The American Legacy assignment in the Philippines. i) Bombarding, burning and looting of cities and towns The coastlines were pounded continuously by Admiral George Dewey’s naval guns. An English resident commented about Dewey’s role: “This is not war; it is simple massacre and murderous butchery. How can these men resist your ships?” “The Filipinos have swollen heads,” was Dewey’s reply. “They only need one licking and they will go crying to their homes, or we shall drive them into the sea, within the next three days.” Capt. Albert Otis describes his exploits at Santa Ana in a letter home:     I have six horses and three carriages in my yard, and enough small plunder for a family of six. The house I had at Santa Ana had five pianos. I couldn’t take them, so I put a big grand piano out of a second-story window. You can guess its finish. Everything is pretty quiet about here now. I expect we will not be kept here very long now. Give my love to all. Pvt. Edward D. Furnam of the 1st Washington Volunteers, on the battles of February 4th and 5th: We burned hundreds of houses and looted hundreds more. Some of the boys made good hauls of jewelry and clothing. Nearly every man has at least two suits of clothing, and our quarters are furnished in style; fine beds with silken drapery, mirrors, chairs, rockers, cushions, pianos, hanginglamps, rugs, pictures, etc. We have horses and carriages, and bull-carts galore, and enough furniture and other plunder to load a steamer. D. US policies during the Commonwealth Period 1. How did the US deal with the agrarian question in the Philippines? The land question made and kept the Filipino people backward during the Spanish period. The Spanish Crown confiscated the lands owned by non-Christians and apportioned shares to conquistadores, Spanish religious orders, civil servants, private corporations, and the main datu quislings who gave invaluable service (i.e., the principalia). The best agricultural lands were owned by the friars which they utilized using the slave encomienda system and later transformed into haciendas. This impoverished the people and created agrarian 69