The people of the Philippines, their religious progress and preparation for spiritual leadership in the Far East,

THE SPANISH REGIME 113
$I,700,000 to the members of the Katipunan, and (so the
rebels supposed) agreed to all the other demands they had
made. The "Pact of Biac-nabato" was signed, and Aguinaldo
with thirty-four other leaders sailed for Hongkong.21
Governor Rivera at once issued a scathing denunciation of
the friars-but did not recommend their withdrawal. He
was trying to reconcile two irreconcilables by taking a path
midway between them, with the result that he satisfied neither.
There was but one real solution-the friars would have to go.
As the Filipinos realized that they had been deceived, new
insurrections began to appear in various parts of the Islands,
engineered by a Filipino organization in Hongkong called
"La Junta Patriotica." In Cebu 5000 rebels raided the city,
while the Spaniards fled to the fort. In Northern Luzon the
rebellion was again in full swing. Suddenly upon the Islands
fell the next great stroke of destiny. America declared war
on Spain.
POSITION OF THE FRIARS
Before we turn over to that new page we must note the
precarious condition of the friars during the insurrection.
"Of the 850 municipalities into which the archipelago was
divided, 670 were in the power of the monks, leaving 180
municipalities under the administration of the Jesuits and
clericals of other orders.
"The friars were not only parish priests, or spiritual guides,
but in effect were rulers of the municipalities; in fact the
whole government of the islands rested on them. Consequently every abuse of the many which led to the revolution
of 1896-1898 was charged to them by the people." 22
It was at Imus, where the friars were collected in considerable numbers and where they held a large estate, that the
insurrection started. Thirteen of the friars were captured
before they could flee to Manila, and the ferocity with which
t The document now in the war department in Washington shows that the
clauses about reforms were crossed out, but when and by whom? Quien sabe?
19I3 Census of the Philippine Islands, Vol. I, p. 346.