The development of Philippine politics

PROGRESS TOWARDS RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT 381

promulgate circulars of information or instruction only
upon authorization by the department head. The department head also, upon the recommendation of the chief of
the bureau or office, has the power to appoint all subordinate officers and employees whose appointment is not expressly vested by law in the Governor-General. He may
remove or punish them except as especially provided otherwise in accordance with the Civil Service Law. The department head also may change the distribution of the employees or subordinates among the several bureaus and
offices.
Under the former executive organization the GovernorGeneral was a department secretary himself, and had under
his control the Executive Bureau, besides the Bureau of
Audits and the Bureau of Civil Service. Under the new
law the Executive Bureau was transferred to the Department of the Interior, with the provision that the foreign
correspondence and the giving of passports should he retained in the Governor-General's office.
All executive functions of the Philippine government,
as provided by the Jones Law, are subject to the supervision
and control of the Governor-General, and it was through
liberal interpretation on the part of Governor Harrison
that a great deal of the control and supervision of the departments was delegated to the department heads. Section
74 of the Administrative Code as amended states, after
a repetition of the Governor's ultimate and supreme execuitive power, that "the departments are established for the
proper distribution of the work of the Executive, for the
performance of the functions expressly assigned to them
by law, and in order that each branch of the administration
may have a chief responsible for its direction and policy.
Each department secretary shall assume the burden and
responsibility of all activities of the government under his
control and supervision."
There is in each department an undersecretary to aid
the secretary of the department in the performance of his
duties. The undersecretary holds his office during good be