GOVERNMENT--ADMINISTRATION, ETC.
The Administration of the Philippine Archipelago has for its head
and chief a captain and governor-general, who resides in Manila, the
capital of the islands, and who is not permitted to quit them without
the authority of the sovereign of Spain. Next to the government of
Cuba, it is the most important and the most lucrative post at the
disposal of the Cabinet of Madrid, and has unfortunately been generally
one of the prizes wrested from the unsuccessful, and seized by the
predominant, political party. It was rather a melancholy employment
for me to look over the collection of portraits of captains-general,
and many vacant frames waiting for future occupants, which ornament the
walls of the handsome apartments in which I dwelt at the palace. Since
1835 there have been five provisional and eleven formal appointments to
the governor-generalship. Some of these only held their authority for
a few months, being superseded by ministerial changes at Madrid. Of
other high functionaries, I observe that there have been only two
archbishops since 1830, while it is understood that the service of
heads of departments is assured for ten years. To the public interests
the mischiefs which are the results of so uncertain a hold of the
supreme authority are incalculable. The frequent and sudden removals
and nominations are, indeed, little consistent with the principles
of monarchical and hereditary government, however accordant with the
republican institutions of the Western world; and among the causes
of the slow development of the immense resources of these beautiful
islands, the fluctuation of the superintending rule is assuredly one
of the most prominent.
The titles of the captain-general occupy a page, and embrace the
usual attributes of government, with the exception of authority over
the fleet, which is subject to the Ministry of Marine in Spain, and
a somewhat limited jurisdiction in ecclesiastical matters, which is a
consequence of the exclusive establishment of the Roman Catholic faith.
The lieutenant-governor, who takes the place of the captain-general
in case of his death, is called the Segundo Cabo, or second head.
The Philippine Islands are divided into provinces, subject either to
politico-military governors or alcaldes mayores, who are generally
civilians.
When the government is military, an assistant lieutenant-governor, who
must have graduated as a lawyer, exercises the preliminary jurisdiction
(de primera instancia), but the alcaldes hold that jurisdiction in
their own persons. Both dispose in their provinces of the military
authority, and have the controlling direction of the collection
of the revenues, under responsibility to the General Administrator
of Tributes.
The provinces are divided into pueblos (towns or villages), over
each of which a native Indian or mestizo, called a gobernadorcillo
(diminutive of governor) is placed. He is assisted in the discharge
of his functions by native lieutenants and alguacils, whose number
depends upon the extent of the population. This body, which, when
gathered together, is called the principalia of the pueblo, settles
all minor matters of police and civil questions between the natives
as to rights of persons and property. In districts where the Chinese
or their descendants are sufficiently numerous (they are known by the
name of Sangleyes), they are allowed, under special authority of the
government, to select principalia from their own body, independently
of Indian jurisdiction. These principalia are really popularly chosen
municipalities, and they are specially charged to assist the clergy
in all matters connected with public worship and ecclesiastical
authority. They determine questions up to the amount of two taels of
gold, or forty-four silver dollars. They collect evidence in criminal
cases, which is submitted to the provincial chief; they assist in
the collection of the royal revenues, circulate the ordinances of
the government among the people, and are authorized to levy a small
but defined contribution in support of their dignity.
Besides these, there are in every pueblo certain functionaries who are
called Cabezas (heads) de Barangay. A barangay is a collection of the
chiefs of families, or persons paying tribute, generally amounting
to forty or fifty. They are under the special charge of the cabeza,
who must dwell among them, and, under bond, collect the tribute
due to the State. He is required to settle misunderstandings and to
maintain peace and order, to apportion the various charges among the
members of the barangay, and to collect the taxes for payment to the
gobernadorcillo, or to the functionary appointed for the purpose. The
cabezas are also considered the procuradores, or law advisers, of
these little communities.
In ancient times there is little doubt that the office was
hereditary; and there are yet localities where the hereditary right is
maintained; but it is generally elective: and when a vacancy occurs,
the gobernadorcillo in council, with the other cabezas, presents a
name for the approval of the superior authority, and the same steps
are taken when the increase of population requires a new cabeza to be
nominated. The cabezas, their wives and first-born, who are required to
assist in the collection of the tribute, are exempted from its payment.
In some provinces the cabezas are only chosen for three years;
after which they form part of the principalia, and take the title
of Don. I remember, in one locality, that the principalia who came
to pay their respects consisted of more than seventy persons. The
government complains of the number who, under this state of things,
are exempted from taxation, and I understand some measures are in
contemplation for limiting the extent of the privileges.
The elections of the gobernadorcillo are annual, and take place on
the 1st of April. An extraordinary excitement generally prevails,
the post (a really important, popular, and influential one) being
an object of much ambition. Three names are selected, one of whom
must have already served as gobernadorcillo, for submission to the
superior authority, on or before the 15th of May, and the chosen
gobernadorcillo enters on his functions on the 1st of June. There is,
however, some alteration of dates, where, as in the tobacco districts,
the period of election interferes with harvest time.
The head of the province ordinarily presides over the elections, to
which the principal ecclesiastic is also invited. In case of their
absence, any native-born Spaniard may be nominated by the principal
authority to preside.
There are thirteen electors for each pueblo--the gobernadorcillo and
twelve inhabitants--half of whom must have been gobernadorcillos
or cabezas, and the other half be in the actual exercise of those
functions; they must also have some well-recognized means of existence:
domestic servants to the authorities are excluded; as also those who
have been punished as criminals.
It is further required that the gobernadorcillo be a native
Indian or mestizo, an inhabitant of the locality where he serves,
and above twenty-five years old; having passed the subordinate
offices of lieutenant or cabeza, having his accounts in order,
holding no land from the community, and no monopoly (estanco)
from the government. Similar recommendations are insisted on
for the first lieutenant and the principal (native) magistrates
appointed for the settlement of questions regarding seed-sowing,
police, and cattle. These magistrates must have enjoyed the rank
of gobernadorcillo. As regards the minor officers of justice and
their attendants, a list is to be made out by the gobernadorcillo
before quitting office, which is to be presented to the authority
presiding over the elections, and having heard the clergyman (cura)
and the committee of election, the president approves the list for
transmission to the supreme authority; but if he finds discordance
and irreconcilable opinions between the parties before him, he is
authorized himself to recommend the officers for nomination.
All the proceedings are the subjects of record, and to be signed by
the president, the curate (if present), the electors, and the public
notary, and to be remitted to the supreme authority, except in the
provinces adjacent to the capital. The president may attach to the
record any observations of his own connected with the returns. A
decree of 1850 required the general adoption of the system which has
been described, and which appears to me well worthy of note, showing
how many valuable elements of good government are to be found in the
popular institutions of the Philippine Indians.
The Chinese of the capital may elect Christian converts of their
own body, under the presidency of the alcalde mayor of Manila,
to the offices of gobernadorcillo, first lieutenant, and principal
alguacil (bailiff). The dependent subordinate officers of justice
are called bilangos, and are appointed by the gobernadorcillo on his
election. The recovery of the tribute or taxes from the Chinese is
not left to their principalia, but is effected by the alcalde mayor
or superior chief. An officer is appointed to classify the Chinese,
and apportion the quota of their contributions according to the wealth
of the payer, who is charged for what is called a patente industrial.
The gobernadorcillos and officers of justice are entitled to sit
in the presence of the provincial chiefs, who are to require the
parochial clergy to treat them with due honour and regard.
M. Mallat, whose Geographical History of the Philippines was published
in 1846, remarks that, of all colonies founded by Europeans, these
regions are perhaps the least known, and the most worthy of being
known. The number of islands which compose the archipelago,--their
vast extent and boundless variety,--the teeming population of many of
them,--the character of the climate,--the wonderful fertility of the
soil,--the inexhaustible riches of hill, valley, and plain,--all offer
to cultivation and its civilizing influences abundant rewards. But as
regards the "industrious habits" of the natives, I cannot place that
consideration, as M. Mallat does, among the elements of hope. It is
the want of these "industrious habits," among four or five millions
of inhabitants, which has left the Philippines in a position so
little advanced.
Java under the government of the Dutch, and Cuba subjected to the
Spanish rule, present, no doubt, far more favourable pictures than
do the Philippines; but many of the difficulties which surround the
captain-general of Manila,--difficulties both religious and social,--do
not embarrass the governor of Batavia; the island of Java, the most
productive of Netherlands India, being peculiarly free from these
difficulties; and it cannot be said that Sumatra and Borneo are even
on a level with the more advanced of the Philippine Islands.
To the character of the original conquest and of the earlier government
of the Philippines may be traced many of the impediments which now
stand in the way of improvement. In America and the West Indies all
the brutality of military conquerors was exhibited, and the possession
and plunder of new territories were encouraged by the Spanish court,
and were the main object of the Spanish invader. But far different
was the policy adopted in the Philippines, where only a small body of
soldiers was accompanied by zealous missionaries, whose purpose was
rather to convert and christianize the Indians than to pillage and
destroy them. These friars gradually obtained a paramount influence
over the Indians. The interests of trade have ever been the predominant
consideration among Dutch colonizers, and among British adventurers
the commercial element has always been intimately associated with
the desire for territorial occupation. To the Spaniards it must be
conceded that the religious purpose--be its value what it may--has
never been abandoned or forgotten. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction and
authority are interwoven in the Philippines with the machinery of
government and the daily concerns of life.
And such ecclesiastical action has been comparatively little interfered
with in the Philippines. The development which mental emancipation
has given to many Protestant countries and their dependencies has
reached few Catholic colonies; nor is that emancipation, indeed,
consistent with the more rigid discipline and doctrines of Rome. But
in the case of the most prosperous instances of colonization by the
British, the native races have either wholly disappeared or are in
progress of extinction, while the infusion of Spanish and foreign
blood into the colonies of Spain has not only allowed the increase
of the indigenous population, but has been insufficient to change
or do more than slightly modify their national characters. It has
undoubtedly been the boast of the Catholics that Francis de Xavier
and his followers won more for the Roman Church in the East than
Luther or Calvin ever tore away from it in the West; but the value
of the conquests, contrasted with that of the losses and sacrifices,
if fairly estimated, would hardly be deemed unsatisfactory to the
Protestant cause.
No doubt the great remoteness of the Philippines from Europe, the
difficulties and infrequency of communication, gave to the local
authorities more of independent action than would otherwise have
been allowed to them; and in case of the death of the governor,
the archbishop was generally the functionary who filled his place;
his adjacency to the government, and frequent direction of it,
naturally led to the strengthening of his own authority and that of
all ecclesiastics dependent upon him.
In the earlier periods of Eastern colonization, too, the Portuguese,
jealous of all European intercourse but their own with nations east
of the Cape, did all in their power to prevent any other than the
Lusitanian flag from being seen in Oriental waters. But as regards
missionary objects their views were to some extent concurrent with
those of the Spanish priests, and their proceedings were in harmony
with those of the Spaniards, especially in so far as both received
their direction from the Pontiff at Rome. It ought not, however, to be
forgotten that whatever may have been the progress of Christianity in
the Philippines, the persecutions, disasters, discomfiture, and death
of so many professing Christians in Japan, are probably attributable
to the ill-guided zeal of the Portuguese preachers of the Gospel in
these still remoter regions. It is well for the interests of truth, as
most assuredly it is for the interests of commerce and civilization,
that a more temperate and tolerant spirit has for the last century
been associated with the progress of European influence in the East.
The comparatively small number of Spanish settlers in the Philippines
would not allow them, even if such had been their purpose, which
it does not appear to have been, unnecessarily to interfere with
the usages of the Indians, or their forms of administration and
government, except in so far as their conversion to Christianity
compelled the observance of the Christian rites; and the friars
willingly accommodated their action to the social habits of the people,
respecting, as to this hour are respected, most of the patriarchal
forms of administration and government which had existed among them
from immemorial time.
There have been speculations--and M. Mallat is among the sanguine
anticipators of such an advent--that in process of time the Philippines
may become the dominant political power of the Eastern world,
subjecting to its paramount influence the Netherlands Archipelago,
the Pacific, Australia, and even China and Japan, and that Manila is
destined to be the great emporium for the eastern and south-eastern
world. M. Mallat even goes further, and says: "Manila might easily
become the centre of the exports and imports of the entire globe." It
must be contented with a less brilliant futurity. Certainly its
commercial relations might be greatly extended, and the Spanish
archipelago be much elevated in value and in influence; but in the
vast development of commercial relations in the Oriental world, the
Philippines must be contented with a moderate though a considerable
share of benefit, even under the best administration and the adoption
of the wisest policy.
Tropical regions fail to attract permanent settlers from the West. The
foreign merchant comes to realize what he deems an adequate fortune,
and to withdraw; the superior public functionary is among, or above,
but never of, the people. What must be looked to is the popular
element. Of what are the millions composed, and how can the millions
be turned to account? There is no reason to apprehend that these
millions will aspire to political power or sovereignty. Their pristine
habits would permit of no general organization. The various races and
clans would never unite in a national object, or recognize one native
chief. All that is found of order and government among them is local;
except through and for their masters, the different islands have little
or no intercourse with one another. The Tagál and the Bisayan have
no common sympathies. Dissatisfaction might produce disorder, which,
if not controlled, would lead to anarchy, but not to good government.
The Philippines are free from the curse of slavery. Time will settle
the controversy as to whether the labour of the freeman can, in
the long run, be brought into competition with that of the slave,
especially in the tropics; but that the great tide of tendency
flows towards the abolition of slavery, that civilizing opinion
and enlightened Christian legislation must sweep the ignominy away,
is a conviction which possesses the minds of all who see "progress"
in the world.
As it is, the Philippines have made, and continue to make, large
contributions to the mother country, generally in excess of the
stipulated amount which is called the situado. Spain, in her extreme
embarrassment, has frequently called on the Philippines to come to
her aid, and it is to the credit of the successive governors-general
that, whatever may have been the financial disorders at home,
the dependants upon the Manila treasury have had little motive for
complaint, and while the Peninsula was engaged in perilous struggles
for her independence, and even her existence as a nation, the public
tranquillity of her island colonies was, on the whole, satisfactorily
maintained, and interruptions to the ordinary march of affairs of
short endurance.
There would seem to be no legislation defining the powers of the
viceroy, or captain-general; but whenever any important matter is
under discussion, it is found that reference must be made to Madrid,
and that the supreme rule of this vast archipelago is in the leading
strings of the Spanish Cabinet, impotent to correct any great abuses,
or to introduce any important reforms. The captain-general should
be invested with a large amount of power, subject, of course, to a
personal responsibility as to its becoming exercise. As he must, if
properly selected, know more, being present, than strangers who are
absent, his government should be trusted on account of that superior
knowledge. Well does the Castilian proverb say, "Mas sabe el loco en
su casa que el cuerdo en la agena"--"The fool knows more about his
own house than the sage about the house of another." He should be
liberally paid, that the motives for corruption be diminished. He
should be surrounded by a council composed of the best qualified
advisers. Many objects would necessarily occupy the attention of
such a body, and it would naturally have to create becoming local
machinery and to furnish the materials for improved administration,
such as surveys and statistics of the land and population, which would
lead to a more satisfactory distribution of provinces, districts and
pueblos. A simple code of civil and criminal law would be a great
blessing, and should be grounded, in so far as the real interests of
justice will allow, upon the customs and habits of the people, while
employing, when compatible with those interests, the administrative
local machinery in use among the natives.
Nothing would be more beneficial to the interests of Manila than
the establishment of an efficient board of works, with provincial
ramifications, to whose attention the facilitating communications
should be specially recommended. The cost and difficulty of transport
are among the principal impediments to the development of the resources
of the islands, and the tardy progress of the few works which are
undertaken is discouraging to those who suggest, and disappointing
to those who expect to benefit by them. In many of the provinces
the bridges are in miserable condition, and the roads frequently
impassable. Even in the populous island of Panay delays the most
costly and annoying interfere with the transport of produce to the
capital and naturally impede the development of commerce. There
is, no doubt, a great want of directing talent and of that special
knowledge which modern science is able to furnish. The construction
of bridges being generally left to the rude artists who are employed
by the Spanish functionaries, or to the direction of the friars, with
whom the stare super antiquas vias is the generally received maxim,
it is not wonderful that there should be so many examples of rude,
unsafe and unsightly constructions. Moreover, estimates have to be
sent to the capital of all the proposed outlay, and it is hardly to
be expected but that sad evidence should be found--as elsewhere--of
short-sighted and very costly economy. The expense, too, almost
invariably exceeds the estimates--a pretty general scandal; then the
work is arrested, and sometimes wholly abandoned. Funds there are none,
and neither policy nor patriotism will provide them. Even when strongly
impelled, the Indian moves slowly; self-action for the promotion of
the public good he has none. There is no pressure from without to
force improvements upon the authorities, and hence little is to be
hoped for as to improvement except from direct administrative action.
I can hardly pass over unnoticed M. de la Gironière's romantic
book, [9] as it was the subject of frequent conversations in the
Philippines. No doubt he has dwelt there twenty years; but in the
experience of those who have lived there more than twice twenty I
found little confirmation of the strange stories which are crowded
into his strange volume. He was a resident of the Philippines at the
time of my visit, and I believe still lives on the property of which
he was formerly--but I was told is no longer--the possessor. [10]
I did not visit his "Paradise," but had some agreeable intercourse
with a French gentleman who is now in charge. I did not find any of
that extraordinary savagery with which M. de la Gironière represents
himself to be surrounded; and the answer to the inquiries I made of
the neighbouring authorities as to the correctness of his pictures
of Indian character was generally a shrug and a smile and a reference
to my own experience. But M. de la Gironière may have aspired to the
honour of a Bernardin de St. Pierre or a Defoe, and have thought a
few fanciful and tragic decorations would add to the interest of his
personal drama. "All the world's a stage," and as a player thereon
M. de la Gironière perhaps felt himself authorized in the indulgence
of some latitude of description, especially when his chosen "stage"
was one meant to exhibit the wonders of travel.
As to M. de la Gironière's marvellous encounters and miraculous escapes
from man and beast; his presence at feasts where among the delicacies
were human brains, steeped by young girls in the juice of sugar-cane,
of which he did not drink, but his servant did; his discoveries
of native hands in "savory" pots prepared for food; his narratives
where the rude Indians tell elaborate tales in the lackadaisy style
of a fantastic novel; his vast possessions; his incredible influence
over ferocious bandits and cruel savages;--all this must be taken
at its value. I confess I have seen with some surprise, in M. de
la Gironière's book, two "testimonies" from M. Dumont d'Urville
and Admiral La Place, in which, among other matters, they give
an account of the hatching of eggs by men specially engaged for
this purpose. [11] They saw, as any one may, in the villages on the
Pasig River, prodigious quantities of ducks and ducklings, and were
"puzzled" to find how such multitudes could be produced; but they
learnt the wonderful feat was accomplished by "lazy Tagál Indians,"
who lay themselves down upon the eggs, which are placed in ashes. The
patient incubators eat, drink, smoke, and chew their betel, and while
they take care not to injure the fragile shells, they carefully remove
the ducklings as they are brought into being (pp. 358 and 362). Now it
may well be asked who takes care when the lazy Tagáls are asleep; and,
if our worthy witnesses had reflected for a moment, they would have
known that, if all the inhabitants were employed in no other office
than that of egg-hatching, they would be hardly sufficient to incubate
the "prodigious" numbers of ducklings which disport on the banks of
the Pasig. The incubation is really produced by placing warm paddy
husks under and over the eggs; they are deposited in frames; a canvas
covering is spread over the husks; the art is to keep up the needful
temperature; and one man is sufficient to the care of a large number
of frames, from which he releases the ducklings as they are hatched,
and conveys them in little flocks to the water-side. The communities
are separated from one another by bamboo fences, but there is scarcely
a cottage with a river frontage which has not its patero (or duckery).