Calamba
Calamba, 29 August 1886
MR. JOSÉ RIZAL
DEAREST BROTHER,
We received your very dear letter of 2nd July and we are informed of its content. Don’t be surprised at the long interval between our letters, because we are trying to look for good news to give you. Now we realize that we are failing in our duty towards you and so we are going to write you often instead.
We and your three nephews who are here at home are well and in good health, except a little inflammation of Delfina’s eye, which is the cause of her absence from school. What a pity she did not become a boy! She is bright and very studious. Her mother is always telling her not to read because her inflammation might worsen, but only she is too hard-headed.
Concha and Patrocinio are not yet studying. If you will stay there a long time before coming home, perhaps, Delfina will be able to write you also.
We admit the mistake of not writing you often; it should be once or twice in two months; from now on we are going to write you often. Marcosa died long before our son. She died of her old illness though she was operated on twice, once by Mr. Juan Burk and again by his nephew.
The tax! With regard to your question on this, the answer is very long, as it is the cause of the prevailing misery here. What I can write you will be only one half of the story and even Dumas, Senior, cannot exhaust the subject. Nevertheless, I’ll try to write what I can, though I may not be able to give you a complete story, you may at least know half of it. Here there are many kinds of taxes. What they call irrigated rice land, even if it has no water, must pay a tax of 50 cavanes of palay [unhusked rice] and land with six cavanes of seed pay ₱5 in cash. The land they call dry land which is planted to sugar cane, maize, and others pay different rates. Even if the agreed amount is ₱30 for land with six cavanes of seed, if they see that the harvest is good, they increase the tax, but they don’t decrease it, if the harvest is poor. There is land whose tax is ₱25, ₱20, according to custom.
The most troublesome are the residential lots in the town. There is no fixed rule that is followed, only their whim. Hence, even if it is only one span in size, if a stone wall is added, ₱50 must be paid, the lowest being ₱20. But a nipa or cogon house pays only one peso for an area of ten fathoms square.
Another feature of this system is that on the day you accept the conditions, the contract will be written, which cannot be changed for four years, but the tax is increased every year. For this reasons, for two years now the payment of tax is confused and little by little the fear of the residents here of the word “vacant” is being dispelled, which our ancestors had feared so much. The result is bargaining, like they do in buying fish. It is advisable to offer a low figure and payment can be postponed, unlike before when people were very much afraid to pay after May. I’m looking for a receipt to send you, but I cannot find any, because we don’t get a receipt every time pay. Anyway it is valueless, as it does not state the amount paid; it only says that the tax for that year has been paid, without stating whether it is five centavos, twenty-five centavos, one hundred, or one thousand pesos. The residents here who ask or get the said receipt accept it with closed eyes. The receipt has no signature in the place where the amount paid ought to be, though it bears their name. Until now I cannot comprehend why some are signed and others are not. This is more or less what is happening in the payment of the land tax and it has been so for many years, since I can remember. Besides this, the taxes on the plants in the fields that are far from town, like the land in Pansol, are various. The tax on the palay is separate from the tax on maize, mongo, or garlic. There is no limit to this tax for they fix it themselves. Since July no one buys sugar and since June locusts are all over the town and they are destroying palay and sugar cane, which is what we regret here. The governor gave ₱50 to pay the catchers of locusts, but when they took them to the townhall they were paid only 25 cents a cavan and a half; and it seems that the locusts are not decreasing. According to the guess of the residents here only 300 cavanes of locusts have been caught in this town. There still remain a great many. Though the governor has not sent any more money, the people have not stopped catching them.
Father says that he will send you money for the purchase of instruments for eye treatment and also for your doctorate. Perhaps you will receive it when the sugar is sold. It is desirable that you come back here. Eusebio Elepaño, son of Capitán Quico, is one of the many waiting for you, because of his eye, which has a tumor inside. Many physicians in Manila have treated him, but they have not cured him. Formerly he was going to Hong Kong for treatment, but when he heard that you were coming, he did not proceed anymore and said that he would ask you to treat him.
We are all very anxious to embrace you. Every day we mention your homecoming. May I advise you to prepare sturdy implements. all the things that you may need here, before you return. You know already the weakness of our house.
Many regards and command us. Delfina. Concha. and Patrocinio kiss your hand.
Your very affectionate servant who kisses your hand.
MARIANO HERBOSA
01-168 [Family]