ROQUE LOPEZ LETTER, JANUARY 5, 1899
 |
[Original in Spanish. Newspaper. P. 1. R . , 912.2 . ]
JARO, January 5, 1899.
To the inhabitants of the islands of Panay.
BROTHERS AND CO-CITIZENS:- It is an accomplished fact, of which you yourselves are witnesses, that in fulfillment of the inscrutable arcana of the will of God, we have consummated a union with the other provinces of this Archipelago, forming a Federal Republic, whose Supreme Government and President will be those of tha island of Luzon, after our independence shall have been recognized by the foreign powers.
In seeking to provide at once what may be most urgent. and necessary for the administration and good government of all human associations, after the establishment of the Authority, which is the constitution of the Law, I hereby decree the following:
ART. 1. I declare that the offices provisionally conferred upon me, as President, upon Sr. Vicente Franco, as Vice President, and upon all the gentlemen who form the Council of the Federal State; Councillors for Iloilo, Sres. Ramon Avancena, Jovito Yusay, Julio Hernandez and Magdaleno Javellano; Councillor for Cebu, Sr. Fernando Salas; for Capiz, Sr. Venancio Concepcion; for Antique, Sr. Vicente Gella; for Concepcion, Sr. Numeriano Villalobos; for Leyte, Sr. Raymundo Melliza; for Samar, and Secretary General of the Council, Sr. Francisco Soriano; General in Chief, Sr. Martin Delgado; Commanding General of the Expeditionary forces, Sr. Pablo Araneta and other Generals, field and line officers of the regional as well as of the expeditionary forces, by the always brave and unselfish Liberating Army which operated in the three provinces of Iloilo, Capiz and Antique of this Island of Panay, the first capital of the Visayas, are still in force and will continue in force until the association which has recently acquired its independence shall withdraw them, in accordance with its Republican Constitution.
ART. 2. I declare to be in force for the present, all the laws whlch were in force in these Visayan Islands, with the exception of those which may be opposed to morals, Justice and economy, according to our Republican ideals, which laws will be discarded at the proper time when applied by the council of the Federal State of Visayas, all the Authorities of this territory being hence obliged to apply these laws with this res,ervation, and they are especially enjoined to call the attention of the citizen presi'dent, in applying them to the various cases, to any inconsistency which they may observe between the law adopted and the noble Republican ideal.
ART. 3. The revenue which the State derived by reason of games of chance, such as Lotteries, the Panguingue and cockpits, is abolished, and such games are absolutely forbidden after this date; the pilotage fees in all the ports of the jurisdiction of the Visayas, are also hereby abolished as being contrary to the encouragement of navigation, and in the place thereof, a Subsidy is established, which shall be so called, for the police and preservation of the ports and bays of this jurisdiction of the Visayas, for the anchoring of each vessel and in proportion to the tonnage of the same; the unit and rate of this subsidy and the form of its collection shall be fixed by the Delegate of Marine, Captain of the Port, after consultation with the ship owners having vessels visiting the port; in the absence of the ship owners, the consignees, Captains and Masters of the vessels shall be substituted.
ART. 4. On and after this date there shall be established an Official Section in the newspaper "La Revolucion," the contents of which is declared the official text and obligatory, and it shall be published tri-weekly for the present, the Government assuming charge of its preparation and publication.
ART. 5. Subscriptions for and the sale of this official newspaper are admitted, the subscription price being one peso per month and single numbers one peseta.
ART. 6. Compulsory subscribers, which shall pay the subscription price from special funds, and in the absence of such funds, from the funds of the Chief thereof, are declared to be all the Local and Provincial Boards of the towns und provinces, the Courts of Justice and other official Bureaus, in order that they shall not only not plead ignorance of the law, but also * * * (unintelligible) .
ART. 7. The native coadjutors are confirmed in their positions as parish priests of the towns in which they formerly served in any capacity, they bemg earnestly requested not to abandon those towns without the authority of this Government.
ART. 8. The towns which have a Cure of Souls are directed and empowered, to secure such parish priests as they may desire to serve them, assigning them a salary and allowing them in addition the parochial fees.
ART. 9. I declare this city to be the official residence of the Federal Revolutionary Government, and that of its officials, it being required that
there reside in this city for the present at least one General and his subordinate officers, with his command: the Delegate of Marine Captain of the Port and Chief of the Customs Administration and the other authorities of the said locality and officers under their orders.
JARO, January 5, 1899.
ROQUE LOPEZ,
President.
FRANCISCO SORIANO,
Secretary General.
