The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898; Volume 50: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898; Volume 50: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
[127] In 1838, the Spanish government considered seriously the
formulation of some new ordinances of good government for the
Philippines, the commission for the same being given to Señor Otin y
Duazo, a member of the royal Audiencia. The motives for this are thus
given in the memorial of the above, as follows: "The attention of your
Excellency has been justly called to the confusion and irregularity
with which the alcaldes-mayor proceed in their government of these
provinces, for the want of a uniform and general statute to serve as
a standard in the performance of their duties; since the ordinances
promulgated in 1768 have become entirely extinct through the abuses
and vicious practices introduced by greed, caprice, or the indolence
of the subordinates entrusted with their observance, and through
the reforms rendered necessary by lapse of time and experience." It
is not known that Otin y Duazo ever drew up any ordinances. Seven
years later, another lawyer, Señor Umeres, drew up a new project
for ordinances of good government, in 252 articles. These ordinances
contain many good matters, but cannot properly be called ordinances
of good government. They contain matter on the following: general
instructions to the provincial chiefs, similar to that circulated in
Spain by Francisco Javier de Burgos in 1634, entitled Instruccion
á los Subdelegados de Fomento, containing general principles and a
true plan of administration; a letter from the vice-patron to the
diocesan prelates and to the superiors of the orders, concerning the
relations of the parish priests with the administration; regulations
of the native municipality, detailing the form of the elections and
the duties of pedáneos, lieutenants, cabezas de barangay, and other
purely local agents; regulations concerning the order and security
in the villages, comprising restrictive clauses regarding gambling
and vagrancy; regulations on the city policy; regulations concerning
the polos, personal services, and other duties imposed by the local
administration; and regulations concerning primary instruction,
agriculture, stockraising, internal trade (treating of weights
and measures, transportation, etc.). (See Del-Pan's introduction,
pp. 35-37.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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