308 MANILLA. 



The islands are divided into provinces, each of which has a military 

 officer with the title of governor, appointed by the governor-general. 

 They act as chief magistrates, have jurisdiction over all disputes 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 



