Note 46 — Chapter VII

In respect to the direction of moral and Christian teaching which that requirement fittingly gives to the reverend and learned parish priests subordinate to their respective prelates, this superior government limits itself to assuring them of its most decided support, and the support of the provincial supervisors of primary instruction. Thus educated there is no doubt that the new generations will respond to what is demanded of them by so wise a law, which is destined to unite purity of religious sentiments which form the heart of youth with the duties of patriotism, dignity, and intelligence, which form the civilized man.

I ought, lastly, to say a word on the transcendental act of the examinations, only in order to have the parish priests note that article 13 of the interior regulations did not take account of the royal order of August 28, 1862, which made biennial the period of the session of the ayuntamientos. They must then pay strict heed to the article in regard to holding examinations annually. It will be advisable for them to submit a short review to the children when they go to them every three months for confession and communion.

The provincial supervision entrusted to the alcaldes by article 15 of the organic royal decree, shall be exercised with the aid of a commission composed of the diocesan prelate, or in his absence, by the parish priest of the chief city, and the administrator of the public finances. Where the chief of the province is not the alcalde-mayor, he shall also form a part of the commission, but in the generality of cases, as is well known, he presides over it. Although the above-cited article 15 refers to regulations for schools and teachers for the organization of the provincial center, article 31 of this last order has been limited to a repetition of that precept, almost in the same terms, leaving the dictation of measures which regulate their supervisory action to the judgment of this government. This would be a most important task if the organization of the provincial governments in the archipelago corresponded to the necessities of public administration in all its branches. It would be, I repeat, a most important task, if this superior government could lay aside the difficulties which it would create for itself for the future, by dictating principles of which it is the first to doubt the application, and even recognizing, as it does, the most exquisite care in all the chiefs of the province. To this consideration of a practical nature answers perhaps the indicated vacuity of the regulations for schools.

On the other side, the organization initiated December 20, 1863, by its character of ad interim in so far as it refers to the directive centers of the provinces, seems now to feel the need of reform which afflicts those centers, when among other things it names repeatedly the provincial chiefs.

This superior government ought, then, to limit itself for the present to inciting their zeal, so that they may energetically aid it in the noble work undertaken by it, namely, to establish the primary instruction in these islands upon a solid foundation, without demanding from them an initiative incompatible with their occupations. It is enough that they do not render sterile the occupation of the parish priests. Enough on their part is the pure and simple observance of the royal decrees of December 20, 1863. The immediate installation of the provincial commissions, which has not been attended to at this date, will also permit the chiefs to delegate to the reverend parish priest of the chief city the functions which they cannot accomplish by their own efforts. Only they shall be very careful to send monthly statements to this superior government, in accordance with the circular of the twelfth of the current month, explained by the communication to the alcalde of Tayabas on the twenty-second of the same month; for this data will serve me in the exercise of the superior supervision with which the regulations have entrusted me. Nevertheless, it is to be hoped that the provincial chiefs will make compatible with their many attentions those things which are so grateful to an intelligent man that they engrave their indelible memory on the heart of new generations.

Although I am also told that the condition of the country and the humble organization which primary instruction has at present, advise us not to expect from the supervision all the fruit which it is called upon to produce, when, placed under the immediate direction of an initiative and responsive center, it may exercise in regard to the matters of the department the oversight which belongs to it by right, this consideration, although a powerful one, does not prevent me; and it is impossible, in a mediocre organization of public instruction, to renounce the establishment of general supervisors, considered in all countries as the key of the pedagogical edifice. The royal order of June 6, 1866, supplementary to the regulations of the civil professions of the colonies, opens the door or combinations which permit, without great sacrifices to the state, or to the villages, the appointment annually or for the period which her Majesty designs, of a public functionary of recognized ability to visit the provinces in the character of supervisor general and to promote, hasten, and give unity and scientific direction to the development which the institutions of primary instruction are acquiring. In this sense a respectful report will be sent to the government of her Majesty in a short time.

May God preserve your Excellency many years. Manila, August 30, 1867.

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