328 MANILLA. 



time of war, and are collectors of the royal revenues, for the security 

 of which they give bonds, which must be approved of by the comp- 

 troller-general of the treasury. The province of Cavite is alone 

 exempt from this rule, and the collection of tribute is there confided 

 to a police magistrate. 



Each province is again subdivided into pueblos, containing a 

 greater or less number of inhabitants, each of which has again its 

 ruler, called a gobernadorcillo, who has in like manner other officers 

 under him to act as police magistrates. The number of the latter 

 are very great, each of them having his appropriate duties. These 

 consist in the supervision of the grain fields, cocoa-nut groves, betel- 

 nut plantations, and in the preservation of the general order and 

 peace of the town. So numerous are these petty officers, that there 

 is scarcely a family of any consequence, that has not a member 

 who holds some kind of office under government. This policy, 

 in case of disturbances, at once unites a large and influential body 

 on the side of the government, that is maintained at little expense. 

 The gobernadorcillo exercises the municipal authority, and is espe- 

 cially charged to aid the parish priest in every thing appertaining to 

 religious observances, &c. 



In the towns where the descendants of the Chinese are sufficiently 

 numerous, they can, by permission of the governor, elect their own 

 petty governors and officers from among themselves. 



In each town there is also a head-man (cabezas de barangay), who 

 has the charge of fifty tributaries, in each o^which is included as 

 many families. This division is called a barangay. This office 

 forms by far the most important part of the machinery of govern- 

 ment in the Philippine Islands, for these head-men are the attorneys 

 of these small districts, and become the electors of the gobernador- 

 cillos, and other civil officers. Only twelve, however, of them or 

 their substitutes, are allowed to vote in each town. 



The office of head-man existed before the conquest of the island, 

 and the Spaniards showed their wisdom in continuing and adapting 

 it to their system of police. The office among the natives was heredi- 

 tary, but their conquerors made it also elective, and when a vacancy 

 now occurs through want of heirs, or resignation, it is filled up by 

 the superintendent of the province, on the recommendation of the 

 gobernadorcillo and the head-men. This is also the case when any 

 new office is created. The privileges of the head-men are great; 

 themselves, their wives, and their first-born children, are exempted 



