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