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PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
of whom are elected by popular vote with the exception of nine representatives and two senators who are appointed by the Governor-General to represent the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Mountain Province, Agusan, Bukidnon, Cotabato, Davao, Lanao, Sulu and Zamboanga. The number of votes cast in the General Election of 1919 was 672,122.
An extra-legal body, the Council of State, created by virtue of an executive order of the Governor-General, forms the binding link between the executive and the legislative branches of the insular Government, and represents the people's counsel in the administration of the government. The Council of State is composed of the Governor-General, as president, the Presidents of both Houses of the Legislature, and the Secretaries of the Departments.
The provincial and municipal governments are under the direct supervision of the Department of the Interior through the Executive Bureau and the Bureau of Non- Christian Tribes, the former exercising authority over the 37 regularly organ- ized provinces and two so-called special provinces of Batanes and Palawan, and the latter over nine specially organized provinces. The chief executive in each province i a provincial Governor, who is elected by popular suffrage except in five specially organized provinces under the Bureau of Non-Christian tribes, namely, Bukidnon, Cotabato, Lanao, Mountain Province and Sulu, where he is appointed by th Governor-General subject to confirmation by the Philippine Senate. With the Pro- vincial Governor are two other members of the Provincial Board, which constitutes the legislative branch of the provincial government. In all regularly organized provinces the two members of the Board are elected by popular vote. In each of the specially organized provinces the Provincial Board is made up by the Provincial Governor, the Secretary-Treasurer (who is an appointive official), and a third member who, in the case of the provinces of Batanes and Palawan, is elected by popular vote, and in the case of the specially organized provinces under the Bureau of Non- Christian Tribes is elected by the votes of the councillors and vice-presidents of municipalities and municipal districts. The municipal president is the chief executive in each town or municipality, and the local legislative branch is a municipal council of from 8 to 18 councillors, depending upon the size of the municipality. president, the vice-president, and the councillors are all elected by popular vote.
The
The Philippine judiciary system consists of the Supreme Court, as the highest tribunal; a Court of First Instance for each judicial district, except the ninth district, which has four judges, the same covering the city of Manila; the Municipal Courts of Manila and Baguio; and a Justice of the Peace court for each municipality. The Supreme Court is composed of one chief justice and eight associate justices, all of whom are appointed by the President of the United States with the consent of the United States Senate. The Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction over the Courts of First Instance. An appeal lies from the decision of the Supreme Court of the Philippine Islands to the Supreme Court of the United States in certain cases.
PEOPLE
History credits the ancient Filipinos with a culture of their own long before the coming of the Spaniards. They were engaged in various industries and had a considerable inter-island and mainland trade. Their religion verged on the animistis; they had a vague belief in a supreme deity; and they believed in many superstitions. Printed books and literature were not used, but they knew how to read and write, inventing a peculiar phonetic alphabet. They used bamboo stems and banana leaves for paper and sharp-pointed sticks for pencils. The Moros inhabiting Mindanao knew, also, how to read and write. Mohammedanism, their religion, encouraged education and invited learning.
After the Spanish conquest, intermarriages took place between the native Filipinos and the foreigners, mostly with the Spaniards and the Chinese.
In no case, however, has the native Malayan stock disappeared because of the introduction of these foreign elements in the race, as has happened among the aborigines of South America. The Spanish system of colonization followed in the countries of South America was much the same as that introduced into the Philippines; so that in culture, religion, and social customs much the same traits may be found to-day among the Filipinos and the people of the different countries of South America.
As a whole the Filipino people-particularly the Christians, who constitute an overwhelming majority of the entire population-is composed of a homogeneous ethnic stock. They are all alike except in their local dialects, but even in this respect a great number of the words are identical, and greater still are those similar in sound