EL PARDO MILITARY MEETING, MARCH 21, 1899

Exhibit 1389.

[Original in Spanish. Contemporary copy. P.I.R.. 29.4.]

In the pueblo of El Pardo (Cebu) on March 21st, 1899. In compliance with the orders of the Military Commander directing the assembly of the generals and commanders of this army, the undersigned met Seņor Arcadio Maxilom commander in chief as president. The session was opened with remarks by the president who said that the headquarters of the military forces and of the general staff had been established in this pueblo since the American forces had occupied the capital of this island which occurred owing to the fact that he did not return from the other coast until the very day on which the invader obtained the surrender of the capital and its fort while at the same time a revolutionary government composed of the same persons who had ceased to discharge their duties since they had surrendered their functions into the hands of the military party continued to exist. It is in his opinion highly anomalous that the provincial government should continue to exist within the territory occupied by the enemy and to perform acts of submission completely in contrast with the energetic protest of the act of surrender. Hence he asks the opinion of the gentlemen present as to the conduct which the Superior Military Commander should follow in future in his official relations with the said government. The General of the general staff Seņor Juan Climaco asked permission to speak and with the permission of the president said, that before expressing his opinion and in order that our political situation might be clearly understood he asked the indulgence of those present while he gave a slight sketch of the events which had led up to the present conditions, for he had taken part in them. He did this as possibly some of those present might not know the details of them which were as follows. Some days before the arrival of the North American forces he received news that they would soon arrive at this port, he convened in the office of the presidente a general meeting to discuss the means of defense and the line of conduct which should be followed by the government, and when the session was opened, Seņor Julio Llorente asked the chief of the general staff to make a statement concerning the matter to which the speaker replied.

1st. That the Government ought not to be ignorant of the scanty means of defense at the disposal of the province, for this had been reported to it repeatedly in order that it might assign the necessary amount for the purchase of arms, construction of trencheR and to meet the other necessities for defense. A report of all this had been made in especial to the delegate of the Treasury, who displayed patriotic enthusiasm and lavished promises but who did nothing.

2nd. That he had drawn up a plan of defense of the city based upon the means at his disposal and that he had well in advance given orders to the generals commanding zones for the organization of the forces of militia and for what they should do when they are ordered to concentrate their forces.

3rd. That in spite of it not being authorized by the Council of Government the construction of certain trenches had been completed and that work on certain others laid down in his plans was being continued but on account of various obstacles he had not· been able to expedite the work and that the trenches already built might have cannon placed in them but there was very little ammunition for them on account of the impossibility of obtaining any.

4th. That when all the fire arms had been collected they hardly amounted to 200 including rifles, muskets, shot guns and revolvers, while the ammunition on hand hardly amounted to forty rounds per weapon.

5th. That in view of these facts a formal and obstinate defense within the city would be impossible on account of its topography and hence the resistance would have to be made outside of it in accordance with his plan which is to withdraw all his forces to the places previously designated from which they can as circumstances may dictate, deploy in the outskirts thus covering the whole perimeter of the city. Those points may serve as bases of operations for continually attacking the enemy at opportune moments even when he is under the protection of the guns of his ships and the Filipinos will have the further advantage of being able to take shelter in their trenches in rear in case of necessity. Finally all of the scanty resources upon which they could reckon were enumerated, but on account of the enthusiastic desire of the people to oppose the disembarkation of the enemy, he asked that at any cost the North American invasion should be opposed and that all men between 18 and 50 should be required to bear arms except those legally exempt.

His statement having been fully considered by the meeting after some deliberation it was decided to resist.

Passing to the second question in issue that was whether the government should resign its powers to the military element and it being the opinion of the majority that the military commander should assume both civil and military powers, Seņor Julio Llorente asked who the person was who should have these powers. The speaker (Climaco) replied that in his opinion and in accordance with the laws in force they should fall upon Seņor Arcadio Maxilom because of his position as Superior Military Commander but the President, Seņor Luis Flores, opposed this stating that it was his duty to assume these powers since he had been recognized as General-in-Chief since the establishment of the camp at Sudlon and without further discussion the Councilors resigned their offices which resignations were accepted by Seņor Flores who directed that their functions should cease from that moment, the government thus remaining finally dissolved.

A few days afterwards the American gunboat Petrel arrived. Her commander sent a representative to the President stating his desires for a conference and asking that it should take place on board the vessel. Accordingly a commission was appointed with the speaker as a member; it immediately went on board the vessel where it was cordially received by the commander who stated that he came in the name of his government to occupy and take possession of the city and port of Cebu, not as an enemy but as a protector for this was the intention of his government, as stated in the proclamation of General Otis which he read to us and he asked us to hoist the flag of his nation upon the fort at five in the afternoon that same day. Seņor Pablo Mejia the head of the commission requested that this period should be extended until eight in the morning of the following day in order that President could be informed so that he could assemble a general meeting to consider the matter. This delay was granted and the president having been informed, the general meeting was called and met under the direction of the gentlemen who had formerly formed the government. The session being begun the question of which of the two extremes to adopt led to a warm debate on account of the widely different views of those taking part in the discussion, some standing out obstinately for resistance while others stood for peace, among the latter being the priests Seņores Padilla, Singson, Gorordo, and Seņores Llorente, Mejia, Cui, Singson and various others of such social prominence that their influence inclined the president toward surrender under protest and to direct the said Seņores Mejia, Llorente, Singson with Seņor Alburo as secretary to execute the surrender. When the period of time set expired and the appointed hour had arrived the commission again assembled, with the exception of the speaker (Climaco) who did not agree with this settlement of the question and went on board of the North American ship to report their action and to deliver the papers in the case to her commander. This having been done the question of the military occupation of the city and fort was taken up and the commander urged the gentlemen who formed the government of the province and who were also members of the commission to continue filling their several offices in order that the government should continue without interruption under the same laws and regulations as before but that its operations should be under his inspection and that the treasurer (Consejero de Rentas) should submit a balance sheet of his accounts and that he the commander should place an officer in charge of the Custom House. These gentlemen accepted this proposition with the sole purpose, according to their statement, of preventing the disturbance of public order on account of the irritation of the minds of the people who were opposed to the surrender and hence that government was reconstituted under the supervision of the authority of North America.

Considering the course of events and the occurences described above, the following is evident:

1st. As the provincial council had been dissolved finally in the manner stated and its powers had not been merely temporarily suspended owing to temporary conditions in order to restablish it would be necessary to proceed to an election by popular suffrage and hence as the government now existing has been organized without those legal authority for its powers are not based upon the sovereign will of the people.

2nd. As the existence of that government is dependent upon agreements made wtih the invaders to guarantee the public peace or what is the same thing to ensure the peaceful and unquestioned possession of the territory occupied it abandoned from that time its position as a Revolutionary Government and became a North American agent. Hence the people in revolution are not obliged to obey it.

3rd. The said government exercises its functions in territory occupied by the enemy whose flag flies over the building which it occupies and hence a people who haYe their own flag can not acknowledge a government under the protection of a flag not their own.

4th. That as that government has patently shown its sympathy for and submission to the North Americans and has tacitly recognized the sovereignty of the invading nation, it is consequently an enemy of the people who ask and fight for their independence.

5th. That the attitude assumed by the said government is highly prejudicial to the cause of independence by taking all possible means to neutralize military action, depriving the military force of the resources necessary to maintain forces in the territory occupied either in order to avoid an attack upon the invaders or else to enable them to claim the occupation of the whole island and invoke that part of international law which says "Possession by right of conquest is complete when one part of a country is occupied with a deliberate intention to occupy the remain. der if the enemy does not retain military possession of the unoccupied portion," and hence this conduct is an attack upon the integrity of the territory of the Filipino Nation and hence the people who submit to the aforesaid government declare themselves accomplices in the offense committed.

6th. At the moment when Seņor Luis Flores took over the presidency of that government he surrendered his position as General in Chief as it is evident that a person who remains within territory occupied by the enemy can only be logically held to occupy one of two positions. He can be either a prisoner taken in defense of his country or else he can be held to be a traitor who has renounced it and hence his office may be tacitly assumed to have passed to the Superior Military Commander Seņor Arcadio Maxilom to whom by right it belongs with its civil and military powers because the condition of the province cannot be considered as having interrupted the state of siege in which he declared it.

As the foregoing considerations have been laid down without the slightest pressure of any passion and solely under the dictation of our consciences and our patriotism, we proposed to establish a government with a definite and final character according to the prescribed forms and to convene a junta of presidentes of the people to state their will and opinion and that this government once established with the approbation of the President of the Nation should exercise purely administrative functions as long as the state of siege of the island continued.

After some deliberation the gentlemen present unanimously agreed upon this proposition and decided to convene the junta upon the tenth of next month and to inform the heads of the people of this decision. This decision having been reached the meeting adjourned and the present act was drawn up to which I the secretary certify. A copy.