The ordinary Filipinos have judged the 1986 EDSA "people power" revolution as a morality play showing that the good won over the evil. The frustrating dissipation of the "people power" gains in subsequent years will not likely change this judgment that had been inculcated in the Filipino mind by the mass media.

Likewise, the ordinary Filipinos rendered fixed judgment on an earlier historical event that also had the elements of a morality play. This event was the American occupation of the Philippines during its early years, when the Americans were portrayed as the evil incarnate by the common people.

Indeed, the early years of the American occupation of our country were probably the most brutal yet the best deodorized and most mystified period in our history. So effective was the mystification that, at present, we still believe that the Americans conquered the Philippines for the noble purposes of educating and guiding us in democratic government.

However, much of folk literature in Biliran Island between 1899 and 1909 delivered swipes at the moral and legal abuses allegedly committed by the Americans during the period. They reserved the strongest indictment for the vacillating Filipino principalia who compromised or betrayed the cause of Philippine "self-hood" (kaugalingnan).

Leyte, the provincial setting of this article, incidentally served as the "showcase of American benevolent administration" to the Americans during the early years of their occupation. The province, therefore, was presented as the benign face of the American conquest. But the actual events in Leyte’s Biliran Island provided pictures of harsh reality.


The Almeria-Kawayan Controversy

One of the most tumultuous but downplayed events in Leyte during the early years of American occupation was the controversy between Almeria and Kawayan, the two towns northwest of Biliran Island.

Almeria became a town in 1886 with Kawayan as its barrio. Despite its town status, Almeria was not assigned its own parish priest, even after repeated requests had been sent to the Roman Catholic authorities. Resentful of the Church’s inaction, the mayor (municipal president) and several councilors "offered" the town to the Aglipayan (Philippine Independent) Church in 1905. The offer was promptly accepted, and an Aglipayan priest started holding services at the Catholic Church building and occupying the nearby convent. This act created an uproar among the local Catholics who quickly reported the case to the Roman Catholic authorities in Cebu and to the provincial government in Tacloban.

Acting on the official complaints in 1905, Colonel Peter Borseth, the former Senior Inspector of the Insular (Philippine) Constabulary, who had become the American Civil Governor of Leyte from 1904 to 1906, suspended the Almeria mayor and three (of six) councilors "for three months." Then he reorganized the municipal government by installing an American ex-soldier, Matthew MacFarland, as acting mayor of Almeria, and appointing new councilors and officials in place of the suspended ones. And the three-month suspension became permanent. (MacFarland married a Filipina, left the military service for a teaching job, and settled in Maripipi, which had been reduced to a barrio of Almeria by 1904.)

The arrogant act of the American civil governor resulted in the mass exodus of the residents of Almeria from the Catholic to the Aglipayan faith. A tense atmosphere naturally ensued. Unable to withstand the continuing friction between the diminished Catholic faithful and the Aglipayan converts, the MacFarland administration transferred the seat of the municipality to Barrio Kawayan, 10 kilometers north of the Almeria poblacion. As a result, Almeria was reduced into a barrio of Kawayan.

The Almeria-Kawayan controversy involved a violation of the policy of separation between Church and State that the Americans had vowed to absolutely uphold. Likewise, the brazen town transfer to Kawayan was believed to be a return favor of Colonel Borseth to a Kawayan principal who was responsible for covering up his murderous record as a Constabulary Inspector during the Pulahan Campaign in northern Biliran in 1902.

Selected folk literature of Biliran Island tell how the judgment related to the Almeria-Kawayan controversy and the early American occupation had been handed down to later generations.


The Legends of Maria Benita

The towns of Almeria and Kawayan are both located at the foot of Mount Panamao north of Biliran Island. The local people believe that Mount Panamao is inhabited by fairies. The fairy known to the people of Almeria and Kawayan is a beautiful maiden named Maria Benita.

According to Almeria’s legend, Maria Benita fell in love with a local farmer who also loved her deeply. But their love did not last long for one moonlit evening, while the lovers were playing together, a hunter killed the farmer. But the people of Almeria believe Maria Benita still sings of her lost love.

To the people of Kawayan, however, the lover of Maria Benita was a local game-hunter. They believe that she sometimes appeared in human form to the townspeople. Descending from her abode in the mountain, she would simply order a number of wild pigs to be captured and given as gifts to her lover.

The conflicting legends of Maria Benita is a reflection of the Almeria-Kawayan feud, which saddened the ordinary people of both towns, as shown by their use of the Spanish word benita, for "benighted" or "overcome by darkness."


Two Folk Songs from Kawayan

The "victory" of the Kawayan principalia (i.e., the township) was perceived by the common folk as hollow, petty, and irrelevant to the cause of Philippine kaugalingnan (self-hood). Note this Cebuano word’s deeper meaning than that of the Tagalog word kalayaan or the English word "independence."

For instance, in Barangay Balacson, a popular folk song entitled Yuta Kong Natawhan (Land of My Birth) lamented instead the Philippine vassalage to another nation (i.e., the United States) and the misery of living in virtual slavery. The Cebuano lyrics and the literal English translation of the song are as follows:

In Barrio Mapuyo, which was completely burned by the Pulahanes "for fear that the Americans would use (the buildings and structures) during their occupation," one would have expected the people to be saddened by their material losses. Instead, they grieved more (and perhaps rightly so) over the killing of 13 of their male residents from two sitios (hamlets) by the American-led Insular (Philippine) Constabulary around 1902.

A popular folk song in Barrio Mapuyo also showed indifference toward Kawayan’s township. Entitled Ang Gugma Nagpaulipon (The Enslaved Love), the song told of kaugalingnan of the Motherland and lamented her inability to unfurl her flag in the sky, an obvious protest against the Flag Law enacted by the Americans in 1907 and repealed only in 1919.

The Cebuano lyrics and the literal English translation of the song are as follows:

The tumultuous Almeria-Kawayan controversy mainly involved the principalia classes of Almeria and Kawayan as protagonists. The rest of the population of both towns were limited to taking sides in the controversy. Folklore implied that they took the side of the morally defensible but losing Almeria principalia.

Most of Almeria’s population expressed sympathy for their beleaguered town leaders by defecting to the Aglipayan faith in protest against Colonel Borseth’s arrogant acts. And two folk songs from Kawayan barrios expressed the common people’s aspirations for Philippine "self-hood."

Finally, in the following folk tale from Almeria, entitled "The Great Feast," the common folk scathingly indicted the opportunistic Filipino principalia who compromised or betrayed the cause of Philippine sovereignty in exchange for keeping their local leadership and powers under American tutelage. The tale indicts a small group of inept and vaccilating Filipino leaders who failed their people at the crucial hour. Here is the tale:

"In the olden days, Bathala was the ruler of the world. One day, he announced to all his people that he would give a great feast. He invited all kings to this celebration.

"The event was hailed with great excitement by the kings, for they know that each of them will receive a gift from the Master. Every king, therefore, summoned the best tailor in his kingdom to design and make the suit he would wear during the feast. He also sent men around to look for the best horse he would use.

"The king of the Tabunon (brown race) had just risen from his bed when the other kings passed by his palace. He opened the window, looked at the rising sun, and remarked: ‘Oh, it is too early to go. I must light my pipe and smoke to warm myself.’

"He sat down on a chair and continued puffing and forgot that he was going to Bathala’s feast.

"When almost all the kings were in Bathala’s palace, the eating and the drinking started. Delicious food and drinks were served to the rowdy guests. From all corners of the hall singing and shouting could be heard.

"All of a sudden the noise subsided - Bathala announced the distribution of gifts. One after the other, each king received his gift.

"When the last gift was about to be given, the king of the Tabunon arrived and presented himself before Bathala to receive his gift. Upon seeing him, Bathala spoke: ‘I am sorry, king of the Tabunon, but you came late. All the good gifts had been given away. Take this plowshare and this dull, old bolo. They are the ones left for you.’

"Displeased with what he received from the Master, the king of the Tabunon rode home before the feast ended.

"Since the Chinese king received the yard stick and the weighing scale, his people became mostly merchants. The Americans became lawyers, doctors and engineers because their king received the pen holder, the book and the machine. The English became the mistress of the sea because their king got for his gift the steamboat. What became of the Filipinos? They remained slow and poor farmers because their king brought home the broken plowshare and the dull, old bolo, which could not even be used for digging the soil."