The Philippine Islands, 1493 1898: Volume XVII, 1609 1616 by Various

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To discharge these duties he has three secretaryships--one of
government, another of the captaincy-general, and the third of the
navy--one military auditor, one adviser in government matters, one
fiscal, and one scrivener. One may appeal from his gubernatorial
measures to the royal Audiencia, which often alters or annuls those
measures by means of sentence. But there is a law that provides that
in case that the governor-general undertakes to have his order put
into effect, it must be observed until the superior decision, so that
no uneasiness and confusion may result from it in the country. The
collection of taxes and the disbursement of money is in charge of
a superintendent of the treasury [_hacienda_], under the immediate
orders of the government at Madrid. In sudden or doubtful cases, the
resolutions of the superior council [_junta_] of the treasury--composed
of the superintendent, the accountant-in-chief of accounts [_contador
mayor de cuentas_], the accountant of the army and treasury, the
newest auditor of the Audiencia, and the fiscal of the treasury--decide
the matter.

The islands are divided by provinces, in each of which there is
a subordinate chief who is styled governor or alcalde-mayor. These
exercise jurisdiction in the first instance, in matters of government
and litigation. They are military captains, and have in charge the
collection of the royal revenues, under a responsibility guaranteed by
bonds to the satisfaction of the accountant-general of the army and
royal treasury. The province of Cavite is an exception to this rule,
for the collection of the tribute there is now made by an assistant
of the chief justice. Therefore he who rules in a province exercises
all the attributes of political chief, and as such is subject to
the governor-general; those of judge of first instance, and as such
is dependent on the Audiencia; those of subdelegate of treasury
(although he does not have the disposal of the monopolized incomes),
and as such has to render accounts, bonds, and obedience to the
chiefs of the treasury; and finally, if he is of military rank,
he is commandant-of-arms, and subaltern of the captain-general;
and even though he be not of military rank he obtains the rank of
military commander [_capitan a guerra_] by virtue of his rank of
alcalde-mayor. He has charge of the company assigned to his province,
and, in the absence of his Majesty's troops, he commands the troops
that he equips upon extraordinary occasions.

Each province is subdivided into a greater or less number of
towns. Each town has a gobernadorcillo [i.e., little or petty
governor], with assistants and alguacils of justice, whose number is
fixed. They discharge various functions, among them the administration
of justice in regard to fields and palm-trees, and that of police. In
some towns where there are a sufficient number of Sangley mestizos
(who are the descendants of the Chinese), they form, when they
obtain permission from the government, a separate community, with a
gobernadorcillo and other members of the magistracy taken from their
own midst. In the towns which are the capitals of the province there
is often a gobernadorcillo for mestizos and one for natives. This
latter always takes command of the province in case of the sickness
or absence of the alcalde-mayor. The gobernadorcillos have in their
towns all the municipal responsibility proper to the authority which
is conferred upon them by their appointment. They are especially bound
to aid their parish priests in everything pertaining to worship and
the observance of religious laws. They try civil causes up to the
value of two taels of gold, or forty-four pesos. They take action in
criminal cases by collecting the preliminary evidence, which they
submit to the provincial chiefs. They are under obligation to see
to the collections of the royal revenue, and further to give notice
of the ordinances for good government. They are permitted to collect
certain dues that are specified in their own credentials. Each town
has also other citizens known under the name of cabezas [_i.e._, heads]
de barangay. Each cabeza is obliged to look after forty-five or fifty
tributes which comprise as many families, and that is the signification
of barangay. The cabezas must reside with them in the district or
street assigned; must attend in person to the good order and harmony
of their individuals; must apportion among them all the services
that are due from them collectively; must settle their disputes; and
must collect the tribute under a fixed bond, in order to effect its
delivery afterward in entirety to the gobernadorcillo, or directly
to the provincial chief, as happens in that of Tondo. The cabezas are
ex-officio attorneys for their barangays in all matters that concern
them collectively, and electors of the gobernadorcillos and other
officials of justice. For that interesting function, only the twelve
oldest men of each town or the substitutes whom the ordinance assigns,
have a vote. In some provinces the cabezas appoint only the three who
have to compose the _terna_ [i.e., three nominees for any office] for
the gobernadorcillo. These, with the outgoing gobernadorcillo, proceed
to the election of the deputies, alguacils, and their committees. The
cabecerias [_i.e._, headships], much more ancient in origin than
the reductions [_i.e._, native villages of converts], were doubtless
hereditary. At present they are hereditary and elective. When they
fall vacant, whether for want of an heir or through the resignation of
the regularly appointed incumbent, the substitute is appointed--by the
superintendent, in the provinces near the capital; and in those distant
from it by the respective subdelegate chief, but at the proposal of
the gobernadorcillo and other cabezas. This same plan is followed
in the creation of any cabeceria in proportion to the increase in
population, and as the number of tributarios in each town demands
it. The cabezas, their wives, and first-born sons (who are their
assistants in the collection of the royal revenues), enjoy exemption
from the payment of tribute. The cabezas in some provinces serve in the
cabecerias for three years; and, if they do not prove defaulters, they
are recognized as chiefs in the towns, with the titles of ex-cabeza
and don. Such system offers the serious disadvantage of multiplying
the privileged class of chiefs, which, being exempted from personal
services, increases the tax for the common people or the _polistas_
[102] in proportion to the increase of the privileged class.

The offices of gobernadorcillo, deputies, and alguacils of justice
are elective, and last one year, with superior approbation. It is
stipulated that the elections take place exactly at the beginning
of each year, in the royal houses or halls of justice in the towns,
and not elsewhere. The electors are the outgoing gobernadorcillo and
the twelve senior cabezas de barangay. For gobernadorcillo three
individuals have to be nominated by a plurality of votes, and the
respective place of each one in the terna must be expressed. It is to
be noted that the nominee must be able to speak, read, and write the
Spanish language. If he cannot do that, the election of the one who
lacks this express condition will be considered null and void, where
such election has been made. For the other officials of justice, those
needed by the town are elected by the same convention. The balloting
must be secret, and is authorized by the notary and presided over by
the provincial chief. The parish priest may be present, if he wishes,
to express what opinions he may consider fitting, but for no other
purpose. In sealed envelopes the election returns are sent to the
superior governments of the provinces of Tondo, Bulacan, Pampanga,
Bataan, Zambales, Nueva Ecija, Laguna, Batangas, and Cavite, so that
after choosing one of those proposed as gobernadorcillo, the respective
government orders the credentials corresponding to each class to be
despatched. In the other provinces, because of their distance from
the capital, the chief of each one appoints the nominee in the first
place, and making use of the blank credentials entrusted to him by
the superior government, writes therein the names of those interested,
and places them in possession [of their offices].

The cabezas of barangay can be elected, if they preserve their
cabecerias and the collection of tributes, by the rule in the royal
decree of October 17, 1785.

The Chinese community may elect from among its Christian individuals,
and in a meeting presided over by the alcalde-mayor of Tondo,
one man as gobernadorcillo, one as chief deputy, and a third as
alguacil-mayor. The government grants those elected the proper
credentials, by virtue of which they exercise jurisdiction. The
officials of justice in this community are called _bilangos_, and are
appointed by the new gobernadorcillo. The electors are also thirteen
in number, and are composed of the outgoing gobernadorcillo, the
ex-captains, and the petty chiefs [_cabecillas_] of the tribute and
of champans, both past and present. When any number is lacking, it is
made up from the petty heads of the trades. At present the collection
of tribute or the poll-tax from the Chinese is in direct charge of
the alcalde-mayor in the province of Tondo, with a supervisor chosen
from among the officials of administration of the royal treasury. In
the other provinces it is attended to in person by the chief of each
province. This levy of taxes is managed by a register, where the
Chinese are enrolled and classified, and that register determines
the quota of each, who contributes according to his class.

The gobernadorcillos and officials of justice deserve the greatest
consideration from the government. The provincial chiefs are under
obligation to show them the honor corresponding to their respective
duties. They are allowed to sit in the houses of the latter, and in
any other place, and are not suffered to remain standing. Neither
is it permitted to the parish priests to treat these officials with
less consideration.

Political and Administrative Organization

[Montero y Vidal's _Archipielago Filipino_(Madrid, 1866), pp. 162-168,
contains the following chapter.]

The municipal organization of Filipinas differs widely from that
of Espana.

Some native functionaries, improperly called gobernadorcillos, [103]
exercise command in the towns; they correspond to the alcaldes and
municipal judges, of the Peninsula, and perform at once functions
of judges and even of notaries, with defined powers. As assistants
they elect several lieutenants and alguacils, proportionate in
number to the inhabitants. Those assistants, together with three
ex-gobernadorcillos to whom are referred the duties of judges of
cattle, fields, and police, constitute a sort of town council. Manila
is the only place that has that corporation [_i.e., ayuntamiento_]
with an organization identical with those of the same class in Espana.

Even when the gobernadorcillos are recompensed with a certain
percentage for the collection of contributions, and they collect
some other dues, the total sum that they finally receive is so small
that their office is considered honorary. In spite of this, the
duty is an onerous one, and they are subject to annoyances, fines,
and imprisonment, if the gubernative, judicial, and administrative
authorities, etc., are rigorous. The Indians covet it with a desire
that is astonishing, and avail themselves of all possible means in
order to obtain it. The secret of the motive that impels them lies in
their fondness for prominence, and in the fact that nearly all of them
succeed in becoming rich, or in attaining independent means, after
the two years of their office. For the _polistas_, or individuals
who are obliged to labor on the public works of the state, build
their houses for them free of cost, bringing the materials from the
forest or the points where they are found; there are the _fallas_,
or the amount of the aliquot sum that is to make good the deficiency
in public works [i.e., in the services on public works rendered by
the natives], in the collection of which there is opportunity for
the gobernadorcillo to figure, by supporting all or the majority of
those who should perform that work, and himself using that money;
the innumerable bribes and illegal exactions that they impose, and
the taxes that they collect through numberless separate judgments:
[all these] make the office sufficiently lucrative, although in
that country, scarcely any importance is attached to many of these
irregularities (even by those who are injured by them), which custom
has almost sanctioned as law.

The election of corporate members is carried on under the presidency
of the provincial chief by twelve of the most prominent men
in the town--half of them drawn by lots cast by those who were
gobernadorcillos and cabezas de barangay, and the other six from
the cabezas in actual office; while he who is gobernadorcillo at the
time of election votes also. The individual who obtains most votes
is proposed to the general government as being first on the list; he
who follows him in the number of votes, in the second; and the actual
_pedaneo_ [i.e. a subordinate officer, here the gobernadorcillo],
in the third. From that list of three [_terna_], the governor-general
appoints one, after seeing the report of the president of the election.

The cabezas de barangay are chiefs of fifty families, those from
whom are collected the contributions that form part of the revenues
of the treasury and government. This institution, antedating the
conquest, is most useful, the more, for the same reasons, since
the gobernadorcillos come to be to their members of barangays or
those they rule, the same that those pedaneos [i.e.], the cabezas]
are to the generality of the inhabitants. The actual cabezas or the
ex-cabezas, with the gobernadorcillo and the ex-captains (as those
who have exercised that office are designated), form the _principalia_
[i.e., chieftain class, or nobility].

Their usual dress is a black jacket, European trousers, mushroom
hat, and colored slippers; many even wear varnished [i.e., patent
leather] shoes. The shirt is short, and worn outside the trousers. The
gobernadorcillo carries a tasseled cane [_baston_], the lieutenants
wands [_varas_]. On occasions of great ceremony, they dress formally
in frock coat, high-crowned hat--objects of value that are inherited
from father to son.

On the day on which the gobernadorcillo takes his office, his town
has a great festival [_fiestajan_]. All eat, drink, smoke, and amuse
themselves at the expense of the _municipe_ [i.e., the citizen who
is elected gobernadorcillo], and the rejoicing is universal. In
the tribunal (city hall) he occupies a large lofty seat, which is
adorned with the arms of Espana and with fanciful designs, if his
social footing shows a respectable antiquity.

On holy days the officials go to the church in a body. The
principalia and the _cuadrilleros_ form in two lines in front of the
gobernadorcillo and the music precedes them. In the church the latter
occupies a seat in precedence of those of the chiefs, who have benches
of honor. After the mass, they usually go to the convent to pay their
respects to the parish priest; and they return to the tribunal in the
same order, the musicians playing a loud double quick march. [104]
There they hold a meeting, at which the gobernadorcillo presides, in
which he, in concert with the cabezas, determines the public services
for the week.

The tributarios of many towns go, after mass, to hear orally the orders
that the cabezas communicate to them. In order to summon any of them
when necessity requires, they have adopted certain taps of the drum;
and on hearing it they go to the tribunal.

If the gobernadorcillo is energetic or has a bad temper, the cabezas
fear and respect him highly; but if he is irresolute they abuse
him. When he goes out on the street, an alguacil with a long wand
precedes him.

Since the majority of these pedaneos do not talk Spanish, they are
authorized to appoint _directorcillos_ [i.e., petty directors],
who receive very slender pay. The directorcillo--who has generally
studied for several years in the university or the colleges of Manila
without concluding his course--writes the judicial measures, and
the answers to the orders of the provincial authorities; serves as
interpreter to the pedaneo, when the latter has to talk to Europeans;
and exercises entire influence in all matters. By virtue of that he
sometimes commits abuses that the gobernadorcillo finds it necessary
to tolerate, in order not to lose his services; for there are towns
where one cannot possibly find another inhabitant to take his place,
because of their ignorance of Castilian. All that redounds to the hurt
of the honest administration of the towns, and even the prestige of
the government, since the said directorcillos are wont to ascribe to
the superior orders their own exactions and annoyances.

Each town of Filipinas contains a number of cuadrilleros, proportional
to its citizenship. They are under obligation to serve for three years,
and only enjoy exemption from the payment of tribute and _polos_. [105]
The cuadrilleros are armed with old guns and spears, perform police
duty, and guard the tribunal, prison, and the royal or government
house. They also go in pursuit of criminals.

Some provinces (for instance, the majority of those in Luzon) are
ruled by legal alcaldes-mayor who are lawyers, who exercise the
civil government, and are at the same time judges of first instance,
sub-delegates of the treasury and of local departments, administrators
of the posts, military commandants, and presiding officers of the
meetings for auctions and for primary instruction. They were also
formerly collectors of tobacco, in the provinces where that plant is
cultivated. [106]

Other provinces, such as those of Visayas and Mindanao, are ruled
by politico-military governors, belonging to the army and fleet,
who also unite duties identical to those of the alcaldes-mayor--with
the difference that in these provinces there are judges for the
administration of justice; while in the provinces of Luzon the
governors conduct the court of justice, with a lawyer as advisory
assistant [_asessor_], who is the judge of the next province. In
those provinces where no department of the public treasury exists,
they are also directors of economic matters.

A governor and captain-general exercises the supreme authority in
Filipinas. In his charge is the direction of all civil and military
matters, and even the direction of ecclesiastical matters in so far
as they touch the royal patronage. Until 1861, when the council of
administration was created, he also had charge of the presidency of
the royal Audiencia and Chancilleria there.

The authority, then, of the governor-general is complete, and such
a number of attributes conferred on one functionary (incompetent,
as a general rule, for everything outside of military matters),
is certainly prejudicial to the right exercise of his duty.

Until the year 1822, private gentlemen, magistrates, military men,
sailors, and ecclesiastics, without any distinction, were appointed
to fill so lofty a post; and they have borne the title and exercised
the functions of captain-general to suit their own convenience.

During the vacancies, political authority resided in the royal
assembly--the Audiencia in full [107] and the military authority in an
auditor (magistrate), with the title of captain-general _ad interim_.

From the said year of 1822, the government has always devolved upon
an official, a general; in case of his death, the segundo cabo,
a general, is substituted for him; and in case of the death of the
latter, the commandant-general of the naval station.

The captain-general is, as we have indicated, supreme chief of all
departments, and the sum total of his pay amounts to forty thousand
pesos annually.

A command of so great importance, superior to the viceroyalties of
our former American colonies, ought not to be given exclusively to one
specified class; and the election of governor should be free, although
with the limitation that only ex-ministers and high dignitaries of
the army or of any other institution, who merit through their lofty
talents, known competence, and proved morality, that Espana should
entrust to them its representation and the exercise of its sovereignty
in so precious a portion of its domains, should be eligible to it. Thus
jointly do the prestige of the Spanish name the complications of
political life in modern society, and the progress and welfare of
eight millions of Spanish Indians--worthy under all concepts on which
governments now fix their attention more than they have hitherto done,
in a matter of so transcendent importance--demand this with urgency.

It is also advisable to change the vicious, anomalous, and unsuitable
organization of the provinces of Filipinas, assimilating them, so far
as possible, to those of Espana. The separation of the gubernatorial
and judicial duties, the suppression of politico-military commands,
and the appointment of civil governors, under excellent conditions
and unremovable for six years, are urgent; all these are measures
that will positively redound to the benefit of the country.

NOTES

[1] The earliest compilation of laws regarding the Spanish colonies of
Nueva Espana was made, by royal command, by Vasco de Puga (an auditor
of the Audiencia of Mexico), and printed in 1563. Francisco de Toledo,
viceroy of Peru from 1569 to 1581, prepared a code of ordinances for
that country (see Markham's _Hist. Peru_, pp. 149, 156-159, 538). In
1570, Felipe II ordered that a revised compilation of the laws and
ordinances for the government of all the Indias be made. After many
efforts and delays, this was accomplished in 1628, but the work was
not printed until 1681. It is the fifth edition (_i.e._, reprint)
of this compilation from which we obtain the laws presented in this
document; it was printed in Madrid in 1841.

[2] See _Vol_. VIII, p. 253.

[3] "The present state of affairs in that which relates to this titulo
is that set forth by the decree of March 10, 1785, establishing the
Company of Filipinas. In regard to this law and those following in
this titulo, the reader should remember that a royal order of July 20,
1793, permitted the Company of Filipinas to trade directly between
those islands and the ports of South America in one or two voyages,
to the amount of five hundred thousand pesos apiece, on condition of
paying the foreign duty and the 9 1/2 per cent on the silver taken
back. This permit, which was limited during the war with France,
was, by a new royal order of September 24, 1796, made general for
all succeeding wars, if carried on with maritime powers." The above
note is translated from the _Recopilacion_, where it follows law
1. Space permitting, the decree of March 10, 1785, mentioned above,
will be given in this series.

[4] This law and all those treating of the prohibition of commerce
between Peru and Mejico, Tierra-Firme, etc., were completely superseded
by a royal decree dated El Pardo, January 20, 1774. That decree was
ordered to be kept and observed by the superior government of Lima,
August 1, of the same year; and separate copies were ordered to be
drawn, so that all might know that his Majesty had repealed and revoked
the general prohibition of reciprocal commerce by the South Sea between
the four kingdoms of Peru, Nueva Espana, Nueva Reino de Granada, and
Guatemala." We transfer this note from law ix, of this titulo of the
_Recopilacion_, an editorial note to law lxviii referring to law ix.

[5] Such a citation as this shows the hand of the editors or compilers
of the _Recopilacion_. Law lxvii bears as its earlier date March 3,
1617, and refers to the sending of contraband Chinese goods to the
House of Trade of the Indias in Sevilla.

[6] The governors of the Filipinas grant permission to those who go
to those islands under condemnation of crime to return. Inasmuch as
on that account many convicts hide away from the judges who exiled
them, we order the governors, under no circumstances, to permit
them to return to Nueva Espana or to go to Peru during the period of
their exile. And should they be condemned to the galleys or to other
services, they shall fulfil the condemnation,--[Felipe III--Aranjuez,
April 29, 1605. Felipe IV--Madrid, January 27, 1631. In _Recopilacion
de leyes_, lib. vii, tit. viii, ley xxi.]

[7] The _Recopilacion_ is not clear as to the date of this law and the
one immediately following. Law lix bears both dates (as also does law
lx), and is designated as clause 11. Laws lxix and lxx bear no date
(probably through error of the compiler or printer), but are designated
as clauses 16 and 17, and clause 18, of a decree by Felipe III. Hence
the above dates with queries have been assigned to these laws.

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