The first Philippine municipal elections were in 1895.
In 1893, the
Maura Law Maura Law may refer to two different decrees named after Antonio Maura, Don Antonio Maura, the Spain, Spanish Minister of Colonies at the time.
The first decree, The Royal Decree of May 19, 1893, was a law that laid the basic foundations for Philip ...
was passed to reorganize town governments with the aim of making them more effective and autonomous. The law changed the title of chief executive of the town from ''
gobernadorcillo'' to ''
capitan municipal
Capitan and Kapitan are equivalents of the English Captain in other European languages.
Capitan, Capitano, and Kapitan may also refer to:
Places in the United States
* Capitan, Louisiana, an unincorporated community
*Capitan, New Mexico, a villa ...
''.
Under the Maura Law,
Luzon and
Visayas were divided into provinces, which is administered by a governor, assisted by the provincial council (junta provincial). Each province was divided into towns (pueblos), whose affairs were managed by the municipal councils with the aid of ''principales''. The towns were in turn divided and subdivided into wards (barrios), headed by ''tenientes del barrio,'' and ''
barangays'' under ''cabezas de barangay''.
Fully implemented in 1895, the Maura Law was the most laudable Spanish reform in Philippine local government in its time. It gave the Filipinos greater participation in the administration of their affairs.
References
1895
Events
January–March
* January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.
* January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Histor ...
1895 elections in the Philippines
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