Local government in the Philippine islands,

296 LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES

pino lawyers, like Don Cayetano Arellano and Don Florentino Torres, in the formulation of the original plan submitted to and approved by the Military Governor and subsequently made.the basis of Acts 82 and 83, has made the
inclusion of some features of Spanish or native origin
possible.
There are five political units recognized for administrative purposes in the Philippines; namely, the provinces,
subprovinces, the chartered cities of Manila and Baguio,
municipalities, and municipal districts.
The provinces are the units below the Insular Government and are divided into two classes: the regularly organized provinces, which are 37 in number, and the special
provinces which are 11.2 The regular provinces are inhabited by Christian Filipinos; but in some provinces
under this class, like Tayabas, Palawan, Zambales, Isabela,
and Cagayan, there is a non-Christian element forming,
however, an insignificant minority. The special provinces
are peopled mostly by non-Christians and it is for this
reason that they do not come under the general provincial
law, but are governed by special acts. Each province,
whether regular or special, is a public corporation with the
usual powers and liabilities of such a body and in this respect it is similar to a county in America. In some respects,
however, its relation to the Central Government is analogous to that of a State to the Federal Government. "Following the example of the distribution of the powers between the States and the National Government of the
United States", President McKinley in his Instructions
enjoins that the Central Government of the Islands "shall
have no direct administration except of matters of purely
general concern...". The form of government of a
special and regular province is substiatially the same, the
only difference being that in the former there is more centralization in point of administrative control because the
officials are mostly appointive. The policy of the Government is to convert the special provinces into regular provinces as soon as it is found that the inhabitants thereof are
2 The regular provinces are: Abra, Albay, Antique, Bataan,
Batangas, Bohol, Bulacan, Cagayan, Camarines Norte, Camarines
Sur, Capiz, Cavite, Cebu, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Iloilo, Isabela,
Laguna, La Union, Leyte, Marinduque, Masbate, Mindoro, Misamis,
Nueva Ecija, Occidental Negros, Oriental Negros, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Rizal, Romblon, Samar, Sorsogon, Surigao, Tarlac, Tayabas,
and Zambales.
To the class of special provinces belong Nueva Vizcaya, the
Mountain Province, Agusan, Bukidnon, Cotabato, Davao, Lanao,
Sulu, Zamboanga, Palawan, and the Batanes.