PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
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Philippine flag was officially unfurled. Upon the outbreak of hostilities between the United States and Spain in 1898, the Insurgents offered to co-operate with the former. The offer was accepted with the result that while the Americans took and held the city of Manila, the Insurgents overthrew Spanish authority throughout the remainder of the Island of Luzon and established a government of their own with General Aguinaldo as Dictator. Commodore Dewey sank the Spanish squadron in Manila Bay on May 1st, 1898. The Philippine Republic was established on January 21st, 1899. The Treaty of Paris, providing for the cession of the Philippine Islands to the United States, was ratified by the Senate of the United States on February 6th, 1899. Civil government was established in the Islands on July 4th, 1901. The first Philippine Assembly was inaugurated on October 16th, 1907. The new Philippine Autonomy Act, commonly known as the Jones Law, came into force on August 29th, 1916. To-day, with the exception of the Governor-General, and the Vice- Governor, the administration of the affairs of the country is practically in the hands of the Filipinos.
GOVERNMENT
The government of the Philippine Islands is administered through three separate and co-ordinate branches-the executive, legislative, and judicial.
The Governor-General is the chief executive of the Islands and represents the sovereign power of the United States. He is appointed by the President of the United States by and with the advice and consent of the United States Senate. Under him are the secretaries of six executive departments-the Department of the Interior, the Department of Public Instruction, the Department of Finance, the Department of Justice, the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the Department of Commerce and Communications. With the exception of the Vice- Governor, who is appointed in the same way as the Governor-General and is at the same time Secretary of Public Instruction, all the other secretaries are Filipinos. Under each executive department are the different bureaus of the Government.
The Philippine legislative body is composed of two Houses-the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are in all 93 representatives and 24 senators, re- presenting the City of Manila and the 48 provinces of the archipelago, all 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 Zainboanga. The number of registered voters in the general elections of 1922 was 824,058.
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 is 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 the 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 inenibers 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 Provincial Treasurer or the Provincial 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 pro- vinces 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