[313]
In view of the definite statement from one of his own officers that
the soldier in question was killed by Filipino soldiers, Aguinaldo's
instructions to say that he was killed by Americans are interesting
as showing his methods.
Not only were the Insurgents obviously unable to control their own
soldiers in Cavite town sufficiently to prevent them from committing
murder, but conditions in the province of the same name left much to
be desired. On December 29, 1898, the governor wired Aguinaldo that
the town of Marigondong had risen in arms. [314]
It is a well-known fact that land records were destroyed in Cavite. Of
this matter Taylor says:--
"In Cavite, in Cavite Province, and probably in most of the other
provinces, one of the first acts of the insurgents who gathered
about Aguinaldo was to destroy all the land titles which had been
recorded and filed in the Spanish administrative bureaus. In case the
independence of the Philippines was won, the land of the friars, the
land of the Spaniards and of those who still stood by Spain, would
be in the gift of Aguinaldo or of any strong man who could impose
his will upon the people. And the men who joined this leader would
be rich in the chief riches of the country, and those who refused to
do so would be ruined men.
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