Gobernadorcillo

Pronounced go-ber-na-dor-SI-yo, literally “little governor.” The chief local officer under Spanish rule, drawn from the principalía, responsible for the town: collecting the state’s money, keeping order, executing the administration’s instructions.

He received a nominal twenty-four pesos a year and personally covered the expenses of local governance out of his own resources. He was also exempt from the tribute he collected. Under the Maura Law of 1893 the office was renamed capitán municipal and opened to anyone paying fifty pesos in land tax.

Hold the arithmetic for a moment, because it is the whole argument of Lesson 1.2. A man who took nothing beyond that salary was funding a town out of his own estate. The office did not tempt honest men. It priced them out.

Source: Blair and Robertson (eds.), The Philippine Islands, 1493 to 1898, 1903 to 1909, via the compiled account of the principalía citing vols. 17, 27, 29, 36, 40 and 46. Public domain and free on Project Gutenberg.

First used in: 1.2 · The office that was paid by the people it governed