On December 27 Antonio Luna wrote that all the provinces of Luzon, Mindoro, Marinduque, Masbate, and Ticao, Romblon, part of Panay, the Batanes, and Babuyanes Islands were under the jurisdiction of the insurgent government. [372]

By October 7, 1898, 14 of the 36 provinces and districts into which Luzon had been divided by the Spanish government had civil governors. [373] These 14 were Tagalog provinces or provinces which the Tagalogs controlled.  The other provinces were still under military rule, and, indeed, even the provinces under civilians were dominated by their military commanders.  With the manner of holding elections which prevailed, the governors must have been men who were in favour of the military party in force, for otherwise they would not have been elected. [374]

It is not probable that the number of provinces under civil governors much increased.  If in Pangasinan Province, where there are many Tagalogs, organizations opposed to the rule of Aguinaldo could cause serious disorders, as was the case, it must have been considered expedient for the success of the attempt of the Tagalogs, who form only a fifth of the population, to dominate the archipelago, that all provinces in which an effective majority of the people were not of that tribe, should be kept under military rule.  The municipal governments which had been established in Luzon were in the hands of Aguinaldo’s adherents, or of men who it was hoped would prove loyal to him.  They were men of the Spanish-speaking group, which has always dominated the people of the islands.  They were probably not as a rule men of means.  Many of them, perhaps most of them, had been clerks and employees under the Spanish government, and they saw no reason for changing the methods of town administration which had then been followed.  The municipal taxes, the estimates for expenditures, and the regulations for town government, were but little modified from those they found in force.  In many ways such changes as were made were for the worse.

Once installed in power, Aguinaldo’s officials were required to exercise over the mass of the people about the same control that had always been exercised over them.  The governing group considered that they were perfectly capable of providing for the welfare of the islands, and that it was the duty of the people to obey them without question.

When the insurgent force was increased in preparation for war with the Americans a large number of municipal officials resigned, or attempted to do so.  It was not easy for a municipal official under Aguinaldo’s government to resign.  A resignation, to be accepted, had to be accompanied by the certificate of a physician that the person concerned was unfit to perform the duties of his office.  Judging by the record, [375] an epidemic seems to have attacked the municipal officials in January, 1899.  It is probable that they saw that war was inevitable and that they did not wish to remain in charge of the towns and be responsible for providing for the necessities of “the liberating army.”  In Pangasinan in that month men could not leave their barrios without obtaining the permission of the headman, and in one town men who had attempted to sell their property for the purpose of going to Manila were, on January 17, ordered to be arrested and their conduct investigated. [376]