From Four Nodes of History: The Human Rights Challenge in the Philippine Security Sector Everything was justified so long as the victims were nonChristians. It is estimated that the implementation of these laws caused the death of 80 percent of the populations of central, South and North America. Filipino revolutionary soldiers outside Manila, ca. 1899. (c) Public domain and the Torah passages in the Old Testament on warfare explicitly ordered the European Christian kingdoms to violate the human rights of all non-Christians in the whole world. These laws explicitly commanded the multinational Spanish Armies to carry out (a) the seizure of all non-Christian lands, (b) confiscation of all their properties (c) perpetual enslavement of non-Christians (d) genocide, sparing only young virgin girls (Torah), (e) piracy (legalized through an authorization that became known as the Letter of Marque or privateering) (e) mass kidnapping (f) slavery and slave trade, and (g) persecution and punishment of all persons deemed as heretics, witches or demons (these included Jews, Muslims, Free Masons and scientists pursuing researches deemed demonic, such as the study of anatomy). 10 In the Philippines, acts that made human rights violations systemic included the seizure of all Philippine lands conquered in the name of the Spanish Crown, the implementation of the slave system called the encomienda system, the annual 40-day forced labor on all males aged 15 to 60 called Polo y Servicio, the Bandala system that forced inhabitants to sell agricultural food produce on credit, the hacienda system, the agricultural monopoly laws (forced planting of tobacco, sugar or abaca as exclusive crops on certain regions), the ban on freedom of speech, the ban on the freedom of association and expression, and censorship, among others. All these acts were part of the laws of the land by a government that was not installed by popular will or with the consent of the governed through a constitution, elections and referendums, and whose acts were not for the public good or in the interest of the people. These were the laws that Filipino soldiers in the Spanish army implemented.