He was accompanied by Simeon Villa, the man under discussion, and by
Colonel Leyba, who was also very close to Aguinaldo.
Abuse of the Spanish prisoners began at once. It is claimed that the
governor of North Ilocos, who was among those captured, was grossly
mistreated.
Taylor briefly summarizes subsequent events as follows: [274]--
"Whatever the treatment of the Spanish governor of Ilocos may
really have been, there is testimony to show that some of the other
prisoners, especially the priests, were abused and outraged under the
direction of S. Villa and Colonel Leyba, both of whom were very close
to Aguinaldo. Some of the Spanish civil officials were put in stocks
and beaten, and one of the officers who had surrendered at Aparri was
tortured to death. This was done with the purpose of extorting money
from them, for it was believed that they had hidden funds in place
of turning them over. All the Spaniards were immediately stripped
of everything they had. The priests were subjected to a systematic
series of insults and abuse under the direction of Villa in order
to destroy their influence over the people by degrading them in
their eyes. It was for this that they were beaten and exposed naked
in the sun; and other torture, such as pouring tile wax of burning
candles into their eyes, was used to make them disclose where they
had hidden church vessels and church funds.
Pages:
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236