From
an uncomplicated legalistic perspective, it is easy to determine who should be
the prevailing party in the Hacienda de Calamba agrarian problem. The
prevailing party should be the Corporacion de Padres Dominicos de Filipinas.
The Calambeños were estopped from questioning the ownership of the Corporacion over the lands of hacienda
as they themselves tacitly acknowledged the Corporacion’s
ownership by renting the said lands.
The
basic tenet of justice was and still is: that a lessee is estopped from
asserting title to the thing leased as against the lessor. Estoppel is a legal
principle that prevents a person from making a position inconsistent with one
previously made, especially when the earlier representation has been relied
upon by others. This mid-16th century legal maxim is necessary to sustain
stability in the dealings among citizens living in a civilized community. One
cannot simply assert one fact at one time and deny it in another time whenever
advantageous. This was in fact the stand of the Corporacion which won the acquiescence of the tribunals from Santa Cruz , Laguna to the Audiencia Real in Manila .
Another
principle of justice that comes into play under the circumstances surrounding
the Hacienda de Calamba agrarian problem is laches
or delay or negligence for an unreasonable length of time in pursuing a legal
claim on the part of the Calambeños. If the Calambeños were entitled to assert
their rights questioning the ownership of the Corporacion over the lands, they were deemed to have abandoned
these rights because of laches. They
had been tilling the lands of the hacienda for more than a generation; they
should have questioned the Corporacion’s
ownership over the estate in whole or in part within a reasonable length of
time.
But
the legal adjudication of the issues does not put the problem to rest. The
Calambeños wanted to know the metes and bounds of the Hacienda de Calamba so
that “all the lands not included…can be declared free from the payment of rent,
and the amount of rent unjustly collected for it be returned.”[1]
This was especially important to those who wanted to farm the lands outside the
hacienda and save themselves from the cannons.[2]
This was the very reason why the Calambeños wanted to see the land titles
exhibited.
Naturally,
this demand must be denied at all cost for it struck deep into the very nature
and sanctity of the Corporacion – it
did not and was not capable of usurping lands. And that the Pope, argued the Corporacion, prohibited the church from
submitting to the jurisdiction of the temporal authorities. The Corporacion presumed that the all its
acts were considered acts of the Catholic Church.
This
reason was a rather lame excuse. They did and were capable of usurping lands.
In 1905, the Bureau of Lands surveyed the hacienda as against its titles and
found that it accumulated 2,077.8694 hectares in the course of time. The Corporacion already submitted itself to
the jurisdiction of the temporal authorities when it commenced actions for
eviction of the Calamba tenants on 21 August 1889.
The
Corporacion, the visitador and the hermano administrador cannot be left blameless for the vanished
loyalty of the natives to the hacienda and eventually to Mother Spain . The issues of annual increase of land rents
and the failure to issue receipts for some payments made were not thoroughly
and convincingly explained by the hermano administrador. Arbitrary
formulation of tax schemes by the hacienda to the point of levying taxes even on
trees and plants remained undisputed. The explanation of the hermano
administrador regarding the arbitrary transfer of lands to those with
deeper pockets remained unconvincing. His tyrannous abuses remained to be investigated.
The continuous toleration of the Corporacion of the abuses of the hermano
administrador and its turning of
deaf ears to the plea of the Calambeños made it a subject of public
scrutiny. The tenants of neighboring haciendas, especially Cavite , Laguna and Batangas, who experienced
the same exploitations, also became restless and eventually rose in arms
joining the 1896 Philippine Revolution.
The
short term effect of the Hacienda de Calamba agrarian problems was the eviction
of more than three hundred (300) insolvent families who were tenants and
subtenants of the estate. These evictees were subsequently replaced by tenants
with deeper pockets. This ushered the unprecedented increase in the income of
the hacienda from 1892 to 1896. A temporal increase in wealth with wanton
disregard for what lies ahead – the 1896 Philippine Revolution.
The
long term effect of the Hacienda de Calamba agrarian problems was the
culmination of hatred against the Friars which outbursts into a harsh rebellion
and the led to lost of the last possessions of the once mighty Spanish empire.
For want of a horse, the kingdom is lost!
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