Читать книгу The Inhabitants of the Philippines - Frederic H. Sawyer - Страница 21

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The next Governor-General was Don Fernando Primo de Rivera, Marquis of Estella, and he was the only one with whom I was not personally acquainted. During the cholera epidemic of 1882, when 30,000 persons died in the city and province of Manila, he showed ability and firmness in the arrangements he made, and he deserves great credit for this. But corruption and embezzlement was rampant during his time. Gambling was tolerated in Manila and it was currently reported that twenty-five gambling houses were licensed and that each paid $50 per day, which was supposed to go to the Governor-General. Emissaries from these houses were stationed near the banks and mercantile offices, and whenever a collector was seen entering or leaving carrying a bag of dollars, an endeavour was made to entice him to the gambling table, and owing to the curious inability of the native to resist temptation, these overtures were too frequently successful.

The whole city became demoralised, servants and dependants stole from their employers and sold the articles to receivers for a tenth of their value in order to try their luck at the gaming table. A sum of $1250 per day was derived from the gambling-houses and was collected every evening.

Notwithstanding all these abuses, Primo de Rivera maintained good relations with the natives; he was not unpopular, and no disturbances occurred during his first government. He owed his appointment to King Alfonso XII., being granted three years’ pillage of the Philippine Islands as a reward for having made the pronunciamento in favour of that monarch, which greatly contributed to putting him upon the throne. He and his friends must have amassed an enormous sum of money, for scarcely a cent was expended on roads or bridges during his government, the provincial governors simply pocketed every dollar.