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.

100 INDEPENDENCE CONGRESS PROCEEDINGS

There are two subprovinces now-Siquijor and Catanduanes. These are political subdivisions of the regular provinces
of Oriental Negros and Albay, respectively. Subprovinces
exist as such because their funds are not enough with which
to maintain an independent provincial government and because
they are so situated in relation to their mother provinces that
the post of a deputy governor is necessary for the proper administration of the affairs of the subprovinces. In each of
these subprovinces there is a lieutenant-governor elected by
the direct vote of the people of the subprovince. The lieut-
enant-governor of the subprovince of Catanduanes constitutes
a fourth member of the provincial board of Albay with power
to vote in such matters only as related to the subprovince. In
the subprovince of Siquijor, besides the lieutenant-governor,
a member to represent the interests of the subprovince in the
provincial board of Oriental Negros is elected. This member
also takes the place and performs the duties of the lieutenantgovernor in case of the absence, suspension, or other temporary
incapacity of the same. In this connection, I may mention
the fact that the Legislature in its last session approved a bill
organizing the subprovince of Catanduanes into a separate
and independent province but it was vetoed by the GovernorGeneral.
The standard type of local units for the purposes of local
government is the municipality of which there are 908. They
are divided into five classes according to the income. Until
1925, the classification was based on population but it was
changed because of the belief that classification according to
income furnishes an incentive for municipal officials to increase the income of the municipality. Each municipality consists generally of a poblacion, which is the seat of local
government, with a number of barrios or outlying wards.
The governing body in the municipality is the municipal
council, its members varying in number from four to eight
according to the class of the municipality. The members,
as well as the municipal president, are all elected by popular
vote in the regular provinces. The vice-presidents, and, with
a few exceptions, the municipal presidents in all the special