A Brief Review of Philippine Institutions

(Graciano Lopez Jaena)

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
In our previous articles we have proven the imperative need for the abolition of the tribute in the
Philippine Archipelago. Trusting in the liberal principles of the party in power,1 we hope that the
Minister of Colonies will not delay further his noble plan of bringing a little of the spirit of
progress, something of modern right, a little freedom to the Philippines, which though not
located on the Iberian Peninsula, is a piece of the heart of Spain.
And one of the reforms that should be carried out as soon as possible is the deletion from the
Code of the Indies, as we have already stated in writing, of that odious and antiquated law, a
sad and gloomy memento of oppressive feudalism, of overwhelming conquest, and one of the
ignominious and black blots still in the records of our colonial history.
It will be readily understood that it is not possible to implement such a complicated reform, as
we have already indicated in our previous articles, without touching on other substantive and
related matters. Once the tribute, polo, folia,2 sanctorum, and personal service are abolished,
the cabeza de barangay would no longer be needed and with him should disappear the entire
patriarchal institution which our discoverers found established in the Islands and which they
respected, considering it the best and convenient factor in the peaceful acquisition of the
Islands. Indeed this ancient social organization of principalia and barangay, in view of the
ignorance of the people then, and the absolute powers of the chiefs, despite its simplicity, was a
profoundly wise system of government for those times; but at the present time no one ignores
the very little utility and the great unpopularity of that institution, as we shall show presently.
For this purpose and in order not to leave unfinished the work we have begun, fulfilling our
promise to the readers of Los Dos Mundos and confirming what we have written in our
preceding articles, we are going to give a brief account of the structure of those institutions and
the disrepute into which they have fallen today in the face of the present evolutionary movement
which has brought about new social conditions. Afterwards we shall sketch the plan of municipal
organization which, in our modest opinion, we believe can serve the purpose that is desired,
which is to guide that people along the road to progress.
The Philippine municipal organization consists of the gobernadorcillo and his employees who
are lieutenants of the first, second, third, and fourth ranks; three judges of police, field, and
livestock; the ex-gobernadorcillos who are called "past captains", the incumbent cabezas de
barangay and former ones who held the position for ten years.
All of them together formed the principalia of a town and its municipal council and government.
The seat of the municipal government is called Tribunal.
The gobernadorcillo presides over the sessions of the municipal council which are held in the
Tribunal on Sundays and holidays after High Mass. The members have the right to present
proposals pertaining to the government of the town. However, they have no vote. The council is
merely a consultative body. It has no power to compel the gobernadorcillo to execute its

decisions. The gobernadorcillo can act and issue orders contrary to its decisions. Miserable
remains of absolute empires!
Since the gobernadorcillo and the cabeza de barangay of all the members of the principala play
the most important role in the municipal government in the Archipelago, we shall confine ourself
to describing the two officials.
THE GOBERNADORCILLO
As our readers must have realized the gobernadorcillo is the supreme authority in Philippine
towns. He is the equivalent of the alcalde here in Spain, though he has very many more duties
and responsibilities than he has.
Gobernadorcillo is his official title but ordinarily he is called capitn, in Bisayan, basal.3 He also
performs minor judicial functions. He serves for a term of two years; he is elected and
appointed.
The election is held in the Tribunal, presided over by the provincial governor or his delegate and
attended by the Reverend Parish Priest, though his attendance is optional.
The electoral body is composed of thirteen members of the principala, to wit: the outgoing
gobernadorcillo who has the right to vote six chosen by lot from among former gobernadorcillos
and cabezas de barangay who had served for ten years, and six incumbent cabezas.
The election board thus formed proceeds to vote by writing the names of their candidates on
printed ballots distributed by the presiding officer. Each voter must write down the names of
three candidates, two of whom are the choice of the voter and the third is outgoing
gobernadorcillo. The ballots are then handed to the presiding officer who proceeds to count the
votes. The two candidates who received the highest number of votes and the name of the
incumbent gobernadorcillo as the third candidate are then submitted to the Central Government
accompanied by the report of the chairman of the election board. The Central Government has
the right to choose the new gobernadorcillo from among the three candidates and to appoint
him.
It behooves us, above all, to state that the thirteen electors are jointly responsible to the
Provincial Government and the Central Government for the actions of the gobernadorcillo during
his term. For this reason, the law requires two witnesses to attest the acts of the
gobernadorcillo.
Knowing how this Philippine town official is elected and and proclaimed, let us now look into his
functions.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to determine the scope of the position and office of the
gobernadorcillo. The functions that this local official performs are so manifold that not even he
himself knows them all, nor even one who has studied carefully the legislation of that country
can reasonably determine the extent and limits of the powers, duties and rights of the
gobernadorcillo.
Besides bearing on his shoulders the weight of the local government, which in itself is already
most arduous, he is at the same time the local agent of public administration; he is the delegate

of the Court of First Instance with the duty to conduct the preliminary investigation of the crimes
committed in his jurisdiction; he performs the duties of a public notary; he is the agent of public
order, the police, and security. In coastal towns he is the delegate of the port captain. In short,
as a delegate of the chiefs of the different branches of the Government in the provinces, "he has
to perform, supervise, and do a multitude of errands that they may entrust to him. . . ."
In each one of these vast and heterogeneous functions the gobernadorcillo is subject to the
chief of each branch, so that in the governmental branch his chief is the provincial governor; in
the judicial, the judge; in the administrative, the administrator; and in the maritime, the port
captain.
The gobernadorcillo also attends to slight infractions of the Penal Code and to the oral trials of
suits between natives, Chinese, and Chinese mestizos, his decision having coercive force in
accordance with law.
Assisting the gobernadorcillo is a kind of secretary without any responsibility. He helps him in
the discharge of his duties. This employee is officially called directorcillo, I do not know if
ironically. We will describe his office further.
The gobernadorcillo receives no salary from the Government, his office being honorary. The law
grants him for representation expenses the miserly and ridiculousit is shameful to even
mention itsum of twenty-five pesos yearly.
Hanging over the head of the gobernadorcillo, like the sword of Damocles, is the Reverend
Parish Priest who controls him rigorously. He cannot do anything without the consent and
approval of the parish priest. We put this on the record as it is very important in the development
of our theme and lest it may pass unnoticed by our readers.
Finally, the gobernadorcillo has no book, manual, or guide to teach him his manifold and
labyrinthine duties; to enlighten him in the discharge of his duties; to give him light to know by
what to abide when his rights are trampled by superior authorities.
The Manual del Gobernadorcillo,4 published by the illustrious Mr. Jos Feced y Temprado,
deals only with his judicial and scriptory functions.
With regard to his other functions and duties, there is nothing written down except what is found
in the famous Laws of the Indies, the Official Gazette, and La Coleccin Legislativa, which until
the present no one has taken the trouble of compiling into a kind of guide.
As the gobernadorcillo ignores completely the royal decrees, resolutions and ordinances of the
Superior Government of the Archipelago, which continually modify the duties of the
gobernadorcillo, he is like a blind man without a guide as he goes about the performance of his
duties.
From the above it can be clearly deduced that the gobernadorcillo, far from being a town official,
is literally a slave of the Reverend Parish Priest and of the different heads of the provinces, as
we shall prove in the course of these articles.

THE CABEZA DE BARANGAY

What we have said in our preceding article seems to us sufficient to give a clear idea of what is
a gobernadorcillo in Philippine towns. Now let us say something about another institution no
less interesting than the first: We refer to the institution of the cabeza de barangay.
According to the authors of Gua de Empleados de Hacienda de Filipinos, "the local agents
entrusted with the collection of individual quotas are called cabezas de barangay, and as
collectors they are under the direct orders of the gobernadorcillos of the towns and all the
officials of the Administration of Finance of their respective province."
The Enciclopedia de Derecho y Administratin defines it as follows: "Cabeza de barangayIn
the Philippine Islands the chief is thus called who is especially entrusted with the collection of
the tribute of the forty or fifty Indio heads of families that form a barangay . . ." "BarangayIn
the Philippines it is the group of forty or fifty families or persons who pay tribute, being under the
authority of their chief, for which reason he is called cabeza de barangay. . . ."
According to tradition: Barangay is a Philippine term which means a small native craft where in
those times forty or fifty kinsfolk gathered weekly and under the command of the oldest kin, they
went out to the sea to fish for the food of the family.
Originally this word barangay was balangay, because in the ancient, unadulterated Philippine
alphabet there was no r. The r was introduced by the Spanish colonizers in their eagerness to
assimilate the Malayan languages to the beautiful Castilian language, thus resulting in the
corruption of these dialects; the loss of their numerous words that might have been useful to the
scholar in the study of the primitive religion and learning of that people; and finally the
corruption, too, of the rich and majestic language of Cervantes. From this unavoidable
assimilation of Philippine dialects to the Spanish language there has emerged a Spanish dialect
there called popularly castellano de tienda, which is spoken not only by the uneducated but also
by cultured persons and even Spaniards of long residence in the country.
Returning now to the question of the cabeza de barangay, we are going to explain its origin.
This institution of the cabeza de barangay existed in the Archipelago before the arrival of the
Spaniards. "With regard to its form," as described graphically by Mr. Pedro Govantes de
Azcrraga, our distinguished colleague and brainy writer, "before the conquest it was very
simple. Under the cacique of the town were the cabesas who were the chiefs of the different
barangays into which the town itself was divided. The barangay was composed of forty or fifty
free families, but they were not nobles, being the descendants of the caciques and cabezas.
"The i, it is clear, did not have this name, which is Spanish, but they were styled in accordance
with the different dialects of the country: Maginoo or Datto or Kamaranang. The datos formed
the council of the cacique. The office of cabeza was generally hereditary, but it has lapsed in the
majority of the provinces, the effect of historical circumstances."5
The authors of the aforementioned Gua say on this same subject: "The cabezas de barangay
have assumed this title since very ancient times as a consequence of different orders of good
government prescribed for these Islands in primitive times which accepted and wrote down that
word that was purely original in the languages of the country, in order to make easier
undoubtedly the local administration and economic organization of the settlements which were

then submitting to the Spanish Government. Before the conquest of the Islands, according to
the version of various chronicles, that institution was already in existence, being chiefs of a
certain number of persons or families, raised regularly to one hundred persons as confirmed by
the fixing of taxpayers of 45 or 50 groups and not less for every barangay as provided in Article
82 of the Ordinances of Good Government of these Islands of 26 February 1768.
"That same Ordinance and various other orders, including many laws of the Indies, assign to
the cabezas de barangay under the name of encomenderos de indios other tasks besides the
collection and delivery of the amount of tributes assigned to the police and the administration;
and without doubt these agents render at the same time some other services that are required
by the provincial chiefs, the judges of the Court of First Instance, and the respective
gobernadorcillos."
At the beginning, the barangay headship was hereditary, but. today it has become elective on
account of the increase of population, except in the Province of Batangas, by virtue of municipal
laws and orders that we are not citing here for the sake of brevity. The cabeza de barangay
receives two per cent of the tributes collected and four per cent of the sanctorum. Besides, his
wife is exempt from the payment of tribute and sanctorum, and he and his first born are exempt
from rendering personal services as well. Notwithstanding, rare was the cabeza de barangay
who, in winding up the affairs of his office after a three-year term, was not materially ruined due
not only to the vicissitudes of the tribute-paying population, but principally to administrative
immorality, as we shall explain in due time.
The office of the headship of the barangay is elective and the principala of the town is
responsible for his nomination and election.
The gobernadorcillo forwards his nomination to the provincial governor and to the chief of the
finance office, accompanied with documents and reports revise (this condition is sine qua non)
by the Reverend Parish Priest, attesting the qualifications and circumstances of the candidate
and according to his opinion the election is approved or disapproved.
Similar to the office of gobernadorcillo, whose thirteen electors are responsible to the Central
Government and the Provincial Government, the cabeza de barangay is required by law,
besides giving his property as guarantee, which is considered mortgaged to the State, to
conduct his office to the pleasure and satisfaction of the chiefs of the province.
Such is the story as briefly related by our humble but candid pen in the preceding paragraphs of
two fundamental institutions which play a most important role in the government and
administration of that people. In the next article we shall set forth the general causes of the
inefficacy and the disrepute of these institutions and their subordinate agencies.
PRESENT STATUS OF THE INSTITUTIONS
Faithfully fulfilling our promise to the readers of Los Dos Mundos, in this chapter we shall inquire
into the causes which have contributed to the decay and ineffectiveness of those venerable
institutions.
In our humble opinion two factors have produced the inefficacy and uselessness of the
traditional organization of that society. These are: one determinant, essential, necessary; the

other is contingent, external and dismal, to wit: immorality in the government, in religious affairs
and economic administration. These are the only reasons why these institutions lack prestige.
As to the first, it springs from the very essence of those institutions which, being human, are
always defective and therefore they can be perfected.
Thus, then, it is nothing more than the result of the progressive movement which impels man to
move and decide for himself by his own power and examination and without abandoning
altogether the old, to search for a new way of existence and bring about a different way of life,
according to the counsel and inspiration of new ideals.
The march of civilization, though slow and too late in those Islands, has introduced profound
and transcendental changes in social and economic life, converting what three centuries ago
were simply settlements into towns today with a certain measure of culture and enlightenment,
which maintain commercial and industrial relations with peoples the largest number different in
character, laws and customs, thus breaking down the tribal bond that united the members of a
tribe, as it used to be said formerly. Because of the facilities of transportation and
communication, members of the same family are now scattered in different provinces and towns
in search of work, thus breaking up the barangays.
All this combination of circumstances brought about by progress removed the people from the
system of government which hitherto has been the basis and the rule not only of individual life,
but also of social relations and order. Through the force and transforming virtue of civilization all
these innovations were naturally reflected on the two institutions of the gobernadorcillo and the
cabeza de barangay, the base on which rests the structure of the entire civil and administrative
organization of the Archipelago, whose importance is now known by all.
With regard to the second factor, we already know the bad and vicious administration cast in the
narrow and imperfect molds of the famous Laws of the Indies.
This second cause then is nothing more than the consequences of the dismal colonial regime in
those Islands.
Thanks to it and the pressure exerted by our colonial laws there are the thousand and thousand
vexations, abuses, outrages committed by the higher officials of the administration, the
government and justice, and by the devout and Reverend Parish Priest of each town on the
persons of the gobernadorcillo and the cabeza de barangay who represent the Philippine
institutions, and hence the natives look with horror on such honorary positions and shun them
whenever possible.
We know that we are treading on troublesome and slippery ground, and before expressing our
ideas on this delicate point, we should state that we have no intention of wounding the
susceptibility of the persons who had occupied and occupy official posts in those Islands with
our affirmations and account of deeds which are more or less abominable and punishable. We
only think that it is our duty to state the truth with prudence, in accordance with our noble
purposes in order that the great evils suffered by that people may be remedied as soon as
possible, thereby contributing with this, in the sphere where we can do it, to raise that country,
which is our own, to the highest level of civilization and progress.

Hence we write with the impartiality of one who expects no reward or hides bastard emoluments
behind his back.
At the outset we can assert without any kind of exaggeration that the gobernadorcillo, cabeza
de barangay and other members of the Philippine municipality, far from playing the role of local
authorities, are treated like slaves, in the first place, by the ecclesiastical authority of the town,
or the curate of souls, and in the second place, by the civil, military, administrative and judicial
officials of the respective provinces. With great accuracy and eloquence a famous orator said
that "the whole European policy in the Orient can be summarized in one word: Exploitation."6
At this point it is necessary for us to clarify the statement of such an illustrious tribune to save
the honor of our Mother Country: that exploitation, as far as Spanish colonial possessions are
concerned, is not national but individual; it is not the idea of the Metropolis, but exclusively of
individuals who, eagerly desirous of gold, instead of fulfilling their civilizing mission, devoted
themselves to satiate their thirst for riches.
In the meantime, let us examine the defects of the backward and anachronistic organization of
the Philippine municipality. We shall point out in the operations of these institutions the facts
which manifest the dismal influence of the friars in particular and of other officials in general.
COERCION IN THE ELECTIONS
As our readers must have noted, the election of the gobernadorcillo and some other members
of the municipal council is entrusted, according to law, to thirteen electors chosen by lot from
among the principalia and cabezas de barangay. This procedure, besides being absurd and
antithetical any way to the philosophy of law, is a method of election that is highly fatalistic and
tyrannical, since the will of thirteen electors chosen by chance predominates and is imposed
upon the people and above all on the principala who, as councilors, bear the responsibility for
the acts of the elected gobernadorcillo.
This can pass and could be endurable if it were a fact, because, after all, it is a provision of the
law; if the vote of the electors in favor of their candidate were most free and spontaneous, or in
accordance with the common decision of the principala reached at their previous meeting.; but
such is not the case.
The jurisdiction over affairs of State and control of the people granted to the friars, placed by the
grace of God, of the Apostolic Holy See and the national government in charge of the spiritual
administration of the people of those Islands could not produce more deplorable results.
This being understood and knowing how the Reverend Parish Priest needs the gobernadorcillo
to serve him in his business and private purposes, nothing is easier to understand why he
shows such solicitude and exerts such influence so that the candidate he favors should be
elected.
Let us see how he does it. A day or two before the election, the principala and the outgoing
gobernadorcillo hold a meeting generally in the house of the outgoing gobernadorcillo, or in that
of a principal, or in the Tribunal, wherein they agree on the candidates to be nominated on
election day. At this grand meeting the parish priest is never absent, with or without an invitation,
coming freely and fresh. And there, after delivering a harangue in the dialect of the region, which
he pronounces poorly, having learned it by halves and very badly ordinarily, he presents his

candidate, and with the supreme power that he has by law, he commands the Principala to vote
for him on election day.
Always or almost always the principala accepts the candidate designated by the parish priest,
for if the gobernadorcillo and the parish priest are not in accord, the parish priest with the
powers granted him by law can obstruct his administration, his approval of every official act of
the gobernadorcillo being required by law to render it legal or valid.
It can be deduced from all this that the candidate favored by the Reverend Parish Priest almost
always was elected; the falsehood of election by limited suffrage exercised by the principala
and the cabezas de barangay; the election always falls on persons without education and even
illiterates most of the time, in violation of the letter and spirit of the law.
And for the confirmation of what we have revealed, read the formidable accusation against the
friars presented to the Madrid Government by former Governor General Simn de Anda y
Salazar, from which we quote the following:
Thus like the bishops (those of the Philippines) living within their diocese are honorary bishops,
so is the King in the Philippine Islands: His Majesty resides in them by the authority granted to
their President and Audiencia, Mayors, Governors and Magistrates of the provinces, but neither
the President, Audiencia nor the rest of the Ministers give the orders but indeed only the priest
does.
With regard to jurisdiction, it is admitted that no gobernadorcillo of the Indios carry out any order
of the President, Audiencia, or Alcaldes without the permission of the priest. The priest punishes
him instantly with one hundred lashes if he obeys the royal Magistrates and judges.
Particularizing what we have related, we cannot help bringing to the attention of our readers that
if the reverend and devout parish priest displays unusual activity in his spiritual administration
and in the preparatory work for the municipal elections, it is to insure that his favorite
candidates, who are his proteges, win the election and appointment as gobernadorcillos,
cabezas de barangay, and other members of the municipal government. In this regard the
provincial chiefs and judges of the Court of First Instance are not behind him, although these
officials operate in a distinct manner in securing the election of their candidates. The friar, of his
own accord and ignoring others, imposes on the principala, while the others are diplomatic and
polite, communicating their wishes to their friends and these in turn tell the electors who vote for
the candidates in order not to incur the ill-will of the high officials.
Always following the principle of impartiality, which is our guide, we should state that in towns
where the provincial governor and the judicial, administrative and maritime officials reside, the
friar behaves differently from the way he does in towns where there are no Spaniards. Here he
lives like a real feudal lord, his reverence being the most important figure there. Neither does he
recognize any authority above and superior to his nor does the gobernadorcillo or any other
municipal official give orders there except he. Thus, he rules despotically and tyrannically, he
punishes barbarously and cruelly if his orders are not obeyed; in a word, he is a cacique in the
towns far from the provincial capital. However, in the provincial capitals his behaviour towards
his fellow Spaniards is hyprocritical. With cunning and deceit he tries to be in harmony with all
the local Spanish officials to win their friendship and to gain their innermost sympathies, and
afterwards, having won their goodwill, he acts as it suits him.

Be it as it may, then, the truth is that the members of Philippine institution, the gobernadorcillo,
the cabeza de barangay as well as the entire principala, are in general ignorant men without
any education, who do not have the slightest notion of their duties, and indeed they are only
automatic machines, blind instruments of the friars, the provincial governor and other Spanish
officials to carry out their private ends. And do not think that in the majority of those towns there
is a lack of cultured, educated and very competent men to hold these positions; but such men, if
they are sometimes elected and appointed, resort to all means to get out of their predicament,
now bribing a physician to certify that he is suffering from an extraordinary chronic ailment that
will make it impossible for him to hold the position, now obtaining a recommendation from an
influential person in the Central Government to be relieved of his post.
It is easy to. understand such repugnance for public office. If injustice is evil, infamous, it is
worse to submit oneself to it. Considering the few securities and guarantees of municipal
officials, who of the educated class would be willing to expose himself to the net of abuses,
vexations, secret persecutions that show through the all-embracing powers of the Spanish
authorities and the weight of the predominant influence of the religious communities? Woe to
the gobernadorcillo who tries to check the caciquism [bossism] of the friars and the offences
and outrages of his superiors!
Why?
Because, in truth, the gobernadorcillo and the whole principala are slaves of the Reverend
Parish Priest of the town and the provincial officials, for they are the ones who furnish the
materials that are lacking in their kitchens. As to the gobernadorcillo, God only knows how they
handle him! The daily feed of the horses of the Reverend Parish Priest; the chickens, capons,
that are served on the table of the magistrate and provincial governor; and still not satisfied with
all this, they employ them as agents of their private business.
In this way the Filipino people go from one arbitrariness to another.
All these sharp practices of the friars, magistrates, and provincial governors are related in great
detail by Mr. Sinibaldo de Mas in his Informe de Filipinos.7
COMPLEMENTARY INSTITUTIONS
In order that our account of Philippine institutions may not be incomplete, we are going to
describe briefly certain positions which are complementary to the two principal institutions
aforementioned.
These posts are a later creation than those of gobernadorcillo and cabeza de barangay. It can
be affirmed that they date to the latter part of the last century when they were established to
meet the needs of the time.
They are, namely, the teniente mayor (first lieutenant), whose counterpart in Spanish towns is
the teniente-alcalde, acts in the absence of the gobernadorcillo or when the gobernadorcillo
cannot perform some of his duties, so numerous are they.
There are three judges:

The judge of agriculture inspects the fields and farm work and adjust the misunderstandings
among the field workers.
The judge of livestock under whose jurisdiction are the slaughter, purchase, sale, marking,
sealing and resealing of cattle.
The judge of police and fomento is in charge of public embellishment, order and neatness, and
the inspection of primary schools.
These three judges, each in his own branch, act like fiscal in the complaints brought by the
citizens of the town before the gobernadorcillo or teniente mayor.
Besides these officials, there are second, third, and fourth lieutenants who take turns in serving
as night guard and reserve guards in the Tribunal.
All these officials are chosen by nominal voting. The three judges can be chosen form among
former gobernadorcillos, but no former gobernadorcillo can be a lieutenant. The first lieutenant
is chosen from the principa or the rest of the citizenry.

The posts are honorary and without representation expenses.

For every visita8 or barrio there is a lieutenant, a judge, and a peace officer (alguacil). They are
appointed by the gobernadorcillo. He also appoints one alguacil in charge of the postal service
and official dispatches and another one in charge of the municipal jail, serving as watcher
(alcaide).
Finally, there are the cuadrilleros who are, as in Spain, keepers of public order; and the
directorcillo who acts at times as municipal secretary. As he plays an important role in municipal
administration, we are going to devote some lines to him.
As the majority of gobernadorcillos are persons with meager education who do not understand
Spanish and at time do not know how to read and write, the law allows them to have a secretary
called directorcillo in Philippine office jargon.
In giving him this title, the same as that of gobernadorcillo, our insular government seems to
have a tendency to ridicule he local officials it has itself created.
The directorcillo in the municipal government writes all public documents; he prepares the report
on judicial proceedings; he answers official correspondence; and he serves as interpreter
between the higher authorities and the gobernadorcillo and the principala.
Among his fellow citizens he plays the sad role of amanuensis.
Notwithstanding his very important office, the directorcillo is exempt from any responsibility for
his official acts. All the responsibility, in case of error or deceit, rests on the poor gobernadorcillo.

Before the law, he is not answerable for anything. He is therefore a little ruler, an irresponsible
power. The gobernadorcillo and the principala are the responsible officials before the higher
authorities, not before the people, because in all this it is a cipher. His misdeeds are not few.
For all his very interesting role in municipal administration he is paid the miserable sum of thirty
pesetas monthly, which is not even enough for his buyo.9 Hence, in the performance of his work
he commits many fibs, not a few tricks, and numerous irregularities.
Generally, the directorcillos are the creatures of the friars who are wont to place in that position
their majordomos or servants who have a smattering of Spanish, having learned it through
hearing the reverend fathers speak it. His masters, the friars, are his omnipotent auxiliary in
different situations. Sometimes the directorcillo is a philosophy or secondary school student who
has failed in the seminary or the university in Manila; but, whether one or the other, all
directorcillos serve the interests of the friars. If they did not, they run the risk of being
denounced as filibusteros or seditious persons to the provincial governor and exiled to the
Marianas Islands or Jolo.
Thus, then, the directorcillos are always the minions of the friar priests and under their shadow
the directorcillo commits many infamies against the people and with his official astuteness the
friar parish priest is able to frustrate all local officials and to dominate brutally the people.
As the directorcillo serves as substitute judge of instruction in distant towns in the province, it is
not rash to assert that many persons must have been condemned to death or life imprisonment
undeservedly on account of the fault or crass ignorance of the directorcillo.
When a murder is committed, the directorcillo goes to the place of the crime with the Manual del
Gobernadorcillo under his arm. He opens the book, looks for the form, copies it from top to
bottom, taking care only to write down the name of the deceased and of the witnesses.
Thus, in this manner is done the first inquiry into a crime in some Philippine towns.
The friar priest takes great care that the directorcillo be to his liking and loyal to him so that he
can resolve and do things arbitrarily in the municipality.
For this reason, the directorcillos are almost always persons of no account, incompetent and of
very meager education.
What we have said and written is sufficient to enable one to form an exact opinion of the
deplorable condition of Philippine institutions.
We recommend their complete overhauling.

Endnotes
1 The party in power referred to was the Fusionista, that is, the fusion of the constitutionalist and
centralist group. It was headed by Praxedes Mateo Sagasta, gaining power in February 1881
and losing it in October 1883.

2 Falla was a tax amounting to one real and a half imposed on the Indio and mestizo for each
day that he failed to render manual service in the convent of his parish.
3 Basal is a Bisayan word which means ringing of bells. As presiding officer of the municipal
council he held a bell in his hand during the sessions of the council.
4 This book has three editions, the first having the title Manual de Gobernadorcillo . . . (Manila,
Imprenta de Ramirez y Giraudier, 1867); the second, corrected and expanded, has the title
Manual del Gobernadorcillo . . . (Manila, Ramirez y Giraudier, 1867); and the third with the same
title but published in 1880. Lpez Jaena must be referring to this edition.T.A.A.
5 See the collection of Revista de Filipinas for the year 1876, p. 565, article titled "Instituciones
Filipina" by Pedro Govantes de Azcrraga. (Footnote in the 1891 edition of Lpez Jaena's
Discursos y Artculos Varios.)
6 See Rafael M. de Lara, La Colonizacion en la historic, vol. II, 349. (Note in the 1891 edition.)
7 He refers to Sinibaldo de Mas, Informe sobre el estado de las Islas Filipinas en 1842, 3 vols.,
Madrid 1843. The third volume is extremely rare, very few copies of it having been printed. It
was said that he distributed the few copies "very cautiously". In this volume he recommends the
granting of independence to the Philippine Islands.
8 Visita is a small rural division with a chapel.
9 Buyo is a local chewing preparation consisting of a bit of areca nut, lime and the leaf of a
certain vine, locally called ikmo.

Monachism in the Philippines

(by Del Pilar, Marcelo)
In the Philippines today, something spectacular is becoming evidentsomething which we
believe will reveal the secret of the much exalted influence of the clergy on the life of the
Filipinos.
It has always been said that the friar handles the Filipino as he pleases. Based on this
assumption, the government, with all the democratic principles it advocates, abstains from
emancipating the schools in the Philippinesfrom theocratic-monachal tutelage.
Truth will always reveal itself in time. Meanwhile any one can find out what is going on in these
islands, at present, by simply focusing his attention on religious-administrative matters as
published in the Philippine press.
Wanting to enforce the sanitary measures which have been violated without any justification, the
Board in Charge of Civic Administration, represented by Mr. Quiroga Ballesteros, sought to
confront the powerful influence behind the violations. A wound hurts unbearably when a finger is
thrust into it and causes the wounded to go into violent convulsions. In the same way the

sensibilities of those on whom the responsibility for the violations was pinned were so hurt that
they reacted in the ways which call for very serious reflection.
Through a circular dated last October 18, the said Board cautioned the provincial chiefs against
giving their consent, regardless of the circumstances to the customary, to the very unsanitary
practice of taking the dead to the churches and making them lie in state while funeral rites are
held for them. This practice greatly endangers public health for, in a tropical country like the
Philippines, the temperature accelerates the pace of decomposition. At the same time, the
Board earnestly urged the necessity of proceeding with the closing of the cemeteries situated
within the town limits.
This very timely measure was received by the country with general applause. But the regular
clergy saw in it nothing more than a probable preterition of their functions and a subsequent
diminution in parish fees.
Orally and in writing, in the pulpits as well as in diocesan pastorals, dogmas, rites and all the
most sacred things were very subtly invoked by the clergy in defense of their casual collections
and against the principle that public health is the supreme law of the nations.
The friars initiated a vigorous campaign in defense of their interests andin pretended concern
over the country's safety, from lips consecrated to the truthallowed the escape of phrases
threatening government officials and at the same time slandering the Filipino people.
According to the women, the religiosity of the people is affected when their dead relatives and
friends' bodies are not allowed to lie in state in the churches to receive the solemn and very
pompous benediction of a priest. They can foresee how wounded religious sentiments can
provoke a popular uprisingan uprising which the priests had told themthey would not be
able to handle.
The regular clergy is accepted almost always as the most unquestionable guardian of Spanish
integrity. The very powerful regular clergy always boast of their having averted and suppressed
rebellious sentiments in this country. But surprisingly, these clergy now doubt their power to
suppress uprisings because this particular uprising will be favorable to their collection of parish
fees!
Spain can laugh at the threats of the friars, at the people's uprising, and she will be giving an
eloquent proof of her prudence and common sense.
Funeral services and ceremonies, whatever these may cost, are an imposition on the Filipino
people. And we can cite thousands of cases when a lack of means to pay for funeral
ceremonies has made destitute orphans shed bitter tears.
The poor has swallowed all these abuses in silence, for it cannot but accept that in the
Philippines it requires great effort to reveal the truth and it has always been difficult, if not
impossible, to obtain justice when the defendants belong to the regular clergy.
A calced Augustinian, the parish priest of Navotas, was sued criminally for various
delinquencies, one of which was his refusal to administer the sacrament to a very sick person
whose family would not compromise to pay the expenses of a costly funeral should the patient

die. For this offense and for many others, "Christ's name was invoked" and a penalty of nine
days spiritual retreat was imposed on him.
Another parish priest from the province of Bulacan, also a calced Augustinian, had been
denounced for the infringement of sanitary laws during the cholera epidemic of 1882. A legal suit
was issued against him by the Senior Mayor, Mr. Juan Piqueras. All the acts denounced were
proven violations of the law, but the priest only grinned unrepentantly at the laborious work of
censure presented in the investigation of his transgressions and in his subsequent indictment.
So did his other brothers in Christ.
Such is the success of even the most well-founded complaints which reach official circles. After
the complainants have gore through all kinds of inconveniences, after their patience has been
exhausted, the complaint is declared null and void and only God knows how those who
denounced the friars or bore witness against them are persecuted.
This is why the government never learned or even gets a hint of the deep hidden regrets of the
father who had to bury the body of his dead son in some open field because he could not pay
for the funeral rites which these inhuman ecclesiastics hold before a burial. Neither does it get to
know about the tears of a son who for the same reason has been forced to bury the body of bis
dead mother outside the cemetery, later, to become exposed to the voracity of dogs. Thus, it is
impossible for the government to realize the extent of the hatred which is inspired by these friars
who now pretend to invoke the religious sentiments of the Filipinos.
We insist that the government make an effort to investigate carefully and in detail the actual
campaign which the friars are waging against the authorities in this archipelago for only after an
extended study will it realize why monachism in the Philippines deserves very serious thought.
Residents of the Philippines who aspire to identify their colonial interests with those of the
mother country and demand that laws in the Peninsula be made applicable in these islands are
believed to be rightly accused of filibustering and are cruelly persecuted at the behest of the
regular clergy.
On the other hand, the element which refuses such an identification, the very rich communities
which detest the laws of lire mother country and constantly undermine the principle of authority
corporations which, while pretending to represent traditionalism and Carlism, have made
themselves masters of this country and owners of her wealth win the confidence of the
mother country and with their powerful influence are able to encroach upon the administrative
measures of the different government departments.
Why a theocratic-monachal tutelage for the institutions in the Philippines? Must Spain give in to
the friars because she is afraid of their influence over the masses? Is it because of the
unparalleled role in which the people have cast them? Spain should not believe so readily the
statements not based on recorded facts.
Does the influence of the friar really incline in a specified way the opinion and sympathy of the
Filipinos?
If this influence is truly persuasive, if it is true that the regular clergy can handle the Filipinos as
they please, will it not be better for both the government and the reigning dynasty to promote the

influence of a third party whose aspirations will at least be incompatible with the interests of one
of them and will add to the stability of the other?
If this influence is not real, then, this instinctive attachment to the friars is not well established in
the hearts of the people. For how can the Filipinos exist in harmony with elements who absorb
their wealth and rights, and who try to blunt the keen edges of their intelligence, rob them of
their liberty and hinder their progress? If the people only see in the friar an enemy of their wellbeing, a constant and cruel persecutor, the power agent in the numerous and mysterious
deportations which cause tears of desperation to flow from the eyes of the families and friends
of the deportees and thus make resentments over such cases pile up to be set aflame later, why
then must the government support and promote this element which terrorizes the Filipino
people?. Why must Spain be solidary to this monstrous hatred which the friar inspires in the
hearts of so many oppressed Filipinos?
The government needs to reflect much. Spain is interested not only in her integrity as a nation.
She is also interested in the glory and honor of her dynasty. Monachism is cosmopolitan and is
not limited to one part of the world; hence it is not exclusively Spanish.

Part IV:

On the Indolence of the Filipinos

(Jose Rizal)
"The good curate," he says with reference to the rosy picture a friar had given him of the
Philippines, "had not told me about the governor, the foremost official of the district, who was too
much taken up with the ideal of getting rich to have time to tyrannize over his docile subjects;
the governor, charged with ruling the country and collecting the various taxes in the
government's name, devoted himself almost wholly to trade; in his hands the high and noble
functions he performs are nothing more than instruments of gain. He monopolizes all the
business and instead of developing on his part the love of work, instead of stimulating the too
natural indolence of the natives, he with abuse of his powers thinks only of destroying all
competition that may trouble him or attempt to participate in his profits. It matters little to him
that the country is impoverished, without cultivation, without commerce, without, industry, just so
the governor is quickly enriched!"
The great difficulty that every enterprise encountered with the administration contributed not a
little to kill off all commercial and industrial movement. All the Filipinos, as well as all those who
have tried to engage in business in the Philippines, know how many documents, what comings,
how many stamped papers, how much patience is needed to secure from the government a
permit for an enterprise. One must count upon the good will of this one, on the influence of that
one, on a good bribe to another in order that the application be not pigeonholed, a present to
the one further on so that he may pass it on to his chief; one must pray to God to give him good
humor and time to see and examine it; to another, talent to recognize its expediency; to one
further on sufficient stupidity not to scent behind the enterprise an insurrectionary purpose; and
that they may not all spend the time taking baths, hunting or playing cards with the reverend
friars in their convents or country houses. And above all, great patience, great knowledge of

how to get along, plenty of money, a great deal of politics, many salutations, great influence,
plenty of presents and complete resignation! How is it strange that, the Philippines remain poor
in spite of their very fertile soil, when history tells us that the countries now the most flourishing
date their development from the day of their liberty and civil rights? The most commercial and
most industrious countries have been the freest countries: France, England and the United
States prove this. Hongkong, which is not worth the most insignificant of the Philippines, has
more commercial movement than all the islands together, because it is free and is well
governed.
The apathy of the government itself toward everything in commerce and agriculture contributes
not a little to foster indolence. There is no encouragement, at all for the manufacturer or for the
farmer; the government furnishes no aid either when poor crop comes, when the locusts23
sweep over the fields, or when a cyclone destroys in its passage the wealth of the soil; nor does
it take any trouble to seek a market for the products of its colonies. Why should it do so when
these same products are burdened with taxes and imposts and have not free entry into the
ports, of the mother country, nor is their consumption there encouraged? While we see all the
walls of London covered with advertisements of the products of its colonies, while the English
make heroic efforts to substitute Ceylon for Chinese tea, beginning with the sacrifice of their
taste and their stomach, in Spain, with the exception of tobacco, nothing from the Philippines is
known: neither its sugar, coffee, hemp, fine cloths, nor its Ilocano blankets. The name of Manila
is known only from those cloths of China or Indo-China which at one time reached Spain by way
of Manila, heavy silk shawls, fantastically but coarsely embroidered, which no one has thought
of imitating in Manila, since they are so easily made; but the government has other cares, and
the Filipinos do not know that such objects are more highly esteemed in the Peninsula than their
delicate pia, embroideries and their very fine jusi fabrics. Thus disappeared our trade in indigo,
thanks to the trickery of the Chinese, which the government could not guard against, occupied
as it was with other thoughts; thus die now the other industries; the fine manufactures of the
Visayas are gradually disappearing from trade and even from use; the people, continually
getting poorer, cannot afford the costly cloths and have to be content with calico or the
imitations of the Germans, who produce imitations even of the work of our silversmiths.
Part V: On the Indolence of the Filipinos (Jose Rizal)
Nurtured by the example of anchorites of a contemplative and lazy life, the natives spend theirs
in giving their gold to the Church in the hope of miracles and other wonderful things. Their will is
hypnotized: from childhood they learn to act mechanically, without knowledge of the object,
thanks to the exercises imposed upon them from the tenderest years of praying for whole hours
in an unknown tongue, of venerating things that they do not understand, of accepting beliefs
that are not explained to them to having absurdities imposed upon them, while the protests of
reason are repressed. Is it any wonder that with this vicious dressage of intelligence and will the
native, of old logical and consistentas the analysis of his past and of his language
demonstratesshould now be a mass of dismal contradictions? That continual struggle
between reason and duty, between his organism and his new ideals, that civil war which
disturbs the peace of his conscience all his life, has the result, of paralyzing all his energies, and

aided by the severity of the climate, makes of that eternal vacillation, of the doubts in his brain,
the origin of his indolent disposition.
In addition to this, love of peace and the horror many have of accepting the few administrative
positions which fall to the Filipinos on account of the trouble and annoyance these cause them
places at the head of the people the most stupid and incapable men, those who submit to
everything, those who can endure all the caprices and exactions of the curate and of the
officials. With this inefficiency in the lower spheres of power and ignorance and indifference in
the upper, with the frequent changes and the eternal apprenticeships, with great fear and many
administrative obstacles, with a voiceless people that has neither initiative nor cohesion, with
employees who nearly all strive to amass a fortune and return home, with inhabit, ants who live
in great hardship from the instant they begin to breathe, create prosperity, agriculture and
industry, found enterprises and companies, things that still hardly prosper in free and wellorganized communities.
Yes, all attempt is useless that does not spring from a profound study of the evil that afflicts us.
To combat this indolence, some have proposed increasing the native's needs and raising the
taxes. What has happened? Criminals have multiplied, penury has been aggravated. Why?
Because the native already has enough needs with his functions of the Church, with his fiestas,
with the public offices forced on him, the donations and bribes that he has to make so that he
may drag out his wretched existence. The cord is already too taut.
Without education and liberty, that soil and that sun of mankind, no reform is possible, no
measure can give the result desired. This does not mean that we should ask first for the native
the instruction of a sage and all imaginable liberties, in order then to put a hoe in his hand or
place him in a workshop; such a pretension would be an absurdity and vain folly. What we wish
is that obstacles be not put in his way, that the many his climate and the situation of the islands
afford be not augmented, that instruction be not begrudged him for fear that when he becomes
intelligent he may separate from the colonizing nation or ask for the rights of which he makes
himself worthy. Since some day or other he will become enlightened, whether the government
wishes it or not, let his enlightenment be as a gift received and not as conquered plunder. We
desire that the policy be at once frank and consistent, that is, highly civilizing, without sordid
reservations, without distrust, without fear or jealousy, wishing the good for the sake of the
good, civilization for the sake of civilization, without ulterior thoughts of gratitude, or else boldly
exploiting, tyrannical and selfish without hypocrisy or deception, with a whole system wellplanned and studied out for dominating by compelling obedience, for commanding to get rich,
for getting rich to be happy. If the former, the government may act with the security that some
day or other it will reap the harvest and will find a people its own in heart and interest; there is
nothing like a favor for securing the friendship or enmity of man, according to whether it be
conferred with good will or hurled into his face and bestowed upon him in spite of himself. If the
logical and regulated system of exploitation be chosen, stifling with the jingle of gold and the
sheen of opulence the sentiments of independence in the colonies, paying with its wealth for its
lack of liberty, as the English do in India, who moreover leave the government to native rulers,
then build roads, lay out highways, foster the freedom of trade; let the government heed
material interests more than the interests of four orders of friars; let it send out intelligent

employees to foster industry; just judges, all well paid, so that they be not venal pilferers, and
lay aside all religious pretext. This policy has the advantage in that while it may not lull the
instincts of liberty wholly to sleep, yet the day when the mother country loses her colonies she
will at least have the gold amassed and not the regret of having reared ungrateful children.

The Philippines A Century Hence

(Jose Rizal)
Then began a new era for the Filipinos. They gradually lost their ancient traditions, their
recollections--they forgot their writings, their songs, their poetry, their laws, in order to learn by
heart other doctrines, which they did not understand, other ethics, other tastes, different from
those inspired in their race by their climate and their way of thinking. Then there was a fallingoff, they were lowered in their own eyes, they became ashamed of what was distinctively their
own, in order to admire and praise what was foreign and incomprehensible: their spirit was
broken and they acquiesced....
So the Philippine peoples have remained faithful during three centuries, giving up their liberty
and their independence, sometimes dazzled by the hope of the Paradise promised, sometimes
cajoled by the friendship offered them by a noble and generous people like the Spanish,
sometimes also compelled by superiority of arms of which they were ignorant and which timid
spirits invested with a mysterious character, or sometimes because the invading foreigner took
advantage of intestine feuds to step in as the peacemaker in discord and thus later to dominate
both parties and subject them to his authority.
Spanish domination once established, it was firmly maintained, thanks to the attachment of the
people, to their mutual dissensions, and to the fact that the sensitive self-love of the native had
not yet been wounded. Then the people saw their own countrymen in the higher ranks of the
army, their general officers fighting beside the heroes of Spain and sharing their laurels,
begrudged neither character, reputation nor consideration; then fidelity and attachment to Spain,
love of the fatherland, made of the native, encomendero [1]1 and even general, as during the
English invasion; then there had not yet been invented the insulting and ridiculous epithets with
which recently the most laborious and painful achievements of the native leaders have been
stigmatized; not then had it become the fashion to insult and slander in stereotyped phrase, in
newspapers and books published with governmental and superior ecclesiastical approval, the
people that paid, fought and poured out its blood for the Spanish name, nor was it considered
either noble or witty to offend a whole race, which was forbidden to reply or defend itself; and if
there were religious hypochondriacs who in the leisure of their cloisters dared to write against it,
as did the Augustinian Gaspar de San Agustin and the Jesuit Velarde, their loathsome abortions
never saw the light, and still less were they themselves rewarded with miters and raised to high
offices. True it is that neither were the natives of that time such as we are now: three centuries
of brutalization and obscurantism have necessarily had some influence upon us, the most
beautiful work of divinity in the hands of certain artisans may finally be converted into a
caricature.
The priests of that epoch, wishing to establish their domination over the people, got in touch
with it and made common cause with it against the oppressive encomenderos. Naturally, the

people saw in them greater learning and some prestige and placed its confidence in them,
followed their advice, and listened to them even in the darkest hours. If they wrote, they did so
in defense of the rights of the native and made his cry reach even to the distant steps of the
Throne. And not a few priests, both secular and regular, undertook dangerous journeys, as
representatives of the country, and this, along with the strict and public residencia [22] then
required of the governing powers, from the captain-general to the most insignificant official,
rather consoled and pacified the wounded spirits, satisfying, even though it were only in form, all
the malcontents.
All this has passed away. The derisive laughter penetrates like mortal poison into the heart of
the native who pays and suffers and it becomes more offensive the more immunity it enjoys. A
common sore, the general affront offered to a whole race, has wiped away the old feuds among
different provinces. The people no longer has confidence in its former protectors, now its
exploiters and executioners. The masks have fallen. It has seen that the love and piety of the
past have come to resemble the devotion of a nurse who, unable to live elsewhere, desires
eternal infancy, eternal weakness, for the child in order to go on drawing her wages and existing
at its expense; it has seen not only that she does not nourish it to make it grow but that she
poisons it to stunt its growth, and at the slightest protest she flies into a rage! The ancient show
of justice, the holy residencia, has disappeared; confusion of ideas begins to prevail; the regard
shown for a governor-general, like La Torre, becomes a crime in the government of his
successor, sufficient to cause the citizen to lose his liberty and his home; if he obey the order of
one official, as in the recent matter of admitting corpses into the church, it is enough to have the
obedient subject later harassed and persecuted in every possible way; obligations and taxes
increase without thereby increasing rights, privileges and liberties or assuring the few in
existence; a rgime of continual terror and uncertainty disturbs the minds, a rgime worse than
a period of disorder, for the fears that the imagination conjures up are generally greater than the
reality; the country is poor; the financial crisis through which it is passing is acute, and every one
points out with the finger the persons who are causing the trouble, yet no one dares lay hands
upon them!
True it is that the Penal Code has come like a drop of balm to such bitterness. [33] But of what
use are all the codes in the world, if by means of confidential reports, if for trifling reasons, if
through anonymous traitors any honest citizen may be exiled or banished without a hearing,
without a trial? Of what use is that Penal Code, of what use is life, if there is no security in the
home, no faith in justice and confidence in tranquility of conscience? Of what use is all that array
of terms, all that collection of articles, when the cowardly accusation of a traitor has more
influence in the timorous ears of the supreme autocrat than all the cries for justice?...
So then, if the prudence and wise reforms of our ministers do not find capable and determined
interpreters among the colonial governors and faithful perpetuators among those whom the
frequent political changes send to fill such a delicate post; if met with the eternal it is out of
order, proffered by the elements who see their livelihood in the backwardness of their subjects;
if just claims are to go unheeded, as being of a subversive tendency; if the country is denied
representation in the Cortes and an authorized voice to cry out against all kinds of abuses,
which escape through the complexity of the laws; if, in short, the system, prolific in results of
alienating the good will of the natives, is to continue, pricking his apathetic mind with insults and

charges of ingratitude, we can assert that in a few years the present state of affairs will have
been modified completelyand inevitably. There now exists a factor which was formerly lacking
the spirit of the nation has been aroused, and a common misfortune, a common debasement,
has united all the inhabitants of the Islands. A numerous enlightened class now exists within and
without the Islands, a class created and continually augmented by the stupidity of certain
governing powers, which forces the inhabitants to leave the country, to secure education
abroad, and it is maintained and struggles thanks to the provocations and the system of
espionage in vogue. This class, whose number is cumulatively increasing, is in constant
communication with the rest of the Islands, and if today it constitutes only the brain of the
country in a few years it will form the whole nervous system and manifest its existence in all its
acts.
Some governors have realized this truth, and, impelled by their patriotism, have been trying to
introduce needed reforms in order to forestall events. But notwithstanding all that have been
ordered up to the present time, they have produced scanty results, for the government as well
as for the country.
The press is free in the Philippines, because their complaints rarely ever reach the Peninsula,
very rarely, and if they do they are so secret, so mysterious, that no newspaper dares to publish
them, or if it does reproduce them, it does so tardily and badly.
When the laws and the acts of officials are kept under surveillance, the word justice may cease
to be a colonial jest. The thing that makes the English most respected in their possessions is
their strict and speedy justice, so that the inhabitants repose entire confidence in the judges.
Justice is the foremost virtue of the civilizing races. It subdues the barbarous nations, while
injustice arouses the weakest.
1. An encomendero was a Spanish soldier who as a reward for faithful service was set over a
district with power to collect tribute and the duty of providing the people with legal protection and
religious instruction. This arrangement is memorable in early Philippine annals chiefly for the
flagrant abuses that appear to have characterized it.
2 No official was allowed to leave the Islands at the expiration of his term of office until his
successor or a council appointed by the sovereign inquired into all the acts of his administration
and approved them. (This residencia was a fertile source of recrimination and retaliation, so the
author quite aptly refers to it a little further on as "the ancient show of justice."
3 . The penal code was promulgated in the Islands by Royal Order of September 4, 1884.
State of the Philippine Islands, 1820 (Tomas de Comyn)
Thomas de Comyn, a Spanish official of the Compania Real de Filipinas, examines the socioeconomic conditions of the Philippines in the early 19th century. He estimates the population of
the natives and Sangleys or Chinese using the padron or list of tribute payers made by local
colonial officials and Spanish friars. De Comyn, furthermore, criticizes the backwardness of the
Philippines? burgeoning cash crop economy and manufacturing sector. His book offers a
comprehensive description on the state of the Philippines? external and domestic commerce.

He also discloses the shortcomings of the revenue-generating schemes of the Spanish colonial
government. He advocates for revenue and bureaucratic reforms. His work also analyzes the
state of civil and spiritual administration of the Philippines. The friars, he says, have controlled
the local civil administration due to lack of competent Spanish officials. He heaps praises on the
friars whom he credits for the colonization and Christianization of the Islands. The last part of his
book contains his remarks on the Spanish-Muslim wars and the attempts of the colonial
government to subjugate Islamic sultanates in Mindanao. He claims that the pacification of the
Muslims will ensure peace, increase the native population, and boost comerce.