GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE 157 



RIGHT TO A FAIR HEARING 



As far as my observation goes justice is administered on a patriarchal plan in a spirit of 

 fairness and equality. Except in the case of flagrant public wrongs the transgressor is given a 

 fair and impartial hearing, aided by the presence of his relatives and of others whom he may 

 select or who may choose to attend the arbitration of the case. The presence of the relatives 

 contributes in nearly every case an element of good will, and prevents the use of intimidation. 

 It helps greatly to promote, and not to prevent, justice. It is the paramount factor in determin- 

 ing the defendant to yield, even when bad feeling has been aroused on each side, and when their 

 desire for revenge and spirit of independence woidd naturally prompt them to have recourse to 

 violent methods. Though the female relatives do not take formal part in the arbitration, yet 

 in their own gentle way they exert a certain amount of influence for good. 



SECURING THE DEFENDANT'S GOOD WILL 



Because of the desire for revenge which the Manobo inherits and the universal recognition 

 of the revenge system in Manoboland, an appeal to good will in the settlement of matters is very 

 important, and is a feature of every case of arbitration. I have attended many and many a 

 Manobo arbitration at which the wrongdoer, after being condemned by the consensus of opinion, 

 was asked over and over whether he recognized his fault and whether he received the sentence 

 with good will. In nearly every instance he replied that he did, and, as an evidence of his 

 sincerity, procured, as soon as convenient, a pig and invited the assembly to a feast. On one 

 occasion I acted as the judge in a case of rape committed by a Manobo who had had frequent 

 dealings with Christian Manobos. At my urgent request his life was spared and a fine of 100 

 pesos was imposed upon him. After he had expressed his conformity with the sentence and his 

 lack of ill feeling toward his accusers, I notified the chief of the other party of my intention to 

 leave the settlement, whereupon he told me secretly that I had better wait as the defendant in the 

 case would undoubtedly entertain the company with pork and potations. And so it happened, 

 for the defendant procured a pig that must have been worth 15 pesos, and a supply of sugarcane 

 wine that must have cost him a few more, expenditures that would not be deducted from the 

 amount of his fine. 



FOUNDATIONS OF MAN6BO LAW 



Owing to the utter lack of interclan and tribal organization there is no set of statute laws in 

 Man6boland, but, in lieu of them, there are a number of traditional laws, simple and definite, 

 that, in conjunction with religious interdictions, serve in the main to uphold justice, the foun- 

 dation of all law. There is no word for law in the whole Man6bo dialect, but the word for 

 custom 1 is used invariably to express the regulations that govern dealings between man and man. 



One fundamental law is the obligation to pay a debt, whether it be a blood debt or a material 

 one. A very common axiom says that "there is no debt that will not be paid" — if not to-day, 

 to-morrow; if not during one lifetime, during another — for the collection of it will be bequeathed 

 as a sacred inheritance from father to son, and from son to grandson. Montano 2 notes with 

 surprise the sacredness in which debts are held, not only by Manobos of the Agiisan Valley but by 

 all the numerous tribes with which he came in contact in his travels around the gulf of Davao. 

 I noted the same throughout eastern Mindanao. The Manobo, when called to account, will 

 never deny his true indebtedness, and when no further time is given him, he will satisfy his 

 obligations, even if he has to part with his personal effects at a nominal value or put himself 

 deeply in debt to others. He is never considered insolvent. It is true that the Christianized 

 part of Man6boland is not so punctilious in the settlement of financial obligations to outsiders 

 (Bisayas), but this is explained by the bad feeling that has arisen toward the latter on account 

 of the wholesale, fraudulent exploitation carried on in commercial dealings between them and the 

 Christian Manobos. 



So many references have already been made in previous chapters to the practice of revenge 

 that it is not necessary to dilate upon it here. Suffice it to say that it is not only the right but 



i Ba-idsan. * Une mission aux Isles Philippines. 



