Thursday, September 30, 2010

Spanish Colonial Government


King of Spain is indeed a high position during the Spanish era, but the governor general has more power than him if the basis is on ruling one country. The governor general has different kinds of powers :

1. Religious power - the governor general is capable of appointing the priest or friar of a certain church.
2. Military power - the governor general is also the head of the military army.
3. Legislative power - the governor general is the one who makes laws and also the one who establishes it. Power of cumplase is also a kind of a power a governor general has, which contains the prerogative not to implement the laws that he makes.
4. Executive power - he is also the one who implements the laws that he makes which makes him stronger.
5. Judicial power - this kind of power shows that whoever disobeys the governor generals laws would be punished also by himself. He may sent some spies called the Visitador to observe the community.

The governor general is the one who makes, implements, and punishes whoever disobeys his laws. What kind of power he has ! He seems like the center of power of the Spanish government ! What an unfair government it used to be during the Spanish era !

The royal audiencia is the highest judicial official in the Spanish government. It is like the supreme court of today. And also, he was like the right hand of the governor general during judgements or sentencing someone to death or prison.

The corregidor is the ruler or the head of a corregimiento. Corregimientos were the provinces which were against the Spanish government. They were the MILF of the present time.

The alcalde mayor is the highest official in the alcaldia. Alcadia were the provinces which were peaceful. Alcalde mayor were also the one who enforces the laws and the tax collector and lastly the judge.
The cabildo, is the head of a ayuntamiento which were under the jurisdiction of the alcalde mayor. It was usually composed of 12 counselors.

The gobernadorcillo AKA little governor. In my own opinion,I guess they were called the little governor general since they were the rulers of the pueblos or towns. Their positions where not as low as the cabeza de barangay which was the highest position that a Filipino can achieve. (This was the lowest position anyway...)

Visitador were like the spies of the Spanish Government. They used to inspect or observe if there were any violators of the rules implemented by the Governor General. As others call them as TRAITOR.

Lastly, Juez de Residencia is the one who heads the residencia(A special court where investigations were made.)

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