From Four Nodes of History: The Human Rights Challenge in the Philippine Security Sector
tract information from Filipino prisoners of war during the Philippine-American War. Here he identifies by name a US military
doctor who presided over the clinical aspect of the procedure, in
clear violation of the Hippocratic Oath.
The [prisoner] was tied and placed on his back under a water tank holding probably one hundred
gallons.
The faucet was opened and a stream of water was
forced down or allowed to run down his throat. His
throat was held so he could not prevent swallowing
the water, so that he had to allow the water to run
into his stomach. He was directly under the faucet, with his mouth held wide open. When be was
filled with water it was forced out of him by pressing a foot on his stomach or else with the bands;
and this continued from five to fifteen minutes. A
native interpreter stood immediately over this man
as he lay on the floor and kept saying some word
which I should judge meant “confess” or “answer.”
[If the man did not provide all the information wanted, the process was repeated. This time a syringe
was used to pump water from a five-gallon can.]
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The syringe did not have the desired effect and the
doctor [Dr. Palmer Lyons, an Army contract surgeon] ordered a second one. The man got a second
syringe and that was inserted in his nose. Then the
doctor ordered some salt and a handful of salt was
procured and thrown into the water. Two syringes
were then in operation. The interpreter stood over
him in the meantime asking for this second information that was desired. Finally, he gave in and
gave the information they sought, and then be was
allowed to rise.
d) Reconcentration, genocide and terror on the populace
of Laguna and Batangas
After Aguinaldo’s capture, General Bell was given jurisdiction
of Laguna and Batangas to take out General Malvar and his
6,000 army.
To accomplish this task, Bell replicated the reconcentration
tactics used by Spanish “Butcher” Gen. Valeriano Wyler in
Cuba in the same scale and depth. (Wyler’s crimes against
humanity were the very cause of US public uproar that provided the political basis for the Spanish-American War.)
Bell relocated the entire population of Laguna and Batangas,
numbering 300,000, into concentration camps without tak-