270 AUSTRALASIA. 



Administration of the Philippines. 



The Philippines are governed directly from Madrid by the Crown and Cortes ; 

 hence, without being fundamentally changed, their administration is modified 

 with the vicissitudes of poUtical power in the Iberian peninsula. 



At the head of affairs stands the governor-general, who commands the military 

 and naval forces, and personally administers the island of Luzon, the Visayas 

 group and Mindanao being placed under the authority of subordinate governors. 

 The governor general is himself assisted by an administrative council, the 

 members of which are chosen by the central power. A sort of ministry, 

 irresponsible except to this central power, is also constituted by some of the 

 higher officials, including the government secretary, the head of the staff, the 

 directors of financial and civil affairs. The governor- general is considered as the 

 "vice-patron" of the church. 



The three governments of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao are divided into 

 provinces administered either by military governors or by civil alcaldes who are 

 at the same time judges in the first instance in both the civil and criminal courts. 

 In most of Luzon the civil system prevails ; but the régime is strictly military in 

 Mindanao, and even in the Visayas, although the population of these islands is 

 entirely civilised and almost as dense as in the industrial countries of Western 

 Europe. Each province is divided into pueblos, a term which comprises both the 

 district itself and its chief town ; hence some of these pueblos have a consider- 

 able population, ranging from ten thousand to fifteen thousand, and even twenty 

 thousand. Such are those in the neighbourhood of Manilla, in the southern 

 regions of Luzon, in Panay, and some other members of the Visayas group, and 

 each of these districts is administered by a gohernadorcillo, or "little governor," 

 who delegates his powers to toiientes, or "lieutenants," placed at the head of each 

 village or hamlet in the pueblo. 



All the higher functionaries are exclusively Spaniards appointed directly from 

 the mother country ; but the smaller officials of the pueblos are drawn from the 

 half-caste or indigenous classes, and elected for three years by the leading citizens 

 of the district. The gobernadorcillos, called also " captains," are at once mayors 

 and judges ; but appeal is allowed from their decisions to the alcaldes and the 

 audiencia, or supreme court of Manilla. The notables of the pueblos are collectively 

 responsible for the taxes, which average about six shillings for every adult 

 between sixteen and sixty years of age. 



The collection of these taxes constitutes the main function of the local officials, 

 and the chief impost still retains the name of tribute, as at the time when the 

 natives of the Philippines were still regarded as conquered pagans. This tribute, 

 a kind of poll-tax, formerly about four, but at present exceeding ten shillings a 

 year, is usually levied on the family group, and supplies the elements for the 

 summary statistics of the population. Besides this tax, the men are required to 

 give forty days' work to the government for the construction of roads and 

 communal buildings. But such an apparently excessive extent of statute labour 



