At the corner of Aduana and Cabildo Streets is the AYUNTAMIENTO or CASAS CONSISTORIALES. This was the seat of the Cabildo (City Council) of Manila . The Ayuntamiento was the core of the city government and the center of all public affairs. It consisted of two alcaldes (city leaders) and eight (later increased to twelve) oidores (judges), as well as a clerk and chief constable.
The Ayuntamiento
was built from 1599 to 1607. It was severely damaged in the earthquakes
of 1645 and 1658 that the government ordered it demolished. Another
structure built from 1735 to 1738 lasted until the 1863 earthquake
reduced it to ruins.
A new edifice
designed by military engineer Eduardo Lopez Navarro was constructed
from 1879 to 1884. This last building had marble halls, wood-paneled
rooms and lavish furnishings. At the main staircase leading to the
entrance of the Session Room was a marble statue of Spanish explorer
Sebastian de Elcano, made in 1881 by Ricardo Beliver.
The
building contained several offices (one of which was for the
distribution of free vaccines), the residence of the mayor, and a
prison. On the upper floor were the government archives, a salon de baile (ballroom), and the session hall for the municipal board.
The
Ayuntamiento witnessed the change of colonial power at the end of the
19 th century. The terms of capitulation of Manila was signed here by
American officers led by General Wesley Merritt and Governor-General
Fermin de Jaudenes.
During the
early American period, this building was used as the offices of the
American military governor until the change to a civil government in
1903. The session room was used by the First Philippine Assembly in
1907 and was a meeting place of the Philippine Legislature. The Bureau
of Justice and the Philippine Supreme Court also held office here. The
building was destroyed in 1945. |
