ROQUE LOPEZ LETTER, JANUARY 15, 1899

Exhibit 1217.

[Original in Spanish. Newspaper. P.I.R., 912.2.]

JARO, January 15, 1899.

Roque Lopez y Apallaza, President of the Federal State of Visayas, Makes Known:

It being necessary for this Government to secure its legitimate revenues as soon as possible, and the principal and most important being the personal, industrial and urban taxes, which should be collected at this time, I order,

1. That as soon as possible, the local presidentes of the towns assisted by such persons as they may select, shall prepare a general list of all the inhabitants of the towns and barrios, without excepting any sex or age, from the recently born and baptized to those who are decrepit, stating their names and maternal and paternal surnames, the place of their birth, age, profession, trade or customary occupation and civil status, these statements being placed in columns, an endeavor being made to avoid placing persons under 14 years of age among those over said age; that is to say that those who have attained said age of 14 years shall be entered on a book different from that on which those under said age are inscribed.

This list shall be the basis for the rights of citizenship, so that he who fails to appear included therein by reason of a cause chargeable to the person interested, shall be understood to renounce such right, and if the fact of his not appearing on said list should be due to the fault of the local authority, the latter shall lose such citizenship, be dismissed from office and fined 100.00 pfs. These registrations must be made free of charge.

2. All persons registered, both men and women, of fourteen years of age or over, at which age it may be said that man and woman enter upon the social life until their death, shall be obliged to provide themselves with a certificate of their registration, showing in addition to the data shown by the register, the names of their parents and grand parents; this document shall serve to establish their identity and citizenship during the calendar year, and men shall pay therefor 1.50 pfs. and women 0.75 pfs. to the local Presidente, who will issue this certificate with the intervation of the Delegates of the Treasury and Police, who shall turn such sums into the Public Treasury.

These certificates of citizenship and identity shall be issued free of charge at the risk and for the account of the local presidente and the Delegates of the Treasury and Police authenticating the documents, to those physically or mentally incapable, when they shall have no property; if they should own property, they shall be obliged to provide themselves with such documents at their own expense.

He who shall be found without such certificate, shall be declared a violator of the law and placed at the disposition of this Government, which will force him to provide himself with one and fine him 300 pesos for the violation, and if he should not have any property with which to make the payment, he shall be sentenced to work on public or private works, and allowed one peseta per day for his subsistence and another peseta to be applied to the payment of the debt. If the person discovered should be under twenty-three years of age, he shall be allowed 1 real for his subsistence, and another real for the payment of his debt.

Every citizen has the right to denounce to the Government any abuses of the local Presidentes which they may commit, the person against whom charges are brought, in the event of their being proved, being dismissed from office, losing their rights of citizenship, together with the confiscation of their property, or being banished.

3. Therefore, by virtue of this order, personal certificates of the personal prestation, registrations of birth, marriage and death, the provisional passes heretofore issued by military commanders in the field, are abolished, as well as the offices of heads of barangays and "primogenitos," the latter being only required to furnish without question, the information which the local delegates may demand of them.

4. The local presidente is obliged, under the penalty established by the Penal Code, to ascertain the deaths occurring in the towns and barrios of their jurisdiction, listing the deceased according to their chronological order of death, recording the same information that is comprised in the register of those living, in addition to the names of their parents, their place of birth and parish in which they were baptized; two copies shall be made of these lists of living and dead one being filed in the archives of the towns and the other transmitted to this Government through the Commissioners of the Treasury, Sres. Melliza, Concepcion and Locsin.

5. The Delegates of the Treasury in the towns of this territory, upon the day they shall receive this proclamation, shall without delay prepare a list of the industries and commercial stores, as also of all the

estates situated in the towns and barrios of their jurisdiction, stating their character, and will regard to the estates, in addition, their frontage and depth. This list shall be transmitted at once to my Delegates of the Treasury, Sres. Melliza, Concepcion and Locsin.

6. Any doubt and question arising in the minds of the local Presidentes, must be submitted directly to my said Delegates Sres Melliza Concepcion and Locsin, who are fully authorized to decide co instanti any difficultles which may arise in connection with this proclamation.

Let it be published for general information.

Given in Jaro, January 15, 1899.

ROQUE LOPEZ,
President.

FRANCISCO SORIANO,
Scctretary General.