DEPARTMENT OF MINDANAO AND SULU. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, The GOVERNOR GENERAL OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, Manila, P. I. SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of affairs of the department of Mindanao and Sulu for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1914. This is the first annual report submitted by the undersigned and it may not therefore be inappropriate to mention briefly here the more significant facts relative to American occupation of this portion of the Philippine Archipelago. In May, 1899, the United Staes Army relieved the Spanish troops in Jolo, and in November of the same year Zamboanga was occupied. From that time until December 15, 1913, the Moro Province-the department of Mindanao and Sulu, less the provinces of Agusan and Bukidnon-was governed by officers of the Army. This government was purely military up to July 15, 1903, when the government of the Moro Province was established. Thereafter military control was continued by the appointment or detail of military officers to civil offices. Gens. Bates, Kobbe, and Davis, in that order, commanded the military forces of Mindanao and Sulu before the establishment of the Moro Province. After that date Gens. Wood, Bliss, Hoyt, and Pershing, in turn, commanded the military establishment and at the same time occupied the position of governor of the Moro Province. Many offices in the government of this province and its five districts, now provinces, were also filled by Army officers. The problems faced by the American Army here were exceptionally difficult. Public order had to be established among a large Mohammedan and pagan population little accustomed to restraints of any kind. Municipal and district governments, public education, public health, and other fundamental activities of government had during the Spanish régime either been entirely lacking throughout immense areas or, if they existed, had become wholly disorganized,, and it was necessary to create them anew. The framework of local government was soon established, public education and sanitation, the construction of roads, bridges, and wharves, and other governmental operations were carried as far as the meager financial resources would permit. At the same time the number of Army officers occupying civil positions was progressively reduced. When Gen. Pershing resigned his civil office on December 15, 1913, no district governorship or other office of importance in the provincial or district governments except that of the provincial health officer was held by an officer of the United States Army. Their work as administrators of civil affairs in Mindanao and Sulu, begun more than 15 years before, was completed. The talented officers who successively administered the Moro Province not only left behind them a record of admirable achievement-they disinterestedly and with definite purpose devoted all their efforts toward the preparation of this region for transfer to purely civilian control. The subsequent kindly attitude of the Army has been manifest constantly during the transition period, and the change has been effected without interrupting in the least degree the stability or continuity of governmental activities in public service. 1. AREA. Excepting the narrow strips on the north and east coasts comprised within the provinces of Misamis and Surigao, the department of Mindanao and Sulu includes within its territorial limits the entire island of Mindanao and the islands to the south and southwest within the limits of the Philippine Archipelago, including the Sulu group and Cagayan Sulu. According to the most authoritative estimate, Mindanao-Sulu has a land area of 36,540 square miles, about one-third of that of the entire Philippine Islands. Excluding the single island of Luzon, the area of Mindanao-Sulu exceeds the combined areas of all the islands of the Philippine Archipelago not included within boundaries of the department. Of the seven provinces of the department one alone, Cotabato, is greater in area than the provinces of Cebu, Ilocus Sur, Iloilo, Pangasinan, Bulacan, Pampanga, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal combined. This one province is also greater in area than the State of Massachusetts or any one of six others of the United States, greater than Hawaii and Porto Rico combined, and equal to that of the Republic of Haiti. The department exceeds in area the States of Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont combined; the Kingdoms of Denmark and Holland together; Portugal or Greece. 2. POPULATION. The following table shows the population, according to the census of 1903, of the territory now forming the department, the grand total being 458,120. The totals of each province are those determined, or at least adopted, by the insular auditor. The "civilized " population is compiled from that given under that heading in the census reports for the various municipalities or comandancias, while the "wild" population is the remaining population assigned to that province. Population of department of Mindanao and Sulu, census of 1903. A conservative estimate of the present population is 626,086, distributed as follows: 1 Includes Chinese, Japanese, and all other civilized persons not Mohammedan or Pagan. NOTE. The following is the number of Roman Catholics by provinces of the department, as reported by the Catholic Church authorities. These numbers doubtless include many newly baptized of the non-Christian elements, who, in the government estimates, are not yet segregated from the Mohammedans and Pagans: Agusan... Cotabato.. Davao___ Lanao--- Sulu____ Zamboanga__. Total_ 32, 621 20,000 6, 000 33, 140 9, 500 1,000 77, 484 179,745 3. LEGISLATION. The legislative power, in so far as concerns the department government, now resides in the Philippine Commission. The administrative council is an advisory rather than legislative body. Its powers of a legislative character are limited practically to appropriation of funds under the control of the department government, which are almost exclusively funds appropriated by the Commission from the insular treasury, the entire taxation revenue having been assigned to the insular, provincial, and municipal budgets as in the remainder of the Archipelago. All appropriations made by the council are subject to approval or disapproval by the Philippine Commission. In practice the Commission appropriates the funds required for the support of the department government upon the basis of estimates prepared by the department governor and approved by the council. These estimates, approved or modified by the Commission, are then passed by the council as the department budget. Prior to the coming into effect of the organic act of the department and the creation of the administrative council important legislative powers were vested in the legislative council provided by the organic act of the Moro Province subject to confirmation by the Philippine Commission. This legislative council continued to func tion as a branch of the department government until the reorganization of September 1, 1914. The following is a list of titles of acts passed by it during the part of the year covered by this report: No. 315. An act to amend Act No. 311 of the legislative council by providing for the employment of a captain of the San Ramon prison guard therein established. No. 316. An act making appropriations for sundry additional expenses of the government of the department of Mandanao and Sulu for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1913. No. 317. An act appropriating the sum of $80,000, or so much thereof as may be respectively necessary, for completing certain public works in the department of Mindanao and Sulu commenced during the year 1913. No. 318. An act making appropriations for sundry expenses for the government of the department of Mindanao and Sulu for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1914, except as otherwise stated. No. 319. An act making appropriations for sundry expenses of the government of the department of Mindanao and Sulu for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1914. No. 320. An act appropriating the sum of 166,685.85, or so much thereof as may be respectively necessary, for certain public works, permanent improvements, and other purposes of the government of the department of Mindanao and Sulu. No. 321. An act amending Act No. 314 of the legislative council entitled "An act providing for the reorganization, government, and inspection of the municipal police of the municipalities of the Moro Province and amending the provision of the municipal code of the Moro Province relating thereto." No. 322. An act amending Act No. 286 of the legislative council entitled “An act providing for the protection of coconut trees from the ravages of certain beetles," and creating a corps of inspectors. No. 323. An act prescribing the method of allowance of traveling expenses of department and provincial officers and employees and repealing contrary provisions of law. No. 324. An act providing for the levy, assessment, and collection of an ad valorem tax on real property in the department of Mindanao and Sulu, creating the position of assessor for the department, and defining the powers and duties of such officer, and repealing existing inconsistent legislation. No. 325. An act making additional appropriations for sundry expenses of the government of the department of Mindanao and Sulu for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1914. No. 326. An act making additional appropriations for sundry expenses for the government of the department of Mindanao and Sulu for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1914, except as otherwise stated. No. 327. An act appropriating the sum of 122,931.37, or so much thereof as may be respectively necessary, for certain public works, permanent improvements, and other purposes of the government of the department of Mindanao and Sulu. No. 328. An act creating the position of superintendent of markets and repealing Act No. 224, entitled "An act creating the position of chief of the industrial office of the Moro Province, and for other purposes," and Act No. 267, entitled "An act to provide a system of industrial trading stations in the Moro Province for the use, benefit, and development of the Moro and other nonChristian tribes thereof," and for other purposes. The following is a list of titles of acts passed by the Philippine Commission constituting special legislation for the department during the year 1914: No. 2394. An act making appropriations for current expenses and public works and permanent improvements in the department of Mindanao and Sulu and the province of Agusan for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1914. No. 2400. An act authorizing the governor of the department of Mindanao and Sulu to use the P2,000 appropriated by Act No. 2070 for a government exchange and the reimbursable fund therefor at Malaybalay, province of Agusan, for the construction of another exchange of the same kind at Talacag, same province, and for other purposes. No. 2407. An act making appropriations for public schools, hospitals, and dispensaries, and extension of telegraph lines and wireless stations in the department of Mindanao and Sulu for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1914. No. 2408. An act providing a temporary form of government for the territory known as the department of Mindanao and Sulu, making applicable thereto, with certain exceptions, the provisions of general laws now in force in the Philippine Islands, and for other purposes. (The organic act for the department of Mindanao and Sulu.) ( No. 2409. An act extending to the department of Mindanao and Sulu the provisions of general laws providing for the organization, jurisdiction, procedure, and fees of justice of the peace courts, with certain exceptions, and for other purposes. No. 2410. An act to amend section 61 of Act No. 136 regarding sheriffs, as amended, in its application to the department of Mindanao and Sulu, and for other purposes. No. 2412. An act appropriating the sum of 5,000 for the salaries of the justices of the peace in the department of Mindanao and Sulu * * *. No. 2422. An act providing that the justices of the peace, if duly qualified lawyers, at the capitals of the provinces of the department of Mindanao and Sulu, except the province of Zamboanga, may act by direction of the secretary of finance and justice as ex officio registers of deeds for their provinces. No. 2423. An act making appropriations for current expenses and public works and permanent improvements in the department of Mindanao and Sulu for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1915. No. 2429. An act providing a procedure for the first election of third members of provincial boards in the various provinces of the department of Mindanao and Sulu, and authorizing the governor of the department to fix the date for the holding of the first municipal elections therein. No. 2439. An act abolishing the position of department assessor of the department of Mindanao and Sulu, provided for in Act No. 324 of the legislative council, and applying to the department the provisions of Act No. 2238, as amended by Act No. 2363, with certain exceptions, and amending certain sections of aforesaid Act No. 324. The following is a list of acts of the Philippine Commission extending to the department of Mindanao and Sulu certain acts of the Philippine Legislature of general application: No. 2315. An act renewing certain appropriations in Act No. 2208, as amended by Act No. 2285, until such time as the regular appropriations for * Agusan for the new fiscal year 1914 shall have been made. No. 2396. An act making extensive to the department of Mindanao and Sulu the provisions of the provincial government act and other acts relative to the cedula tax and increased cedula tax, under certain conditions, and repealing Act No. 306 of the legislative council of said department and all other acts inconsistent therewith. No. 2398. An act making appropriation for expenses of certain pensionados from * Agusan for the new fiscal year 1914. * * No. 2399. An act extending the provisions of Act No. 2300 to the territory inhabited by Moros or other non-Christian tribes and penalizing the taking away of any uncivilized person or member of any non-Christian tribe for the purpose of exploiting or exhibiting such person as a spectacle, and for other purposes. No. 2402. An act making applicable to that part of the Philippine Islands inhabited by Moros or other non-Christian tribes Acts Nos. 2339 (the internalrevenue law of 1914) and 2347 (* reorganization of the courts of * first instance and of the court of land registration). No. 2403. An act making applicable to that part of the Philippine Islands inhabited by Moros or other non-Christian tribes certain acts of the Philippine Legislature. No. 2293. * * Providing penalty for willful destruction of any property of the Philippine library. No. 2297. * ** Amending the third paragraph of section 790 of Act No. 190, as amended, by exempting municipalities and individuals declared insolvent from the obligation to pay the fee in proceedings for nonpayment of the cedula tax. No. 2298. * Amending articles 81. 443, and 446 of the Penal Code. |