<P> The Gobernadorcillos exercised the command of the towns . They were Port Captains in coastal towns . They also had the rights and powers to elect assistants and several lieutenants and alguaciles, proportionate in number to the inhabitants of the town . </P> <P> The recognition of the rights and privileges accorded to the Filipino Principalía as Hijosdalgos of Castile seems to facilitate entrance of Filipino nobles into institutions of under the Spanish Crown, either civil or religious, which required proofs of nobility . However, to see such recognition as an approximation or comparative estimation of rank or status might not be correct since in reality, although the principales were vassals of the Crown, their rights as sovereign in their former dominions were guaranteed by the Laws of the Indies, more particularly the Royal Decree of Philip II of 11 June 1594, which Charles II confirmed for the purpose stated above in order to satisfy the requirements of the existing laws in the Peninsula . </P> <P> It must be recalled that ever since the beginning of the colonialization, the conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi did not strip the ancient sovereign rulers of the Archipelago (who vowed allegiance to the Spanish Crown) of their legitimate rights . Many of them accepted the Catholic religion and were his allies from the very beginning . He only demanded from these local rulers vassalage to the Spanish Crown, replacing the similar overlordship, which previously existed in a few cases, e.g., Sultanate of Brunei's overlordship of the Kingdom of Maynila . Other independent polities which were not vassals to other States, e.g., Confederation of Madja - as and the Rajahnate of Cebu, were more of Protectorates / Suzerainties having had alliances with the Spanish Crown before the Kingdom took total control of most parts of the Archipelago . An interesting question remains after the cessession of the Spanish rule in the Philippines, that is, what is the equivalent of the rank of the Filipino Principalía, freed from vassalage yet not able to exercise their sovereignty within the democratic society in the Archipelago? </P> <P> One logical conclusion would be their ancient Royal and noble title as Datu--the historical title of local nobles of ancient domains respected and protected by the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act of 1997, the existing pertinent law of the Philippines; and by a related international legislation, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples . Retaining as a subsidiary title the Hidalguía of Castile--their former protector State--without prejudice to their ancestral title, appears most suitable to the hispanized Filipino nobles . Besides, as stated in the above - mentioned Royal Decree of Charles II, the ancient nobility of the Filipino Principales "is still retained and acknowledged". </P>

What was the nobles job in medieval times