Note 11 — Political and Administrative Organization

The services of these municipal officers, which—barring certain abuses, to which their small remuneration and excessive official obligations force them—are of undeniable worth in the Philippines, and their functions, which carry importance and respectability, demand much rather that there be substituted for the ridiculous name of gobernadorcillo, by which they are officially designated, another name more serious and more in harmony with their praiseworthy ministry. This is now being done among themselves in the more enlightened villages, where they are called capitán [“captain”] instead of gobernadorcillo.—Montero y Vidal.