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.

102 INDEPENDENCE CONGRESS PROCEEDINGS

of degree of local autonomy rather than of form of government, and this difference is due to the non-Christian element
in their population which has not sufficiently advanced in
culture to make it practicable to bring them under the government of regular municipalities. The outlook for them is their
eventual organization into regular municipalities, as the revenues and political enlightenment of the mass of the people
increase.
The cities existing under special charters granted by the Legislature are Manila and Baguio. In Manila the government
is vested in the Mayor, who is the chief executive of the City,
and the Municipal Board, which is the legislative body of the
City, consisting of ten members elected at large. There are
six departments: Engineering and Public Works, Police, Law,
Fire, Assessment, and Finance. The government of the City
of Baguio is vested in a mayor, a vice-mayor (both appointed
by the Governor-General), and a city council. The Council,
unlike that of the city of Manila, is composed of the Mayor,
Vice-Mayor, and three other members-two elected by the
voters of the City and one appointed by the Governor-General.
Aside from the City Council, there is also an advisory council
of five members chosen from among the Igorot inhabitants
who compose 20 per cent of the entire population of the City.
There are five departments; namely, Engineering, Law, Health,
Police, and Finance. Since September 1, 1907, when Baguio
Was formally organized into a chartered city, it has always been
the policy to appoint a technical man to act as mayor and city
engineer. The city government of Baguio is the nearest approach that we have to the City Manager Plan.
It should be noted that there is only one form of government for all the regular municipalities. The same thing may
be said of the municipal districts and of the provinces. The.
two cities of Manila and Baguio are governed by separate
charters, but their forms of government are not much different 4
from each other. In the Philippines, we do not have the
diversity of local governments such as is found in the United
States. A knowledge of the government of one municipality
is a knowledge of the system for all municipalities. Until