ligation to show them the honor corresponding to their respective
duties. They are allowed to sit in the houses of the latter, and in
any other place, and are not suffered to remain standing. Neither
is it permitted to the parish priests to treat these officials with
less consideration.

Political and Administrative Organization

[Montero y Vidal's _Archipielago Filipino_(Madrid, 1866), pp. 162-168,
contains the following chapter.]

The municipal organization of Filipinas differs widely from that
of Espana.

Some native functionaries, improperly called gobernadorcillos, [103]
exercise command in the towns; they correspond to the alcaldes and
municipal judges, of the Peninsula, and perform at once functions
of judges and even of notaries, with defined powers. As assistants
they elect several lieutenants and alguacils, proportionate in
number to the inhabitants. Those assistants, together with three
ex-gobernadorcillos to whom are referred the duties of judges of
cattle, fields, and police, constitute a sort of town council. Manila
is the only place that has that corporation [_i.e., ayuntamiento_]
with an organization identical with those of the same class in Espana.

Even when the gobernadorcillos are recompensed with a certain
percentage for the collection of contributions, and they collect
some other dues, the total sum that they finally receive is so small
that their office is considered honorary. In spite of this, the
duty is an onerous one, and they are subject to annoyances, fines,
and imprisonment, if the gubernative, judicial, and administrative
authorities, etc., are rigorous. The Indians covet it with a desire
that is astonishing, and avail themselves of all possible means in
order to obtain it. The secret of the motive that impels them lies in
their fondness for prominence, and in the fact that nearly all of them
succeed in becoming rich, or in attaining independent means, after
the two years of their office. For the _polistas_, or individuals
who are obliged to labor on the public works of the state, build
their houses for them free of cost, bringing the materials from the
forest or the points where they are found; there are the _fallas_,
or the amount of the aliquot sum that is to make good the deficiency
in public works [i.e., in the services on public works rendered by
the natives], in the collection of which there is opportunity for
the gobernadorcillo to figure, by supporting all or the major