Philippine Government Under Spain

Summary of Last Meeting’s Discussion

Discussion of the Spanish King absolute Powers

Discussion of Spanish Kings representatives (Councils) - CENTRALIZATION

Comparison of the functions of Governor-General during Colonial Era and the President of the Republic of the Philippines

Objectives

Examine the political structure of the Philippines under Spain

Identify functions of system of government during imperial Spain.

Describe the Local Government of the Philippines under Spain

Identify the political institution of the Philippines under Spain

Check to Gubernatorial Powers

1. The “Royal Audiencia” which was the Supreme Court of the Philippines

2. The “Residencia” – the investigation of an outgoing official by his successor

3. The “visitador” – an investigator who occasionally came to investigate colonial conditions and submit his findings to the king

THE RESIDENCIA

THE VISITA THE ROYAL AUDENCIA

To investigate the abuses, there were bodies created:

The Governor General and other governmentofficials had so much power that it was commonlyabused.

This was a special judicial court that investigatesthe performance of a Governor General who wasabout to be replaced.

The Residencia, of whichthe incoming GovernorGeneral was usually amember, submitted a reportof its findings to the King.

THE RESIDENCIA

THE ROYAL AUDENCIAThe highest court in the land during the Spanish times.

The Council of the Indies in Spain sent a

government official called the VISITADORGENERAL to observe conditions in the colony.

The Visitador Generalreported his findingsdirectly to the king.

THE VISITA

Frailocracy

The archbishop who denounced to the king whatever abuses the governor general might have committed.

In the Context of Philippine Government Today (1987 Constitution)

1. Check by the President – The President may veto or disapprove bills enacted by Congress and through the pardoning power, he may modify or set aside the judgements of the Court.

Checks by Congress – The Congress may override the Veto of the President; reject certain appointments of the President. The Congress may also amend or revoke decisions of the courts (by enactment of a new law giving its meaning and interpretations.

Check by the Judiciary – with the supreme court as the final arbiter may declare legislative measures or executive acts unconstitutional. It also is assign to determine whether or not there has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part of CONGRESS and PRESIDENT.

Local Government Unit of the Philippine Under Imperial Spain

Provincial Government

2 kinds of provinces

1. Alcaldians (pacified regions) - governed by the alcalde mayor.

2. Corregimientos (unpacified areas) – governed by a politico-military governor called corregidor.

Alcalde mayor – exercised both executive and judicial powers. He is both the provincial executive and at the same time the provincial judge.

Special privilege called “indulto de commercio” the right to engage in trade (1751 – 1844)

THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

ALCALDIA CORRIGIMIENTO

Alcalde Mayor Corregidor

Though they were paid a small salary, they enjoyed

privileges such as the INDULTO DE COMERCIOor the right to participate in the to engage in trade(1751 – 1844).

The Spanish King promulgated the Royal Decree of September 23, 1844, abolishing the special privilege and requiring only lawyers to serve as alcaldes mayores.

Queen Maria Cristina formed the Royal Decree of march 5, 1886 – new law established the civil provinces in our country, each governed by a civil governor.

The civil government exercised only the executive power. The judicial power in the civil province was exercised by the judge of the court.

THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

DUTIES OF THE ALCALDE MAYOR:

They represented the Spanish king and theGovernor-General They managed the day-to-day operations of theprovincial government Implemented laws and supervised the collectionof taxes

The CORREGIMIENTO, headed byCorregidor governed the provinces that werenot yet entirely under Spanish control.

THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

Local Government Unit of the present Government (1987 Constitution)

In Article 10 Section 1 of the Philippine Constitution

The territorial and political subdivision of the Republic of the Philippines are the provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays.

Provincial Government (Philippine Constitution and Local Government Code of 1991)

Each province is headed by a governor. Its legislative body is the Sangguniang Panlalawigan composed of the different members from Sanggunian districts, which in most cases are contiguous to the congressional districts.

Local Government Code of 1991 Section 459

Role of the Province – the province composed of a cluster of municipalities or municipalities and component cities, and as a political and corporate unit of government, serves as a dynamic mechanism for development processes and effective governance of local government units within its territorial jurisdiction

THE CITY GOVERNMENT

Larger towns became cities called AYUNTAMIENTO. It became the center oftrade and industry.

The ayuntamiento had a city council called the CABILDO

CABILDO is composed of:ALCALDE (MAYOR)

REGIDORES (COUNCILLORS)ALGUACIL MAYOR (POLICE CHIEF)

ESCRIBANDO (SECRETARY)

City Government

Each of the cities during the Spanish times had an ayuntamiento or cabildo (city council)

The first city to be established in the Philippines was Cebu

The second city to be established in the Philippines was Manila (June 24, 1571)

City Government in the present

Cities that are politically a part of a province are called component cities. The voters in these cities are allowed to vote and run for positions in the provincial government.

Regions, aside from having provinces may also have independent cities. Independent cities, classified either as highly urbanized or independent component cities, are cities which are not under the jurisdiction of a province.

THE MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT

Each province was divided into several towns orpueblos headed by GOBERNADORDCILLOS (LittleGovernor)MAIN DUTIES: Efficient governance and taxcollection. Each provinces was divided into pueblos(towns).

FOUR LIEUTENANTS AIDED THE GOVERNARDORCILLO: the Teniente Mayor (chief lieutenant), the Teniente de Policia (police lieutenant), the Teniente de Sementeras (lieutenant of the fields) the Teniente de Ganados (lieutenant of the livestock)

QUALIFICATIONS:Any NATIVE or CHINESE MEZTIZO25 years oldLiterate in ORAL or WRITTEN SPANISHCabeza de Barangay for 4 years

GOBERNADORDCILLOS

They had SMALL SALARIES butwere exempted from PAYING TAXES.

Ex: Emilio Aguinaldo

The parish priest and the provincial governor (or his representative) presided over the election.

Usually, the elected official is the choice of the parish priest who exerted much great influence in local elections.

The purpose of local administration, the pueblo was divided into barangays called barrio, which about 50 families each.

* Head of the barangay is the Cabeza de barangay, which is respectfully called as “cabeza” and his wife “cabezana”.

Municipal Government in the Present

Section 440 Role of the Municipality

The municipality, consisting of a group of barangays, serves primarily as a general purpose government for the coordination and delivery of basic, regular and direct services and effective governance of the inhabitants within its territorial jurisdiction.

Responsible for the peace and order of the barrio Recruited men for public works

QUALIFICATIONS: Cabezas should be literate in Spanish. Have good moral character and property. Cabezas who served for 25 years

were exempted from forced labor.

CABEZA DE BARANGAY(Barrio Administrator or Barangay Captain)

The Cabeza de Barangay (Spanish: head of the barangay) was the leader or chief of a barangay in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period. The post was inherited from the first datus who became cabezas de barangay when the many independent barangays became tributary vassals of the Spanish Crown.

Barangay in the Present Government

Section 384: Role of Barangay

As the basic political unit, the barangay serves as the primary planning and implementing unit of government policies, plans, programs, projects, and activities in the community, and as a forum wherein collective views of the people may be expressed, crystallized and considered and where dispute may be amicably settled.

The Inquisition

The Inquisition was established in Mexico City in 1586, with Msgr. Juan de Zumarranga (the first bishop of Mexico, as Inquistor)

Secretary of the Inquisition, - Don Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, who served from 1536 to 1547

The Inquisition of Mexico extended the power to the Philippines in 1578 when Archbishop Zumarragaauthorized Fr. Miguel de Benavides to present the Inquisition in Manila. It was Dona Ines Alvarez de Gibraleon the first person in the Philippines to be tried by the Inquisition in Mexico.

Union of Church and State: The priest was financially supported by the government, and, in return he assisted in the preservation of Spanish Rule. On various occasions, the archbishop of Manila down to the parish priest, received salaries from the government.

Ecclesiastical Government: The head of the ecclesiastical system in the Philippines was the Archbishop of Manila. Below him were the bishops, who ere heads of their respective bishops (diocese). The archbishop and bishops were appointed by the Pope upon recommendation of the Spanish King.

Spanish Laws Extended to the Philippines

The Spanish laws governing the Philippines during the early years of Spanish rule were embodied in a colonial code called Leyes de Indios (laws of the Indies)

*It is a collection of royal decrees issued by the Spanish kings at various times for the government of the colonies of Spain.

Old laws enacted to Philippines

* Las Stete partidos (a compilation of previous Spanish laws)

*Las Leyes de Torro (a set of laws dealing on inheritance)

*La Novisima Recopilacion (a new compilation of all branches of Spanish law)

The Encomienda System

It was a grant of inhabitants of the conquered country given by the Spanish Crown to Spanish colonizers. The Receiver of this grant are called encomendero.

Encomendero collects the tributes from the inhabitants

2 kinds of encomiendas

1. Royal encomiendas which belonged to the Spanish Crown

2. Private encomiendas belonging to private persons or institution

The encomiendas were charged by law to perform the following duties

1. To afford protection to the natives

2. To help the missionaries in converting them to Christianity

3. To promote their education

*However, these encomienderoscommitted abuses such as:

a. Cruel treatment

b. Collecting excessive tribute

c. Forcing people to work for private benefits

d. Expropriating the lands belonging to people

e. Seizure of the people’s animals and crops without just compensation

1. Tribute

*The Filipinos paid tribute called tributo.

*Later was abolished in 1884, and replaced by the poll tax called cedula personal (form of taxation and served as proof that one was a colony of Spain and resident of Pueblo)

2. Force labor

*Aside from paying the tribute, all male Filipinos from 18 to 60 years of Age were obliged to render obedience forced labor called polo

*A person who render forced labor was called polista

Principalia (town aristocracy) – former and actual local officials, teachers, and rich people were exempted from the polo. The rich Filipinos paid falla( a certain sum of money in order to be exempted from forced labor)

Bandala – which was the compulsory sale of rice, and other farm products to the government. (tagalog name which means “purchase”)

Abolition of Slavery

One good effect of Spanish colonization was the abolition of slavery.

The laws of the Indies, particularly those promulgated in 1526, 1541 and 1583, prohibited slavery in the Philippines.

By Royal Decree of Aug. 9, 1589 (emancipated all Filipino slaves) and Pope Gregory XI’s bull of April 18, 1591 (threatened to excommunicate those who would not liberate their slaves.).

Representation in the Spanish Cortes

3 times during the Spanish period

1. 1810-13

* our country was represented in the Cortes in the national legislature of Spain.

*Ventura de los Reyes – First Philippine delegate to the Cortes

*He was considered to be the best Philippine delegate to sit in the Spanish Cortes.

“He was in fact the only Filipino to have signed a Spanish constitution.

*He was also the key in eradicating Manila-Acapulco trade.

The Cortes was abolished by Ferdinand VII of Spain

2. 1820-23/ 3. 1834-37

In 1820, following the Spanish Revolution, Ferdinand VII restored our representation of Spanish Cortes ended in 1820 when he regained his absolute powers.

In 1833, Ferdinand VII died and it was his widow wife Queen Maria Cristina succeeded.

Isabel I eventually restored our representation in the Cortes and unfortunately our representation finally ended in 1837 when the Cortes approved a resolution abolishing our representation and provided that our country would be governed by special laws.

Public Finance under Spain

The Sources of Revenues of our government under Spain were as follows:

1. The cedula tax paid yearly by every man and woman from the age 18 to 60.

2. The industrial tax levied on occupations and professions

3. The tax paid by Chinese

4. The urban tax imposed on real estate property (houses and lands)

5. The customs duties (imports and exports)

6. The Stamp tax (tax levied on documents); the monopolies of tobacco, gun powder, opium, and playing cards.

7. Government lotteries and cockpit license

8. Public domain and miscellaneous fees.

The Padre in Local Parties

The real authority in the pueblo was the parish priest

They are the symbol of the Christian faith and sovereignty.

He was obeyed and respected by the people. His word is actually the law.

He supervised the local elections and usually the one elected to the office of gobernadorcillo was recommended by him.

He was the “virtual ruler of the town”.

The Maura law of May 19, 1893

An attempt was made by Spain to grant municipal autonomy to our municipalities during the last years of Spanish Rule.

Author – Don Antonio Maura y Montaner (Minister of the Colonies)

It established the municipal tribunal in each municipality.

It is composed:A. Capitan municipal (municipal captain)B. 4 municipal lieutenants

*Tenente Mayor (chief lieutenant)*Teniente de policia (lieutenant police)*Teniente de sementeras ( lieutenant of the fields)*Teniente de ganados (lieutenant of the cattle)

Defects of Our Government under Spain

First, it was a government which benefited the Spaniards, the conquerors, not the Filipinos, the conquered

Second, the government was undemocratic

Third, the administration of justice was corrupt

Fourth, the union between Church and State led to serious quarrels between the ecclesiastical and civil authorities.