A History of the Philippines

by David P. Barrows

The First Civil Governor.—Peaceful conditions and security almost immediately followed these surrenders and determined the president to establish at once civil government. On July 4, 1901, this important step was taken, Judge Taft, the president of the Philippine Commission, taking office on that date as the first American civil governor of the Philippines. On September 1st, the Philippine Commission was increased by the appointment of three Filipino members,—the Hon. T. H. Pardo de Tavera, M. D., the Hon. Benito Legarda, and the Hon. José Luzuriaga of Negros.

The Philippine Commission has achieved a remarkable amount of legislation of a very high order. From September, 1900, to the end of December, 1902, the commission passed no less than 571 acts of legislation. Some of these were of very great importance and involved long preparation and labor. Few administrative bodies have ever worked harder and with greater results than the Philippine Commission during the first two years of its activity. The frame of government in all its branches had to be organized and set in motion, the civil and criminal law liberalized, revenue provided, and public instruction remodeled on a very extensive scale.

The New Government.—The government is a very liberal one, and one which gives an increasing opportunity for participation to the Filipinos. It includes what is called local self-government. There are in the Islands about 1,132 municipalities. In these the residents practically manage their own affairs. There are thirty-eight organized provinces in the archipelago, in which the administration rests with the Provincial Board composed of the governor, treasurer, and supervisor or engineer. The governor is elected for the term of one year by the councilors of all the towns united in assembly. The treasurer and supervisor are appointed by the governor of the Philippine archipelago under the rules of the Civil Service Board. The civil service is a subject which has commanded the special consideration of the Commission. It gives equal opportunity to the Filipino and to the American to enter the public service and to gain public promotion; and the Filipino is by law even given the preference where possessed of the requisite ability.

The Palace, Manila. Headquarters of the Government.

The Insular Government.—For the purposes of administration, the insular, or central government of the Islands is divided into four branches, called departments, each directed by a secretary who is also a member of the Philippine Commission. These departments are, interior, Secretary Worcester; finance and justice, Secretary Ide; commerce and police, Secretary Wright; and public instruction, Secretary Moses, until January 1, 1903, and since that date Secretary Smith. Under each of these departments are a large number of bureaus, by which the many important activities of the government are performed.

We have only to examine a list of these bureaus to see how many-sided is the work which the government is performing. It is a veritable commonwealth, complete in all the branches which demand the attention of modern governments. Thus, under the Department of the Interior, there is the Bureau of Public Health, with its extremely important duties of combating epidemic diseases and improving public sanitation, with its public hospitals, sanitariums, and charities; the Bureau of Government Laboratories for making bacteriological and chemical investigations; a Bureau of Forestry; a Bureau of Mining; the Philippine Weather Bureau; a Bureau of Agriculture; a Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes for conducting the government work in ethnology and for framing legislation for pagan and Mohammedan tribes; and a Bureau of Public Lands.

Under the department of Commerce and Police are the Bureau of Posts; Signal Service; the Philippines Constabulary, really an insular army, with its force of some sixty-five hundred officers and men; Prisons; the Coast Guard and Transportation Service, with a fleet of about twenty beautiful little steamers, nearly all of them newly built for this service and named for islands of the archipelago; the Coast and Geodetic Survey, doing the much-needed work of charting the dangerous coasts and treacherous waters of the archipelago; and the Bureau of Engineering, which has under its charge great public works, many of which are already under way.

Under the Department of Finance and Justice are the Insular Treasurer; the Insular Auditor; the Bureau of Customs and Immigration; the Bureau of Internal Revenue; the Insular Cold Storage and Ice Plant; and the great Bureau of Justice.

Under the Department of Public Instruction there is the Bureau of Education in charge of the system of public schools; a Bureau of Printing and Engraving, with a new and fully equipped plant; a Bureau of Architecture; a Bureau of Archives; a Bureau of Statistics; and the Philippine Museum.