Dusk: A Novel (Modern Library Paperbacks) (3 page)

This novel contains expressions and words—some Spanish, some specific to the Philippines—that may be unfamiliar to the reader. A glossary has been included at the end of the book.

BANTAY, ILOKOS SUR
MAY 3, 1880

My Very Beloved in Christ
,
Reverend Father Superior:

Once again, I will acquaint Your Reverence with what has transpired in this distant post where I served for more than forty years, and once again I will summarize my activities during my last year there and beg your indulgence for what I will relate, knowing full well that you have grown tired of listening to me, particularly my insistence that we need more young people in the missions and, therefore, more of the Indios in the seminaries
.

As evidenced by these figures from the mission, you will note moreover that the baptisms and marriages have increased while the deaths—barring another epidemic of cholera or smallpox—have decreased
.

From these records, Your Reverence will also see, perhaps with some satisfaction, that there has been an increase in the population, not just in Cabugaw but in other towns, sometimes as much as double, during the last ten years. This makes it really necessary for us to build more churches—an activity for which we have always been known, attesting to our capabilities as builders, and for which I am justly proud
.

The entire region is showing commercial importance. While it is true that indigo has been our best crop, now we are also harvesting
more cotton. The woven cotton sent to other regions of Filipinas has increased. The raising of draft animals continues and our horses are sold all the way to Manila, where they often win at the races. I hear that even the Archbishop keeps some of these beautiful animals. As a matter of fact, when I was transferred here from Cabugaw because, as Your Reverence said, of old age and infirmity, I had hoped to be sent to Manila instead so that I could see how these horses run in the races. Having cared for them, I know their breed has improved. As for their endurance, I have ridden them across the Cordilleras several times. They have been reliable, and sturdy as well
.

As for tobacco, it is true that the crop has increased the revenues and pleased the
principalia,
but the monopoly has created for us many problems. It has transformed honest men into thieves. We have had this monopoly for decades and I am glad that it will soon end
.

Early next year, I will celebrate my fiftieth year in the priesthood, most of these years in Filipinas. Half a century! That I have served this long, still read without glasses, and write with an even hand as you can see, proves that I am still capable and should not be shut up in retirement. I should be ministering to the people or actively teaching in the seminary across the river
.

But the wishes of Your Reverence must be served
.

I must now reiterate my thinking about the conditions, not only in our province, as I know them and as gleaned from travelers
.

The people have not forgotten the execution of the three mestizo priests in Cavile eight years ago. They were from distinguished families noted for their urbanity, education, and of
course, loyalty to Mother Spain. It is not for me to recall the ecclesiastical arguments concerning this tragic event; people of greater experience and wisdom have already commented on it. I am merely looking back and reexamining the arguments or the circumstances from which we can learn so that we may continue to build the Church as strongly as we have done during the last three centuries
.

I say this knowing that in other parts of the world, particularly in America Sur, our influence is no longer what it used to be. Even here in Nueva Segovia this demonic English organization, this Masonry, has already reached out with its evil tentacles under alluring guises and seduced some
ilustrados.

But before I proceed, may I describe what I consider to be the Ilokano character. I will make generalizations and, of course, there are exceptions, for in any community there will be those who do not conform
.

The half century I have lived here has convinced me that the Ilokano is trustworthy; he knows gratitude and regards it as a paramount virtue. If we were to look for friends, they should be Ilokanos because I cannot think of a more loyal people than they. They are also hardworking, persevering, and frugal Their industry is such that they work from early dawn to late at night, particularly if there is moonlight, unlike the Tagalog and the Bisaya. And they have enduring patience. The women sit at the loom all day long. They harvest their rice stalk by stalk, and not with the sickle. They are not only patient, for after the harvest there is not a single grain in the field that has not been gleaned
.

They do not waste anything—everything is useful. The trees around their homes, the plants in their gardens—all bear fruit or can be eaten. But beware; the water buffalo is a patient, friendly
,
and docile animal, but when it is angered, it is also the most vicious of creatures. Run away from it for your life is in danger—this we must always remember. Our tragic experience with the rebel Diego Silang has shown that such madness can spread like the plague
.

The Ilokanos are true Catholics and nowhere else have they built churches as industriously and as devotedly as they have in this province. They are truly devout and they observe all the holy days of obligation
.

I say all this, Your Reverence, because I feel deeply about what is happening in this part of the country, the growing discontent that is not yet expressed but will soon be. We could do so much as men of God to show to our flock that we not only mean well, but that it is only under the protection of Mother Spain that this land can be with God and progress
.

Your Reverence, we have often prided ourselves on our sense of history. Indeed, history should be kind to us, for we have not been remiss in our tasks. But our service was not always tempered with wisdom. We know that we are not going to be here forever, that the institutions we are building can only last for as long as they are cared for by Indios themselves. For them we have already given our time, our sweat, and even our lives. And I worry that they will not care for these nor will they bother to strengthen what we leave them if they don’t see these—our ministrations and the Church—as theirs. It cannot be otherwise; these institutions are in their land although we transferred them from a distant peninsula
.

It is not for me, Your Reverence, to blunder into a realm about which I know little. But I have lived here so long, I can feel the passions which, I know, are seething in the hearts of many in my flock. This is not our country and these people are not related to
us by blood. A wide and cruel ocean separates us and, try as we may to impart to them what we know, they will always be Indios and we, Spaniards. They will imitate us and we flatter ourselves hoping that it is the best side of our nature that they will copy—the dignity, the pride that we have in ourselves. But this will not be so; they will instead inherit our vices, and as I look around me, I can already see what those are—the greed and the corruption that exist in the highest reaches of the
principalia
here as it had existed, too, in Valladolid
.

This is not what we want. When the time comes, I pray that we will go peacefully
.

For the first time, some of their young men are now in Europe, learning what we ourselves have learned. Surely, they will return, their minds enlightened, their thinking broadened, in a way perhaps that ours would never be because we wear the cloth. While we have a spiritual depth which they cannot equal, they will also be more familiar with the secular world, which we sometimes do not fully understand
.

It is inevitable, I think, that they should be prepared not just for the duties which all citizens of Filipinas should shoulder, but more than this, they should be equal partners in the leadership. The world is changing; we have already seen what happened to our provinces in the Americas. The time approaches when they should sit side by side with us in our highest councils not because this is what they want but because this is what we ourselves desire
.

This means that there should be more Indios selected not just from the
principalia
and the mestizo families, but from the peasantry, who will have to go beyond the
cartilla.
In the seminary, I should be teaching not just a dozen pupils but three or five dozen so that our strength and our influence will be permanent
.

Forgive me, Reverend Father, for what I now have to say. Forgive
these thoughts of an old man who has been touched, perhaps by fever, but just the same, please listen
.

Eventually, we may have to admit into our Order the native priests we have trained and train them further in our Houses in Spain, not because we believe they are equal to us—which is sometimes difficult for me to believe because I have always regarded them as children—but because they should be able to manage their own house eventually as all children must when they grow up
.

Your Reverence, I know that there are loud dissenting voices in our fraternity, that our military grumbles, and many of the officers find the idea abhorrent. In your last visit to the mission, for instance, I am sure that you remember Capitán Gualberto of the Lawag garrison, how trenchant his views. But Your Reverence knows as well as I do that where the sword is used, the cross is cursed. Capitán Gualberto’s objections are not really insurmountable, as can be seen by the effectiveness of our ministrations where we have persevered
.

In the Ilokos, Your Reverence, we have succeeded because we have remained and worked with the people, who showered us with goodwill and sincerity. These cannot but be reciprocated
.

I have mentioned how bright some of our wards have been, and it is very sad to see that they cannot go beyond the schooling now permitted them. Some ten years ago, for instance, I brought into the mission in Cabugaw a farm boy of ten whom I had confirmed. There was something in the boy’s face which proclaimed not just his intelligence but qualities of leadership. I taught him Latin, too, gave him the books those studying for the priesthood read. I also taught him the little I know of physics, astronomy, botany, and explained to him the native plants of medicinal
value. I taught him what I knew of anatomy. I let him read
The Confessions.
He was full of questions
.

He showed great intelligence, for which his race is not particularly noted. I am aware of the advice against someone from the lowest ranks eventually joining the priesthood. He is still in Cabugaw and I mention him only to show how capable they are in learning and, perhaps, in administering their own affairs, so that those of us in the Order can attend to the more important duties at hand—the eradication, for instance, of Masonry
.

We have been here so long. This alone convinces me of our God-given obligation to the Indios. I expect to spend my last days here in Bantay just as so many of us have done and I am happy that my life is my contribution to Mother Spain and to God
.