POLITICS AND

ADMINISTRATION

A M E L I TA R A M I R E Z - B E L L O , P h . D .
Subject Professor
 AD M I N I S T R AT I O N D U R I N G T H E
P R E - C O L O N I AL P E R I O D

 GOVERNMENT:

 Unit of government was the barangay which

consisted of from 30 to 100 families. The term
came from the Malay word balangay meaning boat.

 Barangays were headed by chieftains called datu.

 The subjects served their chieftains during wars,
voyages, planting and harvesting and when his house
needs to be built or repaired; they also paid tributes
called buwis.

 The chief or datu was the chief executive, the

legislator and the judge; he was also the supreme
commander in times of war.
 Alliances among barangays were common and
these were formalized in a ritual called sangduguan.

 Conflicts between or among barangays were settled

by violence; those who win by force is always right.
 Laws:

 were either customary (handed down from

generation to generation orally) or written
(promulgated from time to time as necessity arose);

 dealt on various subjects such as inheritance,

property rights, divorce, usury, family relations,
adoption, loans, etc.;
 those found guilty of crimes were punished either by
fine or by death; some punishments can be
considered as torture by modern standards;

 the ancients did not believe in endangering society

by letting loose a gang of thieves or recidivists who
are incapable of reform
 Legislation:

 Before laws are made, the chief consults with a

council of elders who approved his plan;

 They are not immediately enforced until the new

legislation is announced to the village by the
umalohokan, who also explains the law to everyone.
 Judicial Process:

 Disputes between individuals were settled by a

court made up of the village chief and the council of
elders; between barangays, a board made up of
elders from neutral barangays acted as arbiter.

 The accused and the accuser faced each other

infront of the “court” with their respective witnesses.
 Both took an oath to tell the truth; most of the time,

the one who presents the most witnesses wins the

case;

 If the losing party contests the decision, he/she is

bound to lose in the end because the chief always
take the side of the winner.
 Trial by Ordeal:

 to determine the innocence of an accused, he is

made to go through a number of ordeals which he
must pass;

 Examples: dipping one’s hand in boiling water,

holding a lighted candle that must not be
extinguished, plunging into a river and staying
underwater for as long as possible
 Chewing uncooked rice and spitting, etc.

 among the Ifugaos, ordeal by combat was common,

i.e. bultong (wrestling), alaw (duel)
T H E B U R E AU C R A C Y D U R I N G T H E
S PAN I S H P E R I O D

 The Spanish conquest of the Philippines was

founded for two basic interrelated reasons:

1. it was a religious crusade to propagate

Christianity;

2. an opportunity to seek wealth that would support

the Spanish Crown.
 Spain established a centralized authority and
absorbed the barangays, except those in the
predominantly Muslim areas in the South;

 The datus or the village chieftains were appointed as

heads of towns or pueblos and were called
gobernadorcillos, the highest position given to the
natives in the early stages of Spain’s colonial rule;
 Spain also instituted a “theocratic” rule, where the
union of the church and the state was fostered, with the
friars exercising far-reaching powers in the affairs of
the state;

 The powerful church also acquired properties in the

form of vast land holdings in many parts of the island;

 The administrative system installed was largely

subservient to the church which actively meddled in the
making of policies and their implementation;
 The administrative system was also built on the
framework of serving private interests with the
“practical objective of increasing the royal estate
through tributes, monopolies, fees and fines”;

 Also adopted a policy of appointments to public

offices in the country based on grants or favors, called
merced, from the king.
 There was also the policy of dividing the native
population into communities, called encomiendas,
under the control of a recipient called encomendero
who was vested with the right to collect tributes from
the people belonging to these communities.

 Another mode of appointment was on the basis of

sale of public offices to the highest bidder which
resulted in a corrupt bureaucracy based on patronage
instead of merit.
C H E C K T O G U B E R N AT O R I A L P O W E R S :

 The “Royal Audiencia” which was the Supreme

Court of the Philippines
 The “Residencia” – the invesitgation of an outgoing
official by his successor
 The “Visitador” – an investigator who occasionally
came to investigate colonial conditions and submit his
findings to the King.
The Governor General and other government officials had so much power
that it was commonly abused.
To investigate the abuses, there were bodies created:

The
Residencia
The Royal
The Visita
Audiencia
 The Residencia was a special judicial court that
investigates the performance of a Governor General
who was about to be replaced. The incoming
Governor General was usually a member and
submitted a report of the findings to the King.
 The Royal Audiencia:
served as an advisory body to the Governor
General;
had the power to check and report on his abuses;
audited the expenditures of the colonial
government;
sent a yearly report to Spain;
the archbishop and other government officials
could also report the abuses of the colonial
government
 The Visita: The Council of the Indies in Spain sent a
government official called the VISITADOR
GENERAL to observe conditions in the colony and
reported its findings directly to the King.

FRAILOCRACY – the Archbishop who denounced to

the King whatever abuses the Governor General might
have committed.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNIT OF THE PHLIPPINES
UNDER IMPERIAL SPAIN
 PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT
 2 kinds of Provinces:
1. Alcaldias (pacified regions) – governed by the
Alcalde Mayor
2. Corregimientos (unpacified areas) – governed by
a politico-military governor called corregidor
 The Alcalde Mayor exercised both executive and
judicial powers. He is both the Provincial Executive
and at the same time the Provincial Judge.
 He is also given the privilege called “indulto de
commercio” or the right 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 alcalde
mayores.

 Queen Maria Cristina formed the Royal Decree of

March 5, 1886 – established civil provinces in our
country 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 in the court.
 D U T I E S O F T H E A L C A L D E M AYO R

 They represented the Spanish King and the

Governor General

 They managed the day to day operation of the

provincial government

 Implemented laws and supervised the collection of

taxes
 The Corregimiento headed by a Corregidor
governed the provinces that were not entirely under the
Spanish control.

 Larger towns became cities called AYUNTAMIENTO.

It became the center of trade and industry.

 The Ayuntamiento had a city council called the

CABILDO which was composed of Alcalde (Mayor);
Regidores (Councillors); Alguacil Mayor (Police Chief);
Escribando (Secretary)
 T H E M U N I C I PA L G O V E R N M E N T
 Each province was divided into several towns or
pueblos headed by GOBERNADORCILLOS (little
governor). Main Duty: efficient governance and tax
collection.
 Four Lieutenants aided the Gobernadorcillo:
Teniente Mayor (Chief Lieutenant); Teniente de Policia
(Police Lieutenant); Teniente de Sementeras
(Lieutenant of the Fields); Teniente de Ganados
(Lieutenant of the Livestock)
 GOBERNADORCILLOS: they had small salaries but
were exempted from paying taxes.

 Qualifications:

 Any native or Chinese Mestizo

 25 years old

 Literate in oral or written Spanish

 Cabeza de Barangay for four years

 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 barrios which was about
50 families each
 Head of barangay was the Cabeza de Barangay,
who was called “cabeza” and his wife”cabezana”

 Responsible for the peace and order of the barrio

 Recruited men for public works

 Qualifications: should be literate in Spanish, have

good moral character and property, Cabezas who
served for 25 years were exempted from forced labor.
 The Cabeza de 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.
 THE INQUISITION

 was established in Mexico City in 1536. The

Inquisition of Mexico extended the power to the
Philippines in 1578 when Archbishop Zumarraga
authorized 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.
 The Union of the 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 are heads of their respective diocese. The
archbishop and bishops were appointed by the Pope
upon recommendation of the Spanish King.
 S PA N I S H L AW S E X T E N D E D T O T H E
PHILIPPINES

 The Spanish laws governing the Philippines 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:

 Las Stetes 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

 It was a grant to inhabitants of the conquered

country given by the Spanish Crown to Spanish
colonizers. The receiver of this grant is called
encomendero.

 The encomendero collected the tributes from the

inhabitants.
 2 Kinds of encomiendas:

1. Royal Encomiendas which belonged to the

Spanish Crown

2. Private Encomiendas which belonged to pritae

persons or institution
 DUTIES OF ENCOMIENDEROS

 to afford protection to the natives

 to help the missionaries in converting them to

Christianity

 to promote their education

 However, these encomienderos committed abuses
such as :
1. Cruel treatment
2. Collecting excessive tributes
3. Forcing people to work for private benefits
4. Expropriating the lands belonging to the people
5. Seizure of people’s animals and crops without just
compensation
 Tribute:

The Filipinos paid tribute called tributo. This

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
a pueblo).
 Forced Labor

Aside from paying the tribute, all male Filipinos

from 18 to 60 years old were obliged to render
obedience forced labor called polo. A person who
renders forced labor was called polista.
 Principalia (town aristocracy) – former and actual
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 – the compulsory sale of rice and other

farm products to the government.
 AB O L I T I O N O F S L AV E RY

 One good effect of Spanish colonization

 The laws of the Indies particularly those promulgated in
1526, 1541 and 1583 prohibited slavery in the Philippines
 By Royal Decree of of August 9, 1589 emancipated all
Filipino slaves. Pope Gregory XI’s bill of April 18, 1591
threatened to excommunicate those who would not
liberate their slaves.
 R E P R E S E N TAT I O N I N T H E S PA N I S H
CORTES

 Three times during the Spanish Period:

 1810-1813 (Ventura de los Reyes was the first

Philippine delegate to the Cortes; he was considered to
be the best Philippine delegate to sit in the Cortes; the
only Filipino to have signed a Spanish constitution and
was also the key in eradicating Manila-Acapulco trade).
 In 1820, following the Spanish revolution, Ferdinand
VII restored our representation in the Spanish Cortes.

 Unfortunately, Philippine representation finally ended

in 1837 when the Cortes approved a resolution
abolishing the representation and provided that the
country would be governed by special laws.
 P U B L I C F I N A N C E U N D E R S PA I N

 The sources of revenues of our government were as

follows:

1. The cedula tax paid yearly by every man and

woman from the age of 18 up 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.
 T H E PA D R E I N L O C A L PA R T I E S

 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 was
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 leader of the town”.
 DEFECTS OF OUR GOVERNMENT UNDER
S PA I N

 It was a government which benefitted the Spaniards,

the conquerors
 The government was undemocratic
 The administration of justice was corrupt
 The union between tne Church and the State led to
serious quarrels between the ecclesiastical and civil
authorities.
THANK YOU