Note 40 — Chapter XIII · (continued 2)

Article 12, of the royal decree of May 19, 1893, relative to the municipal regulation of the villages of Luzón and Visayas, prescribes among the duties of the municipal captain that of “supervisor of the offices, schools, and municipal services.” On account of this some have doubted whether the supervision of the schools was taken away from the parish priests to give it to the municipal captains. That doubt has been resolved by paragraph 4 of the provisional regulations of the said royal decree approved by decree of the general government December 9, 1893, for in said paragraph it is stated clearly and distinctly: “Without prejudice to the supervision in instruction which belongs to the parish priest, according to the regulations of 1863, whose powers are not altered in any way, the municipal tribunal shall constantly exercise a watch over primary instruction, etc.” In our opinion, the above-mentioned doubt has no call for existence, since the above-mentioned article 12 of the royal decree of May 19, 1893, refers, as one can see by its own words, to the municipal schools, and those which are established in the villages of the archipelago cannot have that character attributed to them, since their expenses are not met by the municipal tribunals, nor does the appointment of the staff belong to them, but both are in charge of the central management. We believe, consequently, that the municipal captains have not even the secondary or supplementary supervision over the present schools of the archipelago, which is given them by paragraph 4 of the provisional regulations of December 9, 1893. (Grifol y Aliaga, pp. 126, 127, note 5.) ↑