The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home

CHAPTER LXIII 306
[51] The "sacred tree" of Malaya, being a species of banyan that begins life as a vine twining on another tree,
which it finally strangles, using the dead trunk as a support until it is able to stand alone. When old it often
covers a large space with gnarled and twisted trunks of varied shapes and sizes, thus presenting a weird and
grotesque appearance. This tree was held in reverent awe by the primitive Filipinos, who believed it to be the
abode of the nono, or ancestral ghosts, and is still the object of superstitious beliefs,--TR.
[52] "Petty governor," the chief municipal official, chosen annually from among their own number, with the
approval of the parish priest and the central government, by the principalía, i.e., persons who owned
considerable property or who had previously held some municipal office. The manner of his selection is thus
described by a German traveler (Jagor) in the Philippines in 1860: "The election is held in the town hall. The
governor or his representative presides, having on his right the parish priest and on his left a clerk, who also
acts as interpreter. All the cabezas de barangay, the gobernadorcillo, and those who have formerly occupied
the latter position, seat themselves on benches. First, there are chosen by lot six cabezas de barangay and six
ex-gobernadorcillos as electors, the actual gobernadorcillo being the thirteenth. The rest leave the hall. After
the presiding officer has read the statutes in a loud voice and reminded the electors of their duty to act in
accordance with their consciences and to heed only the welfare of the town, the electors move to a table and
write three names on a slip of paper. The person receiving a majority of votes is declared elected
gobernadorcillo for the ensuing year, provided that there is no protest from the curate or the electors, and
always conditioned upon the approval of the superior authority in Manila, which is never withheld, since the
influence of the curate is enough to prevent an unsatisfactory election."--TR.
[53] St. Barbara is invoked during thunder-storms as the special protectress against lightning.--TR.
[54] In possibility (i.e., latent) and not: in fact.--TR.
[55]
"For this are various penances enjoined; And some are hung to bleach upon the wind; Some plunged in
waters, others purged in fires, Till all the dregs are drained, and all the rust expires."
Dryden, Virgil's Aeneid, VI.
[56] "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise."--Luke xxiii, 43.
[57] It should be believed that for some light faults there is a purgatorial fire before the judgment.
[58] Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth.--Matt, xvi, 19.
[59] Even up to purgatory.
[60] Dream or reality, we do not know whether this may have happened to any Franciscan, but something
similar is related of the Augustinian Padre Piernavieja.--Author's note.
Fray Antonio Piernavieja, O.S.A., was a parish curate in the province of Bulacan when this work was written.
Later, on account of alleged brutality similar to the incident used here, he was transferred to the province of
Cavite, where, in 1896, he was taken prisoner by the insurgents and by them made "bishop" of their camp.
Having taken advantage of this position to collect and forward to the Spanish authorities in Manila
information concerning the insurgents' preparations and plans, he was tied out in an open field and left to
perish of hunger and thirst under the tropical sun. See Guía Oficial de Filipinas, 1885, p. 195; El Katipunan ó
El Filibusterismo en Filipinas (Madrid, 1897), p. 347; Foreman's The Philippine Islands, Chap. XII.--TR.
[61] The Philippine civet-cat, quite rare, and the only wild carnivore in the Philippine Islands.--TR.