Proceedings of the first Independence congress : held in the city of Manila, Philippine islands, February 22-26, 1930 / Published under the direction of Dean maximo M. Kalaw, executive secretary, University of the Philippines.

POLITICAL SECTION

9.7

organization of local governments was one of the first things
which claimed the attention of the military authorities. This
was first effected in a temporary manner by the promulgation
of General Orders No. 43, series of 1899, by the Commander
of the Military Forces in occupation of the Islands. Subsequently, and in pursuance of the report of a military board,
of which the late Cayetano S. Arellano was chairman, the
then military governor issued General Orders No. 49, series
of 1900, more or less formally and permanently establishing
municipalities in the Philippines. The law promulated in this
order was, to quote from the report of the Board, "inspired
by a genuinely liberal spirit and the principle of autonomous
government."
In 1901 President McKinley transferred the legislative power
of government from the Military Governor to the Philippine
Commission. This body, immediately after making a close
study of local conditions in the different provinces, enacted
Acts Nos. 82 and 83 which came to be known as the Municipal Code and Provincial Government Act, respectively. These
Acts, with their amendments, continued to be the organic laws
of our provinces and municipalities until and for sometime
after the assumption by Governor-General Harrison of the
office of chief executive. In 1916, the Philippine Legislature
adopted an Administrative Code, commonly known as the Administrative Code of 1916, prepared and submitted by the
Code Committee, a body created to revise and codify existing
laws. Later, this Code was amended and revised, and the Administrative Code of 1917 took its place. Chapters 56 and
57 of this Code now constitute the organic laws of our provinces and municipalities.
In the original organization of the provinces and municipalities under the American administration no general redistribution of territory was made. What the Commission did
was to take the "pueblos" as it found them, with their names,
boundaries and corporate property, and to confer upon them
the usual powers of a municipal corporation. Our system' of
municipal government took on a new aspect. The form of
local government adopted under Acts 82 and 83, was patterned