“Dear Mena:  I read with a happy heart your letter of the 3rd instant, and in answer I have to say:—­

“On the 22nd of August a mass meeting was held for the election of the local presidente of this town, and I was elected to the office; and on the 1st instant the Colonel appointed me Provisional Provincial President of this province, so that you can imagine the position I am in and the responsibilities which weigh on me.

“Your house is occupied by the Colonel, in view of the fact that it is not rented.

“I have here eleven friar prisoners and the damned priests who escaped from here have not as yet been returned, but it is known that they are prisoners in Cagayan, and as soon as they arrive here I will treat them as they deserve.

“It is with great regret that I have to relate the events and misfortunes which we have been suffering here since the arrival of the troops, as all the detachments are supported by the towns, and here in the capital where the commissary is established, our resources are exhausted, owing to the unreasonable demands of the commissary, because he never asks what is only just and necessary, but if he needs provisions for 200 men, he always asks enough for 1000.  And notwithstanding this, the most lamentable and sad occurrences are taking place almost daily in the different barrios, and often in the town itself; the soldiers are guilty of many abuses and disorderly acts, such as rapes and murders, which usually remain unpunished by reason of the real authors thereof not being found, and when they are found and reported to their commanders, the latter do nothing.  One night the house and estate of Sario Tinon in Anannam was sacked by six armed men, who threatened him and took his money, his wife’s jewels and the best horses he had.  Thank God that his family was at the time in the capital, and it appears that now the authors of this act are being discovered.

“I am at the present time working with Father Aglipay to have the forces stationed here replaced by our volunteers which I am recruiting, in order to prevent in so far as possible the frequent acts of barbarity which the former are committing in the province.

“When the friars from Lepanto arrived here, they were made to publish the following proclamation:—­

“’Proclamation.—­We, the friars, declare that all the acts committed by us against the honest Filipinos when we discharged our respective offices, were false and in contravention of the rights of the Holy Church, because we only wished to deceive and prejudice the honest inhabitants of the Philippines; for which reason we now suffer what we are suffering, as you see, according to the old adage that “he who owes must pay.”  And now we inform all you honest Filipinos that we repent for the acts above referred to, which are in contravention of the laws and good customs, and ask your pardon.—­Vigan, September 13, 1898.’