, though sometimes in a per-
sonal letter writing Juan Felix, in other documents signs his full religious name,
or even J. F. de la Encarnaci6n.
says in volume VIII, no. 12?= Give them time to vent their grievances
(para que se desahoguen). When an opportune occasion comes, we
will return to the attack. (AM, Convento de San Sebastian, leg. 6,
num. 3, quoted in Blanco Andrks 2005a)
The next letter of Felix to Agudo was written on 23 November 1864
when the issue of La Amdrica of 12 September would have arrived just
recently in Manila. Though somewhat confusing, it is important for de-
termining the author of the 1864 manifesto. He says:
I suppose that for some time now the copy of the article of La
Amirica [the article, "A la Nacion'l has been in your possession. I call
it a plagiarism (plagio), became it is. N.P. [Nuestro Padre-i.e., the provin-
cial, Father Olmedillas] subscribes to that periodical. When I sent you
the copy [from Manila], one put together variom h a d , of whch the
one who calls himself the principal compiler (redactor) is a Filipino
lawyer named Fuentes; there went along with it some letters du-ected
to Seiior Miramon, written by another Filipino lawyer, Sordo [sic]
Arrieta. Therefore the article was written in Manila, as was another
production of the renowned Dean [of the cathedral chapter] here,
Peralta, a copy of whch I have not been able to get hold of, [but]
which they say is more insolent and scandalous, about which I have
also spoken to (AM, Manila Provincialato, leg. 6, nurn. 3, f. 7;
quoted in Blanco Andrts 2004, 644-45; italics mine)
A first remark concerning these two cartapacios is that their being
sent together from M d a to Agudo gwes probable evidence of coop-
eration between the Filipino lawyers and the clergy. The "Sordo Arrieta"
is undoubtedly the Catedrcitico de Derecho Romano of the university, Dr. Jost
de Arrieta, who wrote a letter, dated 6 June 1864, to Jost Manuel de
Agmre Mit.amon, mentioned above. Aguirre Miramon had written in La
Amdrica (27 January 1864) an article critical of the university. Among
other things, he cltsparaged the university for not having other than
72. I have not seen this article, but from the number of the journal in which
it appeared, and given the periodicity of the journal (published on the twelfth
and twenth-seventh monthly), the reference would be to the number of 27 June.
73. The "other production" refers to Peralta 1864.
ecclesiastical faculties. There is in the AUST a manuscript copy of
Arrieta's reply, entitled "Carta al Sor. D. Jost Manuel Aguirre Miramon,
escrita por D. Jost de Arrieta" (AUST, Folletos 97, ff. 310-25). In it
Arrieta asserted that the Dominicans had long desired to introduce a
number of faculties, even without the financial support of the govern-
ment, but from which they had to ask permission. "But no sooner the
Dominicans raised the idea of the new citedras than the government
officials became apprehensive about the university turning into a cradle
of insurgents." He went on to take pride in the fact that the university
had never produced an insurgent in the nineteenth-century uprisings that
had occurred (Vdlarroel 1984, 66; 1971, 94).
There is no record of a lawyer from the University with such a name
as "Sordo" (deaf) and it must have been a contemptuous epithet used by
Felix, a common practice in the letters between these two Recollects in
referring to those they considered their enemies, like the archbishop
(Blanco Andrts 2005d). Given the tactic of Felix and Agudo of tagging
their critics, like Peliez, as "insurgents," the connection between the
Arrieta letter, denying the presence of any insurgents in the university,
and the 1864 manifesto of "Los Frlipinos," written in indignant rejection
of such a label of "insurgent" for the dead Peliez, is obvious. It also
explains why the two documents are dated within a few weeks of each other
(6 June and 27 June), and they had been sent together in the two cartapacios
that are found together in the same legajo in the APAF, undoubtedly
copies sent by Agudo to hls collaborator, Celestino Mayordomo, O.S.A.
It may also be noted that, in the first communication from Manila, the
Recollects refer to several lawyers writing to Miramon, whde in the sec-
ond reference is made only to Arrieta. It seems he was the principal one,
analogously to the case of Echagiie speaking of one cleric, though he
recognized in the next sentence that there were other "interesados" in-
volved. This is confirmed by letters by Arrieta and another Fhpino law-
yer, identified only as Lcentiate don N. I?, found in the AM (Blanco
Andrts 2005~) . This may well be the member of the Consejo de
Ah s t r a c i o n , Narciso Padilla, one of the two consejeros, both Fhpinos,
who voted in favor of the bishops' proposal for amovllidad ad nuturn.
It is quite probable that he was related to the Fllipino member of the
cabildo, Sabino Paddla, though the name is sufficiently common not to be
SCHUMACHER I THE BURGOS hMNIFIEST0 231
sure, in spite of his being a prominent lawyer, and possessing a first
name corresponding to the "N." of Arrieta's companion. But Arrieta's
use of initials is so obvious, and the intrinsic probabdity of their being
associates makes it far more likely. Both would have been known to
Aguirre Mirarnhn from his time as a magistrate of the Real Audiencia in
Manila (Blanco Andrts 2005~). It would, therefore, seem that the letter
of Arrieta found in the AUST is the or i pal of that found in the Rec-
ollect archives, though I was not able to verify this by direct comparison.
Though the other letter(s) have not been located in the AUST, the most
important was that of the Catedrritico, Arrieta, who was close to the
Dominicans (Vdlarroel 2005b).
In these statements of the Recollects and of Governor Echague,
there are several apparent contradictions presenting obstacles to identi-
fylng the author of the manifesto. Neither statement points to it being
Burgos. Echagiie, it appears at fust sight, is certain that it was the work
of one person, a member of the Manila clergy, and though he gives no
name, he claims he knows it. The Recollects, Felix and Agudo, clearly
attribute it to a plurality of authors, clergy and lawyers, since Agudo
distinguishes "esos Filipinos" from the lawyers who wrote to Mirambn,
and F e h shows some inclination to believe that the principal editor of
the multiauthored manifesto may have been a certain Fuentes, a lawyer.74
All three agree that the document was composed in Manila and sent to
Madrid for publication. However, as will be seen, Echagiie himself
recognized that there were others, "10s interesados," presumably clergy,
b e h d the particular cleric he singled out.
Although it may not seem immediately relevant to the question of
authorship, it is pertinent at this point to remark on the kind of men
responsible for subverting the Filipino secular clergy, and to indicate
their influence in the order. Both Recollects, prominent figures in their
indicated their contempt for the Fhpino clergy as well as for the
74. I have not been able to identify this lawyer.
75. Juan Felix would twice be provincial of the Recollects, 1849-1852 and
1861-1864, preasely during the &st two of the three conflicts between the Recoll-
ects and the secular clergy, besides holdmg the influential position of prior of San
Sebastian monastery immediately after his second term as provincial, where he
archbishop, the advocate of h s clergy's cause. Both of them intended to
continue t o attack and calumniate, as they had done already with Fr.
Pedro Pel ae~. ' ~ Yet, their own lives both as r ekous , in the case of Fe h,
and as political inulguers of dubious ethlcs, most especially in the case
of Agudo, were well known, and justified the eventual harsh attack by
an exemplary priest like Pelhez. I t is also significant, as we have ob-
served, that the two men held the two key decision-making positions
simultaneously in the Recollect province of San Nicolas de Tolentino
during the conflicts with the Filipino clergy over the parishes, and took
a similar line contemptuous of t he Filipino clergy. For they were
convinced that the existence of the latter was a danger t o Spanish
was evidently the right-hand man of the provincial, Father Olmedillas. Another
Recollect Comisario-Pmnrrador, Fr. Gabino Sinchez, put him at the top of a list
of Recollects to be considered for a bishopric, describing him as "a religious of
much ability, well-educated, and of blameless moral character." Fr. Mariano
Bernad, later general of the order, is said to have written of him in a parish
book of Durnaguete, that when he was working (later) in Dumaguete, "his tal-
ent above the ordinary, and his endearing and affable manner made him draw
to himself the sympathies of all, so much so that various times he was offered
the bishoprics of Cebu and of the archbishopric of Manila; but he took all
means possible to get them to desist from putting his name on a terna"
(Santiago Vela 1913-1931, 2:299). Sadaba del Carmen (1906, 408), extols Juan
Felix in his terms as provincial because "in various matters of vital interest for
the Order, he knew how to defend its rights, which, thanks to him, remained in-
tact, with no little distinction and credit to his person"-a description the arch-
bishop and the Filipino clergy would have seen in a different light. Without
denying his ability, however, at the time of his second provincialate Bishop
Gainza and Archbishop Meliton Martinez strongly opposed his candidature for
any bishopric. Gainza considered him "worldly, ambitious, extravagant: 'Nor does
he manifest zeal [while provincial] in correcting the misdemeanors of his
confreres . . . and I do not see him disposed towards reforms"' (ASV, Arch.
Nunz. Madrid, 449, Gainza to Barili, 11 January 1863, in Uy 1984, 175, n. 158).
Two years later, on hearing that the governor-general was proposing him for
bishop of Nueva Segovia, Archbishop Meliton blocked the nomination, writing
to the nuncio that he "does not have an unspotted reputation (unafama liqia),"
and that "it is public knowledge that when named Provincial he had with him
'a woman and a 16-year old girl, whom all, without excluding the religious, sup-
posed to be a daughter of said Father (una mujry una joven de dieqy seis anbs, a
quien to& sin exceptuar hs Rehgiosos, sqonhn hga de dho Padre)"' (ASV, Arch. Nunz.
sovereignty, as well as inimical to the ambitions of the Recollects. (It
should be said, however, that, in spite of sufficient support within the
order to elect them to positions of power, not all their fellow Recollects
approved their attitude, nor believed it necessary, or even right, to con-
tinue taking parishes from the Filtpino clergy.77 Indeed, at the time of
the 1849 despoliation of the Cavite clergy brought about by the Recol-
lect procurator, Agudo, Archbishop Josi Aranguren, himself a Recollect,
had written to the governor-general, justifying the complaints of the
secular clergy, and emphatically denying any notions of subversion in
their protests [copy in APAF, leg. 39, pp. 17-18; in Rodriguez and hvarez
1998, 253, n. 601).
Madrid, 449,21 July 1864, quoted in Uy 1984, 175-76, n. 158). Among Agudo's
various positions, in addition to being comisario-procurador in the key times of
conflict with the secular clergy, as indicated above, he was rector of the college
of Monteagudo where the young Recollects were trained in Spain. During most
of his twenty years as comisario-procurador, he was simultaneously vicario-provin-
cial for the Recollects in Spain until 1867. He then became comisario-procurador
again in 1871-1875, undoubtedly to counteract the new effort, led by Burgos,
to obtain the restoration of their parishes to the secular clergy. Apart from his
term as rector of Monteagudo, it seems clear from the various times his acti+
ties have been mentioned that his principal role was strengthening the power of
the Recollects and other friar orders, mostly through political intrigue and defa-
mation of the secular clergy.
76. Even the newly-arrived archbishop believed for a time in the false rumor
of Pelaez's complicity in a revolt scheduled for the feast of Corpus Christi,
frustrated only by the earthquake in which he died (Abp. Gregorio Melit6n
Martinez to the Ministro de Guerra y Ultramar, 22 June 1863, AHN, Ultramar,
leg. 2255, translated in Schumacher 1987, 221). Similarly, the Dominican provin-
cial, Fr. Dorningo Treserra, was convinced of the conspiracy, naming as its prob-
able authors, Fathers Pelkz and Ignacio Ponce de Le6n (Treserra-Gainza, 5 July
1863, cited in Uy 1984, 248, n. 197). Bishop Gainza, far more experienced and
more aware of the ecclesiastical intrigues of Manila and Madrid than either of
them, declared that the authors of this and other false rumors were known to
him, and that they themselves knew that the rumor was totally false (Gainza
1864, 180-82). More than forty years later the calumny was stiU being repeated
by the official Augustinian historian of that time. See Martinez 1909, 371.
77. Peliez acknowledged as much in his "Brebes apuntes" (Flores 2001, 108-
9). The Recollect historian, Angel Martinez Cuesta, O.A.R., relates the efforts of
Mayordomo and Agudo to slow down the division of large parishes in 1864 by
Moreover, as if spreading, or even creating, the false accusation of
treason against Peliez and his colleague and friend, Fr. Ignacio Ponce de
Leon, was not enough, these two Recollects and some of their
confreres were planning even stronger attacks on the archbishop and the
Filtpino clergy. In fact, my own perusal of Agudo's subsidized newspa-
per, La Verdad, in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid showed it continu-
ing to publish attacks of the same nature through much of 1864.
Reconciliation of Echague's and the Recollect Versions
Thls being said, there seem to be several possible explanations for the
contradiction between the Recollects and Governor-General Echagiie.
First, one might surmise that what the Recollect provincial, Olrneddlas,
had sent to Agudo was not the actual article that would appear in La
Ame'n'ca, but some kind of draft. However, for Agudo to call it a
c c
plagiarism," it must have been reasonably close to the actual published
version. But it is not impossible that passages were inserted later that
did not concern Agudo. At least two passages possibly could have been
later insertions-one of them lifted almost bodily out of Peliez's
"Brebes apuntes," and the other, the emotional and indignant passage
refuting the calumnious accusation that Peliez had been plotting a con-
spiracy to overthrow the government and massacre the Spaniards on
the very day he was killed in the earthquake. (Both passages will be
considered below.) Unfortunately, the version sent by Olmedillas could
not be found by Blanco Andris in the AM, to compare it with the final
restricting the right of the governor-general in this matter and limiting it to the
Overseas Ministry, where Agudo in particular had powerful connections. (The
Recollects of Negros did not follow Agudo's policy.) The main reason the two
comisarios-procuradores alleged for their action was purely political. If the division
continued, "inevitably the larger part of the spiritual administration of the Phil-
ippines would fall under the control of the native clergy, which is neither po-
litically sound nor useful for the preservation of the power and prestige of
Spain in those dominions." For it would be impossible to supply enough friars
to fill so many parishes (Martinez Cuesta 1973, 30:288, citing AHN Ultramar,
2210, no. 22). Of course, they had principally in mind those near Manila.
published version. However, in the APAF, there exists a manuscript
copy, probably made by Agudo for hls Augustinian colleague, Mayor-
domo. On examination, Blanco AndrCs (20050 assured me that the
APAF copy and the published version were identical, except for a few
minor copyists' errors. This, however, s d does not negate entirely the
possibility that the Recollect draft copy was different from the published
version. For many of the APAF copies were made much later and
taken from both published and unpublished sources under the direction
of Fr. Eduardo Navarro, O.S.A., who was responsible for building up the
great Augustinian Philippine collection in Valladolid in his time as
comisario-procurador (1893-1897) and even subsequently (Blanco
AndrCs 2001, 231-47, esp. 235-36). Hence, the APAF copy could just
possibly have been made from the published article in La Amirica,
instead of being made from the draft sent to Agudo by Felix. Nonethe-
less, the presence of that copy greatly weakens the probability of a
divergence between the Recollect copy of Olrneddlas and the published
article. Moreover, the fact that the copy in the APAF is found in the
same legajo with the copies of the letters of D. J. de A. flost de Arrieta]
and his colleague, "D. [don] N. I?," that were in the other cartapacio sent
to Agudo makes it quite certain that the copy of the manifesto is exactly
the same as that spoken of by Felix and Agudo (Blanco Andris 2006a).
(The lawyers' letters were never published, but were personal to Agulrre
Miramon; therefore, the copies in the APAF must have been copied from
the other cartapacio of Felix.) The possibility of there being copies
differing from each other, therefore, may be dismissed in the absence of
any corroborating evidence.
Second, it is not clear that both the governor and the Recollects saw
the same copy or draft. Although I have suggested that one way the
latter may have obtained their copy was through a government office, it
need not have been so, and perhaps was not if there were lawyers as well
as clergy participating. If Fehx was correct in saylng that it was the work
of several hands, there were many sources from whom the Recollects
could have obtained their copy, the most obvious being the various
escribientes who copied the draft(s), since the lawyers or priests would be
unlikely to communicate their project to those whom they were fighting.
If the governor's and the Recollects7 copies were not the same, it could
be that the governor had a draft, which, in spite of there having been
others contributing to it, possibly coordinated by the lawyer Fuentes, was
in its h a 1 form the work of one of the clergy. But there is no evidence
to support this hypothesis except the word of the governor, written in
passing.
Third, related to the previous observation, it is difficult to reconcile
the governor's assertion that it was the work of one of the Manila
clergy with Felix's assertion that .the lawyer Fuentes was the principal
editor. However, Felix's designation of Fuentes as principal editor was
evidently hearsay, and even that hearsay was based on a boast of the
lawyer hunself who might well have exaggerated his own role, as Felix
himself implied. It would, then, not necessarily be incompatible with the
assertion of the governor, if understood in the sense that either the
moving spirit behmd the document was one of the clergy, even though
this man had other contributors-lawyers and/or clergy If this should
be the case, the governor's use of the term "author" would have to be
understood only in a wide sense, and that cleric could not have written
the entire document. That hypothesis contains no incompatibility
between Echagiie's statement and that of the Recollects.
In fact, the full text of Echagtie's letter (not gven in the reference
from Uy 1984 above) indicates that this must have been the case, and
that his statement can be reconded with the information of the Recol-
lects. For he claimed to know the author "in spite of the secrecy and
confidentiality with which those concerned 00s interesados) have taken this
step" (AHN, Ultramar, leg. 2206, exp. 41; cited in Blanco Andris 2005c;
italics mine). In other words, Echagiie, no less than the Recollects, knew
that it was not simply the composition of one man, as Pelhez's
Docmentos iqortantes apparently was. Moreover, it is in accordance with
the archbishop's second-hand information that the manifesto came from
"the secular clergy."
Finally, given the second-hand nature of the Recollect information, it
seems that primary credence should be given to the information of the
governor-general. If that should be so, the question remains as to who
in the clergy was the likely promoter of the project. Killed in the earth-
quake together with Peliez was Fr. Ignacio Ponce de Leon, Peliez's close
friend and collaborator, with whom he shared a house, and who wasfiscal
of the cathedral chapter (Pelaez 1862a, unnumbered p. 15). These two
Phtltppine-born capitulars had been the most active of the chapter in
supporting the exposition of the bishops, with the intention of pursu-
ing the cause of the secular clergy7* Given that several persons partici-
pated in the composition of the article and that the lawyer Fuentes
possibly might have been the final edltor (redacto3, it would be strange
that more than one cleric would not take part in a manifesto intended
to defend their nghts, particularly since the archbishop attributed it to the
"secular clergy." We shall see other reasons below.
The "Author" of the Manifesto
With the death of Pelaez, the principal position in the cathedral chap-
ter was that of the dean, Fr. Manuel Peralta, more an enemy of the
friar orders than an advocate of the Filipino clergy, as he demon-
strated in the pamphlet cited above by Felix. The archbishop said of
him sarcastically that he called hunself the "campe6n del clero filipino"
(champion of the Filipino clergy) (Blanco Andrts 2005~). This pam-
phlet, Juico, dated Manila, 27 August 1864, might seem at first glance to
belong to the same campaign as the manifesto, "A La Nacion," that
had been drawn up two months earlier. However, it is improbable that
Peralta could have been the author of the June manifesto, though he
might possibly have been b e h d it, or at least known of it. Though his
pamphlet is likewise directed toward the refutation of Mayordomo and
Agudo in their publications of 1863, its tone is quite different from that
of the manifesto of 27 June 1864. Many of the arguments are slmdar,
but the tone is different. Peralta, secure in hls position, had no need to
write anonymously, and his name appears openly at the end of his pam-
phlet. Moreover, had he chosen for some reason to participate in the
78. Ponce de Leon was, in the opinion of Agudo, the author of another of
the anonymous pamphlets supporting the petition of the bishops and defend-
ing the rights of the secular clergy ([Ponce de Le6nI 1863). Like the Documentos
i'ortantes of Pelaez 1863, it was published posthumously in Madrid, being dated
in Manila, 31 May 1863, just days before Ponce perished with his friend in the
earthquake (Blanco 2005e).
anonymous article, it would have been incongruous for hun to sign the
June manifesto "Los Filipinos," being a peninsular himself; at most he
would write "El Clero Secular de Filipinas," in which he was in fact
included.
Finally, though one should concede some variety of styles represented
in the manifesto, there is no trace in Peralta's pamphlet of the emotion-
laden defense of Peliiez against the accusation of having been involved
in the fictitious conspiracy alleged by La Verdad to have been frustrated
by the earthquake of 1863. Toward the end of his pamphlet (pages 17
to 19), he does point out the discrimination against the Filtpino clergy,
in comparison with the lawyers who studied in the same university and
even in some cases with the same professors and in the same classes.
While the university-educated lawyers could advance into positions in the
government bureaucracy and judiciary for which their training had pre-
pared them, their fellow students who belonged to the secular clergy
were relegated to being nothing more than coadjutors of the friar par-
ish priests. Although such a situation should arouse indignation, he says,
one must reflect on the causes of such a situation con calma (17). Though
he does say harsh things about the friar orders, particularly the
Augustinians and Recollects, and does h s best to refute the Agudo-
Mayordomo publications, the tone remains that of the concerned but
impartial observer, not that of one who identified himself with the
clergy he defends. He was an enemy of the friars rather than a defender
of the Filipino clergy, much as he liked to pose as one such defender.
At t hs point it is necessary to make clear just who the "Fhpino"
clergy were. They were all those who were hgos delpatj, born in the coun-
try and identified with it, whether they were criollos, mestizos of Span-
ish or Chinese fathers, or pure-blooded indios. Thus, a friar-inspired
book of 1869 asserted that "their wide knowledge and extraordnary
qualities gave luster in the capital to such curas indtgenas as Fr. [SosC]
Burgos and Fr. Jose Garcia in the archbishopric, Fr. Vicente Garcia in
Camarines, and others . . . ." (parrantes (?)I 1869, 45; [for author, see
Rodriguez 1968, 88-89]; in Schumacher 1972a, 33, n. 60; 1999, n. 33).
While, for example, Fr. Vicente Garcia was a Tagalog from Rosario,
Batangas, and called an inQo by the alcalde-mayor of Carnarines @fanuel
1955-1986, 3:259-62; Santiago 1985a, 41, 46; Rafael de Escalada to
governor-general, 14 Nov. 1871, in Tormo 1973, 137-38), Burgos was of
seven-eighths Spanish blood, with one Ilocano female ancestor
(Schurnacher 1999, 33, and n. 65; Villarroel 1871, appendix, [38]). At
least among the ilustrados, such as the lawyers and the clergy, the hijos del
pais were "Filipinos," whatever their ancestry.
There was only one Fdipino member of the cathedral chapter who
has strong probability of being the cleric responsible. Under the influ-
ence of the rumors and anonymous letters concerning the supposed
rebellion, three weeks after the earthquake, the archbishop had empha-
sized in the letter to the overseas minister cited above (AHN, Ultramar,
2255, exp. 2) the necessity that no "dark face" (cara negra) appear among
the dignhdes and candnigos (the eight principal prebends of the chapter)
(FernLndez 1979, 29). The only remaining native Filipino among the
dignidades was the chantre (precentor), Dr. Mariano Garcia, old, sickly,
and half-bhd (he died in 1871). The only canonigo was the doctoral
canon, the criollo Dr. Ramon Fernhdez (though the archbishop appar-
ently thought him a Spanish mestizo).
Since the archbishop goes on to say that there were seven peninsulars
and four indios or mestizos at present, and there seem to have been
three peninsulars absent in the Peninsula at the time, it is evident that
he was asking that in the future the chapter be composed predominantly,
at least in its major positions, of pen insular^.'^ It seems clear that, at this
point of time, temporarily shocked by the earthquake and under the
influence of the campaign of calumny against PelLez, he had fallen into
a political rather than an ecclesial position. Admitting the outstanding
priestly character, brilliance, and ability of Peliez, and dependtng on hun
greatly in many matters, he feared him for the influence he had had over
practically all the chapter, Filtpino or peninsular, and perhaps feared that
a sunilar leader might emerge. In fact, the seven vacant positions were
79. He also asked the minister to present to the Queen for a minor position
there, his nephew and his secretary, both peninsulars, of course. His only
concession to the Filipino clergy was the suggestion that an appointment of
medio-racionem (the lowest rank among the prebendaries) be given to one of the
native clergy to encourage them, a post for which he suggested Fr. Mariano de
Sta. Ana, then senior parish priest of the cathedral.
fitled essentially in accord with the archbishop's recommendations, and
the only Fihpino of any stature remaining in the chapter, apart from the
aged and half-blmd Garcia, was the doctoral canon, Rarn6n Fernhndez.
From outside the chapter, there was the upcoming figure of Fr. Josk
Burgos, just appointed cura of the Sagratio, as we will see below
In the hght of these facts, once elurunating Peralta as the author in
any real sense of the manifesto, what evidence is there that Fernhdez
was the author, in some sense, if Governor Echagiie is correct in sin-
gling out one cleric, at least as inspirer of the document, if not its prin-
cipal author? Fernindez's letter of 4 November 1863 to his former
professor, Bishop Gainza, is significant here. By then a decree of 27
August 1863 had already filled the positions of the deceased in the earth-
quake almost entirely with peninsulars, with minor exceptions. Fernhndez
did not receive the promotion to the position of Pelaez, as he evidently
expected, and complained bitterly. Gainza, forwarding a copy of the let-
ter to the nuncio, likewise enclosed a later letter of Fr. Luis de 10s
Remedios, secretary of the chapter (secretario capitular), who, like
Fernindez, had barely escaped from the ruins of the cathedral but had
not received a promotion, at least the one he expected. Fernhdez's let-
ter is k h l y critical of the archbishop, maintaining that thtngs would have
turned out differently with Gainza as archbishop.
Remedios's letter seems likewise to have been critical of the arch-
bishop for a s d a r reason, not that he did not enter the chapter, since
he had been appointed as medio racionero by the time he wrote Gainza
in January 1864. Fernhdez lamented that among the four who ought to
have been considered favorably, "after having found themselves half-
buried amidst the ruins of the cathedral," were Luis [de los]
Remedios and IJosk] Burgos. Had Gainza been archbishop of Manila
in this situation, "we would be happy" (letters of Fernandez, 4 Nov.
1863, and Remedios, 27 January 1864; quotes and paraphrase from Uy
1984, 120-21).80
80. Having actually received a prebend, a media racidn, Remedios must have
expected more. This prebend is alluded to (disparagingly) in the La Amkica ar-
ticle by "Dos Suscritores" of 27 January 1864, which had to have been written
some time in November 1863 to appear on this date. Fernindez undoubtedly
One point that is notable here is the emergence to minor prominence
of Burgos, even though he had not yet been ordained a priest, but was
still a deacon. A few months later in that same year, as has been noted
above, together with Fr. Jacinto Zamora he obtained through the com-
petitive examinations one of the two positions of parish priest of the
Sagrario parish of the cathedral, though only ordained to the priesthood
and installed in his new position in January 1865, as explained above.
However, he had been a member of the University Claustro since 1860,
at whose meetings he was most assiduous. Here he had been in contact
with all the principal graduate lawyers and clergy, as well as the Domini-
can professors (Vdarroel 1971, 48-51). Furthermore, he was already the
most academically qualified among the clergy, Filipino or Spanish, with
a licentiate in both philosophy and theology, and well on his way t o
doctorates in theology and canon law Shortly after his taking possession
of the post in the Sagrario, he began to be appointed by the archbishop
t o various positions of responsibhty. On 19 December 1865 he was
given the interim prebend of medio-racionero; on 2 May 1866 he was
named examinador sinodaL, one of those designated to examine applicants
for parishes in the archdiocese; on 24 November he was made secretary
was resentful of the fact that he had remained where he had been, while he
clearly expected to have been promoted to Peliez's place, according to the in-
formal custom. This custom is described in the archbishop's letter to the over-
seas minister. When he arrived in Manila, the system had been that, when one
member of the chapter died or resigned, each one would move up the ladder
by means of "gifts" sent to agents in Madrid. In this instance, it seems that the
archbishop was favored with a sympathetic overseas minister. The only Filipinos
who newly entered the chapter were, apart from racionem Mariano Sta. Ana, the
recornrnendee of the archbishop, and, as lowest medio racioneros, Remedios and
Fr. Simon Ramirez. The latter we may presume to have entered by means of
"gifts to agents" in Madrid, since one of these agents, soliciting a canonry for
Fr. Mariano Sevilla in 1868 and asking for additional recompense for that pur-
pose, sends his "regards to Father Sim6n and other friends" (Tormo 1973, 95;
see Guia 1863, 102-3; 1865, 93-95). Burgos was still tqmg to obtain a canonry
through Manuel Regidor at the time of his execution, though at the recornmen-
dation of the archbishop he had been appointed several times as interim canon
by the governor-general (APPSJ, 11-7-065; Tormo 1973, 131-33; Schumacher
1999, 238-41).
of the archbishop for his archdiocesan visitation, an appointment re-
newed the following year (AAM, 1 .E.15. Lbro 1" de Gobierno Ecl. . . .
Meliton Martinez, ff. 28%, 290r, 330~). Since 1863 he had been on the
board of examiners in the university for theology, and as he advanced
in his canon law degrees he became frequent examiner in that discipline
as well. In addition, he held a number of minor administrative positions
in Church and State (Villaroe1 1971, 81-87). Though not yet a perma-
nent member of the cathedral chapter, in the relatively small world of
civll lawyers and ecclesiastical academicians and admrnistrators in Manrla,
he had already achieved a prominent position, even while sall a deacon
in 1864. It is not as improbable as it might seem at first sight, then, that
relatively young as he still was he could have formed part of those who
would sign themselves "Los Filipinos." Internal evidence wiU make this
more probable. At least Burgos appears as another possibility, together
with Fernindez, as "author" in some sense of the manifesto.
However, a second point may be noted here concerning Fernindez.
His letter to Gainza was dated 4 November 1863, just about the time
that the new permanent appointments to the cathedral chapter to replace
those who had ded in the earthquake would have arrived in Manila, since
they had been made by a royal decree of 27 August. Since the process
of new appointments involved the archbishop first proposing the terna
of three names to the governor-general as vice-royal patron of the
Church in the Philippines, the archbishop must have given his ternas to
Governor Echagiie almost immediately after the earthquake. Inasmuch as
the governor-general normally accepted the archbishop's ternas, designat-
ing the first name of the three as his own choice, to be confirmed by
the overseas minister who would issue the definitive royal decree, the
decree of 27 August would be the normal time, even if more rapid than
was usual with government decrees. Similarly, if we allow approximately
two months for the appointments to reach Manila, they would have
appeared in the official Gaceta de Manih just before Fernindez's letter to
Gainza, denouncing the archbishop and naming those he believed to
have deserved the new positions. Of course, whether Fernandez explic-
itly said so or not to Gainza, undoubtedly hls having been bypassed by
the archbishop in favor of a peninsular to replace Peliez was the
archbishop's culminating insult to the Filipino clergy. Thus he concludes:
"There is no doubt whatsoever that we would be happy had you been the
prelate of this diocese under these circumstances" (Uy 1984, 121; italics
mine).
I n this light the article of 27 January 1864 cited in passing above,
though anonymously signed "Dos Suscritores,~~ takes on a further mean-
ing. Uy (1984, 121), who saw the original letter, paraphrases its main
theme, quoting key parts. According t o Fernindez7s letter, four names,
among them Luis Remedios and JosC Burgos, should have been consid-
ered favorably "after having found themselves half-buried amidst the
ruins of the cathedral. . . .There is no doubt whatsoever that we would
be happy had you been the prelate of thls dlocese under these circum-
stances" (Uy 1984, 121).
The article of "Dos Suscritores" in La he' n' ca, though much too long
to quote, shows clear connections with Fernindez's letter to Ga i n~a . ~' It
complains that those survivors, who had received from the vice-royal
patron, at the nomination of the archbishop, interim appointments to
the positions left vacant after the earthquake, rightly expected that the
archbishop would recommend them for permanent appointments, par-
ticularly since they had barely escaped with their lives from the collapse
of the cathedral. Yet, even in the interim appointments, he had passed
81. The article containing the letter of "Dos Suscritores," dated 24 Novem-
ber 1863, was published in La Amirica, 27 January 1864. I owe a photocopy of
this article to Dr. Roberto Blanco Andrks, made from a copy in the APAF leg.
839, pp. 217-21. Since the original article in La Amirica was not available to
either of us, the APAF copy is my only complete source, in spite of its obvi-
ous minor copyist's errors, especially in names. Since JosC Burgos was at that
time Licenciado en Artes as well as en Teologia, and no other licentiate named
Burgos occurs among the many named in Villarroel 1971, nor among the lists
of clergy, it seems safe to conclude that the "licenciado Miguel Burgos" of the
APAF copy is one of the copyist's errors, inadvertently taken from the name
of Miguel de Laza in the line below in that copy. Moreover, Uy, who saw the
copies of the letters of Fernindez and Remedios in the ASV, enclosed with the
letter of Gainza to the nuncio, says clearly that the persons named were Luis
[de los] Remedios and Jose Burgos.
over two deserving ones to make place for his favored personal atten-
dants (pajes).
[Although] they have no more merits than the fact that the one of
them is the nephew of His Illustrious Excellency, only ordained to
minor orders, and the other his majordomo, he gave them no less a
position than that of racionem. But the truly deserving ones, the choir
chaplains, who are miraculously sall altve, he was content to propose
them for medo racioneros. (ibid., 218)
All through the rest of the letter, there are scathing remarks about
these pajes and the favoritism of the archbishop. But the key passage
concerns the dismay of all the survivors at the publication of the per-
manent appointments from Madnd. Almost all of them turned out to
be peninsulars, while the survivors of the earthquake were practically
ignored. The archbishop, the article says, has made it appear that no
worthy clerics existed among the secular clergy of the archdiocese, Ignor-
ing their merits for promotion.
How has it been possible to pass over the Doctoral Canon of this
cathedral, Dr. D. Rafael [bcl Fernindez, who, apart from his outstand-
ing personal qualtties and h s academic degrees, and his being inscribed
in the Colegio de Abogados of this country, is one of those who
survived his unfortunate companions, victims of the earthquake? . . .
How, finally, have the merits of the medio racionero, D. Sabino Paddla,
been ignored, those of the Master of Ceremonies, D. Luis de 10s
Remedios, those of the choir chaplains, Licentiate D. Miguel [sic]
Burgos, D. Pedro Medel, and D. Miguel [de] Laza, who in the tragc
night of 3 June saw themselves likewise covered among the ruins of
what had been the cathedral, and who, thanks to Divine Providence,
escaped . . . ? (APAF, leg. 839, p. 219)
The verbal s d a r i t y of Fernandez's letter of 4 November 1863 to
Gainza, as well as its general theme, with portions of the letter of 27
November 1863 that appeared in La Amit-ica, makes it clear that at
least one of the authors of the letter of "Dos Suscritores" (if in
reality there were two) must have been Fernandez. Th s becomes even
more convincing if one looks at the extensive encomium the author
gave to himself, while the others who had been bypassed are only
mentioned for their having narrowly escaped death in the ear t hq~ake. ~~
If there was really a second author of the published letter, it could well
have been Peralta, close friend of Fernindez and hostile to the arch-
bishop for not receiving higher commendation in the list of merits he
had requested to present for his retitement (Blanco AndrCs 2005d). It
could also possibly be Remedies, likewise active in seeking promotion
through Gainza, and apparently sharing Fernindez's criticism of the
archbishop, as we have noted above (Uy 1984, 121), who either had not
yet received his appointment to a prebend, or, as surmised above, con-
sidered it of insufficient importance to his merits. It could even, though
quite improbably, be the peninsular Gutikrrez Robles, mentioned above,
or one of the others who considered themselves bypassed. What is clear,
however, is that Fernhdez must be the principal, and perhaps even the
only, anonymous author. This is what is relevant to identifymg one cleric
who had a role in composing "A La Nacibn," as wdl appear in the ex-
amination of the internal evidence in the following section.83
But, first, we must consider another factor. It seems improbable at
first sight that a group of lawyers should take the initiative in protest-
ing the injustice to the Filipino clergy, as might seem to be the case with
the assertion of Felix to Agudo that the lawyer Fuentes boasted that he
was the principal editor of the document coming from many hands. It
is true that both priests and lawyers with graduate degrees were all part
of the University Claustro, and if the priests had studied canon law they
would have been in the same classes as the lawyers. Thus, they would be
in contact with one another. But though an academically active priest like
82. There is one peninsular racionero, Francisco Gutikrrez de Robles, who
receives a slightly more extensive mention in the omitted section of the above
list of names. However, the only quality attributed to him is having remained
nine years in the same position without a promotion.
83. It is not dear that the archbishop himself saw this article, though he com-
plains to the nunao that an article had been published in El Ckzmor Pubdco falsely
denouncing him for his nepotism (which seems evident, given the insigmficant
qualification of his nephew to be appointed even to a meda ra+. It is not pos-
sible to determine the author of this article, as E/ Chmor Piblico seems to have
published articles from any of the parties in the dispute, from Peliez to Agudo.
Burgos was assiduous in attending its meetings, one can suspect that
most lawyers, apart from a university professor like Jos6 de Arrieta, were
less interested in academic decisions.
However, Fernindez, besides having his doctorate in canon law, was
also abogado de Matn'mka de ka Real AudiencM, that is, registered as a civd
lawyer with the Real Audiencia. In that capacity his connections with
secular lawyers must have been much closer than would be true of other
priests with graduate degrees. This could make more understandable the
involvement of lawyers in what seemed to be primarily a matter for the
clergy. It makes it more likely, therefore, that Fernindez had some ma-
jor part in the group that drew up the manifesto. Yet this has to be
weighed in with the internal evidence of the document itself.
Internal Evidence of Authorship of the Article
Although the manifesto was written primarily to defend the Filipino
secular clergy against the insults of La Verdzd, the latter had likewise, in-
deed primarily, attacked the archbishop, both for his proposed reform
measures and for his supposed partiality to the allegedly dangerous and
incompetent Filipino clergy. Thus, the manifesto cites the Recollect-
inspired newspaper saying: "The archbishop of Manila is waging an
unjust war against the regular clergy who have rendered such great
services to cidzation and to our counuy." It replies: "False accusation!
How and when has this archbishop waged an unjust war on the regular
clergy? In what regard? AU those of us here who know that man and are
aware of his acts do not know of any that tended to cause any offense
to that clergy."
Having refuted the malevolent interpretation given to the reform
measures the archbishop had proposed, whlch they had used to brand
him their enemy, the manifesto's author concludes:
What efforts slander makes to discredtt this prelate! And all of it with
no more reason than that he is a member of the secular clergy. As
soon as his appointment was known here, the friars conspired together
against hlrn to such a degree that some of them have been heard to
say that the new archbishop d not occupy the archepiscopal See for
long: intelhgenti pauca.
It is hard to believe that the same Fernindez, who wrote the sarcas-
tic and contemptuous article against the archbishop in La Amklica under
the pseudonym "Dos Suscritores," could write not only the defense of
that same prelate just quoted, but also similar defenses of the
archbishop's actions, all through the manifesto. This makes it quite un-
lrkely that he was the major clerical author of that manifesto. Rather, in
the supposition that it was the work of several, one of his collaborators
might well have written the sections on the archbishop. For, in fact, the
archbishop was under lire from the Recollects chiefly for h s desire for
justice to the secular clergy as a whole.
But there are other pieces of evidence that in an internal analysis of
the manifesto further tend to eliminate Femhdez as the principal Fili-
pino priest involved in its composition. As has been remarked above,
there are at least two major passages in the manifesto that are almost
c e r t d y the work of a cleric. One of them, in addition, points clearly
to an authentic earlier treatise of Father Peliez, "Brebes [sic] apuntes
sobre la cuestion de curatos de Fllipinas," written, but not published,
sometime before his premature death, probably late in 1862.84 Only one
84. In his letter to the nuncio, Peliez says that he had prepared it for an over-
seas minister whom he thought likely to give it consideration, but had withdrawn
the idea when the minister was replaced. However, again persuaded by a friend
(Lecaros?) who believed he could get it to the new minister, he had revised and
softened it for that purpose. Thus, many months must have passed before he
sent a copy of the unrevised original to the nuncio on 22 May 1863. Hence, it
seems reasonable to date its composition to late 1862, no doubt spurred by the
rejection of the secular priest that he, while acting as vicar-capitular, had installed
as parish priest of Antipolo, in favor of a Recollect. In spite of his own pro-
test, the archbishop was compelled by the government to nullify the fxst and in-
stall the latter in a parish to which the Recollects clearly had no right. This
unprecedented action came about as the result of a bribe ("gratificaci6n7'-"a
bonus") of 3,000 pesos, a substantial sum in those times, with an advance of 300
pesos, paid by Agudo to two members of the Consejo de Estado, to withhold
their votes from the earlier majority decision in favor of the archbishop's (and
Peliez's) position. Agudo asked Juan Felix to destroy the letter, but his own copy
has been preserved (AM, leg. 88, nurn. 3, s/n. Carta reservada, 3-XI-1863, G.
Agudo a J. E de la Encarnacion). I I grateful to Roberto Blanco Andrks (2006b)
for a detailed description of the affair, and the transcription of the key letter.
copy of this essay in its original form apparently exists today, that sent
to Nuncio Barili with Pelaez's last letter to him before his death (22
May 1863, in ASV, Arch. Nunz. Madrid, 447). Another would presum-
ably be Peliez's own Before sending it to his agent, he had
made a new version, correcting certain points and softening certain
expressions that might offend. The existence of this d d e r version or
even if it was actually presented to the overseas minister can no longer
be determined. (The one who offered to act as intermediary was
probably Peliez's principal agent in Madrid, the lawyer Juan Francisco
Lecaros, but possibly a peninsular member of the cathedral chapter on
leave in Madnd, as not infrequently happened. In the 1863 Guia, two are
so listed and there seems to have been another later that year.) But since
he thought it important that the nuncio be immediately aware of the
issues, he was sendmg the or i pal draft to him, asking his pardon for
certain excessively strong language that he had not had time to revise.
This undoubtedly also accounts for the misspellings and erratic accen-
tuation of the copyist, which appear already in the first word of the
title, "Brebes," hardly an error that such a hlghly educated criollo as
Pelaez would have made himself. However, that which is found in the
Vatican archives in the files of Nuncio Barili has the advantage of be-
ing a frank expression of Peliez's spontaneous sentiments with the
unpolished facts. Though I had made use of it earlier (Schumacher
85. Though there is a copy of the covering letter of 22 May 1863 (APPSJ,
Pelaez-Bad 1861-1863), the "Brebes apuntes," originally enclosed with this let-
ter, is found only in the ASV, Arch. Nunz. Madrid, 447. Since this covering letter
was the last one Pelaez wrote to the nuncio, it would seem clear that either he
had lent his own original to someone who kept it on his death or that it re-
mained in his papers, which apparently were taken care of by his nephew. In
either case, the possessor used it, or allowed it to be used, for at least one part
of the article "A La Nacion," as will be seen below in the comparison of the
parallel passages from each. If, as seems likely, it was Peliez's nephew who gave
Peliez's other documents cited in the bibliography to Father Bertrin, it is likely
that he may have decided to hold back the "Brebes apuntes," and given it to the
author of the corresponding passages in the "A La Naci6n7' article. For Agudo
affirmed that his sources informed him that the nephew was in charge df
Pelaez's affairs in Manila as late as December 1864.
1972a), as had Fr. Antolin Uy (1984), only recently has it been tran-
scribed in full from the ASV original copy, annotated, and published
(Flores 2001, 78-116). For the convenience of the reader, it is the lat-
ter transcription that I have used in showing the dependence of "A La
Naci6n2' on this work of Peliez.
The question is into whose possession that copy went. It is possible
that PeMez had lent it to someone; or, alternatively, someone received it
from his nephew after his death, since, as we have noted above, Agudo
supplies the information that the nephew was coordinating affairs after
Peliez's death (Blanco Andris 2005e). Who t hs nephew was we do not
know, but it does not seem to be any cleric. Whatever may have
happened to that copy, its possessor after his death will be seen to have
been a cleric of Manila. Moreover, it is evident from a comparison of
the two texts below, as well as of certain less fully probative passages of
the two documents, that this cleric used it for the 1864 manifesto. Let
these two texts below serve as a clear example, though other passages,
less clearly, likewise seem to support the dependence of the 1864
document on Pe16ez7s "Brebes apuntes," as a detailed analysis, such
as is not possible here, would indicate.86
"Brebes apuntes"
(Flores 2001, 108)
Ya nos ocuparemos despuks de la ciencia y moralidad de 10s Curas
Religiosos: ahora baste decir que el Clero, a pesar de tener tan pocas
Parroquias en este Arzobispado, puede presentar Curas como el de
Bacoor y de Naic en la provincia de Cavite, el de la Herrnita y Santa
Cruz en la de Mantla, el del Rosario en Batangas, el de Mariquina en
la de Moron, el joven de Calarnba en la Laguna, y algunos otros contra
10s cuales nada halla que deck la calumnia m6s procaz. ~Qu6 se puede
decir de ellos? desafio a 10s P.P. Recoletos . . .
A La Naci6n
(La h k n ' c a 1864, 12, col. 1)
Pero asi y todo, en medio de ese desahento, el clero secular de Filipinas
... cuenta en el dia con individuos que lo honran, tanto en el
86. I have modernized the accentuation of the ongmal, but retained its spelling.
cumphent o de sus deberes y abnegation, y contra 10s cuales nada
hallari que decir la calumnia mis procaz. Nos referitnos a 10s seiiores
chantre wariano Garcia] y doctoral w o n Fernindet] de esta iglesia
catedral, a 10s dignos provisores de 10s obispados de Camarines y
Cebli, a 10s pirrocos de Santa Crut y la Errnita en la provincia de
Mada, a 10s de Boac y Mocpog en la de Mindoro, a 10s de Mariquina
y San Mateo en Moronu, a 10s de Calamba y Tunazan punasan] en
La Laguna, a 10s de Rosario y Taisan raysan] en Batangas, a 10s de
Bacoor y de Naic, de Maragondon y de San Roque, de Rosario (a)
Salinas y Bailen en la de Cavite, debiendo llamar la atenci6n este
liltimo por su actividad, que con ser no mbs que interino y su
parroquia de creacion muy reciente, ha conseguido en medio de la
pobreza de aquel nuevo curato levantar y tener concluidas la lglesia y su
casa parroqd . . . En fin, seria molesto el enumerar 10s individuos del
clero secular que a ejemplo de estos merecen bien de la Iglesia y del
Estado . . .
Relationship Between the Two Selections
As is evident, even without translating the two selections, the 1864 ar-
ticle in this section is dependent on the text of Pelbez. Both give ex-
amples of outstanding Filipino priests in such a way that those of "A La
Naci6n" are modeled on Peliez's "Brebes apuntes." The manifesto, of
course, does adduce additional examples of outstanding secular priests,
as can be seen in the complete text of the 1864 article. All those named
in the text of Peiiez, however, are present in the 1864 article, and at
times whole phrases are transferred, such as "nada hda[rb] la calumnia
mis procaz" (not even the most insolent calumny will frnd anythhung [to
reproach in them]). The differences stem from the different purpose of
the two documents.
In the earlier document Pelaez was trying to present succinctly to the
overseas minister the essential points of the dispute over the parishes,
and there was no place for rhetorical amplification or emotional appeals.
However, the 1864 article directed to the public adds several other names
to make the list more impressive. Of the outstanding Filipino priests that
were not mentioned by the '%rebes apuntes," the most prominent were,
besides Pekez himself, two members of the cathedral chapter mentioned
above, Fr. Mariano Garcia and Fr. Ramon Fernindez. The most obvious
explanation of h s difference was the fact that Peliez himself, besides
holding the position of treasurer of the cabildo, was at the t i me- or just
had been-vicar-capitular of the vacant see. He very likely judged it in-
appropriate for him to mention those of the body to whch he belonged
and headed in a document t o the overseas minister signed by himself.
Moreover, positions in the cabildo were theoretically bestowed on priests
of outstanding merit and theological competence, even though in fact
they were often obtained through political connections, or even bribery,
of key officials in the Overseas Mtnistry, as is clear from Archbishop
Meliton's comments on the cabildo as he found it on his arrival in Ma-
nila. They were, nonetheless, appointments that the overseas minister
himself had approved and had issued in the name of the Queen.
Instead, Peliez was concerned with the cur~z.r,*~ the parish priests of the
most important parishes of Manila and the provinces, who had obtained
their positions through competitive examinations (oposiciones), and thus
distinguished themselves. (Though the governor-general, as vice-royal
patron, made the actual appointment, normally he chose the first of the
three names, the terna, presented to hrm by the archbishop on the basis
of the results of the oposiciones. Thus, there was little room for such
bribery or political maneuvering as often took place in the Overseas
Ministry for nominations t o the cathedral chapter.)
87. I have retained the Spanish term "cura," or used it alternately with "parish
priest," to designate the priest in charge of a parish, because there is a discrep-
ancy between some common Filipino terminology in English and that usual in
American ecclesiastical terminology. Though Spanish speakers often used the
term "curas," especially when speaking in an abusive or joking fashion, to des-
ignate priests generally, its correct usage is to designate the priest in charge of
a parish, abbreviated from mra parroco. Among English-speaking Filipinos, this
latter term is, both in normal speech and in official designation, translated as
"parish priest." Among non-Filipino English speakers, however, that term is not
always understood, and simply taken to be any priest assigned, in whatever ca-
pacity, to a parish. Many Filipinos writing history, particularly of this period,
simply transliterate the term "cura" into "curate," and "curato" into "curacy."
For English-speaking Americans, the "curate," if they use the term anymore;
means "assistant [pastor]," or, more recently, "associate pastor." The Spanish
Fr. Mariano G6mezE8 in Bacoor had been vicar-forane since 1847,
and would be such until his death, and had cared for both the spiritual
and temporal welfare of his parish and indeed the entire province
(Gomez 1922/1972; Quirino 1973, esp. 76-77). Fr. Modesto de Castro,
of Naic, was author of the Tagalog classic, Urbana at Febya, and numer-
ous other original and translated devotional works in Tagalog, besides
having a record of building up the parishes he had held and opening
schools in their barrios, even paying teachers out of his personal funds
(Santiago 1985b). Frs. Florentino Ramirez of Errnita and Agustin
Mendoza of Sta. Cruz held the two largest parishes of Manila, im-
plying their having surpassed numerous other candidates in the
oposiciones for such important parishes. Fr. Faustino Villafranca, the
interim parish priest of relatively insignificant Calarnba, held a doctorate
in theology, the only parish priest possessing such, and would later obtain
a prebend in the cabildo. Fr. Pedro Leyba of Rosario held the parish in
Batangas second in numbers only to Balayan. Fr. JosC Ma. Zamora a few
months later in 1864 would take first place in the oposiciones conducted
t o fill the vacant parishes of Manila and emerge first over Jacinto
Zamora and JosC Burgos. However, he chose that of Mariquina
(Mankina), rather than one of the more prestigous positions of parish
priests of the Sagrario of the cathedral, which went to Zamora and
Burgos. (Probably he chose Mankina as it was second only to Santa Cruz
in Manila for its number of tributes and, therefore, for its income. He
had been a coadjutor also in that parish.)
"curato" is in American English simply "parish," or, rather rarely and now
obsoletely, "curacy." In Filipino usage the term "pastor" is normally reserved for
Protestant pastors, while in American Catholic usage, "pastor" is the equivalent
of "parish priest," or the corresponding minister in Protestant churches. The
failure to understand these various terms has led to many erroneous conclusions
among both Filipino and American history writers dealing with the nineteenth-
century struggle between the Filipino secular clergy and the friars. (Anglican
terminology and general British terminology differ somewhat from all these, but
since correct Filipino English usage is derived from, though dfferent from,
American Roman Catholic usage, there is no need to discuss that here.)
,
88. Carlos Quirino, in the article cited here, has maintained (and unfortu-'
nately been followed by certain others, some even attributing it to G6mez's na-
In citing these parish priests, Pelaez evidently was making the point
that there were Filipino curas who were not only respected but were
presumably of high intellectual ability, inasmuch as these were the most
important of the parishes open to the secular clergy, except in the case
of Calarnba. But this apparent exception possessed another kind of
proof of his competence, as noted above. The omission of the impor-
tant parish of Balayan in both documents must be an indication that its
priest was not an unquestionable model for reasons other than his theo-
logical competence (Pelhez 1851, 27-28; ASV 1866; Manuel 1955-1 986,
1:182-84, 473, 490; 3:259-62; Santiago 1985a, 47; Vdlarroel 1971, 56;
Quirino 1973, 76-77).
Fifteen years earlier Pelhez had advised Fr. Mariano Gbmez, when the
Cavite priests were preparing an exposition to the Queen against their
being dispossessed of seven parishes in that province to be transferred
to the Recollects and Dominicans, "It would be difficult to maintain that
the instruction of the [secular] clergy is at the level it should be.
Nonetheless, one can say that they have sufficient instruction in the
substanaal matters," and more knowledge of moral theology than many
young friar priests have at the time of their ordination, even though
one must admit their command of Spanish is deficient (Peliez 1851,
24-25).
Thanks largely to the efforts of Pelaez himself and the young priests
over whom he had so much influence in the university, that situation had
already changed among the university-educated Manila clergy. It was
tionalism) that G6mez "always signed his name as 'Gomes,"' since "there is no
'2' in the Tagalog alphabet, and Father Gomes probably preferred to use the 's'.
. . ." (Quirino 1973, 20). There was, of course, considerable confusion between
"2" and "s" in nineteenth-century PMppine documents, especially when copied
by esmibientes. Quirino, however, presents a photograph of Gomez's signature on
the plate following p. 32. But Quirino was deceived by the formation of the "z"
in handwritten Spanish documents. At present I have before me a letter of a few
years ago, signed by the well-known historian of the Philippines, and former
Spanish ambassador to this country, Don Pedro Ortiz Armengol, who signs his
name with exactly the same kind of "z" as G6mez. Quirino unfortunately raised
a spurious issue based on an erroneous understanding, and others unacquainted'
with Spanish handwriting have propagated it, even to absurd conclusions.
predominantly these that Pekiez held up as examples of the competence
of the Fd~pino clergy (Villarroel 1971, passim, esp. the relatively large
number of Filipino secular priests obtaining graduate degrees;
Schumacher 1981, 9; Sanaago 1985a, passim). The academic level of the
secular clergy would be improved more generally as the Vincentians
gradually took over the administration and instruction in the seminaries,
as had already begun, though these would not have university degrees
(Dela Goza and Cavanna 1985, 69-75).
A second difference in these two passages is that the 1864 article con-
centrates not so much on the intellectual quality of the secular clergy as
on what they had accomplished in projects to improve the parish itself
as well as the lives of their parishioners. For some it was in building
churches and conventos where the parish was new, or improving their
old churches, even when only holding the parish on an interim basis, or
contributing from their own resources toward schools of primary in-
struction and of ht i ni ~hd. ~~ Others had stimulated their people to try new
forms of agriculture and to raise livestock, or undertake other projects
for the benefit of the town. Though it is probably true that those cited
in the article were a minority among the secular clergy as a whole, their
efforts were important for the argument of the article. For these
accomplishments, indicating a broader understanding of the role of the
parish priest, had been an argument traditionally in favor of the clergy
of the r ebous orders, with whom the secular clergy were normally very
unfavorably compared. The achievements of the secular priest of
89. The est ueh de btiniahd were schools founded by private individuals, often
by secular priests. They were of varying quality, but sought to bridge the gap be-
tween provincial primary education and the Manila secondary schools run by the
Dominicans and Jesuits. Prior to the expulsion of the Jesuits and the decline of
the friar orders beghnmg in the latter part of the eighteenth century, it had al-
ways been the missionaries who supplied ptirnary education. But due to the pre-
cipitous decline in the religious orders in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries, the schools had fallen into decay or disappeared (Schurnacher 1984,
257-64, 270; Blanco AndrCs 2003, 169-212; 2004a, 119-43; 2004e, 703-37).
Hence the government decree of 1863, creating an official system of primary
education. This decree, however, was never completely implemented, even by the'
end of the Spanish regime.
Antipolo were especially significant to the author's argument. The devi-
ous and unethical means used, including bribery of high government
officials by the Recollect, Fr. Guillermo Agudo (Blanco AndrCs 2006b),
in order to obtain the wealthiest parish in the Phdtppines still burned in
the hearts not only of the Filipino secular clergy but of the archbishop
(Peliez 1863, 104-19; Blanco An&& 2004~; Melit6n-Banlt, 5 Aug. 1864,
ASV, Arch. Nunz. Madrid, 447, no. 1887).
Possible Priest Authors or Collaborators in the Manifesto
This dependence of the 1864 manifesto on the "Brebes apuntes" raises
again the question of the identity of the member of the secular clergy
who possessed Peliez's own copy of his treatise. His closest friend in the
chapter, Fr. Ignacio Ponce de Le6n, had died with him in the earthquake.
It seems quite unlikely that there was any close friendship between PeMez
and the dean of the chapter, Manuel Peralta, even apart from the fact
that the latter could not be considered one of "Los Fdtpinos." The ex-
emplary priestly character of Peliez, to which all gave testimony, makes
such a friendship quite improbable. In his lifetime even hls mortal en-
emies, such as the Augustinian and Recollect comisarios-procuradores,
Mayordomo and Agudo, for all their lack of scruples, had never ventured
to question his outstanding quahties as a priest. It is most unlikely that
he would have closely associated himself with a priest of such unsavory
reputation as Peralta.
Peliez's other unpublished writings on the question of the parishes all
ended up in the Jesuit archives, most likely through his confessor, Fr.
Pedro Bertrin, S.J. It is theoretically possible that, to safeguard them
from seizure by the authorities (though nothtng in any sense subversive
may be found in them), Peliez himself might have given them to
Bertrin; but the fact that the last letter to the nuncio is among them,
written less than two weeks (22 May 1863) before Pelhez's unforeseen
death, makes it most unltkely. The correspondence with the nuncio was
still ongoing, and indeed the last letter expected an answer from hlm.
Though Bertrin had admonished him for his bringmg ecclesiastical ques-
tions into the public forum (Bertrin-Izquierdo, 24 Dec. 1872, in.
Schumacher 1972a, 268-69; 1999, 290-93), he continued to be Peliez's
confessor to the last day of hls life (Schurnacher 1972a, 110-13; 1999,
102-3; "A La Nacibn" 1864, 13), and more than once gave testimony to
Pelhez's personal priestly lifeb90
The fact, however, that the "Brebes apuntes" did not end up with
Bert&, though the letter in which it was enclosed did, leaves us with the
question of who possessed Peliez's personal copy of the essay at the
time of his death. It had to be a close confidant, both of Pel hz and of
Bert rh, since it was the original version, not yet revised, made before
sending the more polished and temperate one t o the agent in Madrid
who had agreed t o get it t o the overseas minister. Therefore, Pelhez
would not lightly have given the stronger version of "Brebes apuntes"
to anyone in whom he (or more probably his nephew, if it took place
after Pelhez's death, as seems most likely) did not have great trust. To
frnd the author of at least the section in the article "A La Nacibn" we
have compared above, one must look for a Filipino cleric, one very close
to Pelhez, and one who was at the same time in a position to know, for
90. The case of Burgos was different. His confessor was Fr. Magin Ferrando,
S.J. However, at the time Burgos began to join his campaign for the Filipino
clergy to that of the liberals, such as the Regidor brothers, somedung Peliez had
not done, Fr. Bertrin was the Jesuit superior. According to the latter's letter to
Izquierdo, he had asked Burgos in 1870 not to come to the Jesuit house any-
more for confession, as long as he persisted in that course of publicly campaign-
ing through anticlerical newspapers. (La Discusidn, where his main articles
appeared, was known as a Masonic newspaper. The vehicle of Pelaez's articles,
El Clamor Ptiblico, had no such known ideological orientation, and equally pub-
lished articles of Agudo, for example, and apparently of anyone who wished to
subsidize them.) Though Bertrin says that he had similarly admonished Pelaez,
he does not say that he had refused to be his confessor any longer (Schumacher
1972a, 268-69; 1999, 290-93). Thus, Bemin glides over the difference between
his role in the 1860s as an ordinary priest giving counsel and confession and his
role in 1870 as Jesuit superior, with a desire to dissociate Jesuits from the Cavite
Mutiny. It is evident from the statement in "A La Naci6n" that, if Peliez, who
certainly had not conceived himself to be in danger of death on the day of the
earthquake, had made his confession to Bertrin that day, there had been no
break in relations with the Jesuits as there was in the case of Burgos. Burgos had
ceased going to the Ateneo Municipal for confession, and only called again on
his former confessor, Father Magin Ferrando, on the day before he was'
executed.
example, the accomplishments and priestly character of the Manila curas,
particularly those not mentioned by Pekez.
The first likely place to look is the cathedral chapter, or rather those
Filipino capitulars who survived the earthquake. Having eliminated
Peralta from consideration, we have singled out Dr. Rambn Fernindez
as the only likely one. Holding a doctorate in canon law, and being a
ranking member of the cabildo, he was presumably familiar with the
clergy of the archdiocese so as to be able to pick out priests deserving
to be held up as examples of Filipino capability. Based on his position,
Fernhdez, then, can be considered a possible author of the passage on
the competence of the Filipino clergy in the manifesto. However, in
the light of that section of the manifesto's at least partial depen-
dence on the "Brebes apuntes," another factor enters in. Would he be
one to whom Pelaez (or his nephew) would have entrusted that confi-
dential document?
No doubt, Fernhdez was much influenced by PeMez, like almost all
the cabildo, even the peninsulars, as the archbishop asserted. But there
is no indication of a relationship such as Pekez had with Ponce de Lebn,
with whom he not only shared the work of governing the archdiocese
when ruling it as vicar-capitular, but with whom he shared a house and
whom he referred to in his report to the archbishop as "my friend"
(Pelkz 1862a, 15). Rather, if we accept the statement of the archbishop
in another context, it was Peralta who had "a very close friendship with
the doctoral canon [Fernhdez]" (tiene intima amistad con el Doctoral) (let-
ter quoted in Blanco Andrts 2005d; italtcs mine). Obviously, the lack of
positive evidence as to the relations of Peliez and Fernindez is an ar-
gument from silence. However, the close friendship of Fernindez with
Peralta, a person unlikely to have been on intimate terms with Peliez,
gives more force to the argument. In addition, there is no evidence of
Fernindez having been close to Bertrin or to the Jesuits in general.
Together with the strong evidence cited above that Fernindez was at
least one of the authors of the harsh attack on the archbishop by "Dos
Suscritores," his being the principal clerical author of the manifesto in
which the archbishop is defended, and even praised, becomes unlikely,
though this is not to deny that he played a part in its composition.'
Indeed, his membership in the Colego de 10s Abogados would have
made hun a logical person to solicit the collaboration of Fuentes and any
other lawyers who might have been involved in the multiauthored work.
But that is a different matter from being a close friend of PelSez and a
likely recipient of the confidential "Brebes apuntes."
The Burgos Tradition
The arguments against Fernindez as a confidant of Pelhez leave the way
open for one outside the chapter, but closely related to it, as possible
author of one or both passages that we shall consider. This person could
be Jost Burgos, to whom a tradttion going back at least to Rizal has at-
tributed the 1864 manifesto, and who has been considered traditionally
as the successor of Peliez. That tradition, however, needs to be exam-
ined more closely to ascertain its force.
There is evidence, in fact, which has not been marshaled until now,
that there is at least as much probability of Burgos's participation,
indeed more, as there is for Fernandez's. If it be supposed that
Fernandez, as a capitular, would have a wide knowledge of the
outstanding priests of the archdtocese, this would not be a major factor
if Burgos possessed the "Brebes apuntes," since, as has been indicated
above, every priest named in Pelhez's notes is likewise, without exception,
reproduced in the 1864 article. As to the additional names added, there
is no reason why Burgos, long in clerical circles in spite of hls being still
a deacon, should not be aware of the other outstanding priests of the
archdiocese. The difference between the two documents, as we have
noted, is that Pelaez was writing a succinct summary for the overseas
minister, whlle the manifesto was written for a wider audience. Hence,
it wanted to make the list more impressive by citing other outstanding
priests than those who had won the most important parishes through
their theological competence in the oposiciones. It was a frequent con-
tention of the friars and their advocates that the friar parish priests not
only looked to their ecclesiastical functions but promoted the general
welfare of their parishioners. Indeed, especially in an earlier time, not a
few spent their income on making the churches splendid temples of the
dtvine services, while the secular clergy often looked to enrichmg their '
families and neglected the towns where they were stationed (examples in
Schurnacher 1987, 206 [I 8041; 21 3-1 4 [I 8271).
To counteract this frequent, and not totally untrue, friar boast, the
author tries to cite other priests who, though they might occupy less
important parishes, worked to develop their towns and beautify their
churches, even out of their own resources. Burgos, long in clerical circles
though still some months away from the priesthood, was no less likely
to be well informed on the Manila clergy than was Fernhndez.
Secondly, there is considerable evidence that Pelaez had headed an
active movement among the younger Filipino clergy to prove themselves
equally or more fit for the parishes and cabildo of Manila. As may be
gathered from the research of Dr. Luciano Santiago (1984), the first
dozen or more Fhpino secular priests obtained their doctorate in one of
the ecclesiastical discipltnes in some thirty years during the eighteenth
century, beginning in the time of Archbishop Sancho de Sta. Justa. There
was then a gap of over forty years before the next group of priests, be-
ginning with Frs. Mariano Garcia and Pedro Peliez in 1844, would ap-
pear as intellectual leadersg1
91. My figures differ slightly from those of Santiago because he includes, in
accordance with the title of his article (the nineteenth century), Dr. Juan de
Dios, who obtained his doctorate in 1801. I have rather considered him to be-
long to the movement begun in the late eighteenth century than with that of the
priests obtaining the doctoral degree from the 1840s on. Likewise, he omits
criollos like Dr. Ignacio Salarnanca, in which he is no doubt correct for the eigh-
teenth century, since these were generally considered Spaniards, though he in-
cludes them, such as Peliez, for the nineteenth century. By the time of Peliez,
as we have indicated in several places above, the criollo priests generally consid-
ered themselves, and were considered by the authorities, to be "Filipinos" along
with other bqos delpais. Thus, the new generation would begin with Mariano
Garcia, a Tagalog, and Pelaez, a criollo, who both were awarded their doctoral
degrees in 1844, though Pelaez had been ordained only in 1838, while Garcia
had been ordained in 1822, and did not obtain his doctorate until sixteen years
after his ordination. To sum up, the intellectually active new generation was led
by Peliez, though Garcia would be a more silent part of it. It is even likely that
Peliez may have been the one to persuade the older man to continue for his
degree as a part of his plan to create a group of Filipino priests who could '
Santiago's articles open the way to a much larger view of the intellec-
tual renaissance among the secular clergy than merely looking at the rela-
tively small numbers holding a doctorate. On reading Villarroel (1971)
thoroughly, the careful eye cannot help but note many other Filipino
priests who, though they never obtained a doctorate before the oppor-
tunity was closed to them after 1871, were obtaining lesser graduate
degrees in various ecclesiastical disciplines, some, perhaps most, with an
eye to continuing to a higher degree. Moreover, those working toward
graduate degrees that can be known from Villarroel's book are only those
whose names occur as examiners or examinees of Burgos, in accordance
with the purpose of the already large book." No doubt an extensive
search of the AUST would show many more. For those who had some
connection with Burgos, and hence appear in Villarroel's book, provide
only a sample of what gives every appearance of having been a con-
certed movement among the Manila secular clergy.
The leader of that movement, from all the information we have on
his competence, leadership qualities, personal priestly character, and
intelligence, aside from hls priority in obtaining a doctorate, was clearly
Peliez. Even when aware of Pelaez's role in the opposition to the
efforts to deprive the secular clergy of their parishes in favor of the
Recollects, certainly one Recollect, Archbishop JosC Aranguren, evidenced
his esteem for Peliez by the positions with which he entrusted him.
challenge the derogatory attitude of the friars and others as to their competence.
Santiago (1984,257-70; 1985a, 34-50) likewise, with his usual careful consulta-
tion of the archives, corrects the date of Garcia's birth to 1798, rather than the
1778 birth date usually attributed to him. But in 1864, besides being almost
blind, he was sickly and had only seven more years before his death in 1871.
92. Santiago (1985a, 45-46, 48, 49) in several places apparently puts the
blame on the university for dosing the doctorate to the Filipino secular clergy,
where in fact, in the reference to my book that he cites, I make it clear that it
was by government intervention. The archivist, Fr. Fidel Villarroel, in his com-
munications to me affumed that, though he could find no such juridical docu-
ment in the university archives, it was a fact that there is no record of any
ecclesiastical or civil doctorates granted to Filipinos after 1871 until the end of the
Spanish regime (Schumacher 1981, 35, n. 11). The Dominicans never had full'
control of the university and its policies as long as the Spanish regime existed.
Explicit testimonies came from Archbishop Melit6n Martinez and
Bishop Gainza, both of whom thoroughly a b e d him, even when at
times they feared, for political reasons, his influence on the other clergy.
According to the archbishop, even the peninsular members of the
chapter, with one exception, looked up to him as their leader. The Jesuits,
especdly Bertrk, in spite of his disapproval of one aspect of Peliez's
activity, had the highest regard for hun. Finally, not only was this esteem
found in those who held positions of equality or superiority to him, but
also even among his enemies who acknowledged his superior talent and
competence by making him the target of the calumnious rumors and
insinuations by which they tried to destroy him as an alleged insurgente,
both before, and even after, hls death.
It is also sigruficant that the rumor that spread around Manila con-
tained the names of both Pelaez and Ponce de Leon, as is clear from the
statements of both the archbishop and of the Dominican provincial, Fr.
Domingo Treserra. Bishop Gainza, moreover, asserted that he knew who
were responsible for propagating that rumor, and that these persons
themselves knew that it was a calumny (1864, 180-82). As we have noted
above, Agudo believed that Ponce was also involved with Peliez in pro-
moting the bishops' reform proposals, and had authored a pamphlet
entitled Papel volante que un sacerdote del clero secular lleud en persona a' los
miembros del Conyo de administracidn, para que en su vista falkasen la eqosicidn
de hs secores diocesanos como sepide, sent to the publisher shortly before the
earthquake. Yet, La Verdad, in its provocative article for which Agudo
was responsible, did not mention any names. But the fact that in the 'fi
La Naci6nn article the author of the section defending the memory of
Peliez did not mention Ponce de Leon at all, but presumed Peliez to be
the target of the calumny, is another indication that it was Burgos who,
in his affection for Pelaez, was the author of the section. There is no
reason to thtnk that he was unaware that the rumor circulating in Ma-
nila named Ponce de Le6n together with PeMez, nor that he was indif-
ferent to Peliez's companion and friend, who was a minor figure
compared to Pelaez. However, Burgos7s devotion was directed toward
Peliez. Though not a conclusive argument by itself, it is an additional
confirmation of our identification.
In the light of this evidence, it is not hard t o believe that the most
ardent disciple of Peliez's campaign t o build up a Filipino clergy intel-
lectually equal or superior t o the majority of friar parish priests was Fr.
Jost Burgos. No other cleric already possessed, or at least had the strong
probabrlity, even in 1864, of soon possessing, such hlgh qualifications in
all the ecclesiastical disciplines (see Santiago 1985a, 41). Such quahfica-
dons showed him t o be the one who best understood the intellectual
goal of Pelhez for the Filipino clergy. Clearly he likewise understood, like
Pelaez, that academic excellence was not enough, but an excellence
accompanied by an exemplary priestly life. Though he would later be
falsely accused of being antie@an"o(, as Pelhez and Gomez had been, none
of his enemies accused him of being an unworthy priest, and the arch-
bishop continued t o show hlrn particular favor right up to the Cavite
Mutiny, even when he was being denounced as antiespaiiol.
Even in the somewhat understandable weakness Bertrin showed in
his deferential reply t o Izquierdo's letter t o the religious orders," no
doubt attempting to distance the Jesuits from any connection with the
Burgos whom Izquierdo had already condemned and executed, he
instinctively compared hun t o Pelaez, "a person of more capability and
importance" (Schumacher 1999, 292-93).94
93. As Izquierdo's report for his successor shows, though as a man of the
revolution of 1868 and a Mason he had a basic contempt for all the religious
orders, he considered the friars essential in the parishes as instruments to pre-
serve the Filipinos in loyalty to Spain. Acknowledging the usefulness of the
Jesuits for the time being for their work of education, and especially their suc-
cess in spreading Spanish presence in Mindanao, he nonetheless clearly looked
forward to a day when they could be dispensed with, since they lacked the "un-
shakable devotion to Spain" (espatlohmo a todapmeba) that he found in the fri-
ars. See Izquierdo 1872. The relevant section is translated in Schumacher 1987,
226-29 (where, however, the archival reference is incorrect). It contrasts sharply
with the laudatory encomium he wrote to Bertrhn in 1972 (APPSJ, IV-0-24-
1872, in Schumacher 1972a, 260-63; 1999, 284-87).
94. Bertrh, however, did not let himself affirm that Burgos was gLulty of the
revolt, but rather implied that his fault was in associating with the perpetrators.
Such an interpretation was implicit in the reprimand he had given to Burgos:
"Even supposing that you will have sufficient strength to turn back, perhapsyou
rnq not be abh to prevent a hand hub3 rriminalfirn wntingyour name on a banner waved
Moreover, elementary prudence cautioned Burgos not to reveal him-
self publicly as early in his career as 1864 t o be the one carrylng on
Peliez's dedicated commitment to the suuggle of the native clergy. But
once established in a secure position, as he thought, he would cast that
prudence aside in 1869, even at the risk of bringing on himself the fate
that in retrospect we can see was being prepared for him, just as it had
been for Pelaez had he not died in the earthquake.
With all this in mind, one who reads the indignant passage repudiat-
ing the Recollect comisario-procurador's deliberately calumnious accusa-
tion, set alongside the evidently deep respect it displays for Peliez, finds
it hard t o think of anyone else among the clergy but his ardent disciple
who would author at least dus passage as well as the one dependent on
the "Brebes apuntes." To put it in commonplace terms, Peliez was the
hero and model of the younger Burgos, who made himself the older
man's disciple. Added to that is the fact that we know of no one else
who was so close t o the Jesuits at that time as t o have sought out
Ber t r h after Pe16ez7s death and been the recipient of Bertrh' s simple
but eloquent tribute to the priest t o whom he had been confessor. Un-
doubtedly, Fernhdez admired Pelaez's competence, and was influenced
by deluded men and Paitors. . . ." (Schumacher 1972, 268-69;1999, 292-93; italics
mine). In other words, the true conspirator(s) had used Burgos's name to give
strength to their cause. That his name was in fact so used is repeatedly asserted
in the confessions of those who were involved with the mutiny, such as the sol-
dier Bonifacio Octavo whose lengthy testimony Izquierdo made a major proof
justifying his draconian actions (Tormo 1973, 164-68). Bertrin thus tacitly ac-
cepted the reality of the conspiracy, blaming Burgos for associating his cause
with those who had other goals, but 'it was difficult for him to say less without
accusing an already hostile Izquierdo. Yet in the private manuscript history of
the Ateneo Municipal Jesuit community, written a year or two later, he appar-
ently wrote more straightforwardly: "Scarcely anyone doubts there were some in-
nocent men among them, or at least ones who deserved to be treated with much
greater leniency" pertran [?I 1873, 70-71; cf. Schumacher 1999, 28). His cau-
tion did not placate the anticlerical Mason, Izquierdo, who, as seen above, in his
"Memoria" expressed nothing but contempt for the Jesuits, in spite of the lofty
encomium he had earlier written to BertrPn (APPSJ, IV-0-24-1872, in
Schumacher 1999, 28687).
by him, but there is no sign that their relation went deeper than that.
One could hardly call him a dlsciple of Pelaez, if he was an intimate
friend of Peralta, as we have noted above. Hence, even apart from the
external testimony we will come to shortly, the most likely candidate, at
least for these two passages, is Deacon Jost Burgos.
With regard to the other clearly "clerical" passage discussed above, we
conceded a limited probability of its composition by Fernhndez, as a
leadtng member of the cabildo. But we considered it more likely that it
was Burgos who received the "Brebes apuntes" on which it depended.
Moreover, other reasons lead us to conclude that it was more likely to
have been Burgos.
First, something must be said regarding the objection that, contrary
to Governor-General Echagiie's assertion that the author of the article
"A La Nacion" was a member of the clergy, whose name "is not un-
known to me," he did not name him. One likely answer we have alluded
to is that the governor was speaking of the moving spirit behind the ar-
ticle, and one who had taken a significant part in its composition. But
this dld not necessarily exclude the collaboration of others, even implied
it, as is indicated by the fact that, after speaking of one, he mentioned
in the following sentence others concerned-los interesados. Thls one the
governor named could very well have been Fernhdez; even possibly, but
with less probabrlity, Peralta. But likewise it could possibly have been
Burgos, though undoubtedly he would have needed other clerical collabo-
rators, such as Fernandez, who, as noted above, held a doctorate in
canon law, as well as being an abogado de matnkub in civil law and there-
fore hkely to be in contact with the civil lawyer(s) who took part. Burgos,
at the time, had completed only his bachilhrato in canon law. The canoni-
cal argumentation in the manifesto, as well as hls leading position in the
cabildo, strongly suggests that Fernindez was prominent among those
who collaborated in significant parts of the article, and may well have
been the moving spirit behind it also.
Second, the letter of Echagiie to the minister is not concerned with
gving him the details of the conflict between the Recollects and the
Filipino clergy, but with assuring him that, despite the inflammatory ar-
ticles in the Madnd newspapers, there had been no conspiracy afoot in
Mada and that he was well in control of the situation there. Hence, he
relates that he knows, and has informed the archbishop of, the identity
of the "author" of the article of the Fhpino clergy that would soon
appear in Madrid. He even has a copy, "in spite of the reserve and
secrecy with which those involved have taken this step" (a pesar de la
reserva y rnisterio con que los interesados han dado este paso) (AHN,
Ul t r m, Filipinas, 2205, s/n, Gracia y Justicia. carta 922; reservada; in
Blanco AndrCs 2004b, 650; italics mine). As may be seen in the quo-
tation, having spoken of the autor in the singular, he continues in the
same sentence to speak of "those involved" (10s interesados) in the
plural. Hence, his letter would not contradict the Recollects in asserting
that the authorshp was in some sense multiple, but that it was only the
member of the clergy that he was sufficiently concerned with to have
informed the archbishop.
Third, if it be argued that, if he really knew which member of the
clergy was involved, he would have put the name in what was a confi-
dential (reservah) letter to the minister (Blanco Andrks 2005~). However,
another possibility is that it was precisely because the name would have
meant nothing to the minister that he dld not include it, even in this
confidential letter. Had the author been Peralta or Fernindez, there
would be reason to suspect that he did not know the author in his
omitting to give the name. However, if the author was not a mem-
ber of the cabildo (whose members would be known to the minister,
who perhaps had even intervened in their appointment), this argument
loses its force. Moreover, if that member of the clergy was not yet even
a priest, and had not yet even won the position of cura of the Sagrario
at this time, the name would have meant nothing to the minister, since
he intervened only in the naming of the members of the cabildo. The
fact, then, that Echagiie did not give the name, if it has any sigmficance,
is more an argument that the member of the clergy referred to was
indeed Burgos, a person unknown outside Manila.
To sum up the internal evidence then, first, it makes it sufficiently
clear that more than one person was involved in the composition of the
article '1 La Nacion." How many they were-most probably one or two
lawyers and a few members of the Fdipino clergy, who took an active,
if not necessarily the principal part-and who were the moving spirits
behind the article cannot be established from the available evidence, and
probably never wdl be.
Second, two passages seem certainly to have been written by one or
more members of the clergy, of whom the only plausible candidates are
Canon Ramon Fernindez and Deacon Jost Burgos. In the abstract,
Fernhdez would seem more probable because of his established posi-
tion in the chapter, whde Burgos was not yet a priest. Moreover, as an
"abogado de mauicula," he would be on f d a r terms with the lawyers,
both the one(s) who apparently took part in composing the manifesto
and those who were behind the almost simultaneous letters of protest
to Aguirre Mirarn6n. From the Recollect evidence-namely, their being
sent together to Agudo and their being dated at approximately the same
time, and their being found in copies today in the same ltgqo in the
APAF-the lawyers' and the clergy's protests were somehow connected,
as we have indicated above. Yet it has been shown that, in spite of his
much less important formal position, in reality Burgos too had already
established contacts with the lawyers as well as the clergy of the
University Claustro, and was evidently in favor with the archbishop.
Once he was ordained and installed in the prestigious position of cura
of the Sagrario in the succeeding months, he would receive a number of
adhtional appointments from the archbishop, no doubt because of his
proven competence and academic distinction. Though not yet of for-
mally prominent stature in the wider circles of the colony, Burgos would
have been able to take a major role in that relatively small academic and
clerical community.
Third, if Echagiie actually knew of the principal author, as he says in
his letter, the very fact that he does not mention the name in a
confidential letter to the overseas minister indicates that it was Burgos,
someone unknown to the minister. Fernindez, whose appointment and
promotion were due to the Overseas Ministry, would have had a
significance in Madrid that Burgos at this stage would have had only
locally in Mantla. But this was where the article was composed, the very
fact that enhances the probability in his favor.
What we have said of the probabilities in favor of each of the two
clerics has been said in general of their significant participation. When
we come to the two individual passages especially attributed to the clergy,
the first, the defense of the secular clergy's competence as parish priests,
could possibly come from either man. However, its close parallelism with
the "Brebes apuntes" shows that the author of the passage was in pos-
session of a copy of that exposition of Peliez, a theoretical possibility
for either man, but far more likely to be Burgos.
The second passage, the indignant defense of Peliez's memory
against the calumnious rumors circulated, if not in fact invented, by
the Recollect officials, is more convincing. It was more likely t o have
come from the fervent disciple of Peliez that Burgos was, rather than
from an associate who undoubtedly shared his ecclesiastical-political
goals, being a member of the cathedral chapter, but is not known t o
have any particular ties of devotion to Pelkz.
Finally, though it must remain an argument from silence, we have no
evidence of Fernindez being especially close to the Jesuits, particularly
Peliez's confessor, Fr. Pedro Bertrin. But it is clear that, even at this
point in time, Burgos was very close to them and, in a different way
from that with Pelaez, looked to them as priestly models.g5
95. Though trivial at first sight, one of the early Jesuits (1867) to come to the
Philippines after their restoration in 1859, Bro. Francisco Riera, writing his
recollections in old age in Spain, recalled-though not always fully accurately-
the scandalous exchange of articles between the Recollects and the Filipino
clergy in the peninsular press, particularly after the Recollects took Antipolo.
"The canon [id, Jose Burgos, who up to then was considered by all a very good
priest, and made his Confession every week at our house with Father pagin]
Ferrando, and was the only native priest who wore the manteo in public from the
time of the arrival of our first Fathers, moved by their example, was the prin-
cipal one who fanned the fire. . . . Father Ferrando med to calm the spirits, and
reprimanded Father Burgos; the latter ceased making his Confession with Ours
for some time. . . ." @era 1922, 11). Burgos, of course, held an interim canonry
at least three times but never succeeded in getting a permanent appointment
from Madrid (Schurnacher 1999, 238-43; Tormo 1973; 131-32). The manteo
was a long cape which the clergy, by church regulations, were supposed to wear
over their sotanas (cassocks) in public. It is curious, and perhaps significant, that
all the likenesses we have of Burgos from the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, whether photographs or more probably engravings, show him, as is
also true of the Jesuits (and of Peliez, whom Riera never knew), wearing the
PHILIPPINE STUDIES 54. no. 2 (2006)
Origin of the Burgos Tradition
Given the anonymity with which "A La Naci6n" was published over
the signature of "Los Filipinos," though Governor Echague and Fathers
Felix and Agudo all claimed to know the source of the article, none of
them named any particular person, much less Burgos, as its author. If
Echagiie did in fact know the member of the clergy behind it and, as he
declared, had he so informed the archbishop, the latter never gave any
indication of the author other than "the secular clergy." The archbishop,
however, had been in communication with his clergy, and they purgos?]
had informed hun of their intentions to reply, though not telling him
how or where, beforehand (Meliton-Barili, 4 Sept. 1864; ASV Arch
Nunz. Madrid, no. 20461.Not long after the appearance of PelPezS pam-
phlet in Manila, he wrote the nuncio, incensed at the insulting articles
being published against him through Agudo and Mayordomo in the
Madrid newspapers, and threatened to publish a refutation if they con-
tinued. Concerning his clergy's reaction, he said:
The members of the native clergy, offended by the judgments regard-
ing them, tell me that they are preparing to defend themselves. They
began the battle with the publication of a pamphlet printed in the of-
fices of El Clamor Ptiblico . . . It was put together, according to what
I have been told, by the unfortunate Pekez. (ASV, Arch. Nunz. Madrid
447, no. 396, 5 Jan. 1863 [sic, should be 18641)
However, he perhaps never saw the published article, "A La Nation,"
since, on writing to the nuncio a few weeks before it was published in
manteo, while the other secular clergy-pictured do not-for obvious reasons in
the uopics! It is difficult today to imagine the importance that some Jesuits of
those days attached to such a trivial matter. The very triviality of the detail re-
called by Brother Riera after fifty-five years (he arrived in the Philippines in 1867
[and therefore was not present at the time of the Antipolo affair or during the
lifetime of Pelaez] and wrote his recollections on returning to Spain in 1922) is
an indication of the essential veracity of Burgos's image as an exemplary priest
and a disciple of the Jesuits. But Riera errs on events of more importance, like
the Antipolo affair, which he knew only by hearsay from Jesuits who had inau-
gurated the Jesuit mission in the years before his arrival.
SCHUMACHER I THE BURGOS hMNIFIEST0 269
Madrid, he told hun, evidently relying on Echa@e, that it seemed to be
"some kind of manifesto to the nation" that would appear in La Amirica
(Martinez-Bank 4 Sept. 1864, ASV, Arch. Nunz. Madrid, 447, no. 2046;
in Uy 1984, 161).
If it was Burgos whose name Echagiie had given the archbishop,
far from reprimanding him, the archbishop rather showed increasing
signs of confidence in his competence and priestly character in the fol-
lowing months and through the lirst years after his ordination. No doubt
he was not displeased to see La Verdzd's calumnies answered, since al-
most from the beginning of his episcopate the paper had attacked and
calumniated him and his programs for the reform of the Philippine
church. Indeed, even before "A La Nation" was written, he had entered
into negotiations to subsidize a newspaper to counteract the Recollect-
and Augustinian-subsidized Madrid newspapers, and only desisted on the
advice of the nuncio (Uy 1984, 101-3). The article is not mentioned
further in his correspondence with the nuncio after the latter told him
that it was no problem and that not even the procurators of the friar
orders had mentioned it to him (Bd-Martinez, 6 Now 1864, ASV, Arch.
Nunz. Madrid, 447, no. 2118; in Uy 1984, 161). Little did the nuncio
know of the exchange of letters taking place between Felix and Agudo
in those very months, but as has been seen neither ever mentioned to
him the article of the Fdtpino clergy.
Indeed, there is good reason to think that in the face of the enor-
mous power and resources Agudo, and with him Mayordomo, exercised
in the Overseas Ministry under various governments, which they used to
make further incursions on the parishes belonging to the secular clergy,
the archbishop not only attacked them in various expositions he sent di-
rectly to different ministers in Madrid in the years 1865-1871, but he
was, to say the least, not adverse to any action the secular clergy on their
own might take to defend themselves. After 1865 he was continuously
in action, urging in both official and private letters the reforms from
whlch the other bishops had withdrawn, especially the amovilidad ad
nuturn, though he refrained from any public attacks on the two offend-
ing orders. Governor-General Echagiie, desirous of the status quo, at
one point actually wrote confidentially to Madrid, aslung that another
archbishop belongmg to a religious order relieve Meliton Martinez who
could be transferred to a peninsular see (Blanco Andrts 20049. It seems
that the archbishop had lost the fear that the secular clergy might prove
subversive, which had made him hesitate under the impact of the rumor
of the pseudoconspiracy and the shock produced by the earthquake that
kdled Peliez and his companions. In the instability of governments
throughout those years, when one overseas minister followed another as
the governments changed, he repeated his proposals, hoping that a new
minister would give a better hearing. But the strength of Agudo lay in
the Negociado de Ultramar, the relatively permanent bureaucracy that
survived changes of ministers (Blanco Andrts 2005~).
In 1870-1871, after the fall of the monarchy in 1868, which at frrst
left h m without influence in Madrid, the archbishop would write two
more letters to the regent, Marshal Francisco Serrano the first dated 31
December 1870, the second a week later, askmg for reforms in both the
regular and secular clergy. With them, he enclosed an undated copy of
an exposition of their position by the secular clergy, almost certainly the
work of Burgos. Since the second letter of the archbishop and the copy
of the secular clergy document are written by the same copyist, it is clear
that the clergy had communicated their appeal for the revocation of the
decree of 1861 to the archbishop. The presence of all these documents
together, as well as the origmal of the clergy's exposition in the same
legajo today, indicates that when the archbishop says, as he does in the
letter to the nuncio cited above, that "the members of the native clergy
. . . tell me" (ASV, Arch. Nunz. Madrid, 447, no. 396, 5 Jan. 1863 [sir,
should be 18641) he was not only aware of their activity, but was even
to some extent working with them in their struggle for justice, at
least from 1864 to early 1871 (AHN, Ultramar, leg. 2255, exp. 2 and
6; Schumacher 1 972a, 38-40, 194-246; 1999, 36-37, 193-238; Blanco
Andrks 20049. Although he had expressed concern over the publication
of the 1864 manifesto in his letter to the nuncio, he had not desisted
from pursuing his reform program quietly, even when the other bishops
withdrew their support. Even when Burgos in 1871-1 872 would ally
himself with the liberals as the only recourse left, it appears either
that the archbishop preferred to turn a blind eye or the clergy deliber-
ately kept silent about the more radical aspects of their approach so as
not to compromise him.
If we are correct in attributing the secular clergy document of 1870
to Burgos, as all the evidence indicates, it is not surprising that the
archbishop did not restrain or reprimand his clergy, even if he knew the
leaders of the protest, as he certainly did by 1869, and likely earlier.
Moreover, even when Burgos began to be denounced as antiespaiiol in
1869-1870, the archbishop did not cease pursuing the cause of the
secular clergy with a regent in power who mght be expected to listen to
new arguments. (Unfortunately, the regency of Serrano ceased in January
1871, and a new ministry came to power.) No doubt, the archbishop,
though so often frustrated in his hopes, had become more embattled by
1871, and the evidence points to h s showing at least benign tolerance,
and perhaps favor, to these efforts of his clergy, whatever might have
been his earlier attitude toward the political question of maintaining the
peninsular character of the cabildo.
One must ask further, then, how the tradition of Burgos as the
author of the 1864 document arose and on what evidence it rests. The
first to question his authorship, as far as can be determined, was Fr. Fidel
Villaroe1 (1971, 60-61), correctly pointing out that, though "scores of
writers have taken Burgos's authorship for granted," it should be noted
that "all these writers belong to the present century and . . . none of
them has advanced substantial evidence to prove t hs contention. We
would certainly like to believe that Burgos was the real author, because
the manifesto's ideas coincide with the attitude of Burgos in that
dispute."
As Villarroel points out, the first known to have affirmed that author-
ship in print was Manuel Artigas (1911a, 4), an assertion the latter
repeated in his book of the same year (1911b, 86, n. 1) where he says,
"It is entirely the work of Dr. Burgos" ("Todo es obra del Dr. Burgos").
As we have shown at length in Part One of this article, Artigas almost
c e r t d y never saw the 1864 article, and instead used the 1889 interpo-
lated pamphlet from Hong Kong. He is certainly wrong with regard to
the 1889 edition being completely the work of Burgos, and, in the light
of the evidence from the Recollects, he is likewise wrong regardmg the
1864 original article, which he never saw
If then the statement about it being totally the work of Burgos is not
merely one of Artigasys many sweeping, careless, and erroneous state-
ments, he could only have made that assertion on the basis of some oral
source, perhaps one of those who had been in contact with Basa, or
Rizal, or Marcelo del Pilar. However, as usual, he offers no evidence at
all for such a contact. It is safe to say likewise that all other authors up
to 1972 simply repeated Artigas, until I had the bad judgment to pub-
lish the 1889 pamphlet (wrongly dating it to 1888). I did, however, as I
have said earlier, note that evidently it had been interpolated, and that in
the absence of the original it was not certain that it was genuinely the
work of Burgos (1972a, 22-23, 3637, 58-1 15).
Role of Rizal in the Tradition
In publishing the 1889 pamphlet, I did not rely on Artigas at all, but
rather on the statement of Rizal in his letter of 1890 cited in the first
part of this article. It deserves to be examined again in more detail. Writ-
ing from Paris to Ponce in Barcelona on 19 March 1889, Rizal is trying
to persuade La Sokdaridad to speak more of outstanding Filipinos in its
articles and to quote from their writings ("citad sus frases7'). He contin-
ues: "In those books of Vi va EspatTa) Viva, there are articles of Burgos.
If you do not have them, here I have plenty" ("En aquellos libros de
Vi va EspatTa) Viva, hay articulos de Burgos. Si alli no tenkis, aqui tengo
yo una infinidad") Wa l 1930-1938, 2:148).
It should be observed that Rizal is writing from memory in general
terms to someone who will understand what he means. One would not
normally call the pamphlets he refers to, hke Vi va Espaia. Vi va el &y.
Vi va el Eje'rn'to. Fuera h s Frai h, "books," since this and its companion
work each have only around forty pages. The companion pamphlet, as
the knowledgeable bibliographers agree, is the Manifiesto que a la noble
Nacidn EspatToka dengen [sic] los hahs Fih$inos en d$ensa de su honrayjdelidad
gravemente vulneradas por elperiddico "La Verdad" de Madrid (Pardo de
Tavera 1903, nos. 2807, 1597-99; Retana 1907, nos. 2625, 2669). Both
pamphlets were part of the propaganda campaign around the Manila
demonstration demanding the resignation of Archbishop Pedro Payo
and the expulsion of the friars. The latter pamphlet must be what h a 1
was referring to as "articles of Burgos," though there is in fact only
one article, the one we are discussing in this paper. All the other
parts of these pamphlets deal with alleged antifriar events of 1887-1888.
When Rizal tells Ponce that, if the latter does not have a copy in
Barcelona, Rizal has an "infinidad" with him in Paris, he is clearly
speaking of the 1889 interpolated version, published by Basa, as he could
scarcely have "una infinidad" of the 1864 article.
We may then conclude that Rizal knew the 1864 original, had a copy
of it, and very hkely was the one who either did the interpolations-
certainly some, perhaps al l - or collaborated with Basa in doing so." As
noted earlier, Marcelo del Pilat seems to have spent a short time in Hong
Kong with Basa, but it was some time after the departure of Rizal on
hls return to Europe by way of the United States. But it is unhkely that
del Pilar had the time to do more than to bring the added antifriar
documents from Manila and have them included in the pamphlet. Nor,
as pointed out in Part One of this article, is there any likelihood of Basa
hunself having a copy of the original.
A brief excursus seems necessary at this point. Whatever Izquierdo
might actually have known or believed, he maintained, both publicly and
in his confidential letter to the overseas minister, that all those executed
or exiled in 1872 had been part of one multisectoral movement. In this,
historians have generally followed him, whether in maintaining the gudt
or defending the innocence of these priests, lawyers, merchants, and
other civilians. Thus, there has been reference to a "Committee for
Reforms" (Comiti de Reformadores) (Artigas 191 1 b, 55-57; Manuel
1955-1986, 2:69); a "hberal Party" (Partido Liberal) (Buencamino 1969,
4); and other names presupposing an organized group. Some have
distinguished three subsections: one comprising the lawyers, landowners,
and merchants; a second, the activist priests; and a thrrd, the Juventud
Escolar Liberal for the university students (Artigas 1911b, 57). In fact,
however, it seems that there was no such formally adopted general des-
ignation for all the groups, even though there were some connections
96. Those passages that can be attributed to Rizal with a high degree of cer-
tainty are those marked out in the text of the genuine manifesto in Part One
by the reference notes 24, 29, 45, 47. This list does not pretend to be exhaus-
tive, and it is very probable that the other interpolations are likewise due to
Rizal.
among certain individuals. All the descriptions of later authors once
more depend ultimately on Artgas who in turn derived his idea from the
documents of Izquierdo, copies of which he had seen in the government
archives of Manila (Manuel 1955-1986, 1:315).
The Juventud Escolar Liberal in particular seems to have been prima-
rily concerned with university issues rather than political ones, even if
some protonationalist slogans were connected with it (Villarroel 1971,
97-106). Even the passing and somewhat opaque account, written twelve
years later by Sancianco (1 881, 11 I), a former member of the Juventud
Escolar Lberal, though he errs on dates, correctly rejects any subversive
purpose of the student demonstration. Rather, he declares, the anony-
mous letters or leaflets "expressed clearly the object, or better said, the
legitimate aspiration of the students" (ka hgi'tima qiran'dn de hs estudiantes).
To be sure, it is likely that some students had also attached themselves
to the "demonstrations" of their elders in honor of Governor-General
de la Torre, but there is little evidence to support Artigas's assertions of
a multisectoral organization of which the students formed one branch.
There may have been, and probably were, meetings of small groups with
common interests, and they may have overlapped other categories, but
there is no need to suppose the alleged three branches of a formal or-
ganization supposed by Artigas.
Influence of Paciano
The purpose of this digression has been to give a context against whlch
to examine the attitude and possible activity of Paciano Rizal Mer~ado.~'
As Leon Ma. Guerrero (1963, 89) said long ago, "The role that Paciano
played in Jos07s life deserves more attention than it has received." Artigas
narrates an anecdote of that time in which Felipe Buencarnino, Paciano,
and Gregorio Sanciangco (Sancianco) were presented to a group includ-
97. In the letter cited below Rizal stated that the family name was oripally
Mercado, but that Paciano had advised him to use their other name of Rizal
when registering as a student in 1872, "because the Dominicans did not like
Paciano." However, the records in the AUST show clearly that Paciano had
registered both at the Colegio de San JosC and at the University as "Paciano
ing Burgos, Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, Antonio Regidor, and some other
older men. In the discussion, Regidor allegedly asked the students
whether their textbook was in Latin or Spanish. When they replied that
it was the former, Regidor denounced the practice. As a result, the fol-
lowing day in the course of Canon Law, Buencarnino recited the lesson
of the day in Spanish. After the class, he is said to have been carried to
his residence on the shoulders of his fellow students, shouting the slo-
gan: "Viva el Castellano y abajo el Latin" (Artigas, Galena de Filipinos
Ilustres, 2:485, cited in Villarroel 1971, 98).
Some months later, a series of anonymous leaflets were found scat-
tered around the university, criticizing some Dominican professors and
calling for more academic freedom, among them one proclaiming: 'We
Indos love our country as the foreigners and Spaniards love [their own]
and [we want] not to receive insults from them. Catedrciticos professors],
open and see the books of history, and all their pages d prove this
truth" (quoted in Villarroel 1971, 99). This and a few other expressions
of a protonationalist tinge, primarily directed against one or more Do-
minican professors, soon led to disclaimers by various classes in the uni-
versity and other manifestations of unrest. Finally, the rector informed
Gov.-Gen. Carlos Ma. de la Torre, who took the matter seriously, and
ordered an official investigation (PNA 1870-1 873, ff. 822-908).
The investigation of the anonymous leaflets, combined with rumors
concerning a supposed plan of rebellion, led to the arrest of Felipe
Buencamino, who, after some four months of imprisonment, was
released and continued his studies in the university. Since he had lost
those four months of his courses, he petitioned the university's rector
that he be allowed to make them up under private tutoring by compe-
tent mentors in these subjects. The Fiscal Promoter of the university,
Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, to whose judgment the petition was entrusted,
ruled that this was not within the competence of the rector, but needed
Risal [sic] Mercado" (ViUarroel 1984, 15). The substitution of "s" for "z," so
often used interchangeably in the nineteenth century, was undoubtedly the er-
ror of a clerk, continued by Paciano in subsequent years to avoid bureaucratic
complications.
the approval of the governor-general, a permission granted in due
Buencamino then sought out two professors who would tutor bun in
the next three summers, that of Canon Law being Fr. Josk Burgos.
There is, however, no sign that Burgos had anywhere intervened in the
case up to that point, despite unsupported irnaginings of later writers,
though it is not unlikely that Buencarnino chose him, perhaps at the
suggestion of his friend Paciano, as one prominent in the university and
whom he considered likely to accept him as a student. In the end, the
civil authorities absolved Buencamino. After passing his final oral exami-
nation, in which one of the examiners was precisely Fr. Benito
Corominas, O.P., catedratico of the faculty of canon law, the one he had
challenged by reciting the lesson in Spanish, as well as, to all appear-
ances, personally insulted by some of the anonymous leaflets, he re-
ceived his degree of Bachelor of Canon Law at the hands of Corominas.
The carefully documented account of the whole series of events in
Villarroel (1971, 97-106) shows clearly that very little reliance can be
placed on Artigas's undocumented account, and that there is no evidence
of Burgos being involved with the student protest.
Even less trust can be given to the account of Buencamino, written
half a century or more after the events. In it he reduces the events of
1869 to one sentence, saying that he "was at that time a prisoner in
Bilibid for the mere fact that as a student of Canon Law at that time
[I] gave a lesson in Spanish instead of in Latin" (Buencamino 1969, 6).
The reader can estimate the value of these recollections by the closing
words of the memoirs: "With these thoughts gathered during my
forty-seven years of experience, I end this work, not without calling
attention to possible errors in dates, places, and names which, with the
help of the readers, would be corrected" (ibid., 43). Certainly one of
such errors is his statement that four companions "used to visit me and
98. It is of interest that, in the hypothesis of the multisectoral organization
that we have rejected, Pardo was supposed to be the leading figure among the
laymen, while Buencamino was the principal leader of the Juventud Escolar Lib-
eral. In that hypothesis one would have expected Pardo to have ruled in favor
of Buencamino, as he could have, rather than interpreting the law against him.
to remind me of our voluntary commitment to work for the political
emancipation of our country, and above all, of the oath we had taken
a few days after the execution of Fathers Burgos, Gomez, and Zamora,
to avenge their deaths so unjust and so base." Two of the four he names
were Paciano Rizal and Gregorio Sanciangco (Sancianco) (ibid., 6-7).99
This does lend some probability to the anecdote related by Artigas, at
least to the extent that Sancianco, Buencamino, and Paciano Rizal were
prominent together in the student movement, but for the rest
Buencamino obviously confused events and dates, if the events narrated
ever actually took place at all.
Other questions about Paciano, his relationshp to Burgos, and the
reasons for his leaving the University of Santo T o d s after the execu-
tion of the three priests, have led various authors to assert or invent
many imaginary or at least improbable events and reasons. Villarroel
(1984, 14-22) corrects many of the legends (Craig) or apparently delib-
erate fabrications (Coates) that biographers of Jose have introduced into
historical literature, checking these assertions against Paciano's records in
the University of Santo Tornis archives.
On one important point, however, I must disagree with Villarroel's
competent presentation of the facts, namely on whether Paciano lived in
the same house as Burgos. Jost, writing to his friend Blurnentritt in an
undated German letter (very likely relatively early in their friendshp from
the context, as he is telling him to use the name Mercado if he writes
to Paciano, because only JosC was known as kzal). According to
Villarroel's translation (1984, 14), Jost wrote "that Paciano 'had to leave
99. In the absence of the Spanish original of Buencarnino's memoirs, it is
unclear whether he intended to say that Paciano and his companions visited him
in prison-the most obvious meaning of the collocation of the sentences-r
that they visited him in his home in Sulipan, Pampanga, a possible but not easily
acceptable meaning of the sentence. Why should Paciano fi-equently visit Pampanga
from Manila, or from Calamba? If we take the more probable meaning to be
that they visited him in prison, it was impossible that they had made a comrnit-
ment to avenge the deaths of the three priests at that time. For Buencamino was
released from prison on 26 February 1870, two years before the execution of
the priests, and some months later had Burgos as his tutor to make up the four
months of classes he had missed (Villarroel 1971, 104-5; also 1984, 17). This
is typical of the many confusions or falsehoods in Buencamino's account.
the University because he was a liberal and the friars did not like him
because he had lived with Burgos' (por haber vivid0 con Burgos)." Leaving
aside for the moment Paciano's reason for leaving the university, we can
concentrate on whether Paciano lived in the house of Burgos. It is true,
as Villarroel (1984, 17; italics in ongmal) points out: "But this phrase can
also mean that he lived in asson'ation with Burgos," whlch of course is a
correct translation of the Spanish, though less probable. He goes on to
note the unhkelihood that Burgos would have had time to run a board-
ing house for students, but properly concedes: "It is not impossible
though that he would accept some young boy like Paciano in consider-
ation of some family relation or friendship."
It seems clear that such was the case. For the origmal German text
of the letter says "weil er beirn Burgos gewohnt hatte," a phrase which,
unlike the official Spanish translation used by Villarroel, can on4 mean
"because he had lived in the house of Burgos." It does not mean, of
course, that Burgos was running a boarding house for students, a mean-
ing that Villarroel rightly rejects, but it seems not to have been uncom-
mon that a student from the provinces studying in Manila should have
lived with a relative or other older man resident there, who, as it were,
would act as his guardan. Thus, for example, Marcelo H. del Pilar, as a
young law student in the university, lived with Fr. Mariano Sevilla, his
province-mate and friend of his elder brother, Father Toribio, both of
whom would soon be exiled to the Marianas in 1872 (de 10s Santos
1907, 5).
There are other evidences of a close relationship between the Rizal
family and the Burgos clan. For when Paciano brought young JosC
to the Ateneo Municipal to enroll him, the Father Minister in charge of
admissions, Fr. Magin Ferrando, S.J., rejected him. Paciano then had
recourse to the mediation of Burgos's nephew, Manuel Xtrez y Burgos,
and through the latter's intercession the Jesuits received hlm in spite of
the prior refusal (Rizal 1949, 15; Retana 1907, 19; Guerrero 1961,
37-38).lo0
100. Rizal was not sure why he was refused. He conjectured that it might
have been because he applied after the appointed date, or because of his frag-
ile constitution, or because of his small stature. In any case, "influence won the
Again, the fact that Paciano was living with Burgos in 1870 would
also be a likely reason why the former might have advised h s friend,
Felipe Buencarnino, to ask Burgos to be his tutor in making up the
four months' classes that he had missed while in prison. The fact that
both Paciano and del Pilar shared aspirations analogous to those of the
priests with whom they lived, who no doubt communicated to them
their own hopes for progressive reforms, would make the link be-
tween the students and the priests they lived with in Mantla the more
likely still.101
As to the reason for Paciano's leaving the university in 1872, we have
the rest of the statement of Rizal just cited in his undated letter to
Blumentritt with regard to Paciano's having lived with Burgos. JosC
wrote: "After the sad catastrophe (1872), he had to leave the University,
for he was a liberal and the friars dld not like him, because he had lived
day" (Bernad 1986, 13). The reason that the intercession of Xirez y Burgos was
so efficacious was very likely that Father Ferrando had been the confessor of
Burgos and assisted h at his execution, as noted above. Another connection
of the Rizal family with the Burgos clan.
101. However, there is no truth to the supposed presence of del Pilar at a
meeting of various Spanish and Filipino intellectuals in the house of a business-
man called Octavio (Octavo). Supposedly, a certain Enrique Genato testified to
this at the courts-martial after the Cavite Mutiny. Villarroel (1977, 333-34)
incautiously accepted a quotation from that testimony published in the biogra-
phy of del Pilar by Magno Gatmaitan (1966,ll-12, 14748, 278-79), purporting
to come from the records of the trial (which, in fact, have yet to be found). But
he faded to notice that Gatmaitan took the quotation from a supposed repro-
duction of the testimony at the court martial made by Luciano de la Rosa. The
latter was the persistent purveyor of the JosC Marco forgeries of Burgos, includ-
ing a spurious account of the latter's trial by a fictitious Francisco de Liiibn, all
of which were later exposed by Schurnacher (1970, 3-51; 1991,44-70, 216-24,
esp. 220, n. 52 ). The immediate key to the fictitious character of the testimony
and the meeting it describes is the alleged presence of the Spanish republican
politician, Rafael Labra (frequently mentioned in the Marco-Liiihn forgeries),
who in fact never set foot on the Philippines. In brief, there is no evidence that
del Pilar, who was still a nineteen-year-old secondary student at the Colegio de
San Jose, took part in any such meeting. Nor would he have been a member of
the Juventud Escolar Liberal, which was made up of the university students.
in the house of Burgos" ("Nach dem traurigen Katastroph (1872),
musste er die Universitiit verlassen, denn er war liberal und die Frayles
hatten ihn nicht gern, weil er beim Burgos gewohnt hatte") @al 1930-
1938, 5:464). No doubt Paciano was a liberal and, as far as can be de-
termined, a key member of the Juventud Escolar Lberal, but so was-at
that time-Felipe Buencarnino, apparently its leader, gven hts imprison-
ment in 1869-1870. Yet Buencamino went on to get not only a
bachelor's degree in law but also the graduate degree of licentiate. In that
same year of 1872, when Paciano failed to take the examination in his
courses, as did nearly half the other students in these two courses,
Buencamino did take the examination (and faded). But he continued in
the following years, obtaining his licentiate degree in 1876 (Villarroel
1984, 20-21), and later acted as lawyer for a time for the b a l famdy in
the Calarnba hacienda case (Buencamino 1969, 14-15; Schurnacher 1997,
247-48, n. 5).
A look at the scholastic record of Paciano during his years at the
university (1 866-1 867 to 1871-1 872) sheds further light on several
aspects of the question at hand. The one year that he did not present
himself for the examination, apart from 1871-1872, was 1868-1869, very
likely because he was not sufficiently prepared, having been much
involved in the activities of the Juventud Escolar Liberal. Nonethe-
less, he repeated the course the following year and passed it. The other
factor of relevance in hts scholastic record is that his grades for all the
years were definitely not of the caliber of his younger brother. On a
seven-level system of grading, ranging from sobresaliente (excellent) to
reprobado (failed), in the one year for which we have grades from the
Colegio de San Josi and the six for which he presented himself for
the examination at the university, he received only two grades of
aprovechado (very good) and five of mediano (fair or poor). It does not
seem that philosophy and law were subjects in which Paciano excelled,
perhaps for lack of interest. At the time when he studied, there was
nothing to be studied in the university, apart from the ecclesiastical fac-
ulties, except law, and if he wanted a university degree that had to be his
choice, unless he wanted to be a priest. By the time of Jose, faculties of
medcine and pharmacy had been added to the university. Almost all of
the above data on Paciano's academic career are due to Vdlaroel (1984,
17-21), who concludes convincingly:
What specific reasons moved Paciano to dscontinue hls legal career
is [.rhj not clear. . . . His non-appearance before the panel of exam-
iners was not a unique case nor a reason for suspecting that the
University had a case against him. It was the case of dozens of stu-
dents leaving the career for a variety of reasons every year. Could it
have been that Paciano was afraid of being stigmatized as an old
friend of the exiled leaders? How can we interpret Rizal's words . . . ?
The interpretation is not easy considering that Buencamino had been
more liberal than he, and that a nephew of Father Burgos, Manuel
Xkrez Burgos, was nearer to the nationahst priest than he, yet both
of them continued and finished their respective careers of Law and
Medicine totally unmolested. (Ibid., 19-20)
Moreover, as we d see below in the negative advice Paciano gave his
younger brother, he did not have much respect for the career of law
As Vdarroel goes on to point out, it was not as if Paciano was a
hunted man and did not dare to appear in Manila after 1872. The fol-
lowing year he would accompany Jost to the Dominican Colegio de San
Juan de Letrh, where the official entrance examination for all second-
ary schools was held, preparatory to Jost's application to the Ateneo
Municipal. Moreover, he frequently went to Manila to visit h s younger
brother in subsequent years. Being no more than a medlocre student in
law, he might well not have found it difficult to drop out of the course,
all the more since it was hard to tell after his liberal activities what hls
reception would be. Very likely he decided to manage the family affairs
for his agmg father. His younger brother would be the one to obtain a
superior education that might enable him to carry out the progressive
ideals Paciano had hoped to work for through his higher education,
analogous to the Pelaez-Burgos ideals of proving Filipino intellectual
competence that hls stay with Burgos must have strengthened.
This is not to deny completely the reason Rizal gave Blumentritt for
Paciano's leaving the University: "[He] was liberal and the friars did not
like hun." But being "liberal" seems clearly to refer to his prominent role
in the Juventud Escolar Frltpino, whch had called for drastic reforms in
the University, directing itself principally against certain professors. No
doubt the Dominican professors, or most of them, were opposed to the
demands of these student activists. But as can be seen from Paciano's
remarks to Jost about not offending the order given the favor they had
shown to the family in Calamba, he was not hostile to the Dominican
order as a whole, nor they to him. JosC, however, by the time he wrote
this letter to Blumentritt, no earlier than 1889, had taken a position
against all friars, including the Dominicans in particular, and this perhaps
colors his remarks about Paciano. This was an attitude that Burgos had
never had.
Shortly after he left the Philippines for the second time in 1888, Rizal
had ahed himself, though independently, with the Propaganda Movement
led by Marcelo del Pilar in its goal of procuring the expulsion of the
friar orders, as is clear from the pamphlets he collaborated on with Basa.
Moreover, he had joined, if not initiated, the legal contest of leading
Calamba tenants against the Dominican hacienda administration. It is
quite possible that there is truth in the critical comment of Fr. Pablo
Pastells, S.J., that Rizal left the university because of a certain
"disagreement (disMlsidn) he had with his professor" (Pastells 191 6-1 91 7,
3:294). Pastells was in a position to know, at least from other Jesuits
(Pastells was in Mindanao as a missionary to the Mandaya at the time),
since Rizal kept close contacts with the Jesuits during h s years at Santo
Tomis. However, he does not say that it was a Dominican professor
with whom he dlsagreed. In fact, the Dominicans taught few of the
courses in the Faculty of Medicine, and Vdarroel (1984, 169-70) shows
that it was most likely a lay professor.
Whatever may have been the reason(s) why Jost eventually conceived
such antipathy toward the Dominicans in general, Paciano dld not share
it, at least before the conflict with the Calarnba hacienda erupted in the
late 1880s. Villarroel (ibid., 166) cites the Dominican brothers who ad-
ministered the hacienda on the good mutual relations with the k a l fam-
ily during the time Jost was at the university, and how the brother
admLnistrators had leased new lands in Pansol to them. It was precisely
about these new lands that Paciano wrote to his brother when Jost was
already in Madrid, urging him not to do anythmg that would offend the
Dominicans, to whom the family owed this beneficence.
These lands cost us nothing and were gven to us by the Order in
preference to anyone else. It is proper that we show them a little grati-
tude for this, since, without having any obligation toward us, they
desire the good of our famdy. . . . It appears as if these Fathers are
resolved to bestow on our farmly all the favor they can. With this in
mind, for our part we should avoid any conduct that might offend
them in the least, since we do not perform any other services for
them. If you happen to meet Fr. Martinez [in Madrid], assure him that
these are the sentiments that animate us.lo2 Wal 1961a, 98)
This same letter provides what may have been the deciding reason
why Paciano left the university. In his enthusiasm for study, Jost, upon
arrival in Madrid, had enrolled simultaneously, it seems, in the Faculty of
Medicine and the Faculty of Law. At least by the following year, whether
on his own decision or on Paciano's advice, Jost dropped the courses in
law and, while continuing in mel ci ne, enrolled also in the Faculty of
Arts and Letters. Apparently just before h s , Paciano had written to him:
In regard to your ideas, I believe that the study of law does not suit
you, but that of the fine arts. . . . To tell the truth, a lawyer here
exercises the office of landlord, of teacher, of farmer, and of
government service, that is to say, of all professions except that of
lawyer. Moreover, lawyers collect their fees for defending a case,
whether it is just or the contrary. Your conscience will never be able
to accommodate itself to that. In medicine, on the other hand, and in
the study of fine arts, only a few practice these, and here they get
ahead and live in tranquility, the only thmg we should desire in this
world. @zal 1961a, 99)
102. The letter is undated, but the editor suggests 1883. Villarroel (1984, 167,
n. 11) thinks "it might be of a somewhat earlier date." This may be so, if the
letter was early enough for Jose not yet to have enrolled in law (it is in this letter
that Paciano discourages him from studying law), though the other letters of
Paciano of 1882 seem to be too late to have arrived before Jose enrolled for the
classes that began in October 1882. In fact, Jose did enroll, and completed his
degree, in the Faculty of Arts and Letters, as well as that of Medicine. But
whether that happened in October 1882 (Retana 1907, 63), or, having begun and
later dropped law, taking courses rather in the Faculty of Arts and Letters as
Paciano advised, is not clear (Guerrero 1963, 104, 511-12, n. 4).
Clearly, Paciano dld not think much of the study of law as a career,
and probably here was the reason referred to above for giving up his
studles at a time when the university had only a faculty of law and those
of the ecclesiastical discipline^.'^^
To conclude this section, it is necessary to inquire into the reason(s)
why Jose left the Phittppines for abroad. Whether he was alienated from
the University of Santo TomPs or not, it was a fact that he could get a
better education for his purposes abroad, not only in Spain but even
more in France and Germany. In a letter to Paciano, perhaps with some
exaggeration, he hkewise found the peninsular education deficient. He
mentioned four lawyers who had had a great reputation in graduating
from the university in M d a , but "in Madrid, they were 'like country
bumpkins in a ballroom.' The Spaniards themselves could not compare
with the French, the Germans, and the English" (Guerrero 1963, 105;
citing Rizal 1959, 220). He continues:
Among our countrymen, I am taken as studious and sufficiently able.
But, when I compare myself with many young men whom I have
known in foreign lands, I confess that I find myself on a much lower
level, and I conclude that to reach their standards I would need many
years of study, much luck, and much more application; yet those
young men were younger than I am.
I do not speak of the young men in this country [Spain], among
whom I know many who are really worthy. It is not that they lack abil-
ity, no; they have much talent, much determination. But the defects of
the educational system have the result that they work harder to less ad-
vantage, as happened to us there. (Ibid.)
It is unnecessary to belabor the point; no European country in the
nineteenth century was providing a university education in its colonies at
par with that of Europe. For the same reason as other colonial countries,
Spain, in spite of the Dominicans' efforts to widen its scope, restricted
it in the Philippines-highly educated colonials would be the first ones
to conceive the ideal of independence for themselves. Since, in addition,
103. Paciano left the university in 1872. The faculties of medicine and phar-
macy were introduced in 1875.
the Spanish educational system even in the Peninsula was backward,
compared with the more progressive countries in Europe, it is not sur-
prising that the University of Santo Tomhs did not reach the level of
peninsular education, not to speak of England, France, and Germany.
This leads to the most important reason for Rizal's departure for
Europe, whatever may have been his relations to the University of Santo
Tomhs. It was one that he shared only with Paciano, who eventually had
to explain it to their father, to assuage the latter's grief at JosC's depar-
ture, begging him not to reveal it to anyone else, to which the father gave
his promise @al 1930-1938, 1:19). In Rizal's frrst letter to his family,
he gives an insight into the purpose that moves him to go abroad to
study. He will again give cryptic hints in his early correspondence with
his close friends in Manila. To h s family he says:
I too have a mission to fulfd, like alleviating the sufferings of my
fellowmen. I know that all this requires sacrifices . . . But I feel some-
dung that impels me to leave . . . Some may say that I leave in search
for [sic] happiness. Absurd. Often, when taking leave and kissing your
hands, I tried to tell you about my project. (Lopez Bantug 1982, 68)
His correspondence with Paciano, though still cryptic, is more
enltghtening. Paciano in a letter of 11 May 1882, after explaining how he
had found it necessary to enlighten their father on his purpose,
continues:
As far as our friends, whether our acquaintances or others of our
town or the neighboring towns are concerned, hour departure] was
the topic of conversation for many days; there were conjectures and
guesses, but nobody hit the target.
Yesterday I was among the slurted ones [the friars]; some approved
of your going, others dld not. But since we have adopted this measure
(because in my opinion it is the best) we should keep to it. . . . ma1
1961a, 13-14)
Continuing hls letter, he says he has heard that JosC was thinking of
finishmg h s course in medicine in Barcelona rather than Madrid. "To my
way of thtnlung, the main purpose of your going abroad is not to per-
fect yourself in that profession but in other more useful things or, to put
it another way, in that for which you have the greater inclinatian. . . ." (ibid.,
14; emphasis in original). In a letter of the following month, Jost's close
friend, Vicente Gella, one of those who had seen him off at his depar-
ture, speaks of the feeling h s friends have for him in his absence "in
search of the good we all desire. . . . May God help you for the good
you are doing foryour counttymen. . . " F a l 1930-1 938, 1 :22).
Guerrero (1963, 83) comments on these cryptic passages:
It would seem far-fetched to ascribe to the young Rizal any well-
defined purpose at this time, connected with a nationalism that was
still only latent in his 'race jealousy', or even with a desire for
reform incredble in a sentimental poet without political learning or
experience . . .
That is to oversimplify the "sentimental poet." It is true that Jost's
ideas would develop as he studed more and had greater experience. But
even in Manila he had had the kind of political experience that cried out
for reforms, as may be seen in Gella's letter to him. Moreover, despite
Guerrero's skepticism, it should be remembered that Rizal went to
Europe not only with ideas of his own but with those of his deeply
admired elder brother, whose experience too had not been abroad but
in the Philippines. As seen in our discussion of Pelhez and Burgos, they
were continually in touch with the Spanish politics responsible for the
abuses in the Philippines that cried out for reforms. Burgos certainly
would have passed on his knowledge of that politics, together with h s
own ideals, to Paciano. This legacy Paciano certainly transmitted to hls
younger brother, as can be seen in the cryptic references in their corre-
spondence as to the real reason for Jost's going abroad.
This is confirmed, at least in its general lines, by a Rizal family tradi-
tion. According to her granddaughter, the secret agreement between
Paciano and Jose was revealed only to her Lola Sisa (Jost's and Paciano's
sister, Narcisa Lbpez Rizal), who revealed it to her son, Leoncio Popez-
h a l ) in her old age, after Paciano's death.lo4 In substance she says that,
104. Bantug is not quite accurate in saying that the secret was revealed only
to Narcisa. At least in the form in which she explains this "rnission," this was
evidently known to at least two of Rizal's friends who saw him off when he left
though both of them wanted to "serve the motherland," clearly one of
the two brothers had to stay behind for the sake of the family, while the
other "dedicated himself t o the cause of the nation." What the broth-
ers agreed on in a secret pact, she says, was that Rizal would undertake
the patriotic mission and Paciano would take on himself both the service
to the family and the support of Rizal in his mission. This secret mission
was the exposure of evil conditions in the Philippines and propaganda
for their reform (Bantug 1982, 75-76).
Writing to Blumentritt on 23 June 1888 from London, JosC lamented
that he had forgotten t o introduce his brother (verbally) to Blumentritt.
You who love to get to know good men, would find in him the no-
blest of all Filipinos. My friend, Taviel de Andrade, said he is the only
real man in the Philippines, the young Fil6sofo Tasio. When I reflect
on him, I find hun, even though an Indto, much more magnanimous
and noble than all the Spaniards (those of today) put together. @al
1930-1938, 5:257)
From Burgos to Paciano to Jose
In the light of all this, it is difficult not to see as broadly autobiographi-
cal, while making allowance for its embellishment by the novelist, that
passage of the Noli in which Ibarra, shortly after his return to the Phil-
ippines, passing Bagumbayan in his tour of Manila, is led t o reflections
on the significance of that place to him.
the Philippines, Vicente Gella, whose letter is cited above @ma1 1930-1938,
1:22), and JosC Cecilio in more vague terms, i.e., reforms for the country, and
doing something about the excessive influence of the friars (ibid., 38). More
details of the pact between the two brothers may have been communicated to
Nardsa, but, apart from saying that only one of them would marry, they do not
appear in Bantug's third-hand version. It may be noted in passing that Rizal did
not slip out of the country furtively. There were, besides the uncle with whom
he stayed, numerous other people in Manila to whom he went to bid farewell,
including the Jesuits, and several of his friends accompanied him the morning
of his departure. It was only to his family (apart from Paciano) and those in
Calamba that his departure was unknown (Villarroel 1984, 159-60).
though both of them wanted to "serve the motherland," clearly one of
the two brothers had to stay behind for the sake of the family, while the
other "dedicated himself t o the cause of the nation." What the broth-
ers agreed on in a secret pact, she says, was that Rizal would undertake
the patriotic mission and Paciano would take on himself both the service
to the family and the support of Rizal in his mission. This secret mission
was the exposure of evil conditions in the Philippines and propaganda
for their reform (Bantug 1982, 75-76).
Writing to Blumentritt on 23 June 1888 from London, JosC lamented
that he had forgotten t o introduce his brother (verbally) to Blumentritt.
You who love to get to know good men, would find in him the no-
blest of all Filipinos. My friend, Taviel de Andrade, said he is the only
real man in the Philippines, the young Fil6sofo Tasio. When I reflect
on him, I find hun, even though an Indto, much more magnanimous
and noble than all the Spaniards (those of today) put together. @al
1930-1938, 5:257)
From Burgos to Paciano to Jose
In the light of all this, it is difficult not to see as broadly autobiographi-
cal, while making allowance for its embellishment by the novelist, that
passage of the Noli in which Ibarra, shortly after his return to the Phil-
ippines, passing Bagumbayan in his tour of Manila, is led t o reflections
on the significance of that place to him.
the Philippines, Vicente Gella, whose letter is cited above @ma1 1930-1938,
1:22), and JosC Cecilio in more vague terms, i.e., reforms for the country, and
doing something about the excessive influence of the friars (ibid., 38). More
details of the pact between the two brothers may have been communicated to
Nardsa, but, apart from saying that only one of them would marry, they do not
appear in Bantug's third-hand version. It may be noted in passing that Rizal did
not slip out of the country furtively. There were, besides the uncle with whom
he stayed, numerous other people in Manila to whom he went to bid farewell,
including the Jesuits, and several of his friends accompanied him the morning
of his departure. It was only to his family (apart from Paciano) and those in
Calamba that his departure was unknown (Villarroel 1984, 159-60).
He was thinking of the man who had opened the eyes of his intelli-
gence, had made him understand what was good and what was just.
The ideas he had inculcated in hun were few, it is true, but they were
not vain repetitions. They were convictions that had not grown dim
in the hght of the greatest centers of Progress. That man was an old
priest, and the words he said to him on bidding him farewell still
sounded in hls ears:
"Do not forget that if knowledge is the patrimony of humanity,
only those inherit it that have love for it," he had reminded hun. "I
have tried to pass on to you what I received from my teachers; that
treasure 1 have tried to increase as much as I could, and I pass it on
to the following generation. You will do the same for the generation
succeeding you, and you can increase that treasure threefold, for you
go to very rich lands. They [the Spaniards] come here seeking gold; do
you then also go to their country to seek another kind of gold that
we need. But remember that not all that glitters is gold." That man
had died on that spot. (Rual 1961b, 43)
The novelist does not pretend to give every historical detail; that
is his privilege. Jose, an eleven-year-old boy in a provincial school at the
time of the priests' execution, almost certainly never knew G6mez
personally, and if he ever met Burgos as a small boy, even for a short
time whde visiting Paciano in Manila, his diary shows no sign of it.'05
It seems clear that beneath the novelist's reconstruction there is a factual
foundation. The "old priest" is Burgos, and the direct recipient of
Burgos's counsels was Paciano. The "teachers" of Burgos were Peliez
and, perhaps to a lesser degree, G6mez. The ideal inculcated by Burgos
and the wisdom behind it was received by Paciano, who passed them on
to the succeeding generation in the person of JosC. It would be J o d who
105. Marcelino Gomez (1922/1972, 110-1 I), the nephew of the martyred
priest, maintained that in this passage Rizal obviously meant the old Father
Mariano G6mez of whose fame he had heard, even if he never saw him. But
this is to take too literdy a passage of a novel. Logically then, Rizal would have
identified himself with Ibarra in other passages of the novel, where the course
taken by Ibarra, definitely a flawed hero in the novel, is quite unlike the ideal
of Rizal. Rather, it seems, though often critical of the older generation of Fili-
pinos, Rizal revered the wisdom of those who had begun the struggle before
would go to Europe to gather the "riches" that his studies and experi-
ence there could offer, not simply to get a better medcd degree.
In the light of the evidence presented above, we can have reason-
able certainty that Paciano not only admrted but was also inspired by
Burgos during the time that he lived with him, not as a boarder but as
a protkgk of an older close friend of the Rizal family. Given the major
role played by Paciano in the student activity of the years of apparent
openness and reform of 1869-1870, he was receptive to Burgos's liberal
ideals, those wider than the question of the parishes. Though not of a
particularly academic frame of mind, nor possible heir to the brilliance
of Burgos, he and his older mentor could hardly have lived in the same
house those years without Burgos communicating to his disciple his
veneration for Peliez. No alternative appears to the strong likelihood
that Burgos had let hun copy the anonymous manifesto, thus providing
the only link that has shown any signs of probability as to how it came
to be republished, even if interpolated, in Hong Kong in 1889, precisely
at the time of Rizal's presence there. Whether we accept that Burgos
was author of the entire original manifesto, an unlikely possibility, or
that he was merely a secondary collaborating participant in its compo-
sition, at least for the passages we have singled out, he surely must have
had a copy of it. No one else but Rizal appears even remotely liable to
be the link between 1864 and 1889, except one who had direct connec-
tions to Burgos, even if mediated by Paciano.
Finally, as pointed out in the footnotes to the 1864 original, specific
interpolations in the 1889 version certainly indicate Rizal's hand. Some
of these very probably came from Rizal for various reasons of interest;
others have the certainty that comes from the absence of anyone else in
him. Thus, as cited above in connection with Burgos's article, he urged Ponce
to cite men hke Pelkez, Mariano Garcia, and Burgos to show the greatness of
past Filipinos, a recurrent theme in his correspondence with Ponce. When the
aged Fr. Vicente Garcia later wrote a nuanced defense of the Noh, Rizal was
overjoyed, telling Ponce, ". . . the fact that Father Vicente Garcia defends me,
moves me deeply, and tells me that I should continue on the path that I have
traced. To have an old man at my side like that is to believe that I am not in
opposition to the spirit of my country" Wzal 1930-1938, 2:74-75).
the Hong Kong Filipino colony at the time with the knowledge and
competence to have made these additions.lo6 Such are those that show a
knowledge not only of the old Spanish chronicles, but also of the an-
thropological and ethnological conclusions in the Europe of that day,
especially Germany. When all these factors are combined, Rizal's attribu-
tion to Burgos of the Man@to a b noble nacio'n Espanb&and, conse-
quently, of at least participation in the "A la Naci6n" article on which
it was based--outweigh any of the objections based on Burgos's relative
youth at the time the original was composed.
Conclusions
For the Topic of the Article
Even accepting, as it seems clear we must, the multiple authorship pos-
tulated by the correspondence of the Recollects Felix and Agudo, and
the strong probability that Fernindez played a major part in it, it was as
a document associated with Burgos that kzal had received it from
Paciano. Of the many articles in E l Clamor Ptiblico, LA Amirica, LA
Discusidn, and other publications defendmg the Filipino clergy and attack-
ing those who denigrated it, it was only this one that Rizal singled out
to represent Burgos. Though it is impossible to assert that Burgos wrote
the entire article, the preponderance of evidence pointing to his partici-
pation in key portions of it is precisely what interested Rizal in his let-
ter; namely, the section on the outstanding Fllipino priests (whom Rizal
wished to be made known in La Sohdan'dad,) and the ardent defense of
Peliez against the friar calumnies. This justifies our attributing the article
to Burgos in those key contexts, as Jost Rizal did. For, to all appearances,
it was the PelLez accusation that was the main reason for the manifesto.
Most of the other arguments, true as they were, had been enunciated
before, whether by Pelaez or even by the archbishop.
106. See notes 24, 29, 45, 47 especially, but also 48, 49, 50. Indeed, there is
likelihood that the whole work of interpolation came from Rizal, and that Basa
was merely the publisher.
It is, hence, even possible that Burgos was also the inspiration b e h d
the article, however sure it is that he was not its complete composer. Be
that as it may, as the direct author of key sections of it, even though the
whole was compiled in conjunction with other collaborators, and even
possibly under other leadership, it was for Rizal, as for his elder brother,
a Burgos document.
Rizal probably did not know all the details of its composition and
publication, but he had assurance from Paciano of its intimate connec-
tion with Burgos. Hence, he saw its effectiveness for his goal as he en-
visaged it in 1889, not just to attack the friars but especially to give voice
to his passion to show that the best elements of his people's culture had
solidly planted roots in previous generations. As La Solidaridad was be-
ginning its campaign in 1889, Rizal was almost monotonous in his ex-
hortations to Ponce, del Pilar, and others to bring "our pkzna mqoP
("general staff," or, to use a modern athletic metaphor, "ftrst team") to
the fore @zal 1930-1938,2:118, 149, 154). He, for his part, was engaged
in his annotation of Antonio de Morga's Sucesos de h I s h Filjpinas, to
show what Filipino ability and culture had been before the coming of
the Spaniards and, indeed, even in spite of them. His choice of a work
of Burgos was a part of that grand strategy he had adopted of rooting
the present nationalist struggle in the context of the past, whether recent
Or remote.
The evidence brought forth here does not support Burgos's sole
authorship of the original article, and even admitting a collaborative
authorship it cannot determine with any certainty just what part others
may have played in its composition. However, if seen in all its complex
interconnections, it is justifiable to call it a "Burgos document," precisely
because that fervent defense of Pelaez against the Recollect calumnies is
its most original part and its main purpose. Other friar attacks on the
Filipino clergy had been published continually through Agudo's and
Mayordomo's subsidized newspapers and ignored. But the attack on the
deceased Pelhez could not be disregarded. Though the evidence of the
1860s tends to confirm the major participation of other persons, such
as the canonist Fernindez, in particular, and even allows the more
remote possibility of Peralta, neither of these can provide the evident
hnk with Peliez found in the document that Burgos had, the "Brebes
apuntes," nor was anyone else so close to Pelaez as to be personally
affected to the extent that his defense of his mentor exhibits.
Much less is there any plausible explanation of how the 1864 mani-
festo could have become the template for the Manfzesto of 1889, with its
multiple internal connections with Rizal. Only the links of Burgos with
Paciano Rizal Mercado can provide the external connection of Burgos
with the younger Rizal and, through him, with the Man@sto of 1889.
There is no other plausible alternative for the connection between the
1864 document and the 1889 Man@esto. The 1889 document with its
time-determined additions and interpolations should not qualify as one
of the classic documents of Filipino nationalism; only the genuine 1864
manifesto can merit that name. As a pamphlet the 1889 version would
rank with other antifriar propaganda, produced in large numbers as
nationalism became more radlcal. Few historians will remember the
technical arguments of the 1864 document, but the passionate defense
of Pelaez will remain. The tradition has not been wrong in its central
affirmation, even though other factors belonging to the antifriar cam-
paign of the late 1880s may have obscured the original message of
Burgos, as he began his efforts to carry on the campaign for justice to
the Fdipino, inherited from his revered mentor, Fr. Pedro Peliez.
Further Conclusions
Though solidly established, the results of our research may seem exigu-
ous in spite of the amount of research that has been involved. Indeed,
they may seem disappointing. We have indeed finally established the text
of the genuine document of 1864 and translated it. We have also shown
the justification for the tradition of a "Burgos Manifesto," though it is
a justification qdf i e d by restrictions as to the inspiration of the mani-
festo, as to the sole authorship, and as to the full amount of actual com-
position on the part of Burgos. Nonetheless, it has made other
contributions to the history of the nationalist movement.
Most important is the verification of the generally asserted, but hith-
erto little documented, continuity from Pelaez to Burgos, from Burgos
to Paciano Rizal, and from Paciano to his brother Jost. Elsewhere I have
also tried to demonstrate even a certain basic continuity between Rizal
and Bonifacio, especially in conjunction with the latter's trusted and more
eloquent and reflective companion, E d o Jacinto. It was their concern
too to root the future of the nation in its past, and their desire to edu-
cate the people, in the broad sense of the word, that is, to prepare them-
selves morally for eventual independence, as I have emphasized in
various places (Schumacher 1 991, 1 14-1 6; 1995, 37-52; Guerrero and
Schumacher 1998, 130-32, 14347; see also Santos 1935). lo' That was
never quite achieved, however, due in part to defects in Bonifacio's per-
sonality and education, in part to hls too narrow view of the nation as
Katagahgan rather than Fi&pinar,lo8 and, most of all, to the discovery of
the Katipunan by the Spanish authorities, which forced hun prematurely
to go to arms.
A further conclusion that may be gathered from thls article is that a
consciousness of being "Filipino" had already taken root among the
educated classes-the priests and the lawyers--even at h s time. Indeed,
it was perhaps sttonger than it would be in the 1880s. Though limited
by social class, there was a sense that all hljos del pais, all born in the
Philippines, considered and called themselves in their manifesto and
otherwise "Los Filipinos," whatever terms the peninsulars might use
107. My interpretation of Bonifacio and the Katipunan, linking them directly
to Rizal, is radically different from that of my co-author of our Kasqsqan volume,
where in spite of our agreement that I would treat the nationalist movement up
to the Cry of BalintawaklPugad Lawin, with her section beginning from that
point, she begins with 1892 and the traditional account of the Katipunan, based
ultimately on Teodoro Agoncillo's Revolt of the Masses. Guerrero uses the term
"traditional" pejoratively to label those historians who connect Bonifacio with
Rizal. Consequently, she would no doubt include my interpretation as a more
sophisticated version of the "traditional" historiography, a label to which I would
of course not agree. This affects much of her subsequent interpretation of what
happened in 1896-1897. See Guerrero and Schumacher 1998, especially 149-83.
108. I am aware of the efforts, particularly of Milagros Guerrero (in
Guerrero and Schumacher 1998, 158-60), to show that Katagalugan did have a
wider signification than the Tagalog provinces alone, and do not reject this con-
tention completely. However, whatever validity this had, in the practical order
Bonifacio was not successful, if he even tried, to put that national concept into
deeds. Indeed, he failed even to realize that Mada and its suburbs of those days
were at odds with the cavitismo eventually controlled by Aguinaldo.
for them. The old gremios used by Spanish officialdom no longer pre-
vailed.'Og However, this "Filipino" irnagmed community, whatever its
theoretical basis, in fact consisted only of the educated, the ilustrados of
the 1860s.
Two decades later, in April 1887, Rizal would write to Blumentritt
concerning those in Madrid editing EspaCa en FiL$inas, ". . . these
friends are all young men, criollos, mestizos, Malays, we call ourselves
only Filipinos . . ." (Rnal 1930-1938, 5:111). But, in fact, that self-iden-
tification of the ilustrados in Europe, now a much larger and &verse
group than in the Manila of the 1860s, was also then showing its fr@ty
when Igorots and Negritos were brought to the Exposihbn de Filipinas in
Madrid. Filomeno Agurlar has pointed out that though individuals like
Isabelo de 10s Reyes, or even the criollo Evaristo Aguirre, could speak
of them as "brothers," and Rizal spoke of "my compatriots" and
"my countrymen," the unity was fragde and ambivalent. Aguilar has
made this clear in his article showing the relation of Ferdinand
Blumentritt's 1882 Versuch einer Etnographie der Phil$pinen t o the early
wave-theory t hi nhng of Rizal and his friends. ". . . [Rlare was the
ifustrado who prized 'mountain tribes' in deep comradeship . . ." (Agurlar
2005, 616).
But, at the same time, the limts of identification with the imagined
community were hkewise being challenged at the other end of the racial
109. One must make an exception for the very few places-Binondo was the
only major one, the traditional center of the Chinese mestizos-where the influx
of new Chinese immigrants after 1850 preserved in part the old pattern, estab-
lished in the seventeenth century, that the Chinese mestizos retained their pre-
cedence over the indio and Chinese gremios. Moreover, many mestizos, still of
first generation, retained much of Chinese culture and were closer to the gremio
de chinos than to that of the naturahs (indios). Here the three gremios still remained
distinct up to the 1880s, as may be seen in the test confrontation organized by
Juan Zulueta and Marcelo del Pilar of a demonstration of gobernadorcillos from
the wider Manila that took place against the parish priest, Fr. JosC Hevia
Campomanes, O.P., in 1888, demanding precedence for the gremio de nat~raks, the
"genuine Filipinos." But this was peculiar to Binondo (Wickberg 1964;
Schumacher 1997, 109-ll), and, in fact, the conflict was stirred up more to
triumph over the friars than anydung else.
spectrum. Graciano Gp e z Jaena had already written to Rizal in March
1887 concerning the crisis over the Filipino periodcal, E.Fpa6a en Fifijjinas:
It is not we genuine or real in do^ who are encouraging the dissension but
rather the [Spanish] mestizos . . . . I am becoming dady more con-
vinced that our countrymen, the mestizos, far from working for the
common good, are following the policy of their predecessors, the
Azcirragas; I am glad that they [the criollos and Spanish mestizo^]"^
are bringing about the divlsion and not we. @al 1930-1938, 1:252-
53; trans. in Schumacher 1997, 65; italics mine)
The self-identification of the 1860s, limited as it was, would be
wider in the 1880s, but would eventually break down. The revolution of
1868 in Spain with its constant rise and fall of governments, extending
even into the restored monarchy, together with the facilitating of travel
due to the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, had led to massive in-
fluxes of politically-appointed peninsulars into the upper ranks of the
Phdippine administration, displacing the hijos del pais. At the same time,
it facilitated travel from the Philippines to Spain, for study or other
purposes. Henceforth, there would be a split among those of Spanish
blood, most identifying themselves with Spain, even marrying and
remaining in the Peninsula, while only a minority would see their future
with the emergng Filipino nation. This was a further step forward
toward a Filipino national identity, but still tenuous. It would take con-
siderable further evolution before a common self-identification would
come about, however imperfectly, as we see in the terms cccultural
minorities" and "indgenous peoples" or even "natives," often in use
110. It is clear that in using the term "mestizos" Ldpez Jaena had in mind
all those of predominantly Spanish descent, for the Azcirragas were criollos, as
was Eduardo de Lete, his immediate target, and Pedro de Govantes. Others, like
Eduardo Casal, were Spanish mestizos. The criollo, Agmrre, who was close to
Lete, was no doubt included in his target, though it was he who insisted that he
recopzed no fatherland but the Philippines. Indeed, it was Aguirre who had
provoked the crisis in the newspaper by his reference to the Igorot woman, who
had died of pneumonia in the 1886 exposidon, as "Daughter of a people that
is rude combat, unconquered resists the foreign yoke." See Schumacher 1997,
77-79.
among Filipinos today. But a beginning had been made, even in the
1 8 6 0 ~ ~ and further advances would come in the last decades before the
revolution.
A final conclusion concerns the friars and the Filipino clergy, what-
ever their ascribed ethnicity. The efforts of the Fdipino priests to pre-
vent their extinction by short-sighted friars, not to use a worse term, was
the occasion for the struggle discussed here. It was epitomized in the
genuine manifesto of 1864 whose authentic text we have established and
whose authorship we have attempted to clarify. The Patronato Real,
which had made possible the creation of a Christian community, one
increasingly moving toward maturity, in spite of obstacles, with its own
clergy by the beginning of the eighteenth century, had become by the
nineteenth century largely, if not totally, a political instrument exploited
by men like Agudo and Mayordomo for maintaining Spanish rule over
a subject people. In spite of the many undeniably dedicated and self-
sacrificing missionaries still to be found in the most difficult and isolated
parts of the country, the work of evangelization was being strangled by
a political instrumentalization by the government of large parts of the
Spanish regular clergy, an instrurnentalization not resisted by many friars
seeking the advantage of their own particular orders. Though attacked as
unf& by the Recollect historian, Fr. Angel Martinez Cuesta (1986, 369),
correctly pointing to the dedicated Recollect missionaries we have more
than once referred to above, the statement of Father Uy at the end of
his book stands valid in its limited and careful wording. It reads: "The
intrigues of the regulars in M d a and at the court of Madrid revealed
that their scale of loyalty was something lrke [:I &st, their order; second
Spain; third, the church" (Uy 1984, 258). Men like Felix, Agudo, and
Mayordomo, to name only the most obvious mentioned in this article,
fell into that category. While they sought to preserve their own position
by preventing any internal reforms, especially needed in those two
orders,"' as well as to prove themselves and their orders indispensable
111. The decadence that had come on the friar orders, with the exception of
the Dominicans, is not known simply from their enemies in the Propaganda
Movement of the years leading to the revolution, or from the novels of Rizal,
but from confidential ecclesiastical sources communicating with the nuncio, like
to continued Spanish rule, as they undoubtedly believed, they were in fact
bringing about the destruction of both. Two Augustinian authors of the
present have commented on a juridical document of the Recollect
provincial, Fr. Juan Felix de la Encarnacibn, attempting to refute the
bishops' reform proposals of 1863. Their comment may serve to sum
up the ecclesiastical issue.
We accept the weighty judgment of our author, but it was no
longer the time to continue proceeding with juridical disputes be-
tween the secular clergy and the regular clergy. Rather it was time
to give a solution to the problems that were buffeting the Phhppine
church. For to continue along this path, the Spanish dominion and
the privdeges of the regulars over the native clergy would have been
eternal. This was the thesis lived by all and each one of the
Spanish friars who were workmg in the Islands. The sad result of all
this was, that d t a r y arms came to resolve what the pens and the
Briefs and Bulls of the Roman Pontiffs had not succeeded in
achieving. . . . (Rodriguez and hvarez 1998, 271, n. 104; translation
mine)
Abbreviations
AAM Archives of the Archdiocese of Manila
AHCJC Arxiu Histbric de la Companiya de Jesus a Catalunya, Barcelona
(formerly AmCJ, Sant Cugat del Vallks, Barcelona)
AHN Archivo Hist6rico Nacional, Madrid
AM Archivo de 10s Recoletos, Marcilla, Navarra
APAF Archivo de 10s Padres Agustinos de Filipinas, Valladolid
APPSJ Archives of the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus, Quezon
City
APTCJ Archivo de la Provincia de Tarragona de la Compaiiia de Jesus, Sant
Cugat del Vallks, Barcelona (now AHCJC)
the Comisario Apostdlico of the Dominicans, Fr. Antonio Orge, O.P., and Bishop
Jirneno of Cebu, both in communications to Nuncio Barili (Uy 1984, 69, 174).
One could justly also cite Pellez and the archbishop with further details in con-
fidential documents, even though their friar opponents might accuse them of
partiality.
ASV Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Vatican City
AUST Archives of the University of Santo To d s , Manila
BAH Biblioteca de la Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid
BNM Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid
Espasa Encichpeda uniwsal ilustrad? eumpa-ameniana (Barcelona: Espasa-Calpe,
1907-1 933)
PNA Philippine National Archives, Manila
PNL Philippine National Library, Manila
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