GELLADA TO TIGBAUAN PRESIDENTE, SEPTEMBER 30, 1900

Exhibit 1298.

[Spanish. A.D.S. P.I.R., 1054.1]

(In the margin) Stamp: Military Headquarters, Southern Zone. Visayas, Iloilo. No. ,52.

SEPTEMBER 20, 1900.

The data which from day to day this Military Delegation is gathering being numerous and important as well as of undoubtable veracity, with regard to the political attitude of that town which should be the foremost in patriotism and abnegation in favor of the holy cause which has opened in the heart of the Filipino people an inexhaustible source of most precious and generous blood which without cessation floods the altar of our unfortunate country, data which clearly reveal the true motives of the coldness and indifference with which you and the town you represent have received all the others and communications which have been addressed to you in the name of the Government and army in spite of the dissimulation and hypocrisy with which you and certain other persons have desired to cover your real intentions inspired by treasonable and evil sentiments for the purpose of deceiving in an outrageous manner this delegation, making use of the miserable and played out policy of showing two faces, one to Christ and the other to the devil, excusing yourself in this manner from the obligation of concurring with positive acts to the charges weighing upon the government and army and eluding responsibilities and charges in favor of private interests and ambitions of known persons of that town, who exploit this anomalous situation in order to be wen with the enemy whom they bow down to; this delegation sees itself obliged to ask of you and of the local board, placing you upon your honor, in a clear and final manner, what your real intentions are and to define in a frank and loyal manner your political attitude and that of that town, which repents, without subterfuge or ambiguities in order to clear up this false situation which does not lead to anything positive, as this is required by the integrity of the sacred duties which the government and the army have imposed upon this delegation and also by your improper and insincere conduct to the same.

Consequently I am sorry to inform you that the position of this delegation, by virtue of unavoidable exigencies of sacred duties, in so far as you and the people you represent are concerned, is already defined in a clear and determine manner in the precise terms of the following alternative; either the death of yourself and of three or four other very prominent persons of that town who exercise a fatal influence in that local board, very well known to the Central Government and to this delegation by virtue of their treasonable conduct and servility, not to say more or less secret adherence to the enemy, and the ruin of that town which you govern; or the life of yourself and the preservation of the town declaring yourselves in a frank and loyal manner, without hypocrisy and mental reservations, adherents of the government and national army and complying, without subterfuge or evasion, with 011 orders, resolutions and communications which have already been sent you and which will be sent you hereafter by this Delegation, making you aware. of the fact that from this moment your fate has already been cast as well as that of the town and know that your silence wiH be interpreted as a final refusal and in the sense of the first alternative of the dilemma, and know also that no excuses or pretexts will do you any good nor the claim of unfounded fears in the presence of the enemy, as the other towns, notwithstanding the fact that they were in an identical situation have shown by acts of indisputable and transcendent importance, their adhesion, sincere and decided, in their faithful compliance with all the orders of this delegation.

I order you that this very day you tell Seņores Daniel Teruel, Vicente Tubruybauna and Florencio Taleon, that if they value their lives at anything and consider personal honor and dignity, they shall at once cease their treasonable machinations and not lead the people, through their policy of disunion and servility, to moral and political degradation. If they desire to join the cause of the Americanistas, let them do so at the proper time with dignity and their heads held high, as they are in their right; but let them respect this same right of others who do not have the same convictions and let them cease to exercise pressure by threats and denunciations, interfering with the liberty of action of the local board in its administrative progress, respecting its municipal interests as well as its relations with the government and this military delegation.

And, finally, trusting in the traditional patriotism of yourself, of the local board and of the town, I hope you will accept the 1800 bonds of the first class of the war tax, as an act of adhesion, throwing aside fears and scruples which signify nothing but weakness and lack of firmness, and I leave to your prudence and skill the form and manner of converting this tax into coin as soon as possible, as the harder the sacrifice the more significant and praiseworthy the act.

God preserve you many years for our liberty and independence.

REORGANIZATION CAMP, September 20, 1900.

(Signed) DOM. GELLADA,
Military Delegate of the South.

To the LOCAL PRESIDENTE OF TIGBAUAN.