THE PHILIPPINES

Waipa Post, Volume 47, Issue 3384, 24 October 1933, Page 6

THE PHILIPPINES

A WILD COUNTRY. COMING INDEPENDENCE. YEARS’ PRELIMINARIES. Thirty-five years ago Commodore George Dewey’s fleet destroyed the Spanish Admiral Montojo’s gunboats in Manila Bay. Three months later Major-General Wesley Merritt’s soldiers, assited by sailors from the fleet, took the city of Manila. Ever since those historic exploits the American flag has waved officially over the Philippine Islands. For thirtyfive years the little brown men of the Philippines have been the adopted brothers of the white men of America. But now the period of brotherhood seems destined to pass. Both Houses of the United States Congress passed the Bill granting independence to the Philippines, and repassed it over President Hoover’s veto, says a London paper. In substance, the measure provides for a Constitution, drawn up by a Philippine convention, ratified by the people of the islands, the ratification to serve as a plebiscite on the question of freedom. Preliminaries are expected to require two years, and in the event of a favourable popular vote a ten-year period o,f probation then is to follow. On the July 4 following the end of the probation period the islands are to be proclaimed free and American sovereignty is to be withdrawn, except over military and naval statio'ns agreed upon.

The native politicians of the Philippines do not like the independence plan. They think the period of probation too long. The President who vetoed the measure thought the period of probation too brief. It is difficult to please everybody, even in the matter liberty. Those who have favoured independence in the Philippines see the islands under their ow'n rule continuing the progress set in motion there by the United States. Those who have opposed independence predict that the Philippines will be in the throes of tribal wars as soon as the Americans withdraw. Anyone familiar with the recent history of the islands knows that it was only yesterday that head-hunting was stamped out among the wild tribes of the mountains in northern Luzon.

The native population has been a problem for the Americans ever since they took command in the Philippines. On the 7083 islands that make up the Philippine group there are scattered nearly 13,000,000 inhabitants, all but a few thousand of whom are natives. The main part of the population dwell on the eleven larger islands. There are more than forty different ethnographic groups in the Philippines. The Filipinos proper, descendants of Malays Christianised by the Spaniards, are divided into eight groups —the Bisaya, Tagalog, Uoko, Bikol, Pangasianan,, Pampangan, Ibanag, and Sambal. They remain Christians to-day. The classified pagan peoples of the islands are divided into eighteen groups and the unclassified pagans into twelve groups. The Moros, who are largely Mohammedan, are divided into seven groups. Non-Christian inhabitants of the Philippines consist of the pigmies, Indoesians, and Malays. Ti e pigmies are Negritos, thus called by the Spaniards because they are black and small. Indcesians were immigrants who appear to have mixed with the pigmies and others. Non-Christian Malays are pagan or Mohammedan. The pagan Malays, including the Ifugoa, or Igorot, the Bontok Igorot, and the Tingian, with a number of lesser tribes, such as the Ucngot and the Kalinga, dwell in the mountainous interior of northern Luzon. They are believed to have settled in these mountains at least 1500 years ago.

The Ifugao, by far the most numerous, practice irrigation on a large scale, the mountain sides of their territory forming the most extensive terrace system in the world. These terraces are built upon walls of solid rock construction. All the wild tribes of the mountains, including the Negritos, practised head-hunting until American officials, backed by soldiers, stamped out that evil. Men who campaigned in the Philippines in the early days of American occupation had a song, one line of which ran, “We’ll civilise ’em with the Krag.” Perhaps thenmethods of civilising- were a bit heroic, but the fact remains that when America took possession of the islands a large proportion of their population was steeped in savagery. There were only a few missionary schools along- the coast and none m the highlands, while to-day there are 8000 public schools and more than 700 private schools in the Philippines, with nearly 2,00,000 children attending classes. In addition there now are tliii ly-four Government hospitals and 9 4‘A Government dispensaries there.

It is contended by some that a withdrawal of American control will be a signal for the wild tribes to return to head-hunting. The Bontok Igorots, the most courageous warriors of the mountains, still cherish the preserved skulls of their foes, their head-axes, and lances, and not one of the older members of that tribe has forgotten

the “canao,” the drinking, feasting and dancing festival which always followed the taking of a head. A good ‘canao” insured the people against the vengeance of the ‘anito,” or spirit, ofthe person who had lost his head.