Women Making Cigars in Manila

The judiciary consists of a supreme court, composed of a chief justice (a Filipino) and eight associate justices (three Filipinos), all appointed by the president of the United States with the con sent of the U.S. Senate; a court of first instance for each of the 26 judicial districts; the municipal court of Manila; and justice of peace courts for each municipality.

There are 48 provinces and sub-provinces (excluding Manila which has the rank of a province), of which 39 are regularly con stituted and governed by an elective governor, who is the execu tive, and a provincial board composed of two elective members and the provincial treasurer, which is the legislative branch of the province. In the specially organized provinces, the governors and lieutenant governors are appointive officials. The municipal gov ernment consists of a president, vice president and a municipal council. In 1918 there were 82o municipalities, 88 townships, 213 municipal districts and 16,307 barrios.

History.

The Philippine archipelago first became known to Europeans on March 16, 1521, through Ferdinand Magellan (q.v.). But there are authentic Chinese accounts of trading voyages as early as the loth and 13th centuries, and the contact probably went back much further. A Hindu influence undoubtedly came by way of the Malay peninsula, Java and other islands nearby, and probably reached back to the early centuries of the Christian era. The Hindus influenced the life of the people inti mately. Many Sanskrit words in the languages and dialects of the people of the Philippines and the forms of the letters used at the time of their discovery by the Spanish, indicate this.

The second, third and fourth Spanish expeditions were those of Garcia Jofre de Loaisa, of Alvaro de Saavedra and of Ruy Lopez de Villaiobos. The next expedition, that of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi (1564-72) was despatched, like its predecessor, from New Spain, but it was far more carefully planned. Leaving Puerto de Navidad in New Spain, on Nov. 20, 1564, Legazpi reached Cebu in April 1565, where the first permanent settle ment was made early in May. But Legazpi, with inadequate forces and resources, meeting prolonged hostility from the Portu guese, who swarmed through the region, at last (1569) moved his main forces to the island of Panay, hoping thereby to have better protection. In 1571 Legazpi made Manila the administrative

centre. Thereafter the conquest of Luzon proceeded rapidly, at first principally under Juan de Salcedo, the precocious young grandson of Legazpi. All of the archipelago except the Moro islands of Mindanao, the Sulu archipelago, and Palawan were in fairly peaceful possession of the Spaniards before 160o. In June, 1572, the city of Manila was formally established. In 1574 Manila was attacked by the Chinese Limahong, but he was forced to retire from the island and from the entire group. Several of the provisional governors were churchmen who played into the hands of the ecclesiastics, or catered to their own order.

The

Spaniards were accepted easily, even hospitably in many cases, and those coming into closest contact with them began almost immediately to take on the veneer of a superior culture.

The conquest was especially easy along the coast and in the low interiors where the Spaniards first went. The principal opposition at Manila in 1570 came from Mohammedans. But that faith was not yet strongly entrenched in Luzon. It was quite different in Mindanao and at various other points in the south. The Spaniards were instinctive enemies of these people, for they had had a seven-century fight in Spain against Mohammedanism. To them the word "Moro" meant Mohammedan, or Moor. Accord ingly, they dubbed the Malayan Mohammedans Moros and by this name they are still known. In 1574, the Moros of the RiO Grande de Mindanao offered submission. In 1578-79 Francisco de Sande (1575-8o) conducted a fairly successful expedition against the Moros, but the Spaniards were unable to gain any lasting advantage. Until 1837 piratical raids were almost continuous. The Moros ravaged the coasts far and wide, even threatening Manila itself. The Moros joined often with the Dutch after the latter began to infest oriental waters. In 1848, on Balanguingingui island, Governor Narciso Claveria y Zaldua won the most decisive victory ever gained over the Moros. In 185o, Governor An tonio de Urbiztondo y Eguia destroyed the strongholds on Tonkil island and the next year stormed and captured the town of Jolo. This ended the real power of the Moros.