The Philippines: Past and Present (Volume 1 of 2) — John Shaqi
The Philippines: Past and Present (Volume 1 of 2)Worcester, Dean C. (Dean Conant)
History
The Philippines: Past and Present (Volume 1 of 2)
Worcester, Dean C. (Dean Conant)
Philippines; Philippines -- History -- 1898-1946
As secretary of the interior it fell to my lot to organize and
direct the operations of a Bureau of Health, a Bureau of Govermnent
Laboratories, a Bureau of Forestry, a Bureau of Public Lands, a Bureau
of Agriculture, a Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes, a Mining Bureau
and a Weather Bureau. Ultimately, the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes
and the Mining Bureau were incorporated with the Bureau of Government
Laboratories to form the Bureau of Science, which continued under my
executive control. The Bureau of Agriculture was transferred to the
Department of Public Instruction in 1909.
I was at the outset given administrative control of all matters
pertaining to the non-Christian tribes, which constitute, roughly
speaking, an eighth of the population of the Philippines, and until
my resignation retained such control throughout the islands, except
in the Moro Province, which at an early day was put directly under
the governor-general.
I participated in the organization of civil government in the several
provinces of the archipelago, and myself drafted the Municipal Code
for the government of the towns inhabited by Filipinos, as well as
the Special Provincial Government Act and the Township Government
Act for that of the provinces and settlements inhabited chiefly by
the non-Christian tribes.
At the outset we did not so much as know with certainty the names
of the several wild and savage tribes inhabiting the more remote and
inaccessible portions of the archipelago. As I was unable to obtain
reliable information concerning them on which to base legislation
for their control and uplifting, I proceeded to get such information
for myself by visiting their territory, much of which was then quite
unexplored.
After this territory was organized into five so-called "Special
Government Provinces," some of my Filipino friends, I fear not
moved solely by anxiety for the public good, favoured and secured a
legislative enactment which made it my official duty to visit and
inspect these provinces at least once during each fiscal year. I
shall always feel indebted to them for giving me this opportunity to
become intimately acquainted with some of the most interesting, most
progressive, and potentially most important peoples of the Philippines.
When in 1901 I received the news that a central government was soon to
be established, I was in the Sub-province of Lepanto on my first trip
through the wilder and less-known portions of northern Luzon. During
each succeeding year I have spent from two to four months in travel
through the archipelago, familiarizing myself at first hand with
local conditions.
I have frequently taken with me on these inspection trips
representatives of the Bureaus of Forestry, Agriculture, Science
and Health to carry on practical investigations, and have made it my
business to visit and explore little known and unknown regions. There
are very few islands worthy of the name which it has not been my
privilege to visit.
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