308 
MANILLA. 
The islands are divided into provinces, each of which has a military 
officer with the title of governor, appointed bv the governor-general. 
They act as chief magistrates, have jurisdiction over all dispu'es of 
minor importance, have the command of the troops in 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 comptroller-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 especially 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 of 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 government 
in the Philippine Islands, for these head-men are the attorneys of these 
small districts, and become the electors of the gobernadorcillos, 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 gober¬ 
nadorcillo and the head-men. This is also the case when any new 
office is created. The privileges of the head-men are great; them¬ 
selves, their wives, and their first-born children, are exempted from 
