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

127

of everything concerning municipal administration, boundary
disputes, palm trees, and the enforcement of the police regulations. As regards criminal actions, it was the duty of these
local officials to institute the first proceedings. They also had
charge of the collection of taxes and the custody of the public
funds until their delivery to the alcalde mayor of the province,
In the provincial capitals there was a native guard of from
twenty to thirty men, armed with muskets and commanded by
a sergeant whom they called lieutenant. These forces were
under the immediate orders of the provincial executive or alcalde
mayor.
Another typical organization were the cuadrilleros. This
was a corps similar to the present municipal police, armed
with weapons more liable to harm him who used them than
the other man. They carried blunt old sabers or machetes
and sometimes a pistol or revolver that hardly had the shape
of a firearm. This armament was, however, sufficient to preserve the public order and prevent many raids of brigands or
cattle thieves, provided, of course, the strength of the enemy
was not out of all proportion to that of the peace officers.
The appearance of the Guardia Civil in these Islands was
a decisive stride forward in the advancement and modernizing
of the armed institutions charged with the maintenance of the
public order and the prevention of all disturbances of the peace,
because notwithstanding the abuses which the members of it
used to commit in the country and the villages, it performed
the functions entrusted to it. At the end of the Spanish regime,
there existed in our country a complete, modern organization
of personnel and services for the maintenance of the public
order and the protection of public and private interests, because
aside from the organizations engaged exclusively in this work,
there was the forestry service the duty of which it was to
protect the forest wealth of the Islands and the guards of which
performed their duties in an efficient manner. Then there
were the carabineros who guarded the ports and prevented
smuggling and the defraudation of the revenues. In the capital
there also existed, at the time when the Spanish sovereignty
ceased, a secret police service which functioned under the civil