Visayas

“ On the death of an adult a feast is sometimes held among the better families, but the funeral itself is conducted after the ordinary Roman Catholic fashion.
The Visayas inhabit all the islands to the south of Luzon, Masbate, Burias, Ticao, and Mindoro, and to the north of Borneo, Sulu, and Mindanao. In the 15th and 16th centuries they were called “Pintados” (i.e., painted people) by the Spaniards. Though they had attained a considerable degree of civilization before the conquest, they readily accepted Christianity and assisted in the subjugation of the Tagals. ”

“ The islands ordinarily included in the group known as “The Visayas” from the ancient tribal name of the civilized Filipino people who inhabit them, who are called Visayans, are Samar, Panay, Negros, Leyte, Cebú, Bohol, Masbate, Tablas, Romblon, Ticao, Burias, Siquijor and numerous smaller islands adjacent to those named. Although their inhabitants are all rated as one people, they speak a number of more or less distinct dialects. Only Panay, Negros, Samar, Tablas and Sibuyan have non-Christian inhabitants, and in the three islands last named their number is so small as to be negligible. ”

“ But these men do not make the rule for the other nations of this archipelago, who are numerous and different. I can truly tell what I see among the Spaniards of Visayas, who dress in the same manner as the Indians; and very rarely do they put on shoes and stockings or slippers, except on an important feast-day when they go to the church, for they cannot endure it any other way. It is a fact that the Indians do preserve somewhat their ancient customs in districts where there is less civilization and instruction ”

“ To the inhabitants of these small islands, fertile Mindanao, with its broad lands, free to all, is what the United States were a generation ago to the cotters of Cork or Kerry—a land of promise.
There is, however, a demoralising tendency at work amongst the Visayas. The profits of bartering with the hill-men are so great, that they are tempted away from their agriculture, and from their looms, to take up this lucrative trade, in competition with the Chinese.
The Visaya has one great advantage over the Chinaman; he has the courage to go up into the hills, and find his customers in their haunts. ”

“ To sum up, the Visaya is a necessary man in Mindanao, and the immigration should be encouraged. All the Visaya towns bordering on the Moros should have their somatenes armed, exercised, and supplied with ammunition. Amongst Visayas are to be found plenty of men well suited to command these bands. As they are fighting the Moros for life [333] and property, they may be trusted to stand up to them manfully.
The illustration shows a party of Visayas militia belonging to the town of Baganga, in Caraga, under a native officer of gigantic stature, Lieutenant Don Prudencio Garcia. ”

“ The ancestors of the Visayas were converted to Christianity at, or soon after, the Spanish conquest. They have thus been Christians for over three centuries, and in constant war with the Mahometan pirates of Mindanao and Sulu, and with the Sea Dayaks of Borneo. However, in some localities they still show a strong hankering after witchcraft, and practise secret heathen rites, notwithstanding the vigilance of the parish priests. ”

“ Ancient writers accused the Visaya women of great sensuality and unbounded immorality, and gave details of some very curious customs, which are unsuitable for general publication. However, the customs I refer to have been long obsolete among the Visayas, although still existing amongst some of the wilder tribes in Borneo. The Visaya women are very prolific, many having borne a dozen children, but infant mortality is high, and they rear but few of them. The men are less sober than the Tagals—they manufacture and consume large quantities of strong drink. ”

“ The Visayas of Caraga are especially valiant and self-reliant, and they needed to be so, for the Spaniards, whenever hard pressed by English, Dutch or Portuguese, had a way of recalling their garrisons, and leaving their dependents to shift for themselves. The Visaya of Mindanao, therefore, though not a soldier, is a fighting-man, and their towns possess a rudimentary defensive organisation called the somaten. ”

“ Cebú, 15,444 tons of sugar; 80,271 bales of hemp; 46,414 piculs of Copra. And [305] it must be remembered that the Visayas cultivate most of the rice, maize, and other food-stuffs which they consume, and also make their own instruments of agriculture. Besides this, Ilo-ilo exported to other parts of the Philippines a million dollars’ worth of textiles of cotton, silk, and other fibres, made by the Visayas women in hand-looms. The women in Antique make the finest piña, a beautiful transparent texture of the utmost delicacy, woven from the fibres of the leaves of a non-fruiting pine (ananas) . ”

“ There are upwards of thirty races in the Philippines, each speaking a different dialect, but five-sixths of the entire Christian population is composed of the Tagalos and Visayas. The former live in Mindoro and the southern half of Luzon, and the latter in Cebu, Iloilo and other islands in the center of the group. The Tagalos are more numerous than the Visayas, but both races are about equal in civilization, intelligence and wealth. It is claimed by Aguinaldo's partisans that the Visayas are in sympathy with his insurrection and intend to send representatives to the congress. ”

“ They assured General Otis of the hearty support of the Visayas except those few who have been stirred into revolt by the agents of Aguinaldo on the Island of Panay.
The government of Negros, they declared, was in favor of American rule, and there was no adverse sentiment whatever among the natives. The stars and stripes are now floating over all the official buildings on the island. The commission offered to raise an army of 100,000 Visayans to fight the Tagalos on the Island of Luzon. The commissioners represent large sugar-interests in Negros. ”

“ The missionaries of the north of Mindanao were recalled by the Father Superior to Manila; but in some of the towns the native converts and Visayas have detained them by force, and keep a watch on them to prevent their escape. They treat them well, and allow them to exercise their ministry.
As there are no Moros in that part of the island, the missionaries are not in danger, for they are much beloved by their converts, whose only desire is to keep them amongst them. ”

“ The inhabitants of the Central Islands or Visayas are more uncouth, decidedly less hospitable, and somewhat more averse to associations and relations with outsiders than the Tagals, but I think they would easily come under sway. ”

“ Of the Visayas and Mindanao we know nothing positive as yet, it is whispered that the Americans have succeeded in occupying Negros and Cebú against the will of the inhabitants. Iloílo continues the struggle energetically. ”

“ Waray-waray is one of several languages called Visayan or Bisayan, and is spoken in the eastern part of the Visayas region of the Philippines, that is, the islands of Leyte and Samar, by, currently, about 2 to 3 million speakers. ”

“ But we are talking about islands that need to be charted on the sea of world politics. The Visayan Islands that really count at all in a great problem such as that we are now considering, are but six in number: Panay, capital Iloilo; Cebu, capital Cebu; Bohol, Negros, Samar, and Leyte.7 Iloilo is [144] some three hundred and odd miles south of Manila, and, besides being the capital of Panay, is the chief port of the Visayas and the second city of the archipelago, Cebu being the third. ”

“ For example, confining ourselves for the moment to the Christianized tribes, it may be asserted that the inhabitants of the great Cagayan Valley, the tobacco-growing country, are at least as different from those of the Visayas, the great middle group of Islands, as are the Italians from the Spanish. Precisely similar differences, increasing, roughly, with the difference of latitude, may be drawn almost at random between any other pairs of the elements constituting the Filipino population. ”

“ It is scarcely half a century since they annually attacked the Visayas Islands and even Southern Luzon, and they have been, up to quite lately, the great obstacle to the civilisation of the Southern Philippines. In Culion, Cuyos and other islands the churches are built within a stone fort, in which the population took refuge when the Moros appeared. The old Spanish sailing men-of-war could not cope with these sea rovers, who in their light prahus, salisipanes, or vintas, kept in shallow water or amongst reefs where these vessels could not reach them. ”

“ The Visayas Islands have been, of late years, harassed by the Moro pirates; but a notable expedition is undertaken (1639) against those of the Lake Lanao region, in which the Recollect missionary known as “Padre Capitan” is a prominent figure. [19] For the time, those Moros are awed and warned. Diaz recounts the main events of that time—Corcuera’s expedition to Jolo and the insurrection of the Chinese. Errasti dies in 1639, and his vacant office is assumed by Fray Juan Ramírez, the past provincial.
In 1640 the Jesuit Bobadilla writes a description of the Philippines and their people. ”

“ Thus disappeared our trade in indigo, thanks to the trickery of the Chinese, which the government could not guard against, occupied as it was with other thoughts; thus die now the other industries; the fine manufactures of the Visayas are gradually disappearing from trade and even from use; the people, continually getting poorer, cannot afford the costly cloths and have to be content with calico or the imitations of the Germans, who produce imitations even of the work of our silversmiths. ”

“ The Visayas are no less credulous than the Tagals, for in Samar, during my recollection, there have been several disturbances caused by fanatics who went about in rags, and by prayers, incoherent speeches, and self-mortification acquired a great reputation for sanctity. The poor ignorant people, deluded by these impostors, who gave themselves out to be gods, and as such, impervious to bullets, and immortal, abandoned their homes and followed these false gods wherever they went, listening to their wild promises, and expecting great miracles. They soon came into collision with the Guardia Civil ”

“ The Visayas are taxed with great indolence, yet they are almost the only working people in districts which export a great quantity of produce. Leyte and Samar produce a good many bales of excellent hemp, and it should be remembered that every bale represents at least twelve days’ hard work of one man in cleaning the fibre only, without counting the cultivation, conveyance to the port, pressing, baling, and shipping.
In Negros and Panay the sugar estates are much larger than in Luzon, and mostly belong to Spaniards or mestizos. ”

“ It is to be hoped that it will be. The people of the Philippines must come to feel that they are one people, with common interests, and that all must work together to develop the whole country.
227Iloilo, the principal city of the Visayas, is on the island of Panay. It is an open seaport, and will in time become a very important city. It was destroyed during the insurrection, but is now rapidly building up again. Under good management it will some day be one of the main shipping centers of the archipelago. ”

“ By December 1 it was evident that, although Spanish empire in Visayas had been definitely broken, there was absolute discord among the (southern) rebels themselves. They split up into rival factions, each one wanting to set up a government of its own. The American Peace Commissioners had made their formal demand for the cession of all the Islands, and it was clear to the Spanish Government that General Rios would sooner or later have to evacuate under the treaty. It was useless, therefore, to continue to shed European blood and waste treasure in those regions. ”

“ The people will then be united; they will know how to govern their land wisely and justly. They will understand, as they have not done before, the relation one nation bears to others in the world, and will be able to develop the great wealth of their country.
The two great tribes of Malay Filipinos are the Tagals and the Visayans. The Tagals live in southern Luzon, the Visayans in the group of islands called the Visayas, which lie south of Luzon and north of Mindanao. There are, besides, many lesser peoples in the islands, so that, as we have seen, there could be no common national life. ”

“ The tragical side of American unpreparedness is manifest in the state of anarchy in which the whole Archipelago has been plunged by the American unreadiness to occupy the military posts as soon as they were vacated by the Spanish garrisons. A hideous orgy of murder, plunder, and slave-raiding has prevailed in Visayas, and especially in Mindanao. ”

“ The language used in Luzón and other northern islands is different from that of the Visayas; but all the natives write, expressing themselves fluently and correctly, and using a simple alphabet which resembles the Arabic. Their houses, and their mode of life therein, arc fully described; also their government, social organization, and administration of justice. The classes and status of slaves, and the causes of enslavement are recounted. Their customs in marriages and dowries, divorces, adoption, and inheritance are described; also in usury, trading, and punishment for crimes. ”