The elections were often held in a singular manner, as in the following case:  [369]—­

“On August 20, 1898, four men of Tondo appeared before Aguinaldo on Bacoor and announced that they were representatives of the people of the district, who loved liberty.  Then in accordance with the directions of the president of the republic under the supervision of the secretary of the interior, they drew lots from a hat to decide how the offices of the head of the district, delegate of police, delegate of the treasury and delegate of justice were to be distributed.  The decision having been made in this simple fashion, Aguinaldo gravely approved the election as expressing the will of the people.  Perhaps it did, for they seem to have continued, at least for a time, to obey them.  On November 14, 1898, Aguinaldo again approved an election for local officials in Tondo which since August 13 had been within the American lines.”

On August 23 San Carlos, in Pangasinan Province, a town of twenty-three thousand people, elected its officials under the new form of government.  The presidente chosen was a well-known member of the Katipunan, and before the election was held announced his intention of killing any one who was chosen for the position for which he was a candidate. [370] He was accordingly elected.  In spite of this grave informality, an informality which formed one ground for a protest on the part of some of the people of the town, Aguinaldo approved the election.

On October 21, 1898, an election was held under the supervision of the military commander in Camarines for the municipal officials of the town of Yriga. [371] The voting was oral, and a secretary wrote down the votes for the two candidates under direction of the commissioner, who finally announced that the candidate whose friend he was had been elected, but without stating how many votes he had received.  This newly elected head of the town had the town crier on the following night publish through the streets an address to the people, in which he thanked those who had voted for him and warned those who had not that it would be well for them to beware.  The Spanish law known as the Maura Law, which regulated the elections in the municipalities under the Spanish government, provided for a limited electoral body, composed largely of ex-officials of the municipalities.  The choosing of an electoral body by the military commander of a district probably did not seem strange to the people.  The provincial and municipal officials were established in office by armed men, and they were obeyed because they had been installed by armed men; but it was a form of election to which people, as a rule, saw no reason to object.  There were, however, in many cases bitter complaints of the abuses committed by the officers thus “elected.”

This form of government spread with the advance of Aguinaldo’s arms.  Municipal elections were held in Tarlac in July, in Ilocos Norte and Tayabas in August, in Benguet and the Batanes Islands in September, 1898, in Panay in December, 1898, and in Leyte and Samar in January, 1899.